By J.M.Jeffrey
January 2009
Goremaster.com
GoreMaster recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview makeup artist Kelcey Fry. In her nearly 30 years in the profession, she has worked as an instructor for the Joe Blasco Professional Makeup Training Center, on films such as “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, “The Pirates of the Caribbean”, and on television series such as “The Riches”. Kelcey gives us some very useful insights into the profession and reflects on an incredible career! |
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GM: Which brings me to another question which is: What is your advice for the beginner? Have I interpreted this portion right?
You’re saying you can build your skills and that sort of thing…but even a person who starts out with moderate skill level; if they work well with people they can still be successful?
KF: Absolutely. But if your skill level is such where you’re putting at risk the eyes and the skin and you do not understand the differences between solvents and adhesives and removers and things of that sort and you’re putting the person at risk then you definitely have skill levels that will not lead you to success.
Skill level is essential, but the thing about skill level is that with repetition and with practice and with consistency of that, you can smooth out the rough edges. If you do it long enough and you practice and practice you will pick up the ideas, it’s not about coming out of the box “perfect” it’s about understanding the basics.
A professional makeup artist is someone who can take most any script and understand how to interpret exactly what needs to go on. It’s about incorporating all of the aspects of makeup artistry. Professional to me is defined by somebody who seamlessly makes it work without making it noticeable that they had a hard time making it work.
It’s kind of like the story of makeup artist Harry Thomas. He was working in the 1930s and 1940s and used to define professionalism by telling a story to the kids when we taught together back in the 1980s. The old “horse’s tail” story which was that he was out doing a western and he was in the middle of the desert, and they wanted a beard on this guy. He didn’t have any hair and the way that he made it work was that he just went and took a swish off of the end of the horse’s tail and cut the hair and nobody knew any different…and it came out and he was able to make it all work. It’s about making it work when you’re in the middle of not having what it is that you need.
GM: Would you say that’s the better advice or training that you received as well? That you need to just make it happen and try not to affect the process? By this I mean if you don’t have with you exactly the tools that you normally use.
KF: Right, I think that there are times and there are issues where it’s like “well wait a minute…we didn’t know that you needed that contact lens.” I mean there are certainly some times when we need to go back and get the contact lens. I you can’t just throw something in the eye and go “see his eye’s all swollen or something…” but it is about thinking outside of the box. The box is “I have everything…I brought everything”… and then you pack it all up and you forget an essential thing just out of the nature of being busy and you get there and that’s the one thing that you need. How do you solve that problem seamlessly? That is the person that works on defining professionalism. It is trying to solve any problem seamlessly…you can’t always do it…you can’t always pull a rabbit out of your hat…but there are many times that you can. You might have to borrow something from another department…ask them to help you out. And then you extend that same rapport to another department. It’s all very collaborative.
GM: What was you’re toughest job?
KF: I think that for me it’s hard in this exact minute to go “oh my toughest job”…I think that each job has areas that are challenging. There are some jobs where the lighting was challenging…the nature of the lighting in trying to get that to work well with a character. Understanding lenses and lighting can be very challenging. Stepping up to the plate to make sure that the interpretation of the makeup is understood properly through the lighting. People don’t realize that lighting is “the sister” it is what communicates the makeup otherwise it is just a two dimensional situation and throughout time if you read all the history books about makeup artistry…makeup has evolved through the nature of film stock and mediums and lighting and now we’re into High Def. Makeup and skin and special effects are always affected by this.
Certainly the natural eye is the key but there are times when you are going to have to adapt. I find that those times are challenging because currently these days it’s really quite challenging to get makeup tests.
Each project has [its challenges]. Sometimes it’s the hours, sometimes it’s driving out to distant locations and driving 70 miles in one direction in Los Angeles out to Palmdale and working under wind machines and water and stuff flying all over you and working 17 hour days for 5 days a week and putting in 80 or 90 hours a week is challenging.
That is why passion has driven me by a love/hate relationship because in the moments that you are distraught with your job when you’re just going “Ugh! I can’t do this…this going is too far!” When you finish something the love of that helps you bridge that gap when you get into those challenging moments. You go “Wow! I got a chance to work on that.”
So for me, my biggest challenge is to maintain the longevity until my retirement and to have those experiences and to be respected by my peers. Other than that to me every job is a challenge. There are moments when the cream rises to the top and you feel glamour.
[Working with] Diane Keaton was a really creamy moment and it’s really tasty and then there are other times where you’re doing your job and you’re supporting other teams that are advancing their careers.
You know sometimes it’s really important to be strong and supportive and then your department heads they shine and people respect that. Ve Neill respects all of the 10s and 10s of people that she had to bring her to that place where she is nominated and she respects all those people that worked hard and diligence and took her instruction and her designs and [they] were professional enough to follow through and get the job done. That’s important [trait to have] in your career.
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