"Face Off" Recap: "Movie Magic - Part I"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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Let's be honest, we watch Face Off for one particular reason, it's a wonderful opportunity to live vicariously in the movie makeup business through the amazing contestants they give us year in and year out. We've all wanted a chance to be part of the industry and this show gives us that wonderful taste of the business.

I say that because last night, the show decided to satisfy both fans and contestants when it came to our desire to look at the business and its inner workings by taking us into the day to day process for a special effects makeup artist and the end result of "Movie Magic - Part I" was nothing short of spectacular. 

Yes, the final three contestants were given absolutely wonderful news when they entered the lab this episode, as McKenzie informed all of them that not only would they be getting a team to help them put together their finale makeups, but that they would in essence get a dry run in the business. They would be involved in making a short film, complete with a script, a director, full makeups on two actors and even a screen test to make sure their makeups were done correctly and as it turned out, their director was former judge Patrick Tatopoulos.  

Patrick was able to mentor all three groups, after past contestants were chosen to their respective teams, and then it was off to work, giving each finalist a chance to lead their teams and the results were interesting to say the least. Nora had full command of her team, getting everything done quickly and efficiently while the boys…had a little trouble. Evan once more doubted his makeup and it quickly looked less cohesive than expected and Ben’s group spent too much time working on the sculptures, so much in fact that they were forced to paint two makeups at last looks.  

All of this mattered when the screen test rolled around because Nora’s group was basically in and out, their makeup passing the test with flying colors with only minimal notes, and it was clear the amount of efficient work put in would matter in the end since Ben's last minute paint job came back to haunt him when Patrick noticed a bare patch of skin on one of the models and poor Evan...he basically has to go back to the drawing board because Patrick had a lot of notes and a lot of issues with both of his makeups. But, it is pretty slick that they get a little more time to refine their work, but of course just fixing those makeups would be too easy and in classic Face Off fashion another twist was thrown in...there was a change to the script and the addition of a third makeup, and that's where the second half of the season finale will pick up and I can't wait to see how everything plays out next week.

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