The Walking Dead: Dead Inside

[madmonk]

I gotta disagree about the masks, unfortunately.

While not as noticeable in the house itself (due to the lighting and pace of walking through it), the zombies in the streets don't look so hot.

My main qualm is the necklines. You can clearly see where the mask ends and the neck/real skin begins (with a good makeup, prosthetics, etc, you wouldn't have to worry about that). They could have easily blended the skin tone and the mask line with some more makeup and it would literally take an extra minute to achieve. Right now, it's easy to tell that it just a person in a mask, which is unfortunate and removes the immersion factor for me.

I remember when Universal used to put movie-quality makeup and prosthetics on their actors. Makeup that was good enough to be shot on film. I know the event has grown tremendously since those days but I feel like they are relying too heavily on masks, which in the case of these zombies, wouldn't be used for a movie shoot. Masks are unquestionably much easier to put on hundreds of actors a night, but the convenience comes at the price of immersion. The zombies (at least the ones on the street) look no better than a common trick or treater that I would see at my door on Halloween, and it's mainly thanks to the masks...

[Goo]

I don't know if any of you have actually done special effects make up and such, but a lot of you make it sound like "oh they could just do this and it'd look better". Well, not really. Yeah they're professionals but they also have a ton of actors that have to be ready before the event starts. Makeup is not easy nor is it a quick process. Blending the neck with the mask doesn't just happen in a few seconds. You have to make the color because they don't just have makeup that match masks laying around, then you have to apply which takes a bit of time as well and maybe even multiple layers so it doesn't look bad. Then you have to give it texture so it matches the "skin" on the mask. They don't have time for that. They have a shit load of people who need make up and costumes on. It's just not easily done, and I can see why they'd take the opportunity to use just masks. I'd rather have masks than shitty make up, because I know for a fact that they can't give every actor and awesome make up job. Not to mention the fact that you see most of these actors for just a few moments. It just really isn't that much of a priority.

They could have made masks that have complete neck pieces that extend down under the actors costumes. That would have solved the problem for the most part. I don't know why they didn't do that, to be honest.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Goo

[WESKER69]

^too long, didnt read.

There is no excuse for Universal to use other than them being lazy-cheap asses. They've done full blown makeup on multiple scareactors before in the past. Having them do somewhat decent makeup work for ONE house & ONE scarezone really is NOT asking for too much. Have you not seen the videos/pics from early 90s HHN events where there was more amazing makeup opposed to now where its "hey lets be lazy and cheap by using masks instead of giving make up artists a job".

For anyone who says "they dont have time" for the makeup is wrong. They have plenty of time, thats why scareactors have call times. They get there at a certain time to get in there costume, makeup whatever so they can go on set. You have more extensive work to be done, then you'll need to be there earlier.

Point is... UNI was lazy & cheap. Its that simple.

[Goo]

Yes. And in the 90s there were 2 houses, and less actors. And no one is gonna show up hours before for makeup. Many of these actors have other jobs. That's not how it works.

[WESKER69]

there were only two houses? um... yea.. maybe in 1992.

Less scareactors? wow you completely have no idea what you're talking about.

And yes, actually many of them would & will show up earlier than an hour before they need to go on set for makeup.

None of your excuses are valid & clearly don't understand. UNI prides itself on being "the nations premiere haunted event", but yet fails to live up to that title. Traditionals, Beasts, & Prisoners are all recycled costumes/masks from past HHN (possibly even half the vampires). Being complete cheapasses by using masks for TWD is a major fail. Especially when it comes to an IP house that they're shoving down our throats every way they possibly can.

btw... them relying more on masks than make-up is a more recent issue for HHN and its detracting from the quality.

[Hauntfan]

^It's true... HHNH is using solely makeup for our Walking Dead attractions. For characters like Bicycle Girl and Well Walker have very realistic prosthetic work done. I think HHNO SHOULD be doing the same for TWD as Hollywood is this year. There are no excuses...

[Cody]

In fact, the Walkers have actually shown up early during the first two event nights to get their makeup done; the makeup artists who do the Walkers also have to do the Beasts and Warriors, and because of the time it takes to airbrush their exposed arms and hands, they've been there quite early. I arrived several minutes early for my call both nights, and both times the Walkers were finished or almost finished and in costume. They could have been ready to walk out the door by 6:15. The reason they show up early is because during EP, the Warriors and Beasts were delayed and missed most of their first set due to makeup commencing only about half an hour before the gates opened. It will literally take almost an hour to finish all of the Walkers even though it's just arms, hands, and blackened eyes/mouths.

The actors are perfectly willing to show up an hour early or more for their makeup. They just need more makeup artists.

[Hush]

For anyone who says "they dont have time" for the makeup is wrong. They have plenty of time, thats why scareactors have call times. They get there at a certain time to get in there costume, makeup whatever so they can go on set. You have more extensive work to be done, then you'll need to be there earlier.

Now I have to say, from someone who has worked the event, the call times afforded to scareactors don't truly allow for overly elaborate make up. If your call time is 4:30 and your house opens at 6:30 that gives the makeup artists two hours...which for elaborate FX make up is not a great deal of time at all, especially for a large amount of people.

That being said, they could've taken that time and really put together some amazing make up effects to utilize on a smaller group of walkers and left the remaining ones use the masks. TWD house and the supposed large number of walkers outside, I don't think it would be feasible to do make up on each and every scareactor which is probably why masks are being used instead.

I have to say I was surprised at employee preview that more time and effort wasn't put into the walkers make up, especially since this is one of the big houses that has been marketed heavily. And from the sounds of things their look didn't change over opening weekend and they have continued to use masks. Guess we can hope that might change, maybe we'll start to see more elaborate make up over the next few weeks.

[King_K.]

there were only two houses? um... yea.. maybe in 1992.

Less scareactors? wow you completely have no idea what you're talking about.

And yes, actually many of them would & will show up earlier than an hour before they need to go on set for makeup.

None of your excuses are valid & clearly don't understand. UNI prides itself on being "the nations premiere haunted event", but yet fails to live up to that title. Traditionals, Beasts, & Prisoners are all recycled costumes/masks from past HHN (possibly even half the vampires). Being complete cheapasses by using masks for TWD is a major fail. Especially when it comes to an IP house that they're shoving down our throats every way they possibly can.

btw... them relying more on masks than make-up is a more recent issue for HHN and its detracting from the quality.

I don't think you understand the concept of call times first off.

If you honestly expect them to put full prosthetics and airbrush makeup on over 90 people, every day, before the event, I think you're crazy. We would have to have a dedicated make-up artist for each person, over three hours of work, and honestly, not only is that incredibly expensive, but not really feasible. Just the pure amount of prosthetics needed to be made daily would be a fortune.

I'm personally a huge fan of the masks, especially after seeing them in person. At the end of the day, the prosthetics don't scare me, the actors do.

[LV-426]

I like the masks,

Wesker might be right that really good make up would be great,

but knowing how things are going this year if they used make up they would have probably just put some red on their mouths and some white and green on their faces,

Walking Dead Zombies are more scary than Zombiegeddon zombies, While Zombiegeddon was more aggressive house, the zombies for walking dead are more scary, at least I think so, the walkers are more effective

the only house with awful silly masks is Alice Cooper, that house has bad costumes and should have been in 3D, but Walking dead to me looks pretty good

[Cody]

I've actually been lucky enough to take part in a professional zombie film, Rockabilly Zombie Weekend. The zombie makeup for the first three "stages" of zombification was relatively simple, especially when they removed the dirt makeup on my third run and decided to use airbrushed veins instead of bulging prosthetics. It still took anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour. The simplest, which was just changing my skin tone and adding dirt, was at least 10 minutes. Assuming a single cast of Walkers in the house and street has 20 people, the entire mass of zombies will number 80 people. Doing the most simple makeup, which would result in howls of derision from the fans, would take 800 minutes (or 13.3 hours) for one man to do. If there were ten makeup artists for nobody but the zombies every night, it would still take 80 minutes, over an hour, to finish the zombies.

Now let's do the math for the more complex makeup, which took about 30 minutes and used relatively cheap and easy prosthetics. For 80 zombies, you will now have 2400 minutes (40 hours) for one person to do it. With ten makeup artists, that time drops to 4 hours. All of the Walkers would need to have shown up at 3:00 PM and waited for as long as several hours before being taken for makeup. The movie has a website, so you can look up pictures of the makeup yourself if you want to see the quality. You'll notice that most of us don't exactly have flesh falling off or missing eyeballs or anything like that.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Cody

[WESKER69]

If you honestly expect them to put full prosthetics and airbrush makeup on over 90 people, every day, before the event, I think you're crazy.

well you already think i'm crazy, but that is a completely different subject entirely

I didn't mean full prosthetics, just pieces.. with some blood/shadowing. Nothing extreme... just something that would match all the hype. lol

But if the masks have to say, then they could benefit from some added details.

However, James would know best on how much details the masks have. If they do have more details than they look, then the lighting needs to be tweaked so we can actually see said details. However, they should at least make the masks blend like others have suggested.

[Hauntfan]

If you honestly expect them to put full prosthetics and airbrush makeup on over 90 people, every day, before the event,

I'm sure Hollywood has a hugely different operation altogether, but out here... We staff a full Terror Tram and Walking Dead house with all makeup/prosthetics and no masks whatsoever. Some walkers get an appliance and some other makeup applied, while characters like Bicycle Girl and the Well Walker get very detailed, exactly like the show, makeup and prosthetics done.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Hauntfan

[Arsik_22]

I'm sure Hollywood has a hugely different operation altogether, but out here... We staff a full Terror Tram and Walking Dead house with all makeup/prosthetics and no masks whatsoever. Some walkers get an appliance and some other makeup applied, while characters like Bicycle Girl and the Well Walker get very detailed, exactly like the show, makeup and prosthetics done.

There are some masks, but a very small amount.

[LV-426]

well you already think i'm crazy, but that is a completely different subject entirely

I didn't mean full prosthetics, just pieces.. with some blood/shadowing. Nothing extreme... just something that would match all the hype. lol

But if the masks have to say, then they could benefit from some added details.

However, James would know best on how much details the masks have. If they do have more details than they look, then the lighting needs to be tweaked so we can actually see said details. However, they should at least make the masks blend like others have suggested.

that is true they could have painted the masks better, they all seem to be the same color, no blood on the either ( I don't remember seeing blood in their mouth)

[madmonk]

With the amount of $$$ Uni charges for tickets, they should be able to afford to hire some more makeup artists (and help the unemployment rate at the same time!) haha.

I don't think we need to see every actor with a missing bottom jaw, or an exposed jawbone, (although it would be freakin awesome), but to have a handful of actors with really well done makeups every night (especially for a IP behemoth like the Walking Dead) should NOT be hard to pull off, especially for a freaking movie studio.

Also, not trying to be racist at all here, but a white zombie mask on a black actor just looks totally ridiculous...

Take an extra 10 minutes and blend the skin tone together with the mask, or create a mask that continues down the neck and into the clothing and you will have the problem solved for the most part. Don't think they have mask-colored paint lying around? What did they paint the masks with then?

They could have 2 artists with paint loaded into an airbrush dedicated to finishing the horrible looking necklines and enjoy an instant improvement of quality.

If this were a local, private-run haunt on this scale (with this many actors, etc) I would cut em some slack. Since we are dealing with a movie studio here, the quality of the makeup should correlate accordingly in my opinion. I realize the event has grown, but it seems like the makeup department/artists did not grow with it, hence the reliance on masks with unfinished applications.

[LV-426]

With the amount of $$$ Uni charges for tickets, they should be able to afford to hire some more makeup artists (and help the unemployment rate at the same time!) haha.

I don't think we need to see every actor with a missing bottom jaw, or an exposed jawbone, (although it would be freakin awesome), but to have a handful of actors with really well done makeups every night (especially for a IP behemoth like the Walking Dead) should NOT be hard to pull off, especially for a freaking movie studio.

Also, not trying to be racist at all here, but a white zombie mask on a black actor just looks totally ridiculous...

Take an extra 10 minutes and blend the skin tone together with the mask, or create a mask that continues down the neck and into the clothing and you will have the problem solved for the most part. Don't think they have mask-colored paint lying around? What did they paint the masks with then?

They could have 2 artists with paint loaded into an airbrush dedicated to finishing the horrible looking necklines and enjoy an instant improvement of quality.

If this were a local, private-run haunt on this scale (with this many actors, etc) I would cut em some slack. Since we are dealing with a movie studio here, the quality of the makeup should correlate accordingly in my opinion. I realize the event has grown, but it seems like the makeup department/artists did not grow with it, hence the reliance on masks with unfinished applications.

For the amount of Money they are charging us and the amount of people that go,

they should have given us 8 houses, do the event in both parks, have longer houses,

they should have given us 3 or 4 Shows like WESKER suggested a long time ago that I agreed with him, they should have given us a lot of stuff that they don't, longer houses, more props on the streets, more actors,

I really feel we got lucky with the masks, They do need some paint because they look kinda dry and all white the same color all the masks,

but it could have been a lot worst, really worst, Im talking just white face make up and red blood lips,

the fact that they went with masks was a good thing,

you guys keep saying they should have gone with prosthetics and with make up but what you don't understand is that... IF they went so cheap with the masks.. Imagine how cheap they would have gone with make up.... lol

Edited September 26, 2012 by Mr. Black

[QuestionMark]

I feel like this house is missing such simple things that they could've easily done. The horse, well zombie, bicycle girl, a scene in the woods. Couldn't they have recycled the sets from Wolfman? And of course the makeup.

[Hush]

Had they given us amazing prosthetics and make up in this house, we all know for a fact that people would just find something else to complain about regardless. It would then be that the house lacked detail, there weren't enough scareactors, there weren't enough scenes from the show, etc. I'm not saying that everyone's complaints and suggestions aren't valid, because they are...but on the other hand, no matter what, people find fault with this event every year in some, way, shape or form...myself included.

I have only seen the walkers outside the house, haven't even had the chance to go in this one yet because of the horrendous wait time during employee preview. The walkers outside looked alright to me at a glance, I didn't study their make up closely at all...which is probably what Universal is thinking in terms of using masks. The average event goer isn't going to get up close and personal and analyze what the walkers look like...most people are walking through these areas fast to avoid getting the shit scared out of them.

[Troiandan]

I will pipe up on the horse - I did rather expect the see the horse from Nightengales in here. Now, since the horse was in the street, and we don't have a street scene/room, maybe that's the explanation. Still, while I'm pleased at what I am seeing, and am especially pleased with the interaction I'm getting from/with the actors, I would like to see things ramp up a notch for the weekend starting tomorrow.

One of the nice things about a six week event - time to try out and implement new and even better things!

[Hush]

Ten new sneak peak photos from the new season via the AMC website:

http://blogs.amctv.com/photo-galleries/the-walking-dead-season-3-episode-photos/episode-1-group-fight.php

These make me very happy

[LuitaChris]

Love the pics and really can't wait for this house

[QuestionMark]

I have a question for those who have done this house both during the day and at night. I've only been through it during the day and I feel like that kinda killed the house for me cus I saw all the scares coming from a mile away. Is it better at night?

[CinemaOfTheDead]

^^Hell yes it felt more intense at night but you might not be able to see all the little references to the show but the walkers were on their A-game around 8:20 they got me so good in the department store part.

Don't know anyone know this or i'm insane but

Did they just added the little girl walker from the beginning of episode one and also the well walker in the barn (not as fat and disgusting as i wanted to be but at least we have him)

[QuestionMark]

Ok awesome, thanks!!! And if the things you mentioned in the spoilers have really been added to the house, THANK YOU UNIVERSAL.