As many of my readers know, I have been promoting and supporting the upcoming feature film that is scheduled to be shot later this year entitled To Avenge. It is written and directed by Nick Belial, and I am honored to present my recent interview with special effect makeup artist Shawn Sieger. He has recently joined the crew for this thriller/drama feature, and it is an honor to present him to my readers today.
RH: Please tell us about how you decided to pursue a career in film/TV.
SS: Actually, my work in film and TV was incidental. I had been pursuing a career as an artist in the Haunted Attraction industry and getting work doing makeup, making props, designing and building sets, etc. when an opportunity arose to do makeup on Bam Margera of “Jackass” fame for a commercial advertising The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride.
Bam Margera
Next came a small film that used the haunt as the backdrop for a murder/thriller, and my brother Robert Sieger and I were hired to do the special effects. During the same period, Rob and I did special makeup effects for another Bates Haunt commercial and even got the chance to act. There were also numerous Travel Channel’s America Haunts segments featuring The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride that we got to be a part of. And everything just seemed to grow from there. I can trace almost every job in commercial and film as well as the friends and connections made in the business back to that handful of early jobs. So, anyway, I never really decided to pursue a career in film or TV; it just became a natural progression or growth from the Haunt industry work I was doing and which I am still doing. I have been very fortunate to see my career grow unexpectedly as it has.
Why did you choose to become a special effects makeup artist?
I blame my father. Ha. My mom too. They were both into Halloween and always took the time to do great costumes and incredible makeup for the family while we were growing up. My father was also into the classic Universal Monsters and would let us all (my brothers, my sister, and myself) watch those black and white monster movies as kids. Frankenstein was always a household favorite. From the interpreted vision of James Whales of Mary Shelley’s book to the acting of Boris Karloff wearing probably the most iconic makeup ever put on film–designed and applied by Jack Pierce. By the age of ten or so, we were watching Alien, Aliens, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Fright Night, Salem’s’ Lot, and all of those great 80’s horror movies. I should probably mention that my father was a great artist, but only did so as a hobby. And he would always explain the makeup and tricks used for effects; these things fascinated him. Outside of horror movies people like Ray Harryhausen with The Adventures of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Gulliver’s Travels and Clash of the Titans, and then Jim Henson with his Muppets, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth, and then magicians like David Copperfield all had an influence on me. The common thread always being that there was a secret process to making these unbelievable things and presenting them in a totally believable way, and then using that to entertain an audience. I wanted to be a part of that.
Please tell us your first role in the business and how that came about. What are your memories of doing that?
From the Haunted Hayride
Well, as I said, my first role was to do makeup on Bam Margera for a commercial for The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride. It was pretty straight forward. I did some bruising and scratches and made up some blood and fake teeth for him to spit out.
Next, I worked on a feature with my brother doing some makeup duties and special effects. A friend of ours was a producer on that film and approached us. It was being shot at the haunted attraction with the premise being: Would customers even be aware that actual murders were being committed before their eyes under the guise of the show? To date, this first feature had the most effects to be delivered in the shortest amount of time of all my works. We built two stand-in dummies for characters that were devoured by fire. One was actually built-in layers over an anatomically correct plastic medical skeleton so some of the bones could be exposed as the fire burned away the flesh. Pretty gruesome. Then we had a fall apart scarecrow loaded with Pyro effects for a dream sequence. We also had multiple wounds, blood effects, in-camera gunshot effects, and a character cut in half. We also built a pair of legs that were loaded with blood pouches that we puppeted and were fed into a combine. This was probably my favorite shot. Most of my memories of this shoot are of how exhausting it was. Ha. It was definitely a learning experience.
I know that you worked on Delaware Shore. Is this how you met Nick Belial? Please tell us about meeting him and working on that set.
Ok. I did work with Nick Belial on Delaware Shore, which, by the way, seems to be doing well on the festival circuit. Especially for first time director Raghav Peri. It won in various categories at the Los Angeles Film Awards, New York Film Awards, Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival, Oniros Film Awards, and more. Great set to work on. Surrounded by great people dedicated to the work. Fun location as well. We were shooting at a beach house on Slaughter Beach in Delaware for the principal filming. I was only required to be on that shoot for a couple of days. I had the job of aging Gail Wagner who plays Agnes, a Holocaust survivor haunted by her past. That and a couple of blood effects, gunshot wounds, and the like. Fun work if you can get it.
From DECAY
But actually, I met Nick on a previous project called DECAY. My brother Robert Sieger and I were tasked with special effects and leading a team of makeup artists to design and create the zombies for the film. In case anyone is unaware, Nick Belial is a super creative person and an amazing photographer as well. Anyway, Nick was the on-set photographer for DECAY and he got some amazing shots. DECAY was the first project I had worked on that had a professional photographer on-set. Usually, there are people with cameras, myself included, running around a film set to capture images of production, but nothing like the professional that Nick is. He was completely unobtrusive to the process of filming and yet injected himself naturally through conversation with the camera operators, actors and effects people to know what was going to be shot and how so that he could set himself up to get the best images possible. He was able to get some amazing shots of effects as the filming occurred without being in the way of primary filming. His shots were so well set up, that you would think that the effects were being preformed for his lens. Before working on that set, all of the shots I would have to show were before and after shots of the effect, never an action shot. For me, that was really cool.
How did you get involved with To Avenge? What will be your specific role on this film?
Well, I got a call from Nick and he told me that he had written a script and had plans to produce and direct it himself. He gave me a brief summary of the story and discussed at length a few of the effects that he was looking to see and asked if I would be interested. Of course, I was. Just the enthusiasm Nick has when discussing the story has me interested. My role will be to design, develop, and execute special makeup effects and blood effects to be shot for the upcoming film To Avenge. I can’t wait.
Why do you believe that the story of To Avenge is such an important one to be told in light of current events?
Well first off, everybody likes a well-told revenge story. From Death Wish to Kill Bill and soon To Avenge, revenge and justice-seeking movies and stories have always been popular in our culture. This topic is the basis for Clint Eastwood’s early film career. We all want justice. And too often in our society, the pervasive feeling is that many cases fall through the cracks or are mishandled or facts are outright ignored due to bias. So to see people find that justice in a bloody, more-than-the-law-can-provide kind of way, is satisfying. Women make up more than fifty percent of the US population. So, for there still to be a prevalent bias against them in a free society, nearly worldwide even, is maddening and disheartening. Luckily, more and more women are speaking out and rising through the ranks of government and the justice system. I think we are at a turning point. At least I hope that we are. And we can only hope that movies like these inspire the strength of character needed to face injustices in our lives. When people see film characters or read stories about people that they feel represent them or look like them and they are doing the things that we all wish that we could do, it gives us encouragement.
Any other upcoming works you can mention?
Well, Delaware Shore has just had it’s LA and New York premieres accompanied by limited runs this past December and is now gearing up for a theatrical run in Delaware starting this January the 25th at Penn Cinema Riverfront. And tickets are still available. And then I have To Avenge, of course. Also, I just shot a fundraising teaser for a werewolf feature that is hoping to film later this year or next, tentatively titled Somerset Road. These three projects are vastly different in terms of what I am to produce, so they really give me a chance to stretch different muscles and have been and should continue to be really fun.
Please tell us about your other work outside of film/TV.
From the Haunted Hayride
Outside of film and TV, I primarily work with Bates Entertainment Group and Bates Motel Acquisitions. Working for Randy and Anne Bates has been one of the most rewarding and challenging (in a good way) long-term jobs I have ever had the pleasure to do. We do so many different things that span over many genres in live and interactive entertainment. It really has been a great ride so far.
From the Haunted Hayride
First off, I am Art Director and Co-Head the Makeup Department with my brother Robert for The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride. And this place is amazing. I am so proud of the work I and everybody do here. It is repeatedly ranked as one of the Top ten haunted attractions in the country. Benjamin Bates (son to Randy and Anne Bates and Director of Operations) along with Randy, Mike Hearn, and Chris Malloy have developed some of the most spectacular uses for pyrotechnics in a haunted attraction as I have ever seen. It really is a great place to work. Build Crew and Art Department working copasetic ally to bring to life some great sets and characters and especially to deliver the scares to such a wide audience has really been the long term highlight of my career.
At Arasapha Farm, we also do a Harvest Hayride that is open weekends for younger fans of the Autumn/Halloween Season. This isn’t scary at all, by the way…just good wholesome fun, including corn mazes, farm animals, and a moon bounce for our younger audiences. And for the Christmas Season, we produce a Holiday Hayride. And that’s just a taste of the goings-on of Arasapha Farm just outside of Philadelphia in Delaware County.
But over the past three years, we have also been developing a series of Escape Rooms in West Chester that are open year round and have some of the best-built, best-looking, interactive environments of any Escape Rooms. These have proved a serious challenge to build because the customers spend a good amount of time (about an hour) in each room and are also expected to interact with their environment. So, the wall textures and paint jobs have to be made in such a way to hold up to the rigors of customer interaction. Once again, I am really proud of the work done by myself and all of the artists and scenic painters who have worked on this. So, if I may, shout out to Sam Bonsall, Cosimo DeRita, Garrett Sapsis, Christopher Clark, Gianna Zulli, Chrissy Stief, Teagen Holzhauser, Reagan Ganis, Amy Swanson, Jenna Wolf, Marisa Giammatteo, and Alejandro Lemus. For these rooms, I got to do more than just artwork. Randy Bates, Cosimo DeRita and I also wrote many of the storylines that unfold as you and your team find clues, solve puzzles, and work your way through each immersive environment.
From the Escape Rooms
Then, most recently, Bates Motel Acquisitions has opened up a Laser Tag Arena, also in West Chester. My only experience with laser tag type games before this endeavor was as a child with some cheap guns and equipment. Not my favorite thing and I never went back. So, I was amazed to see how the technology has developed for these games. The guns actually have a kick when you pull the trigger. I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun we had testing all of these new toys and state-of-the-art equipment in our brand new arena.
What is your advice to other young people who may wish to be involved in special effects makeup in the film/TV?
As I did not take a traditional route into film or special effects, I cannot really speak as to a way into the business. But what I can tell you is to never stop learning. Continuously seek out new information and new and innovative ways in which to do things. There are tons of YouTube videos, books, online courses, etc. Get your hands on as much as you can. Always keep safety as a priority both for you and your client when deciding on what practices to use. Say “Yes” to as many projects as you can. Start your own projects with a couple like-minded individuals. Get some experience. Build your portfolio. Use social media to showcase your work and to keep up with contacts. Always be professional on set. People are hired for the qualities they show as a person as much as for what they can deliver.
While I am regularly astounded by what those in the special effects realm of filmmaking can accomplish, Shawn’s story is even more phenomenal, in my opinion. He didn’t pursue the traditional path to reach his goals and aspirations; instead, he took something about which he is passionate and seized every opportunity that came his way to hone those capabilities and fashion them into a fulfilling career. His passions have fueled him every step of the way, and I greatly anticipate what his skillset will provide for the To Avenge production. While zombies and werewolves will not be featured in this thriller, I am convinced that every time his expertise is utilized within the storyline, realism and attention to detail will undoubtedly yield genuinely unforgettable images that will jar the viewers with indelible moments forever embedded in their consciousness, Moreover, it is my sincere hope that these strong feelings will lead to true change in this country and beyond for the good of women and the under-prosecuted crimes against them that linger to this day. While we await this auspicious production, I hope that everyone will check out the links below and follow those involved where applicable (including Shawn, Nick Belial and this upcoming film, To Avenge). While I am not one who thrives on gore and horror, I can certainly recognize and appreciate the asset that Shawn will be to this movie, and I have no doubt that his giftedness will only make the story more impactful for each and every viewer.
FOLLOW SHAWN
FOLLOW TO AVENGE
