Moderator says, "Welcome to the auditorium. We have John Vulich with us tonight."
17:50:07 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#6 from Jds532218:
why did your group take over from the previous SFX company?
17:50:56 : John_vulich says, "I'm not sure exactly why..."
17:51:05 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#4 from Koshka:
Thank you for coming, Mr. Vulich. Did you design G'Kar or was
his look a jms creation?
17:51:23 : John_vulich says, "I do think that perhaps the other companies work was a little "cartoony"..."
17:51:48 : John_vulich says, "and the had a stronger background in puppets not prosthetics...."
17:52:49 : John_vulich says, "G'Kar was a combo of Steve Burg, John Criswell (The company that did the pilot) with of course Joe's input."
17:53:00 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#8 from Pierrepressure:
You and your crew do fantastic work. Re: G'kaar, do you airbrush
the colour onto a plain foam mask or what?
17:54:03 : John_vulich says, "We use vacu-form friscits sp? for the initail placement of the spots..."
17:54:29 : John_vulich says, "and we add further details with an airbrush..."
17:55:09 : John_vulich says, "it generaly takes 1/2 a day to paint so we do it ahead of time in the lab so as to avoid wasting time on set."
17:55:29 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#12 from Dr_rock:
which is the more complex makeup for yourself and the actors,
G'kar or Lorien.
17:55:42 : John_vulich says, "Lorien..."
17:55:46 : Moderator says, "I'm sorry my computer crashed and I needed to go to another computer"
17:56:23 : John_vulich says, "There are several hair peices involved and there is less pre-painting..."
17:56:42 : John_vulich says, "and then there are the finger extensions that need to go no too!"
17:56:56 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#13 from Bajele:
Do you get ideas for the look of the aliens from real life or
from your imaginations?
17:57:31 : John_vulich says, "Both..."
17:58:03 : John_vulich says, "We often turn to nature and wildlife books for inspiration..."
17:59:00 : John_vulich says, "oddly enough children's books, especialy the "Eywitness" series..."
17:59:35 : John_vulich says, "and then we just mutate the ideas we get from real animal into Aliens..."
18:00:04 : John_vulich says, "I'm very fond of Crocs and Alligators... it's sort of an in-joke here."
18:00:16 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#5 from Tepcat:
Was it intentional to make the Narn look like snakes or did
that just happen?
18:00:25 : John_vulich says, "I suck at typing BTW!!!"
18:01:02 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#25 from Dr_rock:
lorien certainly appears to be nearing the critical mass of
latext there, whilst still looking "real", do you think you can actually
get more makeup on to a character than that .
18:01:20 : John_vulich says, "Well there is meant to be a reptile look even though they are supposed to be marsupials..."
18:01:49 : John_vulich says, "Not sure I understand?"
18:02:20 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#27 from Koshka:
Can you give us an example of an alien inspired by an animal?
18:02:44 : John_vulich says, "If you mean can it still look convincing with a lot more rubber on the answer is... I guess..."
18:03:27 : John_vulich says, "But we strive to keep our designs as close as we can (design permitng) to the actors face..."
18:04:02 : John_vulich says, "As I belive it is quite important to allow the actor as much facial freedom as possible..."
18:04:26 : John_vulich says, "As our work is only as good as the actors ablity to emote in it."
18:04:42 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#14 from Klag:
The people who play the Centari-do they use their own hair?
18:04:45 : John_vulich says, "Pak'Ma'Ra is based on an elephant..."
18:05:26 : John_vulich says, "Drazi's are based on turtles..."
18:06:07 : John_vulich says, "Drakh's are based on Crocodiles/Turtles..."
18:06:34 : John_vulich says, "Llort's are based on an Armadillo..."
18:06:54 : John_vulich says, "Hyach is based on Cobras... and so on!"
18:07:13 : John_vulich says, "Centauri Hair?"
18:07:39 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#20 from Klag:
How do you get the Pakmara's fleshy things to move?
18:08:35 : John_vulich says, "Usually just the background Centauri use there own hair... they are requeted that way by the straight make-up dept..."
18:09:32 : John_vulich says, "By the way Londo is the only Centauri that we do as he has a prosthetic forehead... Cincia Zanetti and her crew handle the rest."
18:09:44 : John_vulich says, "Pak tentacles..."
18:10:16 : John_vulich says, "they are worked by radio control servos..."
18:10:22 : John_vulich says, "Futaba!"
18:10:29 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#36 from Purple:
When an actor is hired to play an alien do they have to come
to you to get molds made of their head and hands - for example if someone
was to be a Drazi...?
18:10:43 : John_vulich says, "Sometimes..."
18:11:26 : John_vulich says, "More so when we first started, but at this point we have a large amount on backlog to chosse from..."
18:12:21 : John_vulich says, "However if we do a major character that will be featured for a few episodes we will do a custom face..."
18:13:01 : John_vulich says, "We have however gotten very good at gluing just about anything onto a face... AND MAKING IT FIT!!!"
18:13:08 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#17 from Dr_rock:
I believe time is a crucial factor for your makeups, what sort
of timeframe do you have to get lorien and G'kar together each shooting
day
18:13:26 : John_vulich says, "Time is crucial..."
18:14:00 : John_vulich says, "Most of the make-ups take about 2 - 2 1/2 hours for featured characters..."
18:14:17 : John_vulich says, "and 1 - 1 1/2 hours for background..."
18:14:55 : John_vulich says, "One of the things that is difficult doing a show like B-5 is trying to mantain a feature film like quality..."
18:15:26 : John_vulich says, "even though we usually get half the time both in construction and application..."
18:15:54 : John_vulich says, "it's been a great learning experiance for us.... we fear no schedule!!!"
18:16:05 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#9 from Purple:
How do you decide how much detailing is used on the Minbari
headgear?
18:16:33 : John_vulich says, "?"
18:16:48 : John_vulich says, "The schedule!!!"
18:17:55 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#48 from Dr_rock:
I noticed the minbari headbones look similar to their large
battle cruiser ships, is that intentional
18:18:12 : John_vulich says, "We put in as much detail as time allows... buit we have gotten real good at judging what is needed..."
18:18:40 : John_vulich says, "TV is different from film in that respect."
18:18:51 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#19 from Pierrepressure:
When designing new makeups for Aliens, do you get approval from
drawings, or work them up from models?
18:19:06 : John_vulich says, "Usually drawings..."
18:19:25 : John_vulich says, "First we break the script down..."
18:19:46 : John_vulich says, "and then try to figure out the dramatic need for the design..."
18:20:14 : John_vulich says, "we can't just do what we think is kewl... it has to fit the story..."
18:21:00 : John_vulich says, "sometime a character needs to look nice at first and then evil... (deathwalker)..."
18:22:02 : John_vulich says, "so the design has to suit the story... once we get a bead on the character we do 3 versions just to get the dialog rolling..."
18:23:06 : John_vulich says, "if we're lucky they sign off on one of them. Often Joe will have some particular input on some aspect of the charecter..."
18:23:24 : John_vulich says, "and then we go a second round with the designs..."
18:23:55 : John_vulich says, "usually it doesn't take too long tho... one of the thing that I like about TV over Film..."
18:24:36 : John_vulich says, "is that people realize that there is little tiime to complete the work so no one holds you up too much."
18:24:54 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#26 from Xenos:
Have you ever had an idea that just didn't work out when you
tried to create the actual alien?
18:25:04 : John_vulich says, "Hmmmm..."
18:25:19 : John_vulich shakes his head.
18:25:22 : John_vulich says, "No they are all PERFECT!!!"
18:25:37 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#29 from Pierrepressure:
Does it take a lot of notice and prep. time when you have to
do a "crowd scene" of Drazis, Narns and others, and do you have to put
a lot of extra staff on?
18:26:17 : John_vulich says, "Not usually..."
18:26:52 : John_vulich says, "most Zocalo or Council Chamber scenes are pretty under control..."
18:27:11 : John_vulich says, "But whenever we go to someones homeworld..."
18:27:22 : John_vulich says, "or the Markab episode!!!..."
18:28:02 : John_vulich says, "It's a TON of prep... but Joes been real good about not piling to many episodes in a row like that..."
18:29:00 : John_vulich says, "That is one of the things that amazes me is how Joe can juggle story and production requirments so well..."
18:29:09 : John_vulich says, "without hurting either!"
18:29:42 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#37 from Bajele:
How are you able to apply the prosthetic pieces so that the
seams are not visable? For example Londo's bald cap goes to his eyes.
18:29:45 : John_vulich says, "He is very good at balances the shows recources!"
18:29:53 : John_vulich says, "We ROCK!!!"
18:30:46 : John_vulich says, "We make sure for starters that the molds are well made..."
18:31:15 : John_vulich says, "And make sure to run good foam latex peices..."
18:31:50 : John_vulich says, "and hire nothing but the best (that we can afford of course) guys to finish it off..."
18:32:17 : John_vulich says, "the on set guys Jerry, Gabe, and Manny are very meticulous and fast!"
18:32:24 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#58 from Bruckner:
Have you ever counted the number of prosthetics used in an episode
or scene? What's the top number?
18:32:46 : John_vulich shudders.
18:33:01 : John_vulich says, "60 Markabs..."
18:33:26 : John_vulich says, "And about 50 - 60 Minbaris once..."
18:33:54 : John_vulich says, "I think!... it's all kinda fuzzy right now."
18:34:04 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#49 from Klag:
Do make Minbari head pieces for each person playing a Minbari,
or is there a stock of them?
18:34:52 : John_vulich says, "We do make special ones for Lennier and Delenn, but the rest are generic..."
18:35:16 : John_vulich says, "there sems to be more leeway on the crowns fit-wise than the face..."
18:35:40 : Moderator says, " We have about 10 more minutes. So, think up some good questions."
18:35:43 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#60 from Pierrepressure:
John (thanks for the answers! 8-) how do you build the ruibber
aplications up? You build them on a life mask, but do you then make EXTERIOR
mould, or sculpt the peices?
18:36:07 : John_vulich says, "First we cast the actor..."
18:36:26 : John_vulich says, "then we make a mold of their face from th cast..."
18:37:00 : John_vulich says, "we sculpt (in clay) the face on the lifecast..."
18:37:16 : John_vulich says, "we make a mold off of that..."
18:37:29 : John_vulich says, "now we take the clay out..."
18:37:46 : John_vulich says, "and we have 2 pieces..."
18:38:15 : John_vulich says, "the actors face cast, which we call the positive..."
18:38:45 : John_vulich says, "and the mold of the sculpture, which we call the negative..."
18:39:26 : John_vulich says, "we fill the negative up with foam latex, put the positive into it... and coock the foam..."
18:40:30 : John_vulich says, "This is of courrse a very simplified version, a lot of the characters have multi piece masks that require more stages..."
18:40:44 : John_vulich says, "but I'm getting to technical as it is!"
18:41:02 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#22 from Koshka:
How did you get started in the business?
18:41:14 : John_vulich says, "Crack cocaine abuse..."
18:41:27 : John_vulich says, "THAT"S A JOKE!!!!"
18:42:14 : John_vulich says, "I was the classic kid with the Famous Monster magazine hidden in his text book... literally..."
18:42:28 : John_vulich says, "and I made 8 mill films..."
18:43:07 : John_vulich says, "I think I just devoloped a strong affinity for movies from being a latch key child..."
18:43:33 : John_vulich says, "And I wanted to be a part of what I really enjoyed!"
18:43:42 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#46 from Bruckner:
How many different projects does Optic Nerve have active at
one time?
18:43:58 : John_vulich says, "3-4"
18:44:16 : John_vulich says, "We also do "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"..."
18:45:21 : John_vulich says, "and at any given time small amount of work on shows like "The Drew Carey Show (Men in Black Spoof)", "Teen Angel".."
18:45:50 : John_vulich says, ""Third Rock from the Sun (3D episode)"..."
comment; I think the Q's have been exceptionally astute. (with a few notable exceptions!)"
18:46:26 : Moderator says, " We have time for one more question."
18:46:38 : John_vulich says, "Lots of TV..."
18:47:15 : Moderator says, "I'm looking for a good one."
18:48:10 : John_vulich says, "We seem to be typecast doing TV... I'd like to think it's 'cause we're good... and fast!!!"
18:48:49 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#68 from Bruckner:
What's the hardest make up job you've ever done?
18:49:09 : John_vulich says, "And once people know that you're a masochist, I mean good at delivering on a tight schedule... they trust you even more!"
18:49:31 : John_vulich says, "Uh..."
18:49:48 : Moderator says, "Thank you John for coming tonight."
18:49:56 : John_vulich says, "I think it must of been a Stuart Gordon film called Castle Freak!!!"
18:50:14 : John_vulich says, "We had to do a full body make-up..."
18:50:27 : Moderator says, "If you wish to chat with John some more he will be in the Comlink for a while after the chat."
18:51:18 : Moderator says, "Remember to exit the Auditorium
and go to the comlink press the yellow square and go to the
Comlink."
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