Interview with makeup and prosthetic artist Cameron Blumer

Cameron Blumer is a makeup and prosthetic artist who recently worked on the Mycho Production short film Eric: A Tale of Thorn (2019) and the feature CleaverS: It Runs in the Family (2019).

I got a chance to ask Cameron Blumer a few questions about how he got into makeup and prosthetics and working on his recent projects.

Q. How did you get into special effects makeup originally and can you explain to me a little bit about what you do?

I do special effects makeup and prosthetic makeup. About 7 years ago I was on YouTube browsing about and I came across these videos of people doing special effects makeup and prosthetic makeup and I thought that was so cool. So, I started doing it with PVA glue and tissue paper.  Very basic and cheap things, anything I could get my hands on basically. Then over the past years I have worked up and tried to use more professional materials and industry recognised techniques. Now I am able to produce effects that are as good as you would get in the industry and that is really my goal, to be good enough to work within the industry. That is what I have been doing over the last seven years, working on a portfolio.

Q. You were self-taught in the start with YouTube videos to get the basics, but have you done any formal training following that to progress?

When it came to look at colleges, I knew that I wanted to go into the special effects side of things, but all of the college courses in my area offered beauty courses with a bit of special effects attached on. That really wasn’t up my alley, so I did a bit of searching around and there was this college course in Dudley college called production Art.  It was all the behind the scenes stuff, costumes, hair, makeup, props, prosthetics. I studied that for two years and came out with a Distinction Merit. That was such a great experience because I was able to work in a workshop style environment with all these materials and large-scale productions. It was a dream to work within that environment which was very helpful in furthering my experience.

I know you have worked with the production company Mycho recently, how did you get involved with the team?

It comes from a long ladder of people. I knew somebody called Sophie Wilson through another friend David Mills and Sophie introduced me to Andy Gilbert. Through working with Andy on his film The Brink, I met MJ, who was an extra and through knowing MJ I worked on their short film Eric (2019) that they recently did. From that I worked on CleaverS (2019) with them and hopefully I should be helping out with their next project Pandamonium. I love working with Mycho Entertainment because it’s such a nice kind of family of filmmakers and they’re so passionate with what they do and lovely people to be around. Any chance I get to work with them I just snatch it up.

Both Eric and Cleavers have scenes of gore in them, what were your favourite parts of working in those films?

In Eric, one of the actors has to have this big black eye prosthetic where his eye is swollen, that was a lot of fun to do, but there was almost a mistake with that. They were about to shoot the scene where he is hit across the face and he gets this black eye and I said, “Wait stop filming”.  I had to check what side they hit him on the face, because I had made the prosthetic for one side of his face and I think they were going to hit him on the other side the face. Luckily, I got in there.

In CleaverS, there is this scene where a character gets impaled in the leg, that was just a fun sort of concept to work around. There is a scene where the pipe is taken out of the leg and all this gore rushes out. I had this idea where I got loads of gore and blood and filled the pipe with it, so when they pulled the pipe up it all fell out the bottom and it was great. The best part was when it was screened at the horror festival. I didn’t expect the audience to have such a reaction, but when it was pulled out the audience was, “Oh my god, that gross”. That was such a great moment for me it was like, “Yes!”

That scene did get the biggest reaction from the scene as it was a bit unexpected and it works on screen?

That was my moment where I thought, ‘Yes, I’ve done it’.

As we are talking about your projects, what has been the hardest project you have worked on so far?

I don’t know because every project comes with its own challenges, but I think the hardest part is working on a film. When I am at home, I am practising all these different makeups and prosthetics I have hours to make it look perfect, but when I am on set, I may have less than 10 minutes to do it. I think it is getting used to time managing and knowing how to get on it. I have now started to apply glue on the prosthetics before the actor, because I know the glue on the actor will dry quicker than on the prosthetic because there is no body heat coming off the prosthetic. Learning things like I need to do this, before that, so they are ready at the same time, or skip this part because that is not essential as this part. Working on a tight time schedule has really improved my general application process.

There was one incident where I had to cover a tattoo on an actor which I had never had to do before. It was this large chest tattoo and I think I had about seven minutes to do it. I was like ok what do I know from this? I thought, cover up this with orange to counteract the blue from the tattoo, go over with a layer of this and this for the texture of the skin and that was an exciting day on the set for me. It was a first for me and under pressure, so the fact I was able to make a convincing cover up I was very pleased with myself at that point. That was challenging.

Working on independent films you are always working on budget, what was the hardest thing to bring together on a budget?

I think it’s important to take things into account, using a cheaper material but still trying to create an impressive outcome. I didn’t really use liquid latex that much before I started these films, but because its fast to use, cheap and accessible it is something I have started to use more and more. So, there’s been incidents where I have had to do makeup before the day, so I did a very quick sculpt, covered it in latex, quickly painted it up and its been ready to go.

I think its mostly about adjusting your materials. I think you always want to put the best of your ability in, but I think you can cut back on the cost by not using as expensive material. I also think having a passion for the project and the film helps. If you are coming in set thinking I don’t want to be here today but at least I am getting paid, then you are going to have an awful time because you are doing it for the money. That not why I do it, I am doing it because I love it. I think that helps as well, having a good mindset for the project and being a part of this crew and team who are putting out this piece of art.

What is your favourite project or film you have worked on so far?

It was great to be able to go to town in a way… There are lots of other films where I am bloodying up people and making them look dirty and continuity things, but in Cleavers it was great! I could make a hole in someone’s leg, cover it in blood and do all of this gore. Splatter blood all over the walls. It was messy, fun and just kind of a special effect’s relief in a way. When you do special effects all you want to do is cover people in bruises, cuts and horrible things and that movie kind of let me stretch my muscles in a way.

Were you given a chance to sort of create your own ideas of what you would like to do in a scene?

I think it’s nice when a director trusts your ingenuity, he says you know best about makeup so what do you think will work best here. That is a very rewarding experience because you are given some empowerment. Mostly I just want to be portraying the director’s concept and I had to create this horrible clown look and MJ was like; ‘I want his eyes stretched back and his mouth like this and makeup should be coming off like this’. So, I kind of took his general concept and thought OK I am going to do this and add this here to create a horrible look, so his eyes pop out. This will enhance the look his smile and stuff like that. It’s nice when you are given this idea and proximity to work within and then you are able to use your creativity to work within. Its kind of like a challenge and you have to fill them out in the most creative way possible. I love it its great.

That is probably my favourite effect in the film. Especially when you consider the budget it looks impressive when you see the face and how its distorted.

It was maybe one of the most basic ones to do in the film, because its glued-on eyes, the mouth stretcher in and a bit of sculpture under the eyes to make it look like the eyelids are peeled back. It’s such an effective and recognisable look, it was not really like anything I have seen before but is really iconic. That was a fun thing to do. Originally, he was going to have hooks to pull his mouth back, I think we found some coat hangers with the hook at the end, but it looked a bit silly, didn’t really work with the actor so we scrapped that. I think in the end the look is iconic to CleaverS and to create something like that is lovely. Well its not lovely its horrible (Laughs) but that’s the point!

As you progress in makeup and prosthetics how would you like to proceed going forwards as the next step?

I think ideally, I would like to be in a workshop like Pinewood or another production company, because I like the idea of being really good at something. When I create my prosthetics, I have to do my sculpting, moulding, casting pre-painting and applying, but I think to just hone in on one of those skills. To be the head sculpture of this project, the head moulder or head caster, that would be great because I could hone in on that one skill and do it to the best of my ability. As I said you are on a tight time schedule, you have to do this, this and so many things at once. I think it would be good to be part of a giant tam as well, I like being part of a team or crew and putting my best into it.

Do you have any other projects you are working on?

Not at the moment. I just got a new day job, so I am kind of putting the projects to one side as this year I have been project central and I don’t really have time to breathe. Two years ago, I ran some filmmaking workshops with some young people from my home education community. I was home educated for most of my life, so there is a home education community in Milton Keynes. I ran a film workshop for some of the kids in it and it’s been nominated for the best film by Into Film for 12-15-year olds. We are going to a premier on the 4th March in Leicester Square. That is a project which has happened before and is ongoing now. There is nothing going on now or coming up. It is nice to work on these things but also nice to take a breather because otherwise you will resent the project you are working on. It’s nice to take a break because when you go back you are like, ‘Oh I miss this’

What advice would you give to someone who want to get into makeup and prosthetic effects themselves?

YouTube is an incredible tutor. Watch videos when you are not doing anything about what you want to go into, because there is so much content out there now. You are also able to create special effects makeup with any material that you have. Once of the most basic materials, sculpting wax is used a lot by people trying to get into special effects makeup, because it’s cheap, accessible and you can get lots of it. It is often seen as novice material, but there are so many people that are able to create special effects looks with just wax, so you should be limited to your materials.  Whatever materials you use, you are able to make something convincing, shocking and effective, I don’t think materials should hold you back. It’s mostly about the skills you build up doing makeup. The reason we use more expensive materials is because it just makes it easier for us and makes the makeup look aa little bit better. If you are starting out and doing it on yourself with no budget, then there is nothing stopping you. Give what you can get cracking and watch a lot of YouTube.    

You can follow Cameron Blumer on Instagram here

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