To the delight of millions of younger fans, a closeup of the beautiful Kristen Stewart fills the screen in Eclipse, the latest entry in the Twilight series. To realize that image, behind-the-scenes on set in Canada, her makeup artist, the proficient Robin Mathews, had to carefully adjust Stewart’s natural complexion to play her... »

In addition to his lengthy career in TV and film, starting as John Chambers’ apprentice in the early 1960s, Michael Westmore served as makeup department head of Star Trek for the franchise’s films and TV shows from 1987 to 2005.  He was nominated for a Best Makeup Academy Award for Star Trek: First Contact... »

As evidenced in films including The Wolfman which many viewers will first see on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def in its release on Tuesday June 1, the new modus operandi in visual effects production for feature films includes a hybrid of techniques and the use of several vendors to service all of the needs of... »

Over 40 years ago, an unexpected weekend of film history was made, and no one on earth could have predicted it. Unbelievably, it almost didn’t even happen. On Aug. 15, 1969, 400,000 people descended on Max Yasgur‘s farm in upstate New York for three days of peace, love and music. In its time, the... »

In the recent round of talk show appearances by actors from the new version of Alice in Wonderland, many of the performers discussed their lengthy stints “getting into costume.” This is both a travesty and at the same time not surprising. While costumes have been heralded by cinema onlookers for decades, makeup... »

Throughout his nearly 40-year career, Rick Baker has created some of cinema’s most memorable monsters. The six-time Oscar winner for Best Makeup notably realized one of the greatest horror monsters in movie history with An American Werewolf in London. Now, thirty years later, he is bringing another lycanthropic creature to the screen... »

Former Industrial Light and Magic art director Joe Johnston became a feature film director over 20 years ago when he came aboard... »

The 37th annual Annies, the awards given to excellence in animation by the International Animated Film Society/ASIFA, provided a celebratory if somewhat insular presentation at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Feb. 6. 23 achievement awards from 2009 projects were dispensed for categories including Best Animated Feature Film, for Pixar’s Up, Best Animated Television Production, for... »

After supervising visual effects on massive projects such as Peter Jackson’s final two films in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Stephen Sommers’ Van Helsing, and Jackson’s King Kong, Joe Letteri might have faced an even greater challenge with James Cameron’s Avatar. For this newest project, which is winning troves of awards and breaking... »

When one has a view of a culture that comes from within, the common belief is that such a personal view will make for a more authentic cinematic experience. Such is the situation with Warwick Thornton’s new film, Samson and Delilah, set in Australia’s outback among its indigenous people. Surely, there have been other... »