The 6 Month Hair & Makeup course description
For Films & Television
All Aspects of Make-up
- Understanding Media Makeup
Learn about skin tones, bases, powders concealers, eye shapes, eyebrows, lip
Shapes, facial contouring and Beauty make up.
- Period Makeup
A period production has to have accurate, factual period makeup and hair true
to its time, and we teach the skills in this module
- Darker Skin Tones: Working on various skin tones
- Mature Skin
- Facial Contouring
- Fashion Makeup
Covering different looks for fashion, editorial and catwalk, emphasizing speed and creativity alongside precision makeup skills.
Basic Hair, Wigs & Barbering
- Basic Hair
- Hair Cutting and Styling
- Basic cutting and sectioning of hair, blow-drying, setting hair, using rollers, and laying the groundwork for period styles and looks
- Wig Skills/Period hair
- Learning how to prepare hair and how to wrap and measure for a wig. We teach wig blocking and application, using hairpieces and wefts, and general wig care
- The basic skills for the essentials of cutting men’s hair,
- Layering and beard shaping.
- We teach the essential skills for making wounds, coloring and applying them to the skin. Effects like burns, diseases skin conditions are also in this module.
- As well as creating bruising, black eyes, old scars and ageing.
- The course covers sculpting and molding prosthetic pieces using silicone and gelatin and learning coloring and application techniques. Face casting on which to sculpt pieces, applying them for a complete effects makeup look.
Theatre & Male Grooming
Covers theatrical makeup and the differences between that and film. Creating a character through make up wigs, bald caps and other techniques.
- Facial Hair
Laying on facial hair with loose hair. Measuring actors for making facial hair. Applying beards, moustache, eyebrows and sideburns. Knotting facial hair.
- Understanding Film TV & Additional Skills
Learning the techniques of airbrushing which can be used for HD films, fashion
and beauty and prosthetic effects and coloring.
- Script Breakdown: Understanding a script is not filmed in sequence.
- Script Continuity: The importance of continuity and how to do it.
- Breaking down a character to convince
- Recapping on weak areas / timing Makeup and Prep
UNDERSTANDING MEDIA MAKE-UP –
•Prepping the skin for makeup.
•What products to use on oily/dry and neutral skin type.
•Foundation Cream/Base The different types available and which one is used
for which skin type and skin tone.
•Concealer: The different types that are available and when and where to
•Shading and Highlighting: When to use and demonstration given.
•Face Powder: The different types of powder available and when and where
to use them.
•Pencil: When to use it and at what stage it should be used.
•Eyeliner: What effects can be achieved for different makeups.
•Mascara: The correct way to apply mascara.
•Shaping, shading and contouring.
•Lips, prepping lips, application and corrective use of lipstick.
•Eye shadow, prepping the eye, the use of matt and iridescent when
and where not to use it.
•Eyelashes, full eyelashes and when to use them.
•Shortcuts, top tips to assist a makeup artist in a problem situation.
•Individual eyelashes: When to use them and what effect can be achieved.
•Eyebrows: When and when not to do them. Corrective and other ways to
do eyebrows and what look can be achieved.
•Socket Lines, the look achieved, when to and not to do it.
•Films sets, Crowd rooms and understanding timing.
•Create design from makeup brief.
•Critique and discussion.
•Fashion and Beauty – Catwalk Focus & Trends etc
•Catwalk trends from international Fashion Weeks
•Fashion and Beauty – More intense and Smokey looks
•Night time glamour
•Global Beauty, with a range of multi-ethnic models coming in
•Skin tones of Global beauty
•Flawless base& Pigmentations
•Color absorption and reflection
•Looking at different Period Makeup: 18th and 19th century, also early 20th century (Edwardian)
•Covering a selection of 20th century looks: 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s,60s
DARKER SKIN TONES
• Understanding the basics of choosing / applying makeup to darker skin tones
• Matching products to different skin types and tones and creating different looks
• Facial contouring – Basic rules and techniques
• Creating different looks using various Facial contouring techniques
• Learning how to apply Makeup to mature skin
BASIC HAIR – HAIR CUTTING & STYLING
Kit: Equipment and products
Hair types and textures
Areas of the head
Hair growth patterns
Diseases and disorders of the hair and scalp
Hairdressing as a job
One length haircut
Using tongs, hot sticks and hairnets, Victorian bun and ringlets
Using head sheets
Square layered haircut
Blow drying, 90’s hairstyle
Natural hair, hair up
Long bob with a fringe
Using heated rollers, 60’s style
Men’s grooming, with and without electrical
Various demonstrations and free day for practice
• Learning about hair wraps and cling wraps
• Learning about the head: its shape and understanding how to measure
• Pin curling a whole head and placing a wig
• Padding out the block
• Blocking up a wig
• Washing a wig
• Set a wig for an Edwardian style
• Finish dressing out, pin curl
• Pin curl
• Full make up and putting wig on
• Kit: Equipment and products
• Different types of wigs, wig structures, hair and hairpieces.
• Choosing wigs and blocks for the week’s work.
• Dressing a ‘natural’ looking wig.
• Creating a waved style. Either 1930’s, 40’s or 50’s
• Marilyn Monroe / or Land Girls
• Creating a 1870’s style
• Using padding and nets
• Shape rather than detail, silhouette
• Working with Yak wigs to create a late 18th century look.
(Think Dangerous liaison, Marie Antoinette and the Duchess.)
• Choosing a style that will suite each others’ hair and adapting the style to the person.
• Using products
• Discuss why the style was chosen and the products used
Health & Safety
Use of Products – Breaking Down /Creating Dirty
Hair One Length Haircut
Dress out – Fop
Beard shaping – Round/Angled/Pointed
Moustache shaping – create a handlebar
Dress out – Medieval
Clipper Handling/Health & Safety
Shorter Beard Shaping – using Clippers
Choose a beard shape & create & Dress it
Moustache shaping- using Scissors/Clippers
Choose a moustache shape
Create & Dress it- using Tongs
Long Male Bob
Dress out – Oscar Wilde
Shave off Beard/Moustache
1940’s – Short Back
Dress out 1940’s
Use of Dressing products
1930’s – Short/ Back/Sides
Dress out 1930’s
Dress out 1920’s
WORK EXPERIENCE DAY
WATCH / LEARN/ WRITE ABOUT YOUR DAY
WORKING ON MALE MODELS
Using all skills learnt this week
Covering all aspects of Health & Safety
Full client consultation
Observations & Introduction. The importance of Research & Preparation, Images &
Reference. Experimenting with materials
Injury / Blunt force trauma & Inflicted Wounds – what is the cause, what is the situation,
how will they heal?
Skin Disorders and scars – cause, position and changes over time
– Discussion about Colouration and translucency Sculpting and textures
– Introduction to the grease and illustrator/ alcohol based palettes & inks
Light and Shade
Redness & swelling
Different skin colors/ ethnicities
By applying materials to skin, shaping it and coloring it, many special effects can be achieved for casualty and injury.
Apply and building up the material to create the 3D effect – basics of wax, latex, & scar materials. And dry skin textures. Sealers & Fixers
Finishing the effect with color and texture. Different techniques
Lots of things to think about before creating an effect:
Wounds / cuts/ Bullet wounds / swelling & redness –different situations
Students to pair up and practice effects based on this morning session. Concentrating on direct sculpting, texture and color
Demonstrate sweat, sheen, tears (tear stick & tear blower), eye redness & eye definition. Discussion about eye blood and contact lenses
Broken nose and minor bone shading & highlighting
Black eye coloring techniques, reel, grease palette, gels, sheen. Birthmarks & Port
Tooth decay, nicotine stains – tooth enamel
Cut lips, cold sores, boils and skin breakouts, minor scars – tuplast, collodian & other
Students practice on each other. Concentrating on shading and coloring with broken
bones and black eyes and/ or bruising
Demonstrate illness, paleness, gauntness. Discussion of Death coloration, change
over time. Discussion of disease, and shock.
Demonstrate scrapes & grazes: Alcohol based palettes, grease paint, fresh scab & drying
blood. Using black mesh sponge, toothbrushes, & painting.
Stitches & perforations: wax or bondo
Practicing vein colors, broken veins, pin pricks, track marks, whipping & shackle marks
Students to pair up and practice on each other to do a makeup including hands and arms
with techniques learnt from last 3 days
Demonstrate covering up tattoos and applying D32, dermacolour, powder, and alcohol
based palettes & airbrushing
Using 3rd Degree: Cut throat or laceration, & slit wrists
Working with blood – how do people bleed? Venus, arterial and superficial bleeding.
Changes over time, layering and playing with different products – fresh, congealed, scab
blood, dried & old
– Students to play with blood effects and materials
– Students to create a deep wound with blood effects and coloration using 3rd Degree
1Sunburn & weathering: using grease & creams, Gels, Alcohol based palettes,
airbrushing. Washing techniques for face & body
2.Dirt: Approaches to dirtying down and distressing. Different materials: cream and
grease, supra & aquacolor, alcohol palettes and spray ons, dust & dirt powders, oils and
sheen or matte effects. Layering
– Students practice combined minor burns and weathering/ dirtying down effects
– Introduction & Demonstration to 1st degree 2nd degree 3rd degree burns. Gelatine,
fish paper, gaf quat, coloration, latex, cotton wool, tissue, & blood work
– End of week recap/ Questions
• Show the students examples of different materials used: i.e. gelatine, foam, latex,
silicone prosthetics. Discussed the pros and cons of each “the best tools for the job”.
• Demonstration how to sculpt and texture a basic wound on a flat board in plastilene.
Stressed the importance of the blending edge and how to mould it in silicone (flood
• The students will sculpt their own wounds in plastilene, textured and then moulded
them in silicone.
• Students will learn how to heat gelatine properly in the microwave.
• How to fill their own silicone moulds using the scrape method.
• Demonstration how to apply gelatine prosthetic and how to colour it and blend it into
the actor’s skin.
• Students will applying and colour their own prosthetic wounds.
• Students all get life casts
• Refine second sculpts from what they learnt.
• Show the students how to apply colour and a dress a wound with blood and how to remove
gelatine prosthetic safely.
• Student’s life-cast each other’s faces, with supervision, stressing the importance of safety.
• Explain how to talk and deal with people who are nervous, the importance of touch and
• Learn how to mix plaster properly and fill their own head casts.
• Demonstration how to open their life cats properly and how to clean up their plaster heads.
• Students to apply colour to their wound prosthetics and how to dress with blood realistically?
• Explanation of the importance of using proper reference material when creating and
mak-ing – up prosthetics, realism.
• Students start sculpting new wounds, improving the edges.
• Students start sculpting noses or subtle prosthetics on their own life casts.
• Students to stick on wounds and colour them.
• Students sculpt noses, blocking out, the sculpt first on their plaster life- casts,
“blending edges” of prosthetics properly.
• Explanation – the importance of texture in prosthetics. The cutting edge, how to edge
• Creating keys/ touch down on their plaster life casts
• Finish off edging up the noses.
• “Walling up” moulds and pouring their plasters.
• Make a two piece plaster mould of their nose sculpts
• Students to apply their own second sculpted wound to each other.
• Demonstration – getting rid of edges, coloration, blending into the skin and coloring
the actual wound and dressing with blood.
• Different ways of painting/ making up prosthetics.
• Clips on DVD of various films I’ve worked on and how to achieve the effects with photographs
of all the stages so they can relate to it, (it’s not Hollywood, its Hatfield!)
• Sculpting eye bags on the flat.
• Opening plaster nose moulds – cleaning out.
• Filling the plaster nose moulds with gelatine correctly.
• Applying the prosthetic noses
• Intrinsic coloring of gelatine
• Demonstration – gelatine eye bag application and safety round the actors eyes
• Fill eye bag moulds with gelatine (scrape method).
• Students apply eye bags to each other.
• Coloring, aging and removing them properly.
• Demonstration – how to make bald caps with cap plastic.
• Students start to make them.
• Old age stipple demonstration, upper eye lid and lower eye lid, neck and forehead
• Students age their hands with color first, then old age stipple over the top in layers
• Make bald caps
• Students decide what they would like to do regarding prosthetics for the day.
• Giving them the opportunity to cover things again or create new prosthetics for the day.
• Sculpt new improved eye bags or cheeks and mould again.
• New prosthetics to each other and color them.
• Intro about Theatre makeup
• Making bald caps (this is an on going project as they will need a few
throughout the weeks)
How to block a wig
How to wash it
• Pincurl to prep for wig
• Wrapping hair to prep for wig
• Stocking cap
• Wig dressing – an overview of the various styles using skills for Preparation learned on Day 1.
• Adding layers to bald cap
• Characterization in Theatre – Demo and then pair work
• Adding more layers to bald cap
• Adding layers to bald cap
• 3 part silicone Project
• Museum visit – usually the national Portrait Gallery to look at painting:
light and shading and ageing, and how it is communicated. We combine this with a quiz to support the learning.
• Visit to a wig room with one of our partner tutors – the Royal Opera
House, English National Opera, and the National Theatre for a tour.
• Bald cap layers
• On Stage effects – dramatic use of sick, sweat, blood etc.
• Introduction to wig Making – skills involving knotting on lace – the products used.
• Ballet cap layers!
how to pin securely
What is different when your artist has to dance?
• Applying Bald Cap
• Ageing makeup for theatre.
(Incorporating feedback from gallery about ageing, shading, coloring etc)
• Male make-up for stage, how to cross gender; thinking about the face in a different way. If there is time at the end of the day you will do a quick change practice / game when the students have to prep the hair and put a wig on and a bit of costume and then we re-create a quick change area with low lighting and cramped conditions and then add another costume and put on the wig again. We tend to time it and it becomes a bit of a race.
•Demo — take a shape and explain about growth of hair, etc. What to instruct the
beard maker when sending off shape.
•Students practice taking shapes (do a couple).
•Demo – mixing hair hackle and hand. Talk about different colors of hair and facial hair – show reference.
•If time : stubble demo and practice.
•Students to choose full beard and mustaches that they will apply the following day.
•Demo – apply sideburns and take off
•Students practice, applying undressed sideburns, then take them off, clean them,
dress them and re-apply (to see the importance of all the preparation.)
•Full beard application demo.
•Afternoon – student apply yesterday’s full beards and mustaches.
•Laying on Demo
•Students practice laying on blocks and tonging.
•Eyebrow demo and then students practice this.
•Take a shape again, to see the difference to the 1st day shape.
•Students choose full set of facial and make it work! Match to sides, and lay on
where needed, etc.
•Remove, clean and redress all facial
•If time students choose a period and choose facial, dress it and put it on.
AIRBRUSHING, SCRIPT BREAKDOWN, CONTINUITY AND BREAKING DOWN A CHARACTER.
• Basic elements of an airbrush – equipment overview,
• How to look after your gun and compressor,
• Understanding pressure and health and safety,
• Basic application techniques for TV and Film,
• Basic application techniques for beauty and bridal,
• Experimenting with texture – face and body and Strobe creme through the gun.
• Creating a tattoo with hand made stencil – stencil work and understanding
• Cutting techniques, positive and negative elements of your stencil,
• Understanding application of color for stencil work,
• Detail work and hand painting with stencil formula
• Experimenting with shade and light, gradient work,
• Understanding a script is not filmed in sequence.
• The importance of continuity and how to do it
Character break down