My second choice for this assignment, is the innovative and playful Valli O'Reilly, best known for her BAFTA Award winning work in Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton.
I chose her work, as I admire her exciting and eye-catching make up design. She represented Burton's otherworldly sensibility in Wonderland and it was her artistry that brought a much loved Disney film to life, in a whole new way, while staying true to some tenets of the cartoon original. In fact, it is the cartoonishness of her art in that film that I find so original and imaginative. I also chose her as she is contextually relevant being not only an artist of a long and rich career, but because she is one of the best high definition artists and on set, such as the case was with Wonderland, did the make up on Helena Bonham Carter (The Red Queen), Mia Wasikowska (Alice) and Anne Hathaway (The White Queen) herself to ensure the HD presentation was perfect. At that time, not many make up artist's were familiar with the requisite products and skills needed for HD film.
Some background:
- O'Reilly fell into the world of make up artistry - she was originally an artist - a double major in art history and only took on make up artistry as an extension of her talent and to make some money while she broke ground.
- As the work in Wonderland was all filmed in 3D and HD, it took two to three hours each session to do make up on Helena Bonham Carter for the film, as there was so much detail and even the use of prosthetics. Most times the start time for make up was 3 30am on set.
- Her work has been featured in prominent magazines, such as Maxim and Vogue.
- She is held in high regard by Hollywood, and selected by many celebrities and film professionals for her skill.
O'Reilly is a wonderful choice to write from, as she is a make up artist in every sense of the title - she is always thinking up new ways of approaching a job, coming up with new ways of applying make up (such as using pre-made stencils for the Red Queen's extreme brows and lips, which were somewhat based upon a Bette Davis film - for the austere and over the top final result) - I hope to emulate the same approach to my own work as I develop my skills and allow my creativity to spread its wings.
I have included a video below of the film's trailer below, so to display the whimsical and extraordinary make up design utilised to further enhance the reality of the world of Wonderland under O'Reilly's direction.
And below, a series of photos which also demonstrate her style, her skill in action, and her other award winning work, in "Lemony Snickett's a Series of Unfortunate Events"
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