Behind the mask: a reporter challenge

Learns how to make a halfmask with SkillTree for our series.

As if the spirit of one of Weta Workshop’s crew floated up north and landed in the studio of SkillTree, I somehow managed to construct a fully functioning halfmask.

Granted you can’t see or talk with it on, but wearing it is guaranteed to give family members a fright.

I am so in awe of my work that I have formed a strange attachment to it. (‘‘Look at the eyes, don’t be too rough with it, I made this, isn’t it great?’’)

Like a glorified school project, it will forever be safe alongside the certificates and mementoes passed to me over the years.

But my creation wasn’t a sudden stroke of genius. I can’t take all, if any, of the credit.

My handiwork was all down to SkillTree’s CEO Mike Porter, who runs school holiday programmes, classes and workshops from the studio on Gilchrist St.

I attended his Winter School Holiday Programme, and though the participants construct a whole range of neat things (special effects makeup, props) I focused just on creating the half-mask.

We started with the sculpting, using clay, an array of tools and most importantly, our hands.

I’m not very good at visualising things before I see them. I cannot walk onto a construction site and see a house. It was the same with my mask, he was faceless until Mike pointed out the shape of the jaw or the placement of the eyes.

It really started to come alive after the mould was set and the latex was poured.

On our final day, we painted. Mike’s expertise with shadows, highlights, and depth was what made my mask sing.

With each layer, my mask - which was resembling a very angry Ninja Turtle - oozed character. We formed his background story; a vigilante who had patience for no one.

SkillTree is a stellar environment with stellar teachers and students.

If you are interested in what they do, details for their classes and holiday programmes are on their website, and what an amazing holiday programme it was.

I appreciate films, games, and the people who put in the hard yards to make films and games. With a keen eye for this stuff I would have loved to enrol in a SkillTree programme.

I’m even tempted to visit again. I wonder if my boss will let me?

Kelley Tantau makes her half-mask under the guidance of Mike Porter.

The finished product (left) looks realistic.