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Aliens and Emperors and Drunkards, oh my!
Errol "Spat" Oktan takes us inside the SpatCave
At a Glance:
Occupation: Costumer, Prop Maker, Special Effects Make-Up Artist, Filmmaker
Age: 34
Location: Little Neck, NY
REVELATIONS roles: The Emperor, Drunk Guy at Bar, Dead Biker Scout, TIE Pilot, Alien Senator
Website: http://www.spatcave.com
RTOF: What's your background?
SPAT: Oddly enough, my formal training is in law. I have a BA in Criminal Justice, worked at the Suffolk County DA's Office, worked with the NYPD, and was on my way to law school when I realized how much I hated it. I had always wanted to be an F/X make-up artist but had no idea where to start. Later in life I got into costuming, and that accidentally led me into make-up work, which is where I wanted to be all along! Now I'm interested in directing.
RTOF: So how did you get your start with effects and props?
SPAT: I started in high school doing freaky things for Halloween. In college, I worked on some student films here and there, and didn't get back into it until I was almost 30. Some friends and I decided to make some costumes for Halloween, and when pics of them ended up on my website, I got e-mails from people asking if they could buy those costumes. That started my costuming and prop business.
A filmmaker named Alberto Martinez saw the pics on my website of the make-up I did in high school and college, and he thought those were recent pictures of things I was currently making. He contacted me and asked me to do the make-up effects for his film Solomon's Requiem, and I've been doing make-up work since.
RTOF: Where has your work been featured?
SPAT: Let's see, we've got Solomon's Requiem (a horror film that should be out soon), The Tower Protocol (a short conspiracy theory film), Hangman's Noose (a sci-fi film we're working on right now), Serial (a serial killer film that just wrapped), Jedi House (my own fan film which is in production right now), as well as many magazines, newspapers, and various TV appearances.
RTOF: Who was your greatest influence in pursuing the F/X field?
SPAT: Well, the big guys of course -- Tom Savini, Dick Smith, Rich Baker, Stan Winston and Rob Bottin. What's odd is that Tom Savini told me to get out of the
make-up biz and move into CGI because there was no future in practical make-up effects!
RTOF: Where do you get your inspiration?
SPAT: I am always inspired when the check for a project clears my bank account. And of course, always trying to raise the bar of quality as far as making sure things that we make look really great on film. If it's supposed to be gory, we want it to make you retch!
RTOF: What are the greatest challenges for an F/X artist today?
SPAT: Well, finding more work when a project is finishing up is always tough. There are tons of films being made in the NY area, and a lot of them do need make-up work. But it seems a lot of these new filmmakers out there are all looking for someone to do a whole lot of work for free! The other biggest challenge is time. These effects take a lot of time to design, sculpt mold, cast and finish, and some filmmakers want everything done for the next day, and that's just not possible.
RTOF: How did you get involved with REVELATIONS?
SPAT: I had never been involved with a fan film, and I saw a posting on the Empire City Garrison's message board about the REVELATIONS Quarry shoot. I had nothing going on that weekend, so decided, "What the heck, what's the worst thing that can happen?" Little did I know that Shane would drag me kicking and screaming into the project.
RTOF: How does working on REVELATIONS differ from your other work experiences?
SPAT: Most of the films I work on are in the horror genre, and involve complicated and strange original masks and appliances. REVELATIONS was a lot of fun because we got to recreate creatures and characters from the Star Wars universe.
RTOF: What challenges did REVELATIONS offer? Did you have to stretch yourself for it?
SPAT: The toughest part was the distance. As I'm in New York, and the film was being shot in Virginia and Maryland, I didn't get to meet with Shane to show him what I was working on for it, or to sit down and go over things. Everything had to be done through e-mails, and for the most part, we just went ahead and made things the way we felt was best with little input from Shane. Which actually works on a fan film, as all the things we're making are just replicas of things we've seen before. Original designs need more supervision so they can meet the director's vision.
RTOF: What tools or capabilities would you have liked to have had for REVELATIONS?
SPAT: Actually, I think we had everything well in hand, I just wish I had gotten involved earlier with the project, and maybe we could have done even more freaky things for the film.
RTOF: Do you usually get as involved in the films you work on as you have with REVELATIONS? How did REVELATIONS differ from other projects?
SPAT: It does seem that almost every film I work on I end up getting a part or two in as well. All the members of my crew get parts as well, and Eric played 9 different creatures in the REVELATIONS bar scene. I definitely played more parts in REVELATIONS than I have in any other film to date. And in most films, I just show up, do my job and go home. I try not to get too involved as I'm being paid to do a job and nothing more. On some shoots, I get so frustrated with the incompetence of the crew that I have actually taken the camera away from the director, blocked out the scene, and shot it myself just to get it over with. I generally try not to do that, but it does happen. Shane and his crew were so professional and well prepared that I didn't really need to get more involved.
RTOF: What has been the most satisfying part of being involved with REVELATIONS?
SPAT: I guess it was impressing Shane. After the quarry shoot, I figured I was all finished with REVELATIONS and could go back to work on Solomon's Requiem, which was in pre-production at the time. Then there was a call for extras for the bar scene, and Eric told me that we had to go down to that shoot and bring a whole lot of alien creature masks and costumes. I sent an e-mail asking if Shane and Dawn wanted us to bring them for the shoot and was told that they didn't want any cheap rubber masks for the scene. They wanted it to look professional. I took that as a personal challenge (at the time, neither of them knew what we did for a living) and sent them pictures of some Star Wars masks we had already made.
The next e-mail I got was basically "Yes, bring everything you have and make more stuff and bring those, too!" I think we ended up bringing 19 creatures down to the shoot. So basically, I did the rest of my work on REVELATIONS out of spite. And when we showed up with all the masks and costumes, Shane and Dawn were quite impressed. That was pretty satisfying.
(View the many masks used in the bar scene in Spat's alien gallery, and the step-by-step creation of Hammerhead.)
RTOF: How much of your time did REVELATIONS take?
SPAT: All total, I think we spent about a week or so on the alien creatures for the bar scene, and another week or so on the Emperor appliance. Of course, that was over the course of about 4 months.
RTOF: Tell us about creating the molds for Emperor Palpatine.
SPAT: That was a lot of fun to make. Originally, I think Shane was going to use a store bought mask for that part, and he wisely thought to ask me about making it. We had asked him to send up the actor who was going to play the Emperor so we could make a mold of his face, but due to the distances involved, it ended up easier for the appliances to be made to fit me. So I ended up with an extra role in the film!
I think the scariest part was trusting my crew to make the mold of my face, as I know how much we abuse people while they're under the goo. And in true SpatCave form, they abused the hell out of me as well. And took pictures. The actual sculpt was done by Eric, my head sculptor. He's absolutely amazing at sculpting. Using a whole mess of reference pics that we found on the 'net, he turned me into the Emperor.
(For a full report, visit Spat's Palpatine page.)
RTOF: What's the coolest thing you've ever done for a film?
SPAT: I guess the goriest thing was a foot being torn open for Solomon's, and the coolest make-up appliance I think we've done is the Dagger make-up for Hangman's Noose. Though we are sculpting an alien creature for it that's coming along nicely....
RTOF: What haven't you done for a film that you desperately want to do?
SPAT: I have yet to do a full size corpse, something like you would see on an autopsy table. That would be fun.
RTOF: Any advice you can offer someone who wants to pursue this field?
SPAT: As I fell into this career by accident, I don't know what advice I can really offer for getting started. Basically, find a make-up artist in your area, and see if he needs some free help. Get in there and learn as much as you can. Once you have some experience, and some photos of your work for your portfolio, check out Backstage (a newspaper that has a lot of want ads for people in the film biz), and see about striking it out on your own. Sadly, you will probably have to do your first film for free, or just for the cost of materials, but that's just par for the course. If you're good, more work will trickle in, but I would advise against quitting your day job until you get established.
RTOF: If you knew then what you know now going into REVELATIONS, would you still do it?
SPAT: Hells no! Working with that Shane guy was a nightmare! "Act drunker! Act drunker!" That was all he kept yelling at me during the bar scene. I would do it again, and I would probably have tried to be more involved, and maybe tried for a bigger acting role!
RTOF: What did you get from your time on REVELATIONS?
SPAT: What I took away from it was a whole lot of new friends. And that was really the most important part for me.
RTOF: Where do you want to be in a year? Five years? Ten years?
SPAT: Right now my goal is to move more into making my own films, and over the next year I hope to have my fan film done (actually, I hope to have it done in the next 2 months), and then move on to my own feature film. Over the next 5 years I would like to continue making films, and hopefully actually find someone to watch them. And in ten years, who knows? Maybe I'll end up living on a beach somewhere with the Swedish bikini team. That would be nice.
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