Im not a specialist or even close to being one but that seems overly excessive :/ surely there are tutorials avilable online to help you? Because personaly I would advice you D.I.Y it.

Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

I would think it's excessive, but I also know that what seems easy and cheap to a layman can be very difficult and costly. I would think an alien prop can cost a few thousand dollars max - some plastic tentacles waving about a plastic torso, and that's it. But what do I know?

Ballpark numbers are wildly inaccurate.

But the owner of the studio knows what the average going rate is. I spent
14 years in makeup efx and can tell you a life-sized alien puppet could
cost as little as a few thousand to well above $100,000. I worked with the
Westmores for several years and I know that a "Star Trek: TNG" alien
makeup can run $10,000 per actor and can also cost just a grand or so.
It depends on so many factors I don't quite see how a ballpark figure
could even be reached.

Let me break down the costs:

The life cast of the actor is a couple of hours. Two people at $30/hr - $120
Then another 4 hours to make the positive mold - $240
One sculptor to sculpt the "alien" - 6 hours ? $45 - $270
About 8 hours to to make the appliance molds - $240
Figure 4 hours to do the appliance work and another to paint them - $150

Now we are at $1,020 for labor alone for one set of "alien" appliances.
Add in the cost of material (about $400) and then the full day (usually 14 hours)
for the makeup artist - $570 - and you can see why an alien make up can run
into a few thousand. If the appliance has any mechanical elements to it you can
easily get to the $10,000 figure.

There are plenty of beginning makeup artists who will work for much cheaper.

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Any way around it?

I was thinking of welding a bunch of metal joints together, attaching them to an alien torso, and move the limbs with strings and rope. The strings and rope can then be removed via computer. I would think that shouldn't cost too much.

Sure. Don't pay the artists what they are worth.

You can do it all yourself - as you suggest here - or you
can find a beginner willing to do the work for free or for
much less than a professional.

In this business people are very willing to work for no money
- or very little money - for the credit and experience. I'm
sure the owner of the makeup and special effects studio was
giving you a ballpark figure based in his skill, experience and
knowledge, not based on free (or low cost) labor. The building
of that alien torso and limbs you mention is expensive. You
can buy an off the shelf model that is much cheaper. But it's
an off the shelf item that everyone has seen in their neighbor's
yard at Halloween.

There are ALWAYS ways around any expense.

It all depends on your vision plus your budget. To create a vulcan (fake ears and eyebrows) is going to be a totally different problem then creating a Jabba the Hutt costume. That is why Star Trek went with latex foreheads rather than truly alien looking creatures. Also remember that limited screentime and careful lighting can help hide all sorts of short-cuts.

There is no reason outfits need to be form fitting and expensive. Ambassador Kosh on Babylon 5 had the bulk of his costume created out of what looks like Shower Curtains. You don't really notice in the context of the show, however. If you took old military uniforms (say Soviet and Confederate) and mixed and matched parts, dyed the colors a bit, and removed all the insignia and replaced them with your own you could make a uniform that looked real, and yet alien. Buy some old sports pads and shoulder pads or whatever to make it more modern. Add some RenFair leather to make it distinctive. Or you could simply use a cloak. Mix and match existing stuff rather than create stuff out of thin air.

Lastly unusual body types or configurations can help a creature look more alien at minimal cost. In Jabberwocky they built the suit backwards so the actor faced rearward and the beast then had reversed knees. In Holy Grail they did a simple fake body to create a three headed giant. They put a tall actor on stilts and tall helmet to create the terrifying Knights who say Ni! Take that a different way and imagine a Little Person on stilts (perhaps assisted with a "flying harness", could create a nice look with long gangly alien legs. How about an actor upon another actors shoulders to give a creature four arms.

I think it all comes down to your vision. What is the purpose of the alien in your story. Is it a companion like Chewy that needs lots of screentime, or an alien menace seen over a viewscreen or what.

RJSchwarz

DIY IT!!!!!!! get a latex kit from monetr makers... apply to your actor with spirit gum add some good make up and voila you have a good alien that moves much more realisticly and all for uner2000

??? -?:o)?world of moe?:o)?- ???

quote:

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Originally posted by moekanz

DIY IT!!!!!!! get a latex kit from monetr makers... apply to your actor with spirit gum add some good make up and voila you have a good alien that moves much more realisticly and all for uner2000

??? -?:o)?world of moe?:o)?- ???

---

I was thinking about that - in fact, the aliens could be jury-rigged with a bunch of volunteers.

As I mentioned already, the quote you got was for a professional
product made by experienced professionals. There are many
low budget alternatives. Purchasing off the shelf items is one of
them. Using volunteers is another.

Yes, you did, CI, but things have to sink in slowly for some people. 😉

Just thinking outside the box here, but if it's going to cost you more than you're prepared to pay for freaky alien-looking aliens, there is another route.

Instead of shelling out for a latex kit, doing the life-cast, the sculpting, the painting etc, why not try a more subtle approach? Your alien could be alien in ways that are not glaringly obvious from a short distance. He might only look alien when you get right up close.

For example, he could have double eyelids, or a very tiny ears, or small gills on each side of his neck. Granted, they'd be best made in latex, but they'd be so much easier and qucker than a full-face life cast.

He could have green blood, which you could reveal by having him suffer some minor injury, like a scratch. Yeah, I know green blood is a cliche, but have we ever actually seen any, or is just always alluded to in the story? You could actually show it.

And if you really want to do some latex appliances, you don't need to go to the trouble of doing a life cast of your actors' faces. Do a life cast of their little fingers, glue them to the hands, and you've got a six-fingered alien. Photographed properly, it could look pretty good.

Just some thoughts.

Kurt.

I realize this is a bit late, and I hope you will forgive me. But as an aspiring Creature FX artist with some training, little industry experience but a lot of practice- I can tell you that yes there are those of us out here who will do it for a lot cheaper, I'll do jobs for cost of materials or given enough time pay for projects myself. It's a passion for me, not a simple career interest.

Welcome to filmmaking.net!

I said three times in three posts that there are aspiring EFX artists
willing to work for much less than professionals.

I was once the aspiring makeup EFX artist whose passion was more
important than a "simple" (as you put it) career interest. But then I
began making my living at it. I did that because I stopped working
for the cost of materials and started working for pay. I loved making
a living doing what I loved. So let me ask you something, HenturiFX:

If you could charge to do creature FX and people would pay you, would
you charge? Or is the career interest not something that appeals to you?

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I saw that you posted that little fact three times, and I apologize for not pointing that out. As far as going pro, yes I would love to get paid for and am working to be able to do FX as my career, it's just that I am at the aspiring level right now. Without any real proof of talent/skill and ability I'm going to take whatever I can get. I didn't mean to imply that those already working in the industry were not passionate about the art,I just wanted to let folks know I'm not one of those guys who woke up one recent morning and thought; hey I think it would be "neat" and "easy" to become an FX artist.