Media Make-up | 10 Week Course

This course offers intensive training in all skills relevant to professional make-up artistry within the media industry. We refer to “Media” as working in all areas such as fashion, TV, video, stage, special FX and film, so that the content and skills learnt are fully comprehensive and cover all areas. Students who train in this area are more likely to achieve successful careers as their skills/knowledge are more varied, meeting the demands of the media industry. Please read the full course content overview below for full details.

In short, 10 week graduates will be multi skilled, offering beneficial gain to any employer. Another huge benefit on this course is portfolio week. Week 10 of this course is dedicated solely to the development of your portfolio (the most crucial factor in gaining your work). Each day of portfolio week will be your chance to exercise all skills learnt, and gain valuable experience in working with professional models and a photographer in a real studio environment to create numerous images, which you can proudly display in your portfolio.

A typical day will be doing the make-up of one female model. The models are varied in age and race to provide your portfolio with as much variance as possible. We will also help you create a hairstyle to compliment your work. You will choose your model’s outfit with our guidance and work on set, maintaining your work and assisting the photographer. This experience is as real as being on a professional job and will give you confidence in this area when entering your career (see Portfolio).

All of the days of portfolio week will be on location at a professional photography studio.

10 Week Media Make-Up Course Content Overview

Week 1

Day 1 

Course introduction
Kit familiarisation/ care & development
Portfolio introduction
Skin care, skin types and face shapes
Creating make-up for camera (studio lighting, natural light, foundation, concealer and powder (types and applications)
Shading and highlighting (types and applications)

Day 2

Natural make-up for high fashion close up photography (no make-up looks, matt & dewy / shimmer & colour)
Camouflage make-up

Day 3

Eyebrows and eyebrow correction
Lip shapes and lip shape correction
Eye shapes and eye shape correction

Day 4

Bridal make-up (services, advertising & fees)
Evening make-up/ smokey eyes

Day 5

Classic catwalk uniform make-up
Eyeliner (cake, gel, fluid, pencil & kohl)

Week 2

Day 6

Male model make-up
Current trend make-up (creating looks under direction to brief)

Day 7

20 minute make-up applications to a brief demo & practical body make-up (incl. corrective make-up, foundation, applications, muscle definition, shading & hand make-up)
Make-up for black & white photography (film)

Day 8

Glamour make-up
High fashion eye make-up styles, techniques & product knowledge

Day 9

Beauty make-up
Working on set (set protocol, where stand, Polaroid’s & digital cameras, final checks, working with photographers, understanding set equipment, health and safety on set)
Mature model make-up

Day 10

Black, Asian & oriental make-up
Waxing out eyebrows
Practice session

Week 3

Day 11

Straight corrective make-up for TV & film (male & female)
Working in high definition
Understanding crew roles/ titles, working with monitors

Day 12

Careers work (CV’s, composition cards, marketing, advertising, unions, insurance, registration protocol, tax, NI, go sees, castings, networking contacts, invoicing & fees, dailies)
Eyelash application

Day 13

Body painting & creative design – demo
Tattoos (artwork, character, freehand, stencils, stamps & transfers)

Day 14

Stage make-up (straight, character and ageing)
Stage wounds

Day 15

Working with briefs, treatments & scripts (incl. different types of briefs/ treatments, script /                                                                                          character breakdown & budgeting)
Continuity
Script breakdown & continuity exercise
Practice session

Week 4

Day 16

Bald cap making
Character make-up

Day 17

Researching for TV & film
Stubble effects & laying on hair
Dealing with problems (chapped lips, hyper-sensitive skin, reactions, skin conditions, watering eyes, excess sweating & post surgery)

Day 18

Bald cap application & make-up

Day 19

Practice of body painting/ creative design

Day 20

Recap & portfolio practice

Week 5 – High Definition Airbrushing

Day 21

Tools, equipment, materials & kits
Product knowledge
Trouble shooting
Foundation applications

Day 22

Shading and highlighting
Cheek colour

Day 23

Eye shadow & eyebrows
Full body make-up application
Body shading and highlighting
Tanning & muscle definition

Day 24

Casualty effects (incl. death, stencil & tattoo work, veins and bruising)

Day 25

Casualty effects continued

Week 6 – Period Make-Up

Grecian
Roman
1820s
1840s
Victorian
1910
1920s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s

Week 7 & 8 – Special FX

Tools, equipment & materials
Health and safety
Bruising (ageing of bruises)
Black eyes, broken nose & split lip
Scabs, spots & blisters 
Illness make-up
Tooth enamel
Sweat & tears
Dirt, mud, puss & soot
Bullet wounds (entry & exit)
Scratches & grazes
Burns make-up (1st, 2nd & 3rd degree, different types of burns)
Slit wrist
Stitched wound
Laying on hair & attaching pieces onto bald caps
Ageing for tv & film
Death make-up
Vein work
Drug addict & track marks
Stab, puncture wounds & glass injuries
Script simulation
Zombie, horror, fantasy &sci fi make-up
Pre made prosthetic application, make-up application, removal & artist care
Sculpting & mould making of scars & wounds

Week 9 – Fashion Styling

Week 10 – Portfolio Week