Mikes Film Talk

Face Off this week saw Evan pull off another win and  Ben, who did so well last week, almost lost out. Sadly, Stevie was the one who went home. This competition  added a lot pressure to the remaining contestants.  Nora had real issues at one point, but managed to pull it all together at the end to be classed as safe, along with Scott. At the end of the focus challenge, based on the upcoming SyFy series The Expanse, Ben was at the bottom with Stevie and Jordan was a close second to Evan.

McKenzie Westmore, introduces the focus challenge (which means one that needs extra special attention to detail)  to the remaining six artists.  It is based upon the SyFy series due to hit screens in December, a futuristic show where mankind has evolved after moving from Earth to colonize the stars.

The two men who wrote the books the series is based on,  Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham (who wrote the literary series  under the pen name of James S. A. Corey) and they explained  to the competitors the ideas behind the evolution of the expanded human race in the world of The Expanse.

A list of “worlds” based upon catastrophic events, volcanoes, toxic environments, polar meltdowns et al, are chose by the artists to represent.  Once again we see the thought process that goes into the creations. Michael Westmore, McKenzie’s father, came out to provide feedback.

For Scott, this proved to be a somewhat disconcerting experience as Michael and McKenzie came back out to have a further chat with the artist telling him that he was pretty far off the mark of the challenge. While this disturbed Fensterer he took onboard the “master’s” remarks and made it through to another week.

As in every challenge, the artists exhibited a range of skills and abilities. While Evan won over all for his exquisite detailing and paintwork, Jordan almost tied with his overall dedication to design and the complete picture he “painted” with his character.

While Ben really lost his way on the depiction of his volcanic piece, it was Stevie who lost out with her decision to make her evolved human have flesh tones versus a more “fishy color.” There were also issues with her application of the facial piece where it appeared to be crooked.  The judges explained that the overall effort was not up to her previous works.

As with any competitive based series, many of the favorites have been sent home at this point. Meg Wilbur and Stevie Calabrese have both left and this leaves only Nora Hewitt out of the remaining female contestants.  With a male heavy complement of artists all going for the brass ring, odds are against the young lady, but hopes remain high that she can pull off the win.

The judges again provide great feedback to all  the contestants and Glenn Hetrick had words of praise for Stevie before she packed up and left.  The remaining competitors are Nora, Evan Hedges, Ben Ploughman, Jordan Patton and Scott Fensterer.  The next challenge will up the ante once again and the pressure will increase exponentially.

Face Off airs Tuesdays on SyFy. Tune in and see if your favorite makes it through.