Makeup Effects Archive

A selection of my favorite prosthetic contact lens designs in film and television from before 1980. During this time period, contact lenses were made of glass - if that sounds hellish to wear, yes, it was.

The creature effects for Tobe Hooper's 1986 remake of Invaders from Mars were designed by Stan Winston, who left the supervision to Alec Gillis (future founder of Amalgamated Dynamics) as he had to supervise the creature effects on Aliens the same year.

The Martian drones were designed to be unlike a humanoid; Winston came up with an armature inside the suit, where two people could fit inside. The taller person would be walking backwards, while the little person sitting on the upper side of the armature would operate the mouth and forearms.

The creature effects and visual effects of Fire in the Sky (1993) were handled by Industrial Light & Magic. The film's relatively lower budget, as well as ILM's commitment to Jurassic Park, meant that the effects were primarily achieved 'on camera'. No computers or matte painting trickery!

The shot of the aliens dragging Travis Walton across the spaceship's corridors was achieved via a pair of rod puppets, operated from underneath the set. The puppeteer and puppets both were attached to a trolley-like mechanism that moved across the corridor, simulating movement.

The most complex effect of Species II (1998) was the monstrous alien form of the infected astronaut Patrick. Producer Frank Mancuso wanted to avoid obvious digital effects for the monsters, thanks to negative reaction to the digital Sil in the first film.

Steve Johnson's XFX and HR Giger returned to handle the effects for Species II (1998). This time, HR Giger had to design to XFX's requirements, not the other way round.

The new female alien, Eve, was realized mostly as actress Monica Staggs in an elaborate suit made out of silicon; the silicon meant the suit had a slightly translucent quality.

Giger was unhappy with how Species (1995) turned out. He despised Boss Film Studio's CGI Sil, which he referred to as the 'teeth-gnashing, unaesthetic computer-Sil' and as 'a frog-like ugliness'.

However, Giger was very pleased with Steve Johnson's work on the film, saying it was one of the best translations of his work to date. Johnson was so proud he printed out Giger's fax in his office.

Steve Johnson's XFX made a set of full-body puppets to realize the alien Sil in Species (1995). The puppt's limbs and body parts could come apart to be reassembled, and its movements were controlled via rod puppeteering and marionette puppeteering. The animatronic head was cable-controlled for its facial movements.

The puppet's parts were translucent, as per HR Giger's wishes - it helped that Johnson had realized similarly translucent aliens for James Cameron's The Abyss.

The practical effects for Species fell to Steve Johnson's XFX. Their practical Sil puppets and suits would complement the digital Sil realized by Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios.

In early stages of production for Species (1995), the Burman Studio were assigned to do the film's practical effects. (The Burman's had realized Giger-esque makeups for the Captain EO music video in the 80s)

The production of Species (1995) was a notoriously messy one, with HR Giger especially feeling burnt from the experience.

The design of the Sil alien was originally by Giger, who insisted the alien could be realized as a 'translucent' creature. To this end, Giger and assorted Swiss sculptors like Andy Schedler and Cony De Fries made several preliminary Sil sculptures at the Zurich-based Atelier Formart sculpting studio.