WORK EXPERIENCE: Make-up artist with BBC Casualty

BEHIND every television programme, film, or soap opera, is a dedicated team of make-up artists ready to prune every hair, hide every blemish and also be at the ready to create the bloodiest of masterpieces to really bring the action to life.

This was exactly what I discovered when I was kindly offered the opportunity to go along to the set of BBC’s Casualty to try my hand at becoming a prosthetic make-up artist.

I was greeted by Bethan Harris who has worked as a make-up artist on the set of Casualty for three years.

Miss Harris, aged 29, from Blackwood, is responsible for making sure every medical procedure, injury or simple cut and graze is outstandingly gory, majorly bloody, but most importantly realistic and effective.

Before venturing into the world of prosthetics, I was firstly given a tour of the set.

Miss Harris said: “The make-up artists always have to be on set ready to jump in and tend to any of the actors. Every little thing down to the smallest cut needs to stay the same in every shot and it’s our job to ensure that this happens.

“The make-up artists are usually hidden somewhere during filming, pumping blood through a fake artery or ensuring any emergency procedure looks as life like as possible.”

Walking into the prosthetic room I was faced with what looked like some bizarre crime scene.

A mound of artificial legs, arms, hands, faces, even pregnant bumps and eerily realistic babies were stacked in mounds on shelves.

This along with different types of fake blood, paints, drawers full of glue, plastic moulds and even a bowl filled with fake hair.

Miss Harris said: “This is where we create the prosthetics, we usually come in around seven in the morning and start getting the actors ready for the scenes, and we will either then be on set all day or be in here making another prosthetic cast or researching medical procedures detailed in the up and coming story lines.”

The team of prosthetic make-up artists receive the script for Casualty two weeks prior to filming.

The team will then study the script to see what accidents, operations or injuries will be occurring during that episode. They will then begin the planning process to work out how they will make these scenes come to life.

Miss Harris said: “We will all have to research exactly what these types of procedures or injuries look like, to ensure they appear accurate on television. We conduct research online and it can be quite gruesome, but it’s important to get it right.

“We then have a designer who will draw up an illustration of the wound or cut or type of procedure, be it a tracheotomy or cutting someone open during an operation and then we will decide how best to create it.”

For large injuries such as a leg wound, the team will ask the actor who is to sustain the injury to come in a few days prior to the scene being filmed.

A cast will then be made of the actor’s leg using alginate, a white powder that sets rock hard and is then wrapped in plaster bandage.

The cast is then left for a few hours to set and is then filled with silicone to create an exact replica of the leg.

The prosthetic team will then paint the leg using a special silicone paint to ensure it matches the actor’s skin tone.

A wound will then be created on the leg using a special type of glue and different types of fake blood.

Miss Harris said: “There are so many different types of fake blood. We have darkish sticky gel which looks like old dried blood and we also have much brighter runnier blood that looks fresh as if it is running from the wound.

“We also use bruising gels, which are like a dark blue or purple colour to apply bruising around the injury. During the filming the actor will then somehow hide his real leg, so that the one we created looks real. ”

Miss Harris then suggested that I have a go at making my own wound. We decided on something a little easier than a leg incision.

For smaller cuts, the prosthetic make-up artists create the wound directly onto the actor’s skin. Hundreds of silicones moulds are at the ready in order to do this.

Miss Harris selected the mould she wanted me to use, a deep hand cut. The mould is filled with a sticky substance called pro bondo.

The excess is then scraped off and left for a few seconds to dry. The mould, filled with the pro bondo, is then placed over the desired area and peeled off, leaving the pro bondo, which will now have dried clear, in a raised 3D transfer on the skin.

I then used an alcohol based product to blend the pro bondo into the skin.

My lack of artistic skills really showed here as I clumsily applied the bruising gels to Miss Harris’s skin using a paint brush.

I dabbed the sticky dried blood substance around the outer wound and then poured, a little too eagerly, the bright red liquid out of the open wound realising that a steady hand and a creative flair is a must in this job.

Each stage of every process is photographed and stored in continuity files to ensure from scene to scene everything stays exactly the same. The prosthetic team really do show a dedication and meticulous attention to detail throughout their working day.

Miss Harris said: “After doing a degree in sociology, I decided that I wanted to do something more creative, so I took a course in make-up and prosthetics.

“I then earned a place on an apprenticeship here and then continued on into my job.

“Everything is a very detailed process and it’s a long day, so you have to love it to do it.”