Zed Lapel Pin - a webisode day in the life of an MUA...

Every once in awhile a project will come along that is really different then the main stream film or television projects I usually work on and I jump at the chance to be part of them -- enter Zed Lapel Pin.

Recently, I was introduced to a concept in the entertainment industry called the Webisode. Many major television networks are starting to use the web to "air" shorter and different versions of popular television shows like "Heroes." Viewers tune into their computers instead of the television. Popular because of the YouTube craze, the webisode is a great source for up-incoming producer/directors to get their films seen by the public and production companies, such as InPoint Productions, film and edit webisodes for many clients in the United States.

Producer Chris Roberts asked if I would be Department Head on his new project entitled Zed Lapel Pin. Shot documentary style, this short comedic film (webisode) chronicles the lives of an "air guitar" cover band by the same name, who travel to local bars and "air play" to Led Zepplin songs.

On a shoe-string budget and a ton of passion, Chris and Chad Clabaugh (the director) pulled together an amazing crew of talented locals and a cast of great actors, making the 3-day shoot a blast to work on! Here is a listing of the crew and main cast:

CREW:
Director: Chad Clabaugh
Producer: Chris Roberts
1st AD: Derek Zedaker
DP: Chris Ernst
1st Camera: Geoff Sykes
Audio: Ron Hyatt
Audio 2: Paul Mendez
Art Dept: Jordan Guzzardo
Make Up/Hair: Melissa Street
Wardrobe: Christine Supnet
PA: Emily Gonzalez
Prod. Coordinator: Alisa Lawrence

CAST:
Paul: Gavin Allen
Nolan: Mark Atkinson
Victor: Adam Marcinowski
Stubbs: Ian Gilligan
Angie: Cory Milno
Carmen: Wendy Perkins

When the editing process of this film is complete, I will try to put it up on this blog, but in the meantime enjoy the still photos below, shot by the best photographer in San Diego, Masen Larsen.

Legends -- a day in the life of an MUA...

The dictionary says that a legend is: an extremely famous person in a particular field.

Recently, I had the privilege to be on the set of The Love Guru starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba, more importantly I was in the presence of Ve Neill, Tricia Sawyer and Robert Ramos. These three individuals are legends in the film industry and have worked on a combined total of over 100 films.

Ve has been the special effects department head on some of the most talked about films of our time, including Bettlejuice, Austin Powers and the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy. She has won 3 Oscars and has 20 more nominations in the special effects industry. Tricia has done 23 films with Sharon Stone and has been the make-up artist for such celebrity icons as Geena Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Beckingsale, Brittany Murphy, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba. Robert Ramos is a master of hair and has been nominated for numerous Emmy Awards. His clients include Bette Midler, Stevie Nicks, Sharon Stone and Jessica Alba to name just a few.

I have admired all three of them for so long and Tricia and I went to the same make-up school back in the 80's. Being on set with these three incredible talents was like a dream come true for me and I learned techniques and tricks directly from these masters. Hey, and when you are a major player in the film industry, you get perks like a really cool make-up trailor (check out the photo of Ve's digs).

QVC - a day in the life of an MUA...

Got a call from my friend and fellow make-up artist, Tricia Sawyer, who is the "personal" make-up artist to such celebrites as Sharon Stone, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Scarlett Johansson, Brittany Murphy and Kate Beckinsale, plus she developed a cosmetic line called Tricia Sawyer Beauty and has contracted with QVC to sell her products to the world! She needed some behind-the-scenes help with her recent one-hour beauty show, so faster than you could say "lipstick," I was on a plane to Philly.

QVC is an amazing facility. The corporation is huge and it must employee thousands of people. It never shuts down -- it never stops. 24 hours a day QVC is on the "air," live to the entire United States of America and you can purchase a lipstick, hairspray and a vacuum cleaner in 10 minutes. I was impressed with their studios. State-of-the-art with high definition quality.

Tricia was selling 7 different cosmetic products from her line and had 8 models total. Myself and another make-up artist prepped the girls in the dressing room with the first "on air" sale, but from there it was really fast paced. The girls would step out of frame and one of us would be there getting them ready with the next make-up product. It went like that for a full hour and at the end of the show, each model had a full face of make-up and Tricia sold a sick amount of her product!

It was the fastest hour of my life, but a great way to spend the day!

Giving back -- a day in the life of an MUA...

I am frequently asked to donate my make-up services to various organizations and feel that giving my time and effort to a company that is making a difference is very important.

Recently, the charity CHIfund approached me and asked to provide make-up services to a cast of celebrities that were giving their time to help raise funds for the Rady Children's Heart Institute. I was more than happy to give to this foundation and was eager to learn more about their mission.

I discovered that CHIfund holds an annual event with money raised going directly to Children's Hospital in San Diego. To date this organization has raised over $300,000 which helps to purchase equipment to benefit the children and families served by the Rady Children's Heart Institute. Click here to read more about this organization.

Their event was a huge success and included the following celebrities:

Cindy Ambuehl -- Out of Practice, JAG, The Bold and the Beautiful
Don Diamont -- The Young & the Restless, Days of our Lives
Adrienne Frantz -- The Bold & the Beautiful, Sunset Beach
Florence LaRue -- six-time Grammy Award Winner with The 5th Dimension and Broadway Tony Award Winner
Kate Linder -- The Young & the Restless
Kyle Lowder -- Days of our Lives
Kristoff St. John -- The Young and the Restless
Paula Trickey -- The OC, Pacific Blue, One Tree Hill, Sliders, CSI, Walker Texas Ranger, Beverly Hills 90210, Renegade
Jackie Zeman -- General Hospital
Arianne Zuker -- Days of our Lives

Below are a few photos of the suite that the make-up and hair department took over for this event which was held at the Hyatt Hotel in La Jolla, California. It was an awesome networking opportunity for me as well and a great way to spend the day.

Reality T.V. -- A day in the life of an MUA...

Had a great time working for Sea Breeze Entertainment yesterday shooting a marketing video for a potential reality t.v. show. Shooting reality t.v. can be fun and very challenging at the same time because you just never know what is going to happen, but isn't that the whole reason we all tune in?

22 people were in and out of my make-up chair in 5 hours yesterday, which meant that I worked my tushy off, but when you are having a blast and the cast and crew are incredibly professional, there is no room for complaints. In fact, it is always wonderful to be included in something new and cutting edge.

Sea Breeze Entertainment is located in San Diego and obtained the Digital Outpost facility to shoot the video. I have blogged several times about the crew at DOP and again I was reunited with many accomplished individuals under that roof. Best part was working with the amazing talents of Marc Bailey from Fox 6 News and Kerstin Lindquist from Channel 10.

So stay tuned and believe me, when this show takes off everyone will want to be a part of it. Noble Fares, producer of the show said, "this should bring a new and unique dimension to educational entertainment." Sounds great to me!

International Car Show -- A night in the life of an MUA...

Got a call from Sonia Weksler, Production Coordinator for Aviatech -- they needed a make-up artist for a commercial shoot for the International Car Show (click here for more info on this event). Amazing talent on this shoot -- Marlee J. Ehrenfeld, President of MJE Marketing, Tonya Mantooth, Executive Producer and Cindy Erdman, Director/DP. It also didn't hurt that there were several hot cars and even hotter models! It was a fun way to spend a night!

Corporate Video -- A day in the life of an MUA...

After almost 20 years as a make-up artist (MUA) I have discovered that as much as I love to work on films and in television, corporate video is my bread and butter. San Diego seems to be a perfect spot to film anything and everything corporate. In San Diego there are extremely professional production facilities that can make shooting a corporate video a very pleasant experience. I still love film and T.V. and won't give up those jobs anytime soon, but a small corporate project is a nice break from the intensity of the other industries.

The photos below are from a shoot for Staylor-Made Communications for BAI Financial and shot at Ray Street Studios. Enjoy!

Comcast & Foreigner -- A Hot Blooded day in the life of an MUA...

Got a call from my friend and fellow make-up artist Jim Sacca who asked me to assist him on a shoot in Vegas!!! The shoot was for Comcast and was a promo/interview video for their upcoming New Year's Eve concert held in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. The headlining band is Foreigner and so quicker than you could say, "Cold As Ice," I jammed out to Vegas to help out!

Mick Jones, Kelly Hansen, Jason Bonham, Jeff Jacobs, Jeff Pilson and Tom Gimble were all part of this shoot and it was incredible to meet and work with all of them. Mick Jones is a rock legend and brought on the talent of Kelly Hansen who has an amazing voice (and looks a little like Steven Tyler) as the new lead singer for Foreigner. Jason Bonham is the son of John Bonham and was recently requested by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to play drums for the upcoming Led Zepplin reunion concert on November 26th in London along with Foreigner. This concert is a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun founder of Atlantic Records -- you can read more about this concert by clicking here!

The crew consisted of CN8 Channel and local Las Vegas crew and myself brought in from California. I have been so lucky to work with incredibly talented directors, producers, DP's and cameramen -- this crew was no exception. Also, Todd Newton from E! Entertainment Television was host of the show and was a great comic and entertainer.

The highlight of the shoot was when the entire band broke out in un-plugged versions of Foreigner's hits -- "I Wanna Know What Love Is" and "I've Been Waiting For A Girl Like You." Totally cool and an awesome way to spend the day!

Editorial-Style Photography -- A day in the life of an MUA...

These shots were taken by photographer John Woolley of Aquario Studios on location in La Jolla, California. John studied fine arts at the University of California and in 1993 moved to New York to work with master photographer Annie Leibovitz, shooting some of NYC's diverse celebrity personalities. John has an editorial-style to his work and is one the best known and most respected fashion and wedding photographers in Southern California.

High Definition -- A day in the life of an MUA...

Got a call from Jim Staylor who was producing a national commercial for SeQual, a privately held company based in San Diego and the developer of oxygen concentrator systems for medical, military, commerical and industrial markets.

Jim needed a make-up artist and asked me to join the esteem crew which included...

Devin Scott, Director, of American Dream Cinema. Mr. Scott and his production company are the winners of 24 Emmys, 26 Tellys, 17 Regional and National Awards, and 9 Film Festival Awards.

Mario Ortiz, Director of Photography, of Cinema Verde Grip & Lighting which is the best lighting and stedicam service company providing production support for film, high definition and video productions here in San Diego.

Jim Staylor, Producer, of Staylor-Made Communications which is one of the premier providers of corporate video, event video and interactive multimedia across the country.

To say that I was in "good company" today would be an insult. This crew was incredibly professional and made working in high definition television easy (even though we were all up at 4 a.m. this morning:).

Host Video/Green Screen -- A day in the life of an MUA at DOP

Today I worked at Digital Outpost (DOP) on a "host" video shoot for the police commission. I was reunited with the crew from DOP, as well as the incredible talent of Beth Ruyak. Previously, I had shot with the DOP cast and crew on a 4-day production which can be viewed on my blog under the archive section (Special Effects entry). Once again, the Digital Outpost facility and crew were experts at their craft and extremely professional. When I first relocated to San Diego I thought it was going to be hard to find real "professional" gigs, but so far I have been proven wrong.

I hope that productions continue to film in San Diego as an alternative to Los Angeles. The local production crews that are based here are just as talented as any crew I worked with in Los Angeles and the production facilities are just as state-of-the-art!

Big Budget Computer Games -- A day in the life of an MUA that I will never forget...

This is a blast from the past -- about 10 years ago to be exact! I will never forget working on this production. It all started at Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada. My good friend and make-up mentor, Jim Sacca, hired me to be his assistant on a shoot called Tiberian Sun part of the award-winning Command & Conquer series. This was the first major production I had worked on in Las Vegas and I was nervous because I wanted to do the best job so that Jim would continue to hire me. The production included major actors and actresses: James Earl Jones and Michael Biehn to name just a few.



The crew and talent were amazing to work with and I will never forget how much fun I had! Don't get me wrong -- I worked my buns off, and I learned a lot from Jim Sacca -- watching him work and listening to his instruction boosted my make-up talent 150%. He is truly a gifted artist.

Below are a few great pictures of me, James Earl Jones and Michael Biehn. Mr. Jones was a very kind man and that voice! He naturally commands attention just by saying "hello." I remember feeling like I should be bowing down to the great Darth Vader and Mufasa!!!

High Fashion -- A day in the life of a model and MUA...

Over the past few decades I have discovered that I love every facet of the make-up industry. Film, Television, Stage, Print and Runway. I have worked in all mediums and have uncovered that the relationship between client and artist is filled with trust on many levels.

Except when you happen to be the make-up artist and the talent at the same time. I am posting the pictures below to show that my make-up application experience is extensive not just in the film industry, but in the high-fashion industry as well.

I know that the pictures you are seeing are of me, but I used to have to supplement my income as a make-up artist by doing some modeling on the side when I first started out. We do what we have to in this crazy industry to keep our heads above the water! Enjoy!