This October I had the pleasure of being recruited onto the makeup team for Fright Nights 2016. Fright Night is a seasonal Halloween event held at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It offers park-goers an experience very different to that of a normal day at Movie World. By night, the park is adorned with horror-themed decor and infamous characters roam the park and there are also a slew of shows and mazes themed around different movies and shows.
The makeup department takes care of all cast members and performers before the event begins and each year has a similar process. This year, however, the event was kicked up a notch when they brought in a dark horse the design the makeups. Enter Sean Genders, special effects makeup artist of JMBFX Studio. With experience on productions such as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Pacific (2010) and the Matrix sequels, his experience and knowledge offered the perfect opportunity to rock the boat and create something unlike previous years.
(Various zombie makeups, applied by myself and my team of assisting zombie artists, including standout work by Scott Tiesman, Jade Shephard, Taylah Hughes, Nicola and others)
By implementing a new brief, the entire team was able to bring the characters to a level they’d never been at before. Characters were made up for mazes such as ‘Dusk till Dawn’, ‘Wyrmwood’, ‘The Conjuring 2’ and more. I spent the duration of the event overseeing the team making up the Zombie performers for the Wyrmwood maze. We were also lucky enough to have a play with some prosthetic pieces from JMBFX Studio. Over the weeks, the zombies improved and everyone had the added benefit of learning some new skills. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out this event in the future. It’s a perfect way to enjoy the month of October!
