Stage Makeup Visibility

Video Transcript

"An important thing to know, is what type of theater your actors will be performing in. Because, if it's a smaller, intimate theater, like a theater in a round or a box theater, you don't want the makeup to be as heavy, because they're really going to be in the audience's face a lot. So, you don't want them to be overly dramatic and have it too heavy. Now, if you're in like a proscenium theater or a larger stage where the audience sits back a little more, you're going to want to use a little bit more makeup, so that it really portrays out into the audience so they don't look totally washed out. So, it's really important to know the venue the actors will be performing in, and put the makeup on accordingly. Something that's very important is to make sure that you talk with the director and even better, as a whole crew kind of meeting--the director and the costume person as well as the sound people. Because it's very important to know as a makeup artist, what the director is looking for. And you can work together and you can offer suggestions and ideas--the director always has the last say. So it's really important to know what the director is looking for so that you're always on the same page and you're not making mistakes or butting heads, so it's a really pleasant experience. It's also important to talk with the costume people, because there may be some costume changes that will prohibit some of the makeup that you're using. Also, how far up the costume comes and you know how much of the neck you're going to be covering, so that's really important. And then another thing, is to make sure you talk to the sound people, because they're the ones that are going to be putting on the microphones, you need to know where they want to place the microphones, it may be up in the hairline or may come down on their face so it's really important to know where the sound equipment is going to go as well. So, it's important to meet as a team, if you can, but certainly the director to know what the requirements and the expectations are."