Working The Makeup Dept Budget With Desired FX

In the world of film and TV, budgets can be the biggest constraint alongside time, to the creative process. For the makeup department often this means we have to search out cost-efficient options to create a particular look or downgrade the process to fit the money available, thankfully, there are services like Desired FX that can help with this and give you a budget-friendly, professional add-on to your kit that will push the department ahead.

From silicone wounds to scars, tattoos including bruising and standard designs, Desired FX offers up a range of products that will work for most scenarios and even offers a studio custom service to allow further scope for creativity on a budget.

With increasing options in the digital market from Amazon to HOD TV (Horror on Demand), the indie film sector has never been so popular with the on-demand film/TV sector becoming bigger year on year, but budgets being tight in the circuit, having the option of a team like Desired FX who can provide cost-efficient options for the FX department, there is scope to bring a different dimension as a department head working smart with the available funds.

To learn more about Desired FX or to purchase see:

Desired FX shop ( 10% off on all products with the promo code "JamesClark10")

Desired FX Instagram.

Desired FX Facebook.

Creating a Story and Building the Brand

When Lost Creatives was first started it was about a journey and finding a path, in that time we have covered a wide range of people’s stories and given a voice to some amazing filmmakers who have helped bring our creative narrative as well as their own, to the public domain.

Over the next few months we plan to add to the stories in a more visual sense, with so much of our work having to be held due to publication terms, it will be fun to finally be able to showcase the work that has been done in the background by our creative director and head of makeup JamesC. Some new portfolio pieces are being finalized with the JamesC portfolio site (frustratingly) taken longer than planned we will be reverting back and reworking the current site with the new content and bringing in a much more cohesive workflow across the sites we already have with the additions of showcasing his work as a photographer into the bargain.

When it comes to production, there is some light at the end of a long tunnel, we have chosen two TV shows to produce along with two short films that we will use as entry back into the market, and with our work with some Amazingly talented filmmakers when it comes to cost, we have been able to work the angles and find additional avenues of marketing, sales, and of course open up our team to different potential projects outside of horror and thriller.

Naturally, we will be working with vshowcards who have been fantastic and are rapidly gaining ground in the production realm and have even got Bollywood on their side which is an amazing coup for the team.

In the next few weeks, we will be making a return to social media with the Lost Creatives and Lost Agency Instagram being updated with new work and some experimental shots we have been playing around with as part of a planned concept.

More news and updates on The Lost coming soon.

Motivational Changes

With so many changes happening in the world of cinema, our predictions are starting to look more and more like a reality as people move toward digital platforms and the rise of the Indie film scene as smaller companies step to the plate and create films and TV projects that are specific to the likes of Prime and Amazon in general and of course our own personal favorite HOD TV.

Part of this for us has been about rethinking the websites and the content, we have made some small steps in this and will be taking our creative director’s portfolio site fully offline for a few days to reorganize and rebrand to fit upcoming projects.

While this is happening we did pull out some images that for us are a marker of what we are aiming to showcase and have a very commercial leaning that suits our style and future plans. What we have also been doing is talking to other small companies via Twitter, where we have been making a push toward support for Indie film of all stripes and will be publishing interviews with some fantastic small companies who have been talking about their pre-production work for their projects and how they are working within the guidelines. taking time to talk to distributors about what is out there for us as a team.

Naturally, for us, we are going to be looking at web TV first and foremost and have looked into various festivals and options to promote with our ultimate plan being commercially driven.

A New Year A New Plan

In many respects, 2020 has been a lost year for a lot of people with the world changing dramatically. For us, it has opened up doors to a whole host of new potential avenues and given us a chance to reevaluate what we have been doing and look at how we can fit ourselves into the market long-term. To do this we have broken our work into key areas that will be public and those which will be kept private to the inhouse team.

In the public sense, we have two key areas we will be focusing on in the first quarter of the year:

Editorial and print: we have been putting this on the backburner in some respect taking time to look at locations, edit work already shot, slowly build up a series of images and work that will be released over the early part of 2021 with additional planned small shoots that will be a combination of artistic and commercial. *This will include product placement in behind the scenes imaging and video with brands such as Lord and Berry, Mykitco, and Brushwork Cosmetics to start. We are open to new potential brand partners for projects contact the team to discuss.

Film and TV: something that we have been doing since the start of Lost Creatives is supporting a range of festivals including Micromania and The Nepal Cultural and Film Centers' own festival. We do have plans to partner with a European festival and will reveal details on that soon.

Our initial goal is to work on 3 projects that will be shorts, designed specifically to go to festivals and as an opening gambit for our planned digital TV shoots in the horror/thriller market (for Which we have already spoken to several distributors and have options in place including the HOD TV route which is our number 1 choice).

In the coming months, our projects will be smaller in nature to help push forward and test the waters of the market and expand out. Our ties to South Asia (Including Nepal Film Production and our key actor contacts in India), will play a heavy part in our work as we are questioning how we will be able to work in Scotland and the UK in general.

Each of the current websites: JamesC mua. Lost Project and of course Lost Creatives will be receiving overhauls and updated images across the galleries, and the welcome pages, additional sites are being planned for our film/TV work to keep the Creatives solely about marketing and the background elements we have built.

Further updates will be released over the course of the month. We are really excited about our plans for 2021 and look forward to pushing the boundaries of our work.

MonsterFX Supplies

Founded in 2014, MonsterFX has become a staple of artists kits worldwide.  From its humble roots in a spare room to a respected and loved brand of character appliance suited to the film, TV and print market.  

Created inhouse and developed by UK artists, the brand has gone from being an intellectual exercise and Halloween sideline to a cottage industry with global reach that has seen the product range increase to the now 40+ prosthetics including classics such as “the mummy” to the more contemporary “zombie” with the most commonly required casualty sim pieces.  

A horror artist dream when working to a tight budget the team is happy to talk terms and will even create custom pieces and orders when required.  The inhouse sculptors all bring something unique to the table and have built a stellar reputation both for their work with MonsterFX and within the industry. 

From a professional artist whose work goes across various budgets and constraints, the scope and potential of the MonsterFX range is epic and offers a creative playground that will not only add dimension to film and TV projects but save cost without compromising on quality.  

With the constant changes and innovations in the market, the company is excelling in the character field and giving artists of all stripes access to the best possible products and materials making the work of a makeup artist a little simpler and creating happy productions with the depth of horror required to offer thrills, chills and on Halloween a dimension of fear that will be unrivaled at parties.

To learn more about the Monster FX range or to purchase see:

MonsterFX Website.

MonsterFX Facebook.

MonsterFX Instagram.

MonsterFX Youtube.

MonsterFX Twitter.

Brushwork Cosmetics Customisation a Professional Take

As the creative director and senior makeup artist of the Lost Project and Lost Creatives, I do work in different areas from film and TV through to fashion and editorial. My working kit is something I am constantly working on editing it by adding or changing up the kit but one thing I am really big on is an investment in key components such as makeup brushes. With this in mind when I saw the news that Brushwork Cosmetics was offering customization throughout January, I knew I had to talk about it from a professional stance.

While I appreciate this is a limited offer (for the month of January) it is really savvy for artists in makeup such as bridal and salon, fashion, film, and TV, to take advantage of this deal and here’s my reasoning why:

• Customized brushes with your name on the handle are easy to keep track of when you're on a job or with a client.

• It adds an extra dimension, think of it, clients will see this and know that you have taken time and care over what you have in your working kit and shows you have invested in your business.

• This also allows you to add your brand to the brush and it becomes a subliminal part of your marketing when you post images on social media. People will be aware of your name and associate it with professional brushes.

As someone who is a brush aficionado, I do support and endorse the range and this added dimension of “tagging” is for me a fantastic option that as stated above allows you to keep track of your kit. Brushwork Cosmetics as a whole offers Japanese Heritage brushes and cosmetics that are beyond compare and offer a premium range of well-curated brushes and cosmetics that sit beautifully in a working kit with or without the customization.

To learn more about the range or to purchase see:

Brushwork Cosmetics Website.

Brushwork Cosmetics Instagram.

Brushwork Cosmetics Facebook.