'F13' Sculpture Part 3! Plus some History too...

 After seeing Friday the 13th part 3 for the first time, all I wanted to do was watch it again and again. I was stunned by the special effects in the film and pulled into the film's pacing and end sequences of twists but one thing that had me genuinely scared was Jason.

 In previous films he had been a suggestion, a deformed boy that had tragically drowned in Crystal Lake. He had been left unattended by the camp councilors and was the fixation for his grieving mothers revenge. Then he became a recluse in the woods and had to learn to fend for himself, surviving off the land and surrounding town. He sought revenge for the slaying of his mother and stalked Camp Crystal Lake with an instant hatred for those who wandered into his domain.

 Friday the 13th part 3 would see Jason acquire his trademark hockey mask and strike fear into the hearts of generations of fans for many years to come.

 The origins of the mask are something that has been debated for years with more than one person claiming to have made the mask or having the idea of using the mask.

 It is generally believed that during production of part 3, director Steve Miner called for a lighting check. The scene included actor Richard Brooker who was cast as Jason. The make up effects team were reluctant to apply the finished facial look for Jason just for a check/test. The prosthetic face mask was made of many different pieces and took many hours to apply so it was suggested they just cover Brooker's face with a mask. Martin Jay Sadoff, who was the 3-D effects supervisor, was present and suggested using a hockey mask - being a hockey fan and someone who enjoyed playing the game too it is said he produced a hockey goalie mask from his car and it was placed on Brooker. Steve Miner was impressed with the look but the mask itself looked too small so the job of enlarging it was given to the Effects team. Which team is not clear.

The mask for the film was made by a process called vacuum forming. This to simplify is when a sheet of plastic is heated and then stretched over a mold. Using a vacuum created between the sheet of plastic and a surface the plastic is held in place and takes on the form of the mold. It is widely accepted that the original mask was made with clear thermoplastic. The person responsible for making the enlarged mask would have used this process to create the final piece.

Martin Jay Sadoff has stated that Marty Becker in charge of technical effects on the film was responsible for appointing his team to make the molds for the mask. He said: "Mart Becker's team made the molds and Robb Wilson King (Art Director) made various versions".

 Douglas J. White who worked on Special Visual make up Effects also claimed to have made the molds and the masks seen on film. He claims to have enlarged a mask several times, once the desired size was achieved a mold was made so copy masks could be produced. White also claims to have painted the mask.

 The striking and instantly recognisable red triangles or chevrons are attributed to technical consultant Terry Ballard.
Robb Wilson King also claims he was responsible for painting the masks and gives a detailed account of the process which I will come to later.

 The history of the mask is full of mystery and is something that becomes an obsession for many die hard fans such was it's impact.

My obsession started as soon as Jason appeared wearing his newly acquired hockey mask. I can't really explain the fascination, it's not that I wanted to mimic what I saw on screen by wearing a hockey mask and terrorize teenagers! I think I can only sum it up by saying the mask scared me as a kid and as I got older it was just, well...cool!

So after seeing the film and being a young teenager with no experience in prop/mask making I started with simple paper mache, trying to reproduce the look of the mask around a large tin. It was awful and so I began to look in sports shops and fancy dress shops for a hockey mask (this was in the days before the Internet) to no avail.

 Years later I managed to at last obtain a decent hockey mask replica. My obsession soon changed from collector to painter and now to maker.

 So back in 2009, I had the idea to sculpt my own hockey mask to try and match the mask seen in part 3. It was whilst researching the many resources available that I came to the conclusion that the mask that was given to whichever effects team must have been this mask.

This is the Jacques Plante Fibrosport Elite mask size medium. It is my opinion when you compare this mask to the part 3 hockey mask there are too many striking similarities for it not to be the mask that was enlarged. Take a look at the comparison picture below.

There are connections straight away, the vent hole placement being the most obvious. The mask shape is also more than similar. In my opinion there is enough evidence to show that the part 3 hockey mask was an enlarged Fibrosport Elite, so this is what I primarily used for reference.

I had to imagine what the enlarged mold would have looked like to get the features to transfer onto the outside of a vacuum formed mask. This was no easy task and it took me three (oddly enough) attempts to make a vacuum form mold with which I was happy with. The process started with a Plasticine sculpture. I used an old sheet of plastic that I had formed over a different mold and had left a bump impression in the plastic. I built up the mask shape in layers and constantly referred back to pictures as I worked. 

This is the finished hand made sculpture.

 There is one very defined feature with the Fibrosprot Elite which I would have to replicate and that is an uneven slope away from the mouth area to the right of the nose compared to the left. This is most obvious when looking down the mask from top (pictured below) to bottom. There is also a slight dip around the left temple area again looking down the mask. These features would have to be subtle on the mold to give the effect on the finished mask.

Original Fibrosport Elite

F13 Sculpture copy in dental stone

I decided not to place any vent holes in at this stage apart from the nose hole as that was not going to be moved but I was cautious about marking in any other holes until I was one hundred percent happy with the overall shape. I had also considered that once I cast a mold I could manipulate that to create some of the finer detail and that could include vent hole placement. I would also have to sand down the mold to smooth out the texture of the Plasticine, as I had sculpted by hand there were many finger marks and indentations. 

 Once I had completed the sculpture the next stage was to create a copy for vacuum forming. I decided to make this from dental stone. During an interview Douglas J. White claimed he used dental stone to make the original vacuum forming mold, while there are other theories, opinions and claims I feel that whoever made the original mold would have made it from a plaster-like substance. Dental stone is used in the dental industry to make solid castings, it is derived from plaster but much stronger and denser. As I am planning to make many masks from this mold a stronger material appealed to me. 

 First I had to create a negative mold, this is when an impression is taken from the sculpture. I decided to use silicone as it very easy to work with. 

The sculpture covered in the drying silicone.

Once the silicone had dried I covered it in plaster cloth to create a support shell. It's job is to do just that, support the silicone mold and keep it's shape once it is filled with the dental stone.

When that had dried I removed the support mold and silicone mold from the sculpture. Now I had the negative mold to create the vacuum form mold. I turned the support mold upside down, placed the silicone negative mold inside and poured in the liquid dental stone. Once completely cured I took out a perfect copy of my sculpture. 

The next stage was to mark out the vent holes, again using reference pictures, I mapped out the hole locations and used stickers as markers for my drilling points. 

Close inspection of the screen used mask showed that there were slight run downs/dips from the mask surface to the drilled vent hole.

                                         

                                         

To achieve this I drilled the holes in the mold a size larger than what I had planned to use for the finished mask.

The screen used mask also has dipped sections that are just visible on screen. These are located at the bottom/mouth area on the mask.

I replicated this by using a sharp knife and chiseled into the mold creating the dips and faint line seen along the bottom of the mask. I then sanded the areas down to give a smoother finish.

                                                 

                                                

The eye holes also had some unique features present. These I believe could have been caused during the shaping, if a rotary tool was used it's possible the collet could have caused the nicks around the eye holes.

I used a knife again to grind in these details.

 I made a very simple vacuum box from wood with a plastic top with plenty of vent holes. I also included some guides on each corner to ensure that when I lowered the plastic sheet into its holding frame it would be lined up perfectly with the top of the box.

The Homemade Vac Box

When it came to making my first test mask I decided to use clear plastic like the original part 3 mask. I chose to work with 2mm thick plastic as I found it a good compromise between prop accurate thin plastic and thick heavy plastic/fiberglass as a real hockey mask.

The first test pull

A stack of pulls

The End Result.

And now the fun begins...

I decided to offer two different colours of the part 3 mask. In the film the mask appears to have an off white finish, pictures of the mask off screen shows its true colour which is a variant of yellow.

Here the mask has an off white appearance

But in this picture you can see the true colour of the mask.

The paint scheme is something again that has been debated for many years. I have based my opinions on the statements by artists credited to the film but have taken all claims into consideration and come to the conclusion that the original mask was made from clear plastic and was very thin it was painted white on the inside and white/off white on the outside.
Robb Wilson King, who in my opinion gives the most credible and believable account of the paint scheme, said this of the mask: ''Those masks were fabricated in a strong plastic material-then painted with an almost automotive finish so they were stronger, wouldn't chip and with the satin finish could slightly reflect light. More interesting for night time shooting. The colour is an off white with a slight aged patina, that is where you get the notion of a cream colour.''
I believe it is possible that the automotive finish over the  base white/off white that was used gave the mask its yellow appearance. The aged patina could refer to the overall aged colour look to the mask or a medium used to achieve a cracked look to the mask. It is also possible that it could have dried with this cracked effect being the result of a reaction in the drying process of the base coat and finish. It is also possible it could have been the result of the ridged finish cracking when the mask was flexed during positioning and removal of the mask during filming.
In the picture bellow you can see a close up of the mask that was used on the poster for part 4 'The Final Chapter' this mask originates from part 3 and you can clearly see the finish has cracked.

So starting with an off white base coat and clear coating with a satin finish here is what I was able to produce.

 

Fine detail on the mask was created using different techniques including a crackle glaze to try and reproduce the cracked finish on the mask. Although not 100% accurate I have come to the conclusion that it would be practically impossible to use a medium and have it perfectly reproduce the effect on the screen seen mask. I used red vinyl tape for the chevrons/triangles and standard line 24 snap buttons for the elastic straps.

Here are some other versions with the yellow base coat.

Also a group of finished masks with an off white in the center.

I am pleased with the overall results from this project. The mask shape and size looks right to me when you compare it to the mask seen on screen. Next I will aim to reproduce the finish of the mask with similar products to the ones originally used rather than using painting skills and techniques. This will take some time to research and test but I am confident that I will be able to achieve this and make a very close reproduction of the original mask.

Special thanks to Crash Cunningham and Jason Farrell for picture reference and to Ryan Bean for constructive input.