American cinematographer (Aug 1936)

August, 1936 • American Cinematographer 331 Make-up for the New Tech nicolor M otion picture make-up has never been merely an end, but rather a means to an end. The one and only reason for using make-up is to help the camera reproduce the features and complexion of the player upon the screen in a natural and pleasing man- ner. Its purpose is to equalize irregularities and to con- ceal blemishes. Now that Technicolor's three-color process is enab- ling us to bring our pictures to the screen in color, a new conception of make-up becomes necessary. Where in monochrome it was sufficient to make up our players with a range of colors which produced a photographic result approximating o black-and-white rendition of normal skin-textures, in color, we must apply o make-up which, through oil the intricate manipulations of color-photog- raphy and processing, will reach the screen as an abso- lutely accurate reproduction of both the texture and the coloring of a living face. The familiar range of "Panchromatic" make-up ma- terials ore all based on a range of warm browns, which photograph as a scale of intermediate grays. Closely akin to these products were the make-up materials for the old two-color Technicolor: these also were warm browns, but of a much warmer—or redder—hue. Neither of these would do for the new three-color pro- cess, which is not color-blind as were its predecessors. The inevitable first thought in such a situation is that our make-up must now duplicate the actual coloration of the human skin. Snap-judgment hazards the guess that somewhere among existing theatrica' and street make-up materials, we ought to find the answer—for do we not want to make our player appear as in real life? Unfortunately, tests have proven that these make-ups will not suit the color-camera. Analysis shows them to be based on some combination of varying shades of pink, yellow and white. Such a make-up, well applied, may look very nice to the eye, but the more critical color camera unmasks it for the glaringly unnatural thing it is. On the screen, the white is too white; the pink is too pink; and the yellow, instead of blending into what we think of as a flesh-tone, becomes pasty. Analyzing the human complexion with a spectroscope, we find that the darker pinks are present—or to be strict- ly honest, reds—certain proportions of yellow, white and blue. This is probably true because of the fact that the skin itself is essentially a translucent covering, with rela- tively little color of its own, but influenced enormously by the combination of that trifle af coloring and the true color of the flesh-and-blood beneath. So our color make-up must blend the reds, yellows, whites and blues. Pure whites, of course, should be avoided for the elementary reason, long familiar to pho- tographers, that it simply throws back a characterless glare, and contributes only artificiality to the picture. Moreover, our new make-up should be extremely thin, so that faces do not have a plastered, "made-up" ap- pearance. The new Technicolor make-up, known as the "T-D" series, embodies these characteristics. The colors are scientific duplications of natural skin-tones, subdued to fit the limitations of the color comera. The foundation make-up itself is enormously different from previous con- Process An Interview with Max Factor ceptions. Instead of being a paste, it is a liquid, in which the pigments are held in collaidal suspension. It forms a microscopically thin, but none the less effective coating which partakes of the natural translucency of the skin. And how is this color make-up applied? First, a liquid foundation of the proper shade is ap- plied. This foundation-coating must be as thin as pos- sible. To one accustomed to the routine methods of old- style make-up, this thin foundation comes as a shock. But the new material, unlike the old, does not do its work with mere thickness. On "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and "Dancing Pirate," we definitely proved that the thinnest applications of the new foundation gave im- measurably more natural results than conventionally thick coatings of the older foundation colors. Over this foundation, powder is applied to eliminate any trace of the oily sheen which would photograph as an unnatural glare. Contrary to conventional practice, the powder used is always of the same shade as the founda- tion. Since the foundation forms only a minutely thin coating, the natural oily excretion of the skin passes easily through it, and this natural oiliness is counteracted, not by any attempts to prevent the condition (which is a purely natural function), but by frequent application of powder. The lip and face rouges are of an absalutely new type. They have been scientifically compounded to reproduce natural coloring, with due consideration of the require- ments of the Technicolor process. They are, like the foundation and pawder, of spectroscopically exact shades, properly modified for the color camera. Obviously, for natural-color photography, the rouges must be applied with extreme skill, blended in so that they enhance the appearance without revealing the artifice. The make-up of the eyes, brows and lashes is substan- tially the same as for black-and-white, with the exception that wholly natural colorings must be used, and that less opportunity for cosmetic trickery is possible. Artificial lashes may be used, for today's technique in such make- up has been perfected to a point where neither the cam- era nor the eye can detect the artifice. On the other hand, a player with invisible blonde eyebrows, which can often be accentuated by black-and-white make-uD, had better give up all hope of appearing in color films, for the color camera unerringly discloses any attempts at correct- ing invisible brows. In much the same way, shaded or "modeling" make-uo, which has been developed to a high perfection for black- and-white, loses much of its value in color. In mono- chrome, we can create artificial highlight and shadow Continued on page 334