I started watching this show because I have friends and relatives in the industry including a cousin who started studying A&P in ugrad for medical school and somehow wound up dropping out of college and going to special effects school. Until Face Off I didn't get how one makes that transition - but they never explain the whole anatomy thing.
My girlfriend watches all these competition shows like Project Runway and Top Chef so I started to watch this to see what the draw to these shows are (without watching sewing and cooking). She's made me watch some of those so I made her watch these and she was asleep halfway through each episode.
I honestly don't understand the reviews that go crazy for this show unless they've only watched it for a season or two. It gets numbingly boring after a while which is why they created teams and battle royale and all kinds of stupid nonsense. They didn't bother to change most things from season to season that needed changing and kept things that were dull and tired.
Things That Are Good About Face Off:
The artists are always pretty cool and I liked the team season. It seemed like a lot of the really good ones were brought back and Cig and George definitely added to something this show has almost none of: HUMOR. There was also a 5 minute cover of them goofing around with wigs in Season 9. But for the most part, it si so dull. There are some people over the course of the show that stand out like but the show needed more humor.
Guests
Judges like Lois Burwell make the show better when they're on it. The cast of industry people like Doug Jones, Michael Dorn, John Landis and Paul Reubens lighten up the episode and it was good to see Reubens and Vee together. Landis was also amusing on his spin around the block. There are plenty of others I enjoyed seeing and are forgetting, but it's good to have different people on otherwise it would be mind-numbingly boring unless you want to drink every time Glenn frowns at something.
Things That Are Terrible About Face Off
The music is the same from season to season. For the reveal stage is the same and it's annoying and way too loud.It starts in Last Looks and is just completely horrible. GET NEW MUSIC.
The show is so formulatic you almost don't need to watch much before the reveal stage. When an artist is explaining the difference between foam and poly-foam, my eyes roll back in my head. WHO CARES?
What would be better is to explain things that people outside the industry might care about. What is a cowl? What is a prosthetic/appliance? When an artist says, "I'm worried about the technical aspects..." What does THAT mean? I'm going to be running poly-foam on elimination day. What does THAT mean? This list could go on and on. It seems as if they started to explain it in the early seasons but there are so many things I still don't understand.
To the untrained eye, there are makeups you like and then the judges trash it. It would be good to know more about it.
I've never sewn a button on in my life but after watching a few Project Runway episodes, I know more about design and crafting a dress then I know about creating special effects makeup after watching 13 seasons of Face Off.
Mel. What was the judges deal with this? She did not deserve the judge's save and she was the only female left in the all-star season long after she should have been gone. There was a blind spot there and I have no idea how they gave her so many passes. And then she comes back!!! Who is she related to?
Mackenzie Westmore: We know who she's related to.. but her sighing and delivery of elimination statements was so cloying. "So and so, it's been so great having you here...but you have been eliminated." or "Alright judges, let's talk about the makeups that you didn't like...(sigh/sigh/false sympathy for who knows what).
Mackenzie has one speed: untalented sighing and phony sympathy. Not an ounce of range. Good thing daddy has a show otherwise who knows what she'd be doing. Passions on MeTV shown daily at 4 a.m.?
While there should have been less of Mackenzie Westmore, there should have been more of Michael Westmore. Toward the end of the series Makenzie wasn't coming to the mentoring sessions, though I'm not sure why she was there in the first place. They should have spent more time having Mr. Westmore or the judges or someone explain more about what the hell they're doing and why he's giving the advice he gives.
Diversity in the artists: there is none. On the "Mel" season, they got rid of all the other women early without even giving anyone else a chance and then I guess they went "oops" - there's only one woman left...let's keep her. There were some people of color now and again but when the lack of diversity starts annoying a fairly oblivious white guy, you know there's issues.
Grammar on the interviews. I am NOT a grammar nazi, but again, if I've noticed it, something is wrong.I noticed it In the later episodes when one artist used "more happier" and then another used the same improper phrasing on a different episode. After digging into it (it seemed so weird), I learned that most of the interviews are scripted for them.It seems as if the same writer - with bad grammar - drafted the interviews. There were so many "more better" or "that made me more happier" in some of the interviews and I had to rewind to be sure that different artists said the same wrong thing as another artist.
I would love to know more about makeup studios and what they teach there and how one decides where to go and why.
My girlfriend watches all these competition shows like Project Runway and Top Chef so I started to watch this to see what the draw to these shows are (without watching sewing and cooking). She's made me watch some of those so I made her watch these and she was asleep halfway through each episode.
I honestly don't understand the reviews that go crazy for this show unless they've only watched it for a season or two. It gets numbingly boring after a while which is why they created teams and battle royale and all kinds of stupid nonsense. They didn't bother to change most things from season to season that needed changing and kept things that were dull and tired.
Things That Are Good About Face Off:
The artists are always pretty cool and I liked the team season. It seemed like a lot of the really good ones were brought back and Cig and George definitely added to something this show has almost none of: HUMOR. There was also a 5 minute cover of them goofing around with wigs in Season 9. But for the most part, it si so dull. There are some people over the course of the show that stand out like but the show needed more humor.
Guests
Judges like Lois Burwell make the show better when they're on it. The cast of industry people like Doug Jones, Michael Dorn, John Landis and Paul Reubens lighten up the episode and it was good to see Reubens and Vee together. Landis was also amusing on his spin around the block. There are plenty of others I enjoyed seeing and are forgetting, but it's good to have different people on otherwise it would be mind-numbingly boring unless you want to drink every time Glenn frowns at something.
Things That Are Terrible About Face Off
The music is the same from season to season. For the reveal stage is the same and it's annoying and way too loud.It starts in Last Looks and is just completely horrible. GET NEW MUSIC.
The show is so formulatic you almost don't need to watch much before the reveal stage. When an artist is explaining the difference between foam and poly-foam, my eyes roll back in my head. WHO CARES?
What would be better is to explain things that people outside the industry might care about. What is a cowl? What is a prosthetic/appliance? When an artist says, "I'm worried about the technical aspects..." What does THAT mean? I'm going to be running poly-foam on elimination day. What does THAT mean? This list could go on and on. It seems as if they started to explain it in the early seasons but there are so many things I still don't understand.
To the untrained eye, there are makeups you like and then the judges trash it. It would be good to know more about it.
I've never sewn a button on in my life but after watching a few Project Runway episodes, I know more about design and crafting a dress then I know about creating special effects makeup after watching 13 seasons of Face Off.
Mel. What was the judges deal with this? She did not deserve the judge's save and she was the only female left in the all-star season long after she should have been gone. There was a blind spot there and I have no idea how they gave her so many passes. And then she comes back!!! Who is she related to?
Mackenzie Westmore: We know who she's related to.. but her sighing and delivery of elimination statements was so cloying. "So and so, it's been so great having you here...but you have been eliminated." or "Alright judges, let's talk about the makeups that you didn't like...(sigh/sigh/false sympathy for who knows what).
Mackenzie has one speed: untalented sighing and phony sympathy. Not an ounce of range. Good thing daddy has a show otherwise who knows what she'd be doing. Passions on MeTV shown daily at 4 a.m.?
While there should have been less of Mackenzie Westmore, there should have been more of Michael Westmore. Toward the end of the series Makenzie wasn't coming to the mentoring sessions, though I'm not sure why she was there in the first place. They should have spent more time having Mr. Westmore or the judges or someone explain more about what the hell they're doing and why he's giving the advice he gives.
Diversity in the artists: there is none. On the "Mel" season, they got rid of all the other women early without even giving anyone else a chance and then I guess they went "oops" - there's only one woman left...let's keep her. There were some people of color now and again but when the lack of diversity starts annoying a fairly oblivious white guy, you know there's issues.
Grammar on the interviews. I am NOT a grammar nazi, but again, if I've noticed it, something is wrong.I noticed it In the later episodes when one artist used "more happier" and then another used the same improper phrasing on a different episode. After digging into it (it seemed so weird), I learned that most of the interviews are scripted for them.It seems as if the same writer - with bad grammar - drafted the interviews. There were so many "more better" or "that made me more happier" in some of the interviews and I had to rewind to be sure that different artists said the same wrong thing as another artist.
I would love to know more about makeup studios and what they teach there and how one decides where to go and why.