The prize for best visual effects was awarded at the Hungarian Film Week for the first time. Visual effects designers have so far been pushed to the back and their activities have not been dealt with a lot, but the success of their efforts was enjoyed by the director or the photographer. The 37th Film Week is a remarkable breakthrough in this respect, because with this prize it is finally acknowledged in Hungary that the visual world of the film is equal with the story, not just a decoration of secondary importance or of no value at all that directors usually edit.
How did you get into the visual effects team of Taxidermia?
Adrien Asztalos
I was the visual effects designer of Gyuri Pálfi’s exam film at college, and we have talked a lot about the script of Taxidermia while it was being written. I loved its world, I felt that visual presentation gets a major role in it. The sketch of the self-mounting machine with spiders legs – which appears in the third part – was put on the cover of the first script. When the money was finally available, the production process started, but we had to share the areas of scenery and costumes between us, because it could not have been managed by the same person. I was dealing with the scenery and I looked for the right location.
Have you always dealt with stage design or do you have a civilian profession?
I’m an architect by profession with a special degree in color dynamics, but after graduation I immediately started working as a stage designer for Tamás Vayer.
Apart from films, what other designer assignments have you tried yourself in?
I’ve worked in all the areas of the profession. During a designing process, the emphasis is on different aspects in the case of television, theater, films or commercials. On television, close-ups are very important, the focus is on what we see on the screen around the head of the actors, while in theatrical scenery the stage is in the center, the details are not so elaborate… The working process is absolutely different, too, because new information may come up during the rehearsals that influences the final state of the scenery… Theatrical work is more intimate, and although the film is more industrial, both can be loved. As regards the structure, the requirements are different in the case of a theater scenery that has to be pulled down and rebuilt again and again, so it is important for the scenery to be light and storable. A film scenery, however, usually ends up in the garbage can, only the frames remain.
What productions have you taken part in so far?
After shooting Taxidermia, I’ve worked on Natália Jánossy’s exam movie called Csendélet hallal és más tragikus momentumokkal (Still life with a fish and other tragic circumstances), also in an Italian film Moons and the stars, as well as commercials (Vodafone, Renault Clio, Jacobs, Cablecom). Internationally, I took part in the commercial of the TV-show of Tremors and My Big Fat Greek Wedding in Los Angeles. In Morocco, I worked on a television film In The Beginning, while in Romania I contributed to the preparation of an American movie, Squarecircle. On Hungarian television, I made the scenery of different talk shows, such as the Barbara Show, Banánhéj and Világsztárok Friderikusszal.
Theater?
After the university, I worked on several theater productions. When Bárka Theater was launched – during the time when Dorottya Udvaros, Zoltán Mucsi, Pepe Scherer were members of the company – I designed several scenery for them. I had also prepared the set for István Tasnádi’s Don Quijote (Don Quixote), but the premier was unfortunately cancelled. I made the scenery for A vén bakancsos és a fia, a huszár (The old brogue and his son, the hussar) directed by Balázs Simon in a summer theater of Millenáris Teátrum.
What was the proportion of artificial (built) and natural scenery in Taxidermia?
Kálmán’s flat was made in a studio, and we also built the cage of the giant cats diminished for the special effects. Another scenery was Lajoska’s fitness room in the Vienna shooting, but it was cut out in the end. I also had to deal with architecture on the locations. Vendel’s hut and Vilmácska’s sty were attached to an existing shed. We also transformed the house of location No. 42: roofs and partitions were built, while the stairs were removed. We built a hut in a studio, too, but the pop-up book, the turn-overs around the trough as well as the tail-washing in the trough were also set in the studio.
For me the most amazing visual solution was the color change of the trough, the way we could see the cycle of human life from the cradle to the grave. Where did you find the right place for the hut?
The location of the first part is a miners’ block near Dorog, in which temporary accommodation was created. The choice of location for the eating competition involved several phases. We planned that the competition of the 1960es would take place in Diósgyőr Stadium with loads of extras and installations, but the budget became tighter, so we shot the scene in a church in Hűvösvölgy instead, which we originally imagined as the location for the Los Angeles eating trial. The Los Angeles competition was finally shot in front of a painted background. The church was never completed, but its central space resembles a colosseum.
And you put the red flags on them.
Well, yes, they gave the set a rather different mood. We also built in the audience’s system of platforms. There was a little accident on the Olympic scene just the day before shooting; because of the light, we decided to expand a huge white clingfilm above the space, but the weather suddenly changed, and a huge storm broke out, so we didn’t have time to withdraw the veil. The water accumulated on the surface, tore the material and all the water poured on the scenery then being constructed. Luckily, nobody was injured, and we managed to re-create the scene for next day’s shooting.
How long did it take to find the right locations and to make preparations?
We planned one year which eventually became two. Of course, it also included shooting, not just preparations.
How did you manage to find the locations in the end? You just put on your backpack and traveled in the country?
Almost. Eurofilm rented a car for me without a driver, so it wasn’t too easy. While driving, I was constantly looking around not to miss anything. It was most difficult to find the location for the first part. Beforehand we only discussed to look for a detached, office-like building, excluding farm-houses and provincial character.
How did you finally come across the building?
It’s quite an interesting story. I was told about a building around Dorog, and just as I was turning on the road, I spotted the protruding brick spire. I headed upwards, but in the sleet the car couldn’t go up the steep road. So, I got out of the car and although it wasn’t easy on foot either – one step forward, three steps back, my umbrella turned inside out –, when I finally made it to the top, I immediately knew that Gyuri and the others were going to like it.
Were you free to do what you wanted?
During the fieldwork, our ideas about the film gradually became outlined, so I collected the locations I thought were suitable, then the first sketches were made and that’s what we further developed. This is freedom, but I needed encouragement.
How many people assisted you?
I can finally thank Péter Brill and his team for creating and realizing the world we dreamt of. He was our architect during most of the shooting in Hungary. But answering your question, this number kept on changing depending on the actual production process. When shooting in Vienna, we furnished the preparator’s workshop and Kálmán’s flat ourselves.
Which one was your favorite location?
Perhaps Titokvilág (The Secret World), where we put the self-mounting machine. In the middle of the space there was a vertical production line, on which we mounted the machine. Although it had been disassembled by the time shooting began, we got to love it so much that we rebuilt it as the foundation. This space with the concrete columns has a very strong visual effect. There are two similar buildings only, this one and the other one in Hamburg.
You managed to successfully reflect the atmosphere of different ages, in colors, visually and scenery-wise. The painfully harsh colors of the 1960es story astonishingly resemble the Soviet colored films. What tools did you use to present the different style of the eras?
I treated Vendel’s hut as a fine arts piece, where every plank has its place. I feel personally committed to the objects in Kálmán’s flat, since Lajoska and I share a common childhood. My mum also made Kalocsa-embroideries, and I also collected money in a piggy bank. Kálmán’s flat hasn’t changed since Gizi left. The toys pouring out of the wardrobe and the Gizi-altar all belong to the past. We also created objects that didn’t exist then, but bear the signs of the time, such as the props of the eating competition and the sport itself. The tables that measure the food consumption are inventions, but their design and shape recall the stereotypes of the 1960es.
How did the visual effects and the special effects team come together?
Iván Pohárnok:
I have a company called Filmefex that deals with it. I continuously work with eight guys on films and commercials. Gyuri needed an extremely fat man in the film, but in this profession not many of us deal with creating special masks, that’s why he chose me.
What films have you contributed to so far?
It’s a rare occasion to work in a feature film from beginning to end, it’s usually just one or two phases, one cut or a few seconds. I’ve had my company for ten years, but altogether I’ve been in this business for 15 years, and we work on three feature films a year. In Alien vs. Predator I prepared and painted masks as member of an American mask team. In the Last Samurai I made lots of artificial corpses for the battle scenes, but I also worked in Zoli Kamondi’s films Az érsek látogatása (Visit of the Archbishop) and Az alkimista és a szűz (The Alchemist and The Virgin). I took part in Eragon as well: the American fantasy movie was shot in Hungary and had a 100 million dollar budget. Alien was actually a dream come true, because there I could finally experience how mask-making worked in a professional American company. Of course, professional challenge is one thing, and finding a movie good is another. These two things rarely coincide, although Taxidermia is really great.
I suppose, they mainly knock on your door with science-fiction and fantasy assignments.
Well, yes, special masks are used only in certain genres.
How did you get the idea of dealing with it?
I got interested in the profession in the secondary school, then I went to Hollywood to study at Dick Smith for a year. He became famous for the masks of The Exorcist, The Godfather and The Taxi Driver. When I returned home around the time of the political changes, several film studios were being born, but no computer effects were applied, so I was offered a lot of jobs. I got myself an assistant, and in ten years’ time we were expanding. Today, we are a big workshop. Some of us come from the College of Fine Arts, some from the College of Applied Arts, but there are stone-masons and panel beaters as well. I was a student at the College of Applied Arts for one year and I studied sculpture at the College of Fine Arts for four years, and I dropped out without graduating, because at that time I already knew which direction I wanted to go, but what I was interested in was not taught. And it’s not even taught today, because there’s no real demand. In Hungary it has no traditions and money is not available. Few Hungarian films can afford it, because the genre is very expensive. Moreover, there aren’t many visually challenging movies, since Hungarian directors prefer putting the emphasis on the plot. Most directors don’t think in terms if images, but Gyuri is totally exceptional in this respect.
Is there any other team like yours in Hungary?
Since I was attracted into this business by Star Wars, in which everything can be found from models to puppets, I decided not to specialize. I deal with any film effects that are not computerized, including masks, special models and props. There’s not another company like ours in Hungary that can be represented in every area.
Did you work freely in Taxidermia?
My duty was implementation that rather meant technical solutions. Gyuri needed an over-sized man and my aim was to create an obese person as realistically as possible. We wanted to find the boundaries of being so fat that is almost non-existent, yet it does exist. How fat is the fattest person you can imagine, although you’ve never seen? We do a good job, if in the film everything looks real. If the spectators say, oh, that mask looks great, we couldn’t reach the desired effect.
In this film there are a few things I’m not entirely happy with. There were tight budget and time frames, we didn’t have enough time for experimenting, therefore I had to make compromises. I spent the most time on Kálmán’s face and head, I only left Gábor Máté’s eyeballs untouched. Yet, his belly had to be too static, because in order to make such a huge mass move authentically, it had to be extremely heavy. The actor, however, needed to stand up every few hours, which we could only make possible with a fix belly so that he could be put in and out of this structure, which couldn’t be too heavy. Anyway, that’s why I didn’t like his belly.
How is a body-mask created?
We take the negative of the actor’s body from head to toe and cast it from gypsum. It is followed by modeling, the sculptural work, when we form the human face realistically out of plasticine. A very complicated process follows: we prepare several negative forms that we cast with a special foamed rubber and vulcanize. This rubber is in fact the condensed version of caoutchouc milk that we beat into foam with an egg whisk, and fill with a syringe into the forms, then bake and paint it. Another difficulty is that it can be used only once, since it peels off the facial skin in pieces. So we had to make a new one every day while shooting!
The mask has to be made up of several pieces so that we could stick it on the facial skin and it doesn’t disturb the original mimicking. After that we can put on the make-up. Kálmán’s face mask consisted of 8-10 pieces and it took about four hours to put on and make it up. We used a paint spray to bring the pieces together, and then we put on the wig and the fake eyebrows.
We put two huge rubber gloves on his arms, then came the body that we fixed on Gábor Máté sitting in an armchair. We stuck it together inside the double chin, then we dressed him up. The problem was that whenever he wanted to get out of it, it took twenty minutes.
What other challenges did you have to face in the film?
Originally, we had had to prepare giant cats, but no money remained for it. Yet, we made sweet, movable cat tails that can be seen for a few instants. We created the embryo-shaped key-hold, too.
I must admit that I loved that. It’s really a perfect piece.
We painted it under magnifying glass, because it was so small. When we finished, Gyuri told me he needed a scene when the preparator is actually working on the embryo, so we had to repeat it again. It was extremely strange to be messing in a one-centimeter bottle next to a one-ton man.
For the first part, we prepared a fake phallus that was in flames and a cock nips at it sometimes, but also other small bits and pieces.
How did you get into the crew?
Haide Hildegard mask and make-up artist:
The movie was made at Eurofilm and I’ve worked quite a lot with them, but I hadn’t met Gyuri before, so we were only brought together by the movie.
What other big productions have you been in before?
Several international films, such as Slyper 2, based on an Eastern-European story shot in Hungary, and in 8 mm, which was also made here. I worked on an independent film in the Unites States as well, called World without waves. There’s also a Canadian series, Collector, which I’ve been making with my colleague Éva Kozma for three years. For the episode set in the Middle Ages, we had to make plague blisters, and we didn’t do it as specialist make-up artists would, but created it using condoms, transformed, fastened and fixed on the skin.
Of Hungarian directors, I’ve worked with Péter Tímár on Vakvagányok (Blind Guys) and A Herceg haladéka (The Prince’s Delay), with Márta Mészáros on A Csodálatos mandarin (The Wonderful Mandarin), with Zsombor Dyga on Kész cirkusz (Real Circus) and Tesó (Brother), but I’ve been the make-up artist of several films. Currently, I’m working on János Szász’ latest film Ópium.
Do you work on commercials as well?
Yes, I work quite a lot both on foreign and Hungarian commercials. I’ve made ads for all the major Hungarian telecommunications companies and car brands. I used to work for József Katona Theater for three years, but now I don’t have time for that. I only have the energy to work for Yvette Bozsik’s solo performances.
Did you originally learn to do make-ups and masks?
When I started it, no such schools existed in Hungary. You could only learn the tricks of the trade if you joined a make-up artist, but I didn’t have the chance, so it seemed to be only a dream for a long time. After leaving high school, I studied cosmetics and I learnt how to make up a face, but it had nothing to do with stage or film make-up. Then a good friend of mine started modeling and her future husband was a photographer, so with their help I could get into photo shoots, where I learnt a lot of tricks. After that the events sped up, and I picked up more and more. I met a lot of people, and there came a point, when I felt that’s not enough.
The next step was learning how to make wigs. I must admit I didn’t manage on my own, although I tried. Fortunately, Károly Magyar was glad to teach me the basics. One year later, however, he moved to Australia, so I was alone again. I started working for theaters to practice everything about hairstyling and wig-making. I also experimented making wounds, scars, burns alone. In this respect, it wasn’t easy without a master, but thinking back I don’t really mind, because I can only be grateful for myself. The harder it is to gain experience, the more valuable the knowledge is. First I worked in shorts and exam films, which were followed by bigger productions.
What exactly is included in your job: besides make-ups and wig-making do you do wounds and nose enlargement as well?
It depends. For instance, in Taxidermia Iván prepared the rubber prosthetics of hare-lip, and I put it on. I do partial tasks, but not whole masks. The modern scenes of the film were shot in Vienna, so an Austrian make-up artist worked on them, while I had to reproduce it at home on the basis of a high quality printed photo.
How many people assisted you?
It depends on which phase we’re talking about. In the central series of scenes I had a lot of helpers. We had the wigs made, and the styling was done by hairstylist Laci Horváth.
Did you change the appearance of all the characters?
Of course, after reading the script, I got the idea of how the figures looked. I was walking in the city, collecting the documents of the period, looking at old photos, newspapers and publications, such as Ez a divat, Színház- és Filmművészet. It is much easier to communicate with the director and the costume designer this way, since if I have the design in my head I can explain it to them. It’s also worth studying how the fashion of the social classes has changed in the different eras, what fabrics, cuts and accessories they used. I tried to create the appearance of the figures so that their character came through and after long discussions with Gyuri, we tried to harmonize our ideas. The looks of actors was continually transforming during the mask rehearsals. In the parts set in the 1940es and 1960es, the characters had to be placed in the era, but in the last part only the scenes where Lajoska is mounting himself or his father were shot at home, so here I had less work to do.
Which was the most challenging scene or task?
I think it has to be the hare-lip. It was really time-consuming, because I had to color, apply and adjust it to the face.
What special material did you use?
The baby in the first part was older, so we had to make him look younger with the make-up. I only used natural materials, because a baby’s skin is much more sensitive to chemicals. We put a lot of things on the baby’s skin – blackberry jam, baby powder or vaseline – but there was no problem, he let me put cream on him. He probably believed that I was giving him a massage.
We only used rubber prosthetics for the hare-lip, and we tried to make it with materials we could easily access. Our major tools in the 1960es eating competition scenes were the lard of goulash soup and semolina pudding. I didn’t have to smear anyone with Beluga caviar pulp, which was actually red currant.
I somehow suspected that the hearty eater couple wasn’t actually eating the red caviar on the boat on Lake Balaton. That amount would probably have cost more than the total budget of the film.
In the second part the completely bald Gergő Trócsányi got thick hair, short red-haired Adél Stanczel received a long dark brown wig, and Zoli Koppány a cap. We also had to stick hair in Adél’s armpit, because in the 1960es, almost everybody had thick hair in their armpit and on their legs. There’s even a scene specially focusing on it. Adél is wearing a dress with wide arm opening and the camera is showing her revealing hair.
Have you changed anything on the Olympic sports people’s bodies or they are originally this size?
We haven’t touched them. They were looking for bulky bodies actors, and most of them had nothing to do with filming so far. Mainly sumo wrestlers and wrestlers took part in the eating competition. Zoli is an actor, Adél is a socio-politician, while Gergő is the singer of Hollywoodoo.
If I know well, your company does not primarily deal with film effects, but rather animation.
Béla Klingl animator
Yes, both Áron Gauder and I graduated with a major in animation, Igor joined us from computing and he can carry out simulation assignments, too. Our company is named KGB which is an abbreviation made up of our surname initials: K as Béla Klingl, G as Áron Gauder and B as Igor Bóka. First we bought three computers to establish the studio, then we began expansion, although the number of computers still doesn’t reach that of foreign studios. Our first assignment was of graphic nature, and we designed a CD-cover for an acquaintance.
How did you meet Pálfi?
Gyuri was just graduating with his film Hukkle that year, when our studio was launched, so we agreed to make the special effects for him cheap. Later it proved to be a good reference.
Yes, I heard that you prepared the airplane that flew under the bridge.
There are several special effects in it: the airplane, the skeleton, the root of the lily-of-the-valley and the mole’s path under the ground, which was actually an animation made of photos.
Did you work in Nyócker?
Yes, the 3D-figures were ?animated” in our studio, but the majority of the work wasn’t done here.
What other animations have you made?
I had two short films, Déjá vu and my diploma movie, Meteorb that received smaller awards. Our most recent film was Maestro, a five-minute animation, directed by Géza M. Tóth, which has won more than ten awards at different festivals. We prefer short films. I consider Zsolt Richly a master of mine who became known for the public with János Háry and Kockásfülű nyúl (The Rabbit with the Checkered Ear). We made shadow play-like effects for his latest film, Pilinszky’s poetic tale Ének a kőszívű királyról (Song about the Stone-hearted King)”. We also assisted in Zsófi Péterffy and Kati Macskássy’s short animations. My first special effect was made in Simon magus, when the magician is sitting in front of his computer and on the monitor a winter tale of an animated bear demonstrates being buried alive.
Do you have any future plan for a whole-night animated movie?
Áron is preparing for a film about Viking history. Anyway, the situation of animation is not easy at all. For instance, fifteen years ago everybody believed that in Hungary you couldn’t make a whole-night film. Earlier, however, it could work, because it was supported by the television and the state, but today only MMKA (Magyar Mozgókép Közalapítvány) provides support. Of the budget, about 250 million Forints can be spent on animation a year, which is not much. Nyócker was made from 80 million Forints, which nobody believed abroad. It was cheap because of the computerized papier mâché technique.
Do you deal with commercials as well?
Of course. We’ve animated several figures for ads, e.g. a jumping rabbit or a dancing flour sack for Tesco. We mostly make credits (e.g. Győzike Show), and now we’re working on the new image of M2.
How many of you worked on the special effects of Taxidermia?
There are five of us in the company, and we gave only one scene to a contracted person in the very last days to be ready by the deadline. Áron and Igor carried out the bulk of the job. They started working on the film one year earlier, when the shooting was made, with huge intervals. The problem was that we received the film-quality scanned material only one month before the Film Week, but we had to submit it in late December or early January, so we only had one month for the 70 scenes. All right, it was mostly just the retouch of a leg, or moving an extra’s eye a bit aside, when he looked into the mirror or completing a picture. In foreign countries specialists only deal with one phase, such as retouch, modeling 3D-figures, painting textures or liquid simulation, but in Hungary you have to be familiar with all of them. One scene is usually done by one person from beginning to end.
I heard that a few 3D-scenes were finally left out.
Yes, in the third part while the preparator is walking, we meant to show the city form above, but it was completed only as a preview. Several scenes were omitted, such as the beheading scene that we planned at the beginning of the film with a flying head telling the story.
My colleague Zoltán Bogdán modeled the actor’s head, which we replaced by a 3D-head (he’s originally a goldsmith, with a great sense of space and he is familiar with modeling, too). The splashing of blood was created by a computer.
What other effects did you use?
We made the vomits at several places, for example, when during a work-out, one of the actors vomits into the grinder, a pipe was put into his mouth and a machine pumped the artificial vomit out of his mouth. We only had to make the pipe invisible. At the end of the eating competition, the Russian-language captions were misspelt, so we had to replace the letters. Another special effect was the ominous sperm scene, when the thick liquid flows through the slit, but also the head shot, Gizi’s embryo and the baby’s pigtail in the first part. When the balloon flies above the city is totally 3D. We also enlarged the cats. The scenery was half the size of the original, so we had to combine the small set with the big scenery.
The Balaton-scene is wholly computerized, including the beak of the ship and the fish jumping around it. 3D-animations should fit into the natural scenes, so we set the colors and the light to match the color scheme of the film. The film also has a noise that we had to include in the effects, so that they wouldn’t be sterile, e.g. bean weevils jumping on the television, or graininess.
Which effect was the most challenging?
Perhaps the vomits and the watery scenes with the jumping fish.
How could you complete so much work within just one month?
It was difficult, because polishing took place in Vienna. We traveled there a lot and sent them the cuttings regularly, but we were producing the effects until the very last minute. In foreign countries, the polishing workshop and the 3D-animation are done in one studio, but you need a huge amount of capital to be able to expand into this direction.
We visited the shooting of the film, because the film had to be shot in a way that it our effects could nicely fit into it. We installed blue box and counterpoint to be able to re-simulate the movements of the camera, but often we had to follow the movement manually, such as the baby’s tail.
Perhaps that’s why we got the prize…
Translated by Andrea Danyi
