The Makeup, Hair, and Wardrobe Departments

There are three departments in any film crew, the artists behind bringing characters to life. One relies on the other and they feed on one another creatively allowing audiences to see the story and experience the truth of a character.

Those departments are Makeup, Hair, and Wardrobe. Each is equally important and in order to fully understand the topic at hand, being a Makeup Artist in film, is it essential to understand the additional departments that make your job possible. The drawing board in any film begins with a screenplay or an idea. Within that exists a team of people that have to come together to bring that idea to life and then hundreds of people, hours, and meetings eventually lead to what ends up on screen. In the process of storyboarding (a layout of each scene in a screenplay), filmmakers begin to visualize their characters. The creations on a page become tangible and real and soon enough are alive and well and waiting to be made. In the end, makeup artists, hairstylists, wardrobe, and actors are brought in to piece this character together.

So what does each of these departments actually do?