The Planet of the Apes (1968)

'The Planet of the Apes' is a 1968 film which is about a planet where the apes rules and a dominant while human are the slaves. I found it relevant to our human hybrid project as I want to look at how the makeup artists changed the appearance of a human's face into an animal creature and adapt to the features of the apes. There are gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan creatures in the film and the apes can speak like a human. John Chambers is the make-up artist for this film and he was an American make-up artist and is an expert in prosthetic makeup for film and television. He received an Academy Honorary Award presented by The Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences in 1968. His famous and well known work include 'The Planet of Apes' in 1968, the television series of 'Star Trek' in 1966 of  Spock's character who has got pointy ears, etc. In order to complete the look of the apes appearance, John Chambers has used foam latex pieces and divided into sections for the nose, mouth, forehead, around the eyes and cheek area and apply it onto the face of the speaking apes. A lot of the foam latex pieces were pre-colored before the application and then he used the foundation to blend in the edges. They have also used facial hair and the head hair to hide the edge foam latex pieces. But while the others which didn't speak in the film, he has used slush molded heads instead. 

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Some of the actors who portrayed the apes have their teeth and lips blackened out and some of them has got false teeth which makes the actor more likely to appear like an ape creature. 'The Planet of the Apes' is the first film which turns the actors into a realistic and believable animal creature and is persuasive as well. The costume which the apes wore is like what human wears and there is a contrast and irony in between the human and the apes in the film as while the apes dressed like a human, but the human dressed as the cave man.

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On above, you can see the line and wrinkle details on the apes face and I like how there are a lot of areas on the face which are creased and it links to the apes features. The color of the skin is similar to human skin tone and by changing the shapes around the mouth, the nose and also without eyebrows and enhance the bridge of the brows, it makes the look more persuasive and realistic.

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The photo on above shows the makeup process of how John Chambers turn the actor into an ape through make-up prosthetics. 

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On above is a photo of the foam latex pieces and also the slush molded heads used in the film.

References:

• Kehoe, V. (c1991). Special Make-up Effects. Focal Press.
• http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/01/local/me-41004
• Tipton, S., Tipton, D. (2015). Star Trek/ Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive. Published by IDW Publishing/ Boom! Studios.