Meet Jena, Key Makeup and SPFX

While the boats were out filming, I took a few moments to chat with Jena Morgensen who works in the Hair/Makeup department under Dept. Head, JoJo Proud for The Ghost Trap.

Photo by Kay Stephens

Originally from Chicago, Jena moved to L.A. for makeup school and got work in the industry, where she has been ever since. "I wanted to be in a lab and sculpt prosthetics, which I still do today, but I went on set one day and kind of got sucked into it," she said.

Given that the film is set in a fishing community, the makeup for the women needed to reflect the real-life aesthetic. In other words, this wasn't going to be a lot of fake tans, fake nails, with a lot of heavy makeup.

"The biggest thing we do when we get the actors in the chair is to make sure they have sunscreen, make sure they have that sun-kissed look," she said. "For Greer and Sarah Clarke (playing Jamie's mom, Donna), we had to put on a little mascara, just so it shows up a little. Other than that, we just used a pretty natural palette."

Jo Jo Proud touching up Greer's makeup on the first day of the shoot. Photo by Kay Stephens

Jo Jo. Photo by Kay Stephens

Giving Sarah Clarke the natural look. Photo by Kay Stephens

"With Zak, we just did a little glow-up on his skin; it was pretty easy. I think he was only in the chair for about 10 minutes each time," she said. "But as the film goes on, post-Anja's injury, we make him a little more tired-looking with bags under his eyes."

Jena's favorite medium to work with is prosthetics, which she usually does for creatures and monsters, along with blood-rigging (fake blood)--but luckily we didn't have any of that!  She got to show off her skills with Taylor Takahashi's character, Thongchai. The end result of her work is so cool, that I won't reveal it here--you'll have to see it in the movie!

Photo by Kay Stephens

"This is the fun part, the reason why I'm here," she said. "Taylor was a trouper--he'd never been in prosthetics before, and sat with me for about two hours." Her biggest challenge (as noted in a previous blog) was if anyone touched Taylor while she was applying her artwork. After I gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder, Jena looked at me like: "Uh...do not touch." But that was nothing, compared to Zak. "Zak was my biggest challenge," she joked. He literally went up to Taylor and shook him by the shoulders like in a fun, joking way, while I was putting a lip piece on Taylor and it got slightly messed up, so I turned it into a stitch. I was about to put a piece of paper on Taylor's chest that said: DO NOT TOUCH."

All the tools Makeup/Hair needs while the actors have individual bags of makeup with their names on it. Photo by Kay Stephens

Jena and Jo Jo additionally had challenges trying to do hair/makeup and special effects on a moving lobster boat many days. Photo by Kay Stephens

This is Jena's first time in Maine and she has been here almost a month. "I love it here, the greenery," she said. Everyone has been ridiculously nice. I don't know what I was expecting, like if it was going to be a New York vibe because it's east coast, or small town vibe, but everyone has been super curious about the film and super nice. Plus I love the spookiness of Maine. I need to come back in the fall."

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