what are your requirements?
Sometimes the actor in the chair is perfect for camera, and no attention is required to be 'camera-ready'.
Who can improve upon perfection?
Many, however, need a minimum of correction often just to 'clean up' subtle blemishes that may be picked up on camera and distract the audience from the performance. After all, your casting team have gone to great lengths to fit the actor to the character so the last thing you want is for your make-up team to contradict that vision!
Where a definite 'look' is required screentests will ensure your requirements will be delivered.
which medium do you prefer?
Whether you wish to work with HD, 35mm, 16mm or the increasingly-popular Red camera, you will get the look you need. Different media often require a different approach particularly with the advent of High Definition, and naturally you still want your cast to look fantastic!
making your ideas a reality.
Listening is a major skill of the Make-up Artist. Listening to the director who is realising the vision... Listening to the actor who is making the character his or her own... Listening to the Costume Designer adding their interpretation... and so on.
Creativity is an organic process, a collaborative process, whereby the essential elements need to be in accord with one another. Interpretation may be an individual experience but good all round teamwork enables the resulting frames to bring the raw screenplay to fruition.
from design conception to pick-ups.
The planning and execution of the hair & make-up of each character is only a part of the whole. As shots are often out of sequence, detailed continuity and full script-breakdown records are essential.
No one is infallible and while less than ideal, you need to be confident another professional hair & make-up artist can successfully pick up and take over, should the unexpected occur.
