Dead Birds - Part 2: Shop Images

Dead Birds - 2004

 

In my previous post, I shared the concept work that I produced for the film, Dead Birds. This post will focus on the work done in the shop by the makeup effects team that I was a part of. I want to be crystal clear, the work presented here results from a group of skilled and talented artists and craftsmen who spent many weeks working under tight deadlines to produce this work. I played a minor role in much of this work, save for creating the concept designs. Likely, I was also involved in cleaning up the seams on the silicon and foam latex and eventually some of the paintworks. To be honest, much of this time was a blur, and I can't recall all that I was doing and what exactly I did on this particular project in the shop. I was always an extra pair of hands used where I was needed. Also, we were working on other projects simultaneously, so it was likely I was involved in that other work as well.

 

I was the shop's historian and archivist, which meant that I was constantly recording and documenting what was happening in the shop on our various projects. This responsibility is why I have access to all of these images, and many, many more, after all these years. Please keep in mind, the things I most definitely had no part in with this work are the sculpture, mold making, casting, and animatronic work. I have intentionally used images that contained as few people as possible and no faces. While I remember most of the team I worked with, I don't recall everyone's names. Also, at least two of the people that I worked with on this film are now dead. It is simply easier to keep everyone out of the images rather than making sure everyone gets appropriate credit. With all the caveats address, it is time for some monster-making.

 The Creature

As I shared last time, I was heavily involved with designing the Creature for Dead Birds. The Creature's design would be seen throughout most other effects in the movie, and locking it down was key. Once I had completed my contributions to the design, the shop's art director finalized it, and it went into production in the shop. It was a multiphased process with many working together to get all the work done. Since it was a fully articulated animatronic creature, it needed to perform on set as it was necessary to. This meant that the Creature's body was a hollow fiberglass shell full of control wires surrounded by a silicon skin. Starting things off, a maquette was created to get production's approval, to work it out in the round, and to have a guide as the sculptors moved forward in the full-sized Creature.

The Creature maquette was about six inches long if I remember correctly - give or take. I was involved with several camera and lighting experiments to see what effects were possible with the monster.

 

The full-size Creature sculpture is underway. The size was worked out, and an armature was created to support the clay sculpture. The sculpture started very rough and was refined through multiple passes on increasing detail.

 

 

Another look at the entire sculpture. It is getting close to completion at this point, or should I say the body is getting close to completion.

 

 

The head and limbs were removed so that additional refinement and detail could be added to the sculpture. While that was happening, the body was prepped for a fiberglass mold. As with painting, extra detail is usually put into the faces and hands of sculptures, even a monster sculpture.

 

 

This is one of the forelimbs getting additional attention and detail. As a general rule, much of the time, attention, detail, and work that goes into makeup effects and monsters are never seen on screen. It is lost to the process of making movies. The time and work are still put into our creations because the people who paid for it will be on set looking at our creations, and they need to be wowed.

 

 

As with the limbs, the head received more detailing. It also needed to be modified to have an open mouth that could move and display rows of needle teeth.

 

 

The body's mold had silicone injected under pressure to ensure that it was filled and there were no air pockets. Small holes were drilled in the highest points to allow air to escape, and once silicon began to ooze from the holes, they were sealed. If you look at the image's background, you can see the controlled chaos that is a makeup effects shop.

 

 

The body is fresh from the mold. Lots of flashing to clean up and some areas to address, but a successful run. I am not sure who, whom, or why, but in the decision-making process, it was determined that the Creature would have "unsettling" genitalia. It was a popular thing to do at the time, but I never understood it and the glee some took in it seemed very juvenile.

 

 

The limbs were all cast separately but didn't require the silicone to be injected. This back foot appears to have a lot of flashing to deal with.

 

 

This is the fiberglass shell of the Creature taking shape. A great deal of time and effort goes into this type of operation and it was all outside my pay grade at the time. It was all controlled with wires and was completely hand-controlled, with no servos or electronics. 

 

 

As mentioned before, a mouth full of needle teeth could be slid into position to make the monster more fierce.

 

 

The body skin was tired on the shell to see how it all fit. One of the main issues with this monster is that the silicon is heavy. The shell needs to support it, and the wires need to be strong enough to move the shell and the skin. Slashes and cuts were made on the inside of the skin to allow for more movement and flexibility.

 

 

The shell and mechanics are getting close to completion. There is no going back now.

 

The body, head, and limps are all attached to the shell, and the painstaking process of hiding all of the seams begins. Silicon paste is used to conceal the gaps and seams to make the skin a unified form. At this point as well, the mechanics are permanently sealed into the monster. If something goes wrong, the skin will have to be cut open to address any malfunctions. It all has to be perfect, or nothing will work.

 

 

With pain finally going onto the Creature, it is finally beginning to look like a fully-realized monster. We had to use silicon-based paint so that it would stick to the silicon skin. Not the healthiest materials to work with - much like many of the products used in the effect business of the time. Hopefully, safer and more environmentally friendly options are now available.

 

Did I mention we made a full-sized dead Creature?

 

 

This dead version has a silicon skin, but is filled with foam over a wire armature so that it could be posistioned into a suitable pose.

 

 

Slathered with blood and kept almost entirely off-screen, this dead Creature was more for the actors to respond to than to show to the audience. That said, as much time and effort was given to it as was given to all of the rest of the effects created for the movie.

 

 

A closeup of the mouth and needle teeth. RAWR! It is a scary Creature!

 

 

The results of everyone's labors. One fully animatronic monster ready for filming.

 

 

A side view of the monster and that hand rib action that I was so proud of in the design phase.

 

 

A look at the cart the monster was attached to for filming. Kept off-camera, the card allows the Creature a great deal of mobility.

 

 

This is a look at the Creature's back and all the hairs ( that are TOTALLY not fishing line) that cover its body.

 

 

One final shot of the Creature head-on.

Dead Birds

The movie's namesake does make an appearance. We were tasked to design and create several mutated dead birds. I was not involved with any of this particular effect. The shop's art director designed it, and others did the sculpting, paintwork, and finish. Well, I may have seamed one or two and may have painted the background birds; I really don't remember. There were several of these made, but there were one or two hero pieces that were made of silicon and were used for close-up shots. I really like these pieces, and I thought they turned out really well.

 

The sculpture of the dead bird. Only one was made, and the cast birds were modified and changed to appear like there were many different birds.

 

 

The finished dead bird in all its squishy goodness. If I remember correctly, there were some issues with getting the feathers to stick and to look good. There was some back and forth about how much skin should be showing and how much the feathers covered. This hero bird rides the line well.

Ghost Children

There were two ghost children created for Dead Birds. I was responsible for designing the male child, and the art director designed the female child. Both went through minimal design phases and were quick turnaround effects. The male ghost ended up being a mask, and the female ghost was a multipiece makeup. Working with kids can sometimes be difficult, and getting life casts of children can be a terrifying ordeal for both child and adult. But to make film quality masks and makeups there weren't alternatives at the time. You might notice some similarities of these masks and makeup to the look of the Creature.

 

The sculpture of the male ghost mask. It is very true to the design and very creepy.

 

 

The mask was cast in silicon and was painted in the same fashion as the Creature.

 

 

The finished male ghost mask.

 

 

The female ghost was similar but a little different, almost like an earlier form. This is the sculpture of the facepiece for the makeup.

 

 

There was also a next appliance that was sculpted and used. 

 

 

This is the foam latex face appliance for the female ghost. I know this is definitely not my work. I never went in and used white paint in my work as it is used here.

Clyde Scarecrow

Clyde, played by Michael Shannon, needed to have a multipiece makeup created and a replica head. This meant a lifecast was required. I designed all of the aspects of this effect, but a lot of the finer details were worked out in clay. I was uncertain of my efforts for this piece at the time. Looking back at the end results now I think it was a successful finished effect.

 

Michael Shannon going under the blue goo.

 

 

The sculpture for the facepiece of the makeup. The thread was added so that when the sculpture was review it was clear what it would look like. The thread was not part of the sculpture and was added to the finished painted makeup.

 

 

If I remember correctly, the chest piece was sculpted off a generic form we had available.

 

 

The raw foam latex cast of the chest piece.

 

 

The foam latex face appliance after it was painted and the thread was added.

 

 

The fully-painted chest piece.

 

 

Finally, the replica head of Clyde ready for use on set. We took a cast from his lifecast, modified the head position, added a cast of the face appliance, and painted and finished it so that it would match the makeup on the actor.

There are so many more images that I have in my archive. So many more memories and stories. I will end here, though. If you have questions, I am happy to answer them. This was but one of the many projects I worked on in my time in LA and if the mood strikes me I will bring more to the blog in the future.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Dead Birds - Part 1: Concept Design

 

Dead Birds - 2004

In mid to late 2003, I worked on the movie, Dead Birds. This was a fairly big deal for the makeup effects shop I worked for, and we were fully staffed to meet the shoot's needs. We had to create a wide range of effects, from simple bullet wound makeups to replica heads to a full-size animatronic creature. The cast has some known actors in it (Henry Thomas, Mark Boone Junior, and Michael Shannon), and I believe it was well-received and, at least at the time, had a noticed release. At that time, it was nearly impossible to know how well the projects we worked on were ever received. By the time movies or shows were released, we had long since forgotten about them and had worked on half a dozen other projects. That was the nature of the industry when I was a part of it.

I will be sharing two posts about Dead Birds this week. This one, the first, will focus on the concept design work that I created for the film, and the second post that will come in a few days will focus on the work done in the shop. These are posts that I planned to do for a long time, but since I recently found all my original drawings, I took it as an omen to finally share them. Also, the man I used to work for during my time in LA passed away a couple of weeks ago. Any hesitation about sharing my work in the film industry is now gone, and I feel I can speak more frankly about the work and my time there.

The Creature

While there were many effects needed for Dead Birds, the main focus of everyone's efforts centered around creating the Creature. The Creature was a prominent feature of the movie, and the design of it would carry through other effects we would be making. Since the Creature would need to be a fully animatronic practical effect, a great deal of time, energy, and money would be going into it to bring it to life. But before anything could happen in the shop, the concept design team would need to figure out what precisely the Creature looked like. When I say the concept design team, I refer to myself and the shop's art director. I will only be sharing my work on the film. 

The Creature wasn't well described, but we were told to think of it as a deformed, messed-up human monstrosity. Maybe it was once human, perhaps it was once several humans, maybe a bunch of humans got eaten by something and vomited up, and that mass is now running around. It was up to us to figure out the direction this monster would be going. We generated a lot of drawings on this production, much more than we usually did for projects. It was a nice change of pace, and looking back now, I believe some of the best design work that I did in LA was on this project. There are plenty of designs and drawings that I am still happy with, and I can not say that about other work done at this time. I am not sharing all of the work that I did on the film, only the work done traditionally or was essential to the production.

The art director and I were sent to the design room to get to work. After a bit of scribbling, some talking, a lot of panic, I came up with a selection of thumbnails that worked out some ideas and got the ball rolling. These are the best and the ones that have survived.

The Creature - Concept Thumbnails

Dead Birds

Each 8.5 x 11 - Pencil and ink on paper

Originals Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

There are a few of these that I feel have a lot of potential. I don't think they were ever seen by anyone outside the shop until now, so they are still mine to play around with. Of course, they will look very different once I get around to doing something with them.

There was a bit of internal conversation after the first wave of thumbnails were completed - what was working and wasn't. By this time, the film's producers, writers, and decision-makers were finally sending us their thoughts on what this monster should look like. We took it all into consideration and got to work on some more finished designs. For mine, I drew them traditionally and finished them digitally. These two designs are still some of my favorite work done on this movie. While the final monster ended up being very different, there is something about these I really liked. They were nicely mutated, raw, and both dangerous and vulnerable.

The Creature - Concept Design

Dead Birds

11 x 8.5 - Pencil and ink on paper

Original Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

 

The Creature - Concept Design 'D'

Dead Birds

11 x 8.5 - Digital finish

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

 

The Creature - Concept Design

Dead Birds

8.5 x 11 - Pencil and ink on paper

Original Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

 

The Creature - Concept Design 'E'

Dead Birds

8.5 x 11 - Digital finish

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

Before these went out, I was asked by the boss to do a modified version of one of the designs. It was to incorporate some of the thoughts and notes coming in from the filmmakers. Already they were thinking of something more intact, something more fleshy and put together. They were also starting to lean into the idea of hollow eyes and a gaping mouth. Looking at what they eventually went with, this was the point it began to head in that direction.

The Creature - Concept Design 'F'

Dead Birds

8.5 x 11 - Digital finish 

 © 2021 Christopher Burdett

Getting clear feedback from the filmmakers was never a feature of those days in the shop. I found it like playing a game of telephone. The notes and feedback were always passed through several people, and I never knew what was coming from the writers and producers or what was coming from the boss. The only exception was when the showrunners or filmmakers hated something or were gleefully berating my designs. Then I would receive a real-time play-by-play of just how bad my work was and how badly I was making the shop look due to my subpar abilities. 

While I thought we were moving in the right direction, which in hindsight, we were, the art director and I were told to go in a totally new direction. We were asked to start working on a more humanoid version that was bipedal and was described as a walking skin bag. I did as I was told and turned out a collection of new thumbnails. These are the best and the ones that have survived.

The Creature - Concept Thumbnails (humanoid version)

Dead Birds

Each 8.5 x 11 - Pencil and ink on paper

Originals Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

I was not a fan of this new direction, but I did my best. There are some interesting forms in these, but I felt, and still do feel, that the messed-up quadrupedal route was better for this movie. With concept design work, you need to explore as much as possible to make sure you haven't missed anything. Even so, I feel we wasted some time exploring this direction. The art director and I eventually created some more finalized concepts.

The Creature - Concept Designs (humanoid version)

Dead Birds

Each 8.5 x 11 - Pencil and ink on paper

Originals Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

Of the three, I still really like the first. I can see the early spark of forms I have revisited in my work in that first drawing. The rest are interesting explorations, but they would have never worked out as the movie's monster. 

This is where there is a little bit of a gap, but there was a lot of talking and work being done, just not on paper. I was doing some digital mockups, the art director was exploring some additional directions that led nowhere, and we were finally getting a lot of feedback from the filmmakers. We were back on track with a monster on four legs, a human-like face with sunken eyes and gaping mouth, pale flesh, and functional but abnormal anatomy. With all that in mind, I made this.

The Creature - Concept Design

Dead Birds

11 x 8.5 - Pencil, ink, marker, and white paint on paper

Original Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

 

The Creature - Concept Design

Dead Birds

11 x 8.5 - Digital finish

© 2021 Christopher Burdett'

This is as far as I went with the design work on the Creature. The art director did a couple more iterations as we locked in on the final design, but my design for this monster carries through to the end. Of all the things I designed in LA, the arm and hand rib cage is one of the things I am proudest of. I remember it being my creation, but I had to go back through my archives and look at the timestamps on all of the designs to make sure this piece had it first. Not that it mattered then or matters now, but with all the artistic ups and mostly downs that I had in LA, it is nice to have proof that I created something that I am still proud of that made it into a finished production. As a side note, the tail never made it into the final design. Oh well...

Fun Fact: If you watch the extras on the DVD of Dead Birds there is a segment of the producers looking at a table full of our designs for the Creature. At one point they pick up one of the drawings and mock and ridicule it. Thankfully, it was not one of my designs.

Clyde Scarcrow

Clyde, played by Michael Shannon, becomes a scarecrow in the film. I was asked to design the makeup, chest appliance and depict how he might look tied up in all his scarecrow goodness. Not my best work, but it got the job done. This was a fast turnaround for a straightforward concept. There was not much heavy lifting to be done, and much of the finer points would be worked out in the sculpture of the makeup and chest appliance. We had Michael Shannon in the shop for a life cast before creating these designs, which allowed me to have reference for the makeup so that the design had a passing resemblance. There were no thumbnails, iterations, or roughs, I sat down and made these, and they were approved and went into production.

Clyde Scarcrow - Concept Designs

Dead Birds

Each 8.5 x 11 - Pencil and ink on paper

Originals Available

© 2021 Christopher Burdett

Fun Fact: Having met and worked on the life cast of Michael Shannon and having Mark Boone Junior in the movie it has really upped my six degrees of Kevin Bacon game with a lot of shows and movies I have enjoyed. Thanks to Mark Boone Junior I am one degree away of everyone from the Mandalorian. That and Dave Filoni was sitting behind us at the stage show for the very last Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios.

Ghost Child

Two ghost children needed to be designed for the movie, one male and one female. I was tasked with the male child and the art director working on the female child. I was forced to create my designs digitally, as I was on a lot of the design work I produced during my time in LA. It was a luxury to have been able to draw my designs for the Creature with a pencil and pen. I made two versions of the male child ghost. The first was early in our work on the film, and the second, which was approved and used, was created later after the Creature design was finalized. You might notice a similarity between my final Creature design and that of the second ghost child.

Ghost Child - Concept Design

Dead Birds

8.5 x 11 - Digital

 © 2021 Christopher Burdett

 

Ghost Child - Concept Design

Dead Birds

8.5 x 11 - Digital

 © 2021 Christopher Burdett

Fun Fact: The top design is built off one of the guys in the shop who I still keep up with, and the bottom design is built off photos of the child actor from the film.

In my next post, I will have many photos from the shop as the team worked on creating animatronic monsters, dead birds, makeups, and more! 

That is all of another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com