Recreating Cinderella
Originally written by the Brothers Grimm in Germany circa 1812, the story depicts an orphaned cinder girl who is mistreated by her tired father and ignorant new step-family. She creates friendships with the animals in her garden and, along with the magic of a hazel tree, they help her go to the ball to meet the Prince. When fleeing that ball, she drops a golden shoe which the Prince roams around the kingdom with, in search of the mysterious girl at the ball. When he reaches Cinderella's household, her sisters are determined to make the golden shoe fit, and with the sadistic persuasion of their mother, they mutilate their feet so it fits. Despite the Prince's naïvety, Cinderella's bird sing to him that the sisters are the wrong bride, warning him of the bloody shoe being too small for both sister's feet. He eventually demands to see Cinderella, and when the shoe fits with ease, he takes her away to the palace to marry her. The sisters are invited to the wedding, but upon their arrival, the birds swoop down and peck out their eyes as punishment for their years of wickedness.
The Makeup
I wanted to showcase my ability to make prosthetics during my project, and Cinderella turned out to be the perfect platform on which to do this.
I chose to use the shoe fitting scene from the Brother's Grimm story, and I made a prosthetic toe and and heel for each of the sisters to cut off before trying on the shoe.
The Prosthetics
The technique of the moulding was simple and very effective in terms of realism. I use layers of liquid latex and translucent powder to cast the actress' toe and the other's heel. The first layer of the latex settled into the natural wrinkles and lines of the foot, and when peeled away, it looked extremely realistic. I then painted and stuffed each prosthetic with cotton wool, and allowed it to dry. Fake blood was applied at the time of the shoot and it came across perfectly on camera.
