A lecture with legendary make-up artist, Nick Dudman.

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This was a lecture that I was especially looking forward to after having seen Nick Dudman's demonstration at IMATS last year where he applied the Professor Flitwick make-up from Harry Potter on actor, Warwick Davis in front of a live audience.

I was pleasantly surprised that Nick chose to speak not just of prosthetic make-ups like those for the goblins and Voldemort, but also of all the collaborations he had done over the years with the animatronics department to create the weird and wonderful creatures in all of the Harry Potter films such as dragons, hippogriffs and an 8 foot tall (to scale) giantess. I had always been aware of these types of creations within the film industry, however, it was interesting to know how much collaborative work had happened within the make-up department.

Nick spoke quite extensively on the effects of CGI on the make-up industry and the ways in which it affected his work on Harry Potter. I was surprised to learn that the decision to digitally remove Ralph Fiennes' nose for the Voldemort character was very last minute as they had previously been attempting to create the entire look using make-up and prosthetic pieces. Another interesting point that he made was about the impact that CGI has upon the actor, often more so than a large scale make-up would. With a make-up piece the actor can be given time to get used to how their face moves with it on and how easily they can act through it; how they portray emotions, etc. With CGI, especially in the case of Ralph Fiennes, a key feature on their face is being removed and they may have no idea how their facial expressions will read on screen without it.

Another fascinating element of the lecture was when Nick described the process that a make-up artist must go through if they are lucky enough to be nominated for an Oscar. It is a subject that I had never really researched into and was shocked at how much of a complicated process it appears to be. It was particularly interesting to discover that there is a nomination process with an audition section where the nominated artist must do a presentation, provide a show real of 'best bits' and answer a series of questions before they can even be an official nominee.

All in all this lecture proved to be one of the most insightful and exciting that I have ever attended.