Maxance Vincent
Adapting Fallout to the screen is no easy task, and it’s even more difficult when the Prime Video adaptation of the popular video game takes formal risks that aren’t frequently used in the television aspect, such as shooting the entire series on film. The medium has a far different way of representing colors and landscapes than a digital camera, which most productions use nowadays.
For Mike Harvey, whose work in Fallout was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prosthetic), he tells Awards Radar on Zoom that the film was already a known element for him, having started his career off of it, and that it’s nice to have seen it used this extensively for the series:
“There’s something about film that digital doesn’t do. This warm and fuzzy feeling you get out of film is missing in digital. Every film frame is digitized, put through a computer, and color-corrected. These all go into correcting actual 35mm or IMAX film. Still, it was nice to see a crew working back with reels and magazines. In today’s world, you put a digital card in, and you can run a take for 40 minutes without a problem. But in Jonathan Nolan‘s world, he ran out of magazines every once in a while. He knew he only had so much, and had to play within that time frame. It was nice to see a crew, us, included work under those rigors of actual film.”
For Rich Krusell, who has received a nomination for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, the extra grain that comes with 35mm photography “really lent to the wasteland and even a futuristic 1950s aesthetic, I thought it worked a lot better. Truthfully, working digital and HD for so long, when it comes to makeup and prosthetics, every edge is on blast. You have to make it perfect, or it’s going to show up, and you’re screwed. That’s we’re trained to do, so it doesn’t change how we do things. However, especially if there’s any kind of long-term wearing, where there’s heat, sweat, and elements that you’re exposed to that compromise makeup quicker, and if there is a hiccup in any shape or form, film is a benefit to us because it’s a little more forgiving.”
There’s a lot more to be discussed on the makeup and prosthetic work of the series, including their personal connection with the original video game, finding the right color palette to match the film photography and the worlds of the show, their collaboration with the costume and hair department, while also the process of designing over 500 prosthetics for the series.
You can listen to my full interview with Mike and Rich below and stream all episodes of Fallout on Prime Video today:
Comments
Loading…