All good things...: A Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge Recap

As always, all good things must come to an end and nothing could be truer than the finale show of the Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge.  Seems like the series went a bit fast, and in truth I think it really did because they started with ten contestants and whittled it to 3 for the finale.  Looking back however, the same was done on face off so it somewhat made sense.  Still, as much as I liked this series, I do not think it’s because of the show but, instead that strange connection that so many have to Henson’s works.  I just can’t see this show coming back for a season 2, which is a total shame.

So the finalists (Melissa, Robert and Ben), got to sit down with head judge Brian Henson as a kind of overall critique and a one on one share of ideas moving forward.  In all Brian overly stated the need for depth and growth amongst the creatures from everyone as well as truly utilizing both time and team.  This was especially clear for Ben who has a lot of trouble delegating activities to others.  That is something he found himself having to get over in a hurry because for the last challenge, the shop decided to push the remaining designers to the brink in just three days.

For the challenge the designers are asked to create a full alien creature, capable of walking in and sitting down at the bar.  After the sit the designers will be given a chance to set them for up close looks, but as an added challenge they must create a prop and an effect.  So, essentially what they want is something that would take months from the actually creature shop in three days.  In anticipation of the daunting task the designers are each given two team mates and a mentor to work with, which is good but still can take an amazing toll on the finalists who eagerly attempt to put everything together.

The major flaw this whole season has been from a lack of individual challenges.  I understand that this is a team industry but it seems like perhaps a format of a show like this isn’t geared to finding a team player.  Ben is a great example, he is a clearly talented creator and has a multitude of usable skills to throw out, however when put with another person it always seems to hinder his work as he buries inward which drags the team down more than his opinion that the other team mate isn’t pulling their own weight.  Then again it could be his aversion to fault that makes him truly flawed in the industry.  Another great example is from Melissa who arrived with little knowledge of mechanism driven designs.  This lack of knowledge makes the team atmosphere a crutch, and it wasn’t until she was forced to use the mechs in an individual challenge that she was propelled into learning to operate the tool.

Another one of the shows flaws is that the challenges where always very similar in conception, they always seemed to be recreating the same type of creature with a small difference.  There were some challenges that focused on specific ideas, but to be honest it all seemed very lose in the outline of the show.

After three days of fighting, the creatures were ready to be revealed and there were definitely some mixed reviews about each one.  First was Melissa’s creature who had a beautiful entrance.  The figure moved very well through the room and immediately gave a great personality.  It was on the up lose that she really lost the high ground.  The creature was missing a palette which isn’t always necessary but, without it the mouth seems black and static which can cause you to lose some of the suspension of disbelief.  Her smoke blowing effect however worked very well I though and gave the character a real sense of life.  The judges pointed out however, in the back story the creature is believed to be 100 years old but appeared to be quite clean.  This shocked me because Melissa is usually ace of the back stories and over all creature fabrication i.e. coloring, clothing and furs ect.

Next was ben whose creature reminded me of a kind of turtle.  His entrance wasn’t quite as dynamic as Melissa’s and the outer shell build was not successful.  It looked like a stretched out hood that gave a horrible looking black area.  The paint also was a monochromatic green that needed to be softened and shadowed for a more contoured face, at least in my opinion.  The judges were blown away by his weep effect and fetus in a jar prop.  Personally I don’t think the tears really read against the flat paint but the story was strong enough.

Finally there was Robert who wrote a large Russian gypsy esque creature.  The entrance really stuck out, not as much as Melissa’s but the volume of the creature was massively apparent from step one.  What was also very apparent was his skill for sculpting and mechanization.  With his sneeze effect he pulled the face into a very powerful sneer which was quite impressive.  What was lacking was the overall placement of fur and structure.  Sadly the creature just read ape and not really other worldly at all, as well as missing some sort of facial hair which would have really put the greasy and grimy in perspective.

All in all the creatures where truly artfully done.  I think that they couldn’t have picked a better top three if they had tried.  Each contestant showed not only skill but the ability to grow and change.  I think that the Henson team would find any of them to be a true asset but, in the end there must be a winner.  It is Robert who is crowned winner of the Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge and we wish him the best.  I don’t have too much confidence that we will see the show again but I do hope we at least get to see more of all of the creator’s works in the world.  

Look to the sky: A Face Off Recap

We made it to the finale!  Last night was the season finale of Face Off and in the spirit of the competition, it promised to be daunting and grandiose.  In reality, however I was quite underwhelmed, not unhappy, just disappointed.  The spotlight challenge was written in the stars, quite literally as the final three were asked to create two rival alien species that inhabit a constellation.  In addition to displaying a full newly discovered race, the artists are asked to incorporate lights into the design and make sure they are prepped to do a full athletic dance routine.  The finished products will be preforming an ensemble piece to “Lift me up” by DJ Ruskco.

 

With such “simple” demands, it seems only fair that they get some help for our three remaining hopeful as they bring back some of the more popular members of this season’s Face Off family.  In teams of three, each dives head first into sculpting their two dancing celestials.  It seems that the biggest lynch pin is going to be in the lights themselves and how to integrate them into the design.  My opinion, I would think it would be easiest to figure out the light plan and then building the creature around it, still the question is how much to use and where.

 

Tyler and his team of Graham and Chloe set to work in his tradition of trying to get the faces run in the first day of Lab work.  Unfortunately, due to the light placements, they run out of time and Tyler seems crushed.  He has never, not run a mold in day one, and I can say that his ability to do so up to this point was a huge advantage.  Still, the creations themselves show promise.   Tyler decided to go with differing color palettes from male to female, making his male a deep red color with sharp angular features.  The biggest success however, is his treatment of the male’s body which looks organically hollow and shows great with the strings of red dreads.  His female had a beautiful color treatment of blues and lavenders but, as for the overall shape I found her to be lacking a real sense of complete thought.  They made her more feline, and with the constellation Leo it made sense but she seemed so much smaller than the male and therefore drowned out by him. 

 

George decided to go with a coruscation theme with his aliens from the whale constellation, and with his team of Corrine and Niko set to work on building the two races based on a lighted center.  Now the idea shows promise, however the problem George ran into is twofold.   First, the two aliens looked the same; there was nothing to distinguish differing races such as shape or color of skin.  The lights were different colors; however the second problem lay with heavy chest paint so you could barely see the lights let alone the color.  The face sculpts were beautiful, in fact on the close up I really enjoyed their face features but there wasn’t enough variation to really set one a part from the other.

 

Rashaad, however had the short straw of the lab experience this week.  With his team of Daren and Cat he set to work on his two Ursa Major dwellers only to have a major production melt down when his females face mold didn’t have time to set, therefore making it impossible to run foam and forcing him to use poly foam.  With the dance requirement, poly foam is a huge set back because it doesn’t move as freely but, he has come too far to give up now and decides to give it his all.  What comes of the gamble is a happy accident as a melted mold yields a scar looking face, I love unplanned details!  As for the duo in final looks, these two are amazing!  The male has a blue and purple paint that accented a beautiful sharp and aggressive sculpt.  He read every bit the imposing figure and the body was a beautiful muscular sculpt that the pervious werewolf had lacked.  The female, however outshined all of that, quite literally as she was the only one that had a light effect with a bioluminescent cranial structure.  Yes, she had a glowy head.  She was practically angelic with a sharp yellow paint that made her really pop into life.

 

After the display it was time for the dace, in which they turned the light off.  Sa all the TV viewer got to see was poorly lit shadowy figures that really didn’t display anything.  Talk about a disappointment.  I really dislike dubstep, so being forced to listen to it and knowing that I’m missing out on an amazing performance really ticked me off. 

 

In the end it was Rashaad’s beautiful female that really took the prize home.  His reaction, I don’t think there could have possibly been a more genuine display of happiness and I couldn’t help but feel it for him too.  Here’s proof that if you want it and push hard enough, anything is possible!  The real beauty of the moment was the excitement that Tyler and George had for him.  I have never seen such gracious runner ups and slowly my faith in humanity was a bit restored.  Great job Rashaad and we hope to see more and more of you in the future!