We may not know the true origin of The White Walkers in Game of Thrones but this incredible video reveals how the show’s talented make-up team bring the hideous wights to life for the show.
Transforming a normal actor into a ghoulish walker takes a whole team to accomplish, ranging from a ten man team of artists and hairdressers who design the amazingly detailed masks, to a five man team who apply the make-up on the day of filming.
The process of making prosthetics begins with mask makers using moulds to create duplicate heads of the actors from which they can design their haunting silicon faces.
Making each prosthetic is a painstaking process with each hair being individually woven into the model and numerous duplicates of each piece of latex being needed for each day of filming.
Incredibly designing a single prosthetic character can take up to four weeks and the application of the whole ‘costume’ can take four to five hours. Once the costume’s on though the job’s not over, the make-up needs constantly maintaining through the day to keep the look of the character consistent.
Even worse for the poor actors trapped inside their fleshy masks, they can’t just be ripped off, they’re glued too tight, other wise they’d rip off a layer of skin. So it takes another couple of hours to remove each piece of make-up.
However the make up team claim all this hard work is worth it when you see it on screen and we could agree more.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.