Makeup for video shooting: main rules and features

Filming a film, TV series, video or commercial is a large-scale process that always involves many people. A makeup artist or make-up artist is an important element in this puzzle, because it is thanks to his efforts that the actors’ faces will always be beautiful and harmonious, the skin tone will be even, all imperfections will be hidden, and the eyes will not show fatigue after many hours of filming.

When performing makeup for video shooting, a makeup artist must take into account many nuances so that the actor looks exactly as intended in the frame. How to work with lighting devices, why you need to pay attention to camera filters, what features are important to consider when creating makeup for outdoor and indoor shooting - says our regular expert Julia Melnik .

Julia Melnik , makeup artist, makeup artist, winner of the Next Level of Cosplay makeup competition, studied at the Hollywood makeup school Cinema Makeup School

How is makeup for video shooting different from regular makeup?

As you know, for video shooting, lighting devices and various camera filters are most often used. Filming takes place outdoors or indoors. Based on these and many other factors, you need to get your bearings and understand what kind of makeup will suit the actor.

It is important to remember that lighting devices “eat up” makeup, so often in the frame a spectacular smokey eye can look quite soft, and a bright correction will not be so pronounced. But if you put a person with the same makeup in a dark space with dim lighting, the makeup will look rough. Therefore, the first important factor is light!

The second factor is filters. There are filters that make the drawing more contrasty - because of this, even soft shading can appear rough and grainy. Other filters create softer shadows. Ideally, I recommend looking at the monitor with the original image from the camera and paying attention to the effect the filter gives. In this case, you can come up and correct your makeup so that in the frame it looks exactly the way you intended.

What is important to consider when doing facial makeup?

For filming video clips and commercials, thick foundations are often used: commerce loves clean faces with perfectly even skin color. In addition, in this case, a lot of light is often used, so the makeup looks less light than in life. But this does not mean that you need to apply a thick layer of tone. Don't overdo it!

For filming, I do not use dense tones in principle, and the only exception may be makeup for problem skin. In movies, the more natural the makeup looks, the better! I like to use water based or airbrush tints.

What is important to consider when doing eyebrow, eye and lip makeup?

Eyebrows should remain eyebrows, so you shouldn’t paint them all over – individual hairs should be visible. If I need to fill in the voids, I use alcohol makeup and use thin lines to imitate hairs.

If there is a need to create “no makeup makeup” in a photo, this does not mean that I do not make up the person. In this case, I use a thinner layer of tone, apply less corrector and blush, shape the eyebrows, lightly highlight the eyelash row with gray-brown shadows, and paint over the eyelashes with brown mascara. I create lip makeup using a pencil in color, without going beyond the contours.

For video shooting with bright lighting, you can work on your lips more boldly! I often use a light beige pencil, deliberately going outside the line and blending it well - this trick gives my lips volume! And only then I take a pencil to match the color of my lipstick and create a new lip shape.

What nuances are important to know when creating makeup for indoor and outdoor video shooting ?

If you are creating an image on set that will later be filmed under artificial lighting, do your makeup under an artificial light source!

If you are doing makeup for an actor who will later act in natural light, use a fluorescent lamp in the dressing room. If there is not one (too warm or too cold), I prefer to turn the actor towards the window so that natural light hits the face.

Conclusions:

• rely on the lighting in the frame;
• look at the monitor to see how the makeup looks in the frame;
• apply makeup under lighting conditions that are as similar as possible to those in which the actor will play;
• Avoid super-thick coatings.