Indie Films and FX Makeup As a Passion with Robert Fitz

Kino Society with Owen Shapiro

Doing FX makeup professionally and pursuing a career in indie films sounds challenging. However, today’s guest managed to do exactly that. Rob Fitz is an award-winning director who started his journey of 25 years in the film industry as a makeup and FX artist. Rob has participated as a makeup artist in various well-known movies such as “Jumanji,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Surrogates,” and many more. Also, after 10 years of hard work, Rob released an action/horror film called “God of Vampires” which he directed himself. The film got into a number of film festivals and won a few awards, then got international distribution garnering some critical praise and a small cult following.
Highlights:

• Rob explains how he has always loved FX makeup, even as a little kid––that’s why he decided to go to film school in New York and then developed a love for directing as well.
• Even though Rob could not finish his studies, makeup was still his passion; he unexpectedly got his first job as a FX makeup artist when working as a Production Assistant at a low-budget movie.
• After this lucky strike, Rob then got called to work for high-budget movies and his career took off from there.
• Rob explains how he managed to write and direct his own movie called “God of Vampires,” a true insight into an indie production film with a really low budget which had its own challenges.
• Makeup as an art form: Rob describes how he conceives makeup and how a typical makeup session procedure takes place in the film industry. Each makeup procedure also depends on the director’s insights; some are more hands-off while others make sure to set up guidelines for the makeup artist to follow.

To learn more about Rob, visit his website!

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