Guest Speaker: Neill Gorton

I was lucky enough to watch a talk by the multi-award winning, including BAFTA Awards and Royal Television Society awards, Neill Gorton and I learned so much. I was so inspired by his accomplishments as he has worked on films such as Saving Private Ryan and The Wolfman, he has worked on iconic theatre productions such as Love Never Dies and The Phantom of the Operaand and he has worked on the hit TV show Doctor Who! Neill Gordon owns Gorton Studio which was the first specialist prosthetics school in Europe and he has his own shop where he sells all the equipment needed to be a successful special effects artist. Neill Gordon is the co-owner of Millennium FX which is Europes leading prosthetic companies and one of the busiest FX houses in the world.

Neill Gorton working on a monster from Doctor Who.
http://www.thelancashiremagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Neill-Gorton.jpeg

Neill Gorton's Talk

Neill Gorton said he thought is was important to start his talks off by informing students of the down sides and realities of becoming a make-up artist. He told us that most make-up artists are free lance which means that they work for themselves and are constantly looking and applying for new jobs. He said that because there is so much competition, the wages have gone down and that sometimes you would be out of work for weeks or even months before you get another job. He also said that just because you have a degree does not automatically mean you will get the job because at the end of the day, the piece of paper saying you have a degree isn't important, it's the skills that you've learned that will get you noticed. Neill gave us these facts which shocked some of us:

Artist

Workshop - £7 per hour to £30 per hour

Usual hours - 9am to 7pm

On set - £150 per day to £550 per day

Average shoot day - 12 to 14 hours 

Sculptor

Earning an average of £22.50 per hour

Usual hours - 50 hour week

Working weeks - 35 weeks per year

Average salary - £39,375 per year

Only about 10% of students go on to work in TV and film. 

Neill Gorton constantly pushed that you shouldn't be going into this industry unless you are truly passionate about it and are willing to work hard to achieve your goals. 

After Neill pushed how difficult and tiring his job can be he then said that he doesn't mind because he is in love with his job. He said that the main positives to being a make-up artist is that you can be proud of your work, you get great travel opportunities, the work is always different and that you are able to turn your hobby into your career. 

Neill Gorton gave us some tips for while we were still in education that I will definitely try and take on board. He said that you really have to work hard to achieve the best you can achieve and by that he meant that you shouldn't just do the minimum and that you should take the opportunity to build up your portfolio. He said you should make sure you take every opportunity for work experience because it will always help you build your work ethic or build contacts. He also pushed that we should make the most of the amazing facilities provided by the university because once we leave, we will not have these available to us for free to he said that we should make sure we practice as much as possible and build up our portfolios with the professional equipment provided. 

He also gave us some useful tips about how to get a job in the industry and he said that the number one thing is looks for when hiring is that you're hard working and passionate. He said that he would rather hire someone that is gonna work as hard as possible than someone that is incredibly talented but will slack. He said it is also important that you can work in a team as that will be very common in the industry. He said to be conscientious, for example, if you have finished the tasks set for you, you should ask if anyone else needs any help or ask if there are any other jobs you could be getting along with. He said that the key to getting hired is that you keep practicing so that you can develop your skills and also add more up to date work to your portfolio. He also said that to make it in the industry you need to constantly be making contacts as knowing the right person at the right time is what it's all about. 

Work Experience

-When looking for work experience make sure you stand out!

-Adress the name of the person you are writing too instead of just putting 'to whom this may concern' as it shows you are not lazy and have done the right research.

-Send a letter instead of an email to grab their attention as emails can be easily ignored, whereas a letter is more physical.

-Make sure you add some well presented, good quality images of your work to your letter to show the your skills.

-Keep in mind how you would like to be approached.

-Go to make-up shows and make-up events to build contacts and ask for advice and tips. 

-Keeping chasing people and pushing for jobs so that you're not forgotten, however don't be a pest!

-Keeping putting new images of your letters to show your most recent work.

-Make sure that you keep reminding them that you are there and available to work. 

Some of his incredible working is shown below!

Monster from Doctor Who
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Graske from Doctor Who.
http://www.mudpusher.com/images/graske2.jpg

Cat Women from Doctor Who
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Ageing of Matt Smith as Doctor Who.
http://cdn2.fashionablygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/d2_Upload.png?22a92a

Resourses:

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/artists/neill-gorton-makeup-effects-artist-fx-educator

https://www.gortonstudio.co.uk

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/artists/neill-gorton-makeup-effects-artist-fx-educator#!prettyPhoto[gallery]/0/

http://www.gortonstudio.co.uk/millennium-fx