Character Makeup - Straight Theater 1

A few weeks ago I did a Straight Theater look on Kirsty but I didn't get the chance to take photos because I didn't get it finished, and it didn't turn out too great either! So I did one on Melissa on Monday, which Bella said was good enough for a pre-assessment, which is good news. Before I show you my photos I'll explain a bit about Straight Theater makeup.

Straight Theater is the same idea as Straight TV makeup - a natural face which is meant to represent a more refined version of the person we're looking at. It is not meant to look like any kind of character, it is essentially just a natural face. However, the makeup always has to be a bit more intense for Theater because, unlike TV, the audience is looking at the person from quite far away. Here are some examples of a Straight Theater face:

Theater makeup has to be a more intense version of TV makeup, so we use foundation shades that are slightly darker (just a shade or two) than the person's natural skin tone. We also enhance the blusher and lips, and for the eyes we line them in a specific way - in order to give the illusion of larger eyes, we line the upper lashline with either dark brown or black and extend it out from the eye. The same is done on the lower lashline, and again the line is taken a bit further out from where the natural eye line ends. We then use a light shade of eyeshadow (either white or cream) and colour in between the two separate lines to give the illusion that the white of the eye is extended. It is a good effect as the eyes appear much larger from far away.

Close up, the Straight Theater face looks a bit 'too much', and even a bit Drag Queen-esque, but this is needed because the actor is standing far away from the audience. It is important to enhance their features even more so they don't look washed out or fade into the background.

The following is my attempt at a Theater face:

Melissa's skin tone is very fair so I got off to a slow start trying to find the right foundation colour for her. The one I used was maybe a little too pale, but once I applied it, blended it and finished it with powder it looked good. You can see from the top picture the two lines I mentioned prevously - they would be clearer if Melissa wasn't smiling but you can see how the two lines extend out beyond the eye and make them look bigger.
I was happy with the look and the fact that I managed to complete it in a good time, but Bella suggested that next time I use a slightly darker shade of red on the lips (more of a brick red rather than pinky red) and blend the eyeshadow a bit more, but I was happy to hear that she thought it was good enough for pre-assessment :)

Look out for my assessment, coming soon!

Gill x