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  • Ju Shardlow: These eyes aren't real.

  • In fact, they're contact lenses,

  • and it takes a very precise,

  • skilled type of artist to make them.

  • Today, we're going to find out how they're made

  • by Eyeworks for Film.

  • And they've made contact lenses for "James Bond,"

  • "Star Wars," and even "Game of Thrones."

  • We're gonna see how they're produced here

  • and even get fitted with some lenses of our own.

  • Clip: Such heavy ones to distort such eyes.

  • But Dr. Reuben Greenspoon of Beverly Hills, California....

  • Ju: Beverly Hills optometrist Reuben Greenspoon

  • is credited with first using lenses

  • to augment a character's appearance.

  • Greenspoon was tasked with changing an actor's eyes

  • from natural brown to blue in 1939's "Miracles for Sale."

  • He created a blue ceramic material, which was glazed.

  • The lens was attached and run through a kiln

  • to fuse the glass and ceramic together,

  • leaving a round aperture of 4 millimeters.

  • Since hydrogel soft contact lenses

  • went into mass production in 1971,

  • lenses with simple color pigments

  • have become pretty accessible,

  • but designing and painting bespoke lenses

  • is still an art form.

  • "Breaking Dawn" clip: This will irritate your eyes at first.

  • Ju: Actors wear contacts

  • to change their color pigment to look older,

  • create imperfections,

  • or even transform into another species.

  • This is Sinead Sweeney, one of the directors

  • of Eyeworks for Film.

  • The company's worked on some big Hollywood movies.

  • Sinead Sweeney: The idea of the contact lens

  • will either come from the makeup designer

  • or the prosthetic department

  • or occasionally just from the director.

  • So, they will approach us maybe with a character brief

  • or just an idea, in which case we would research

  • a lot about that look and then develop

  • some concept art, some designs.

  • Ju: First, Sinead has got to check

  • that the actor's eyes are suitable for lenses.

  • She does a prescription check.

  • U, A,

  • F.

  • She then checks the inside of the retina

  • with an ophthalmoscope and takes a 3D scan.

  • Sinead: So, we wanna make sure that the lens

  • sits exactly over the cornea

  • so that when you're wearing the contact lens

  • or when our actors are wearing them,

  • that it feels very, very normal.

  • Ju: Further checks look at the curve of the eye,

  • the diameter of the iris,

  • and the front of the eye for dryness,

  • using a yellow dye called fluorescein.

  • Are my eyes glowing?

  • I thought about actors on set,

  • you're on set for a really long time,

  • and how do you stop your eyes from getting really dry?

  • Sinead: We insert and remove the lenses for them,

  • because their hands might be covered in grease paint

  • or blood. And so then we monitor them,

  • we put drops in throughout the day.

  • And we only limit the wearing time, really.

  • We don't allow them to wear them too long.

  • Ju: There's a trick to putting large lenses in.

  • Chin up, then eyes down to the left.

  • You feel like you have an entire film over your eye now,

  • so I can picture that would really put someone

  • into character quite quickly.

  • Sinead: Yeah.

  • Ju: The lenses take two to three weeks to paint

  • and manufacture, but for the purposes of filming,

  • here are some that we made earlier.

  • We're gonna return in just a bit

  • to see how these ones turn out.

  • Oh, my...!

  • Manufacturers like No7 make the prescription lenses,

  • and then a lens artist,

  • such as Cristina Patterson from Eye Ink Fx,

  • paints them by hand using FDA-approved paint.

  • The lenses are then shipped and applied on set.

  • Sinead: Subtlety is key when it comes to the makeup,

  • so even one brushstroke too far can make a real difference.

  • Some really, really special and specific pigments

  • that they use.

  • Obviously, anything that you're gonna put on a lens

  • that is ultimately gonna go into someone's eye

  • really isn't just any pigment.

  • There are a lot of safety guidelines,

  • and also the lenses are sterilized

  • with extremely fine brushes, yeah,

  • and you have to have quite an amazing artist

  • in order to deliver certain textures and looks.

  • The detail is extremely fine.

  • Ju: Oh, my...!

  • Oh, my goodness!

  • I look like a fish!

  • I look like a fish! I'm a fish! I am Aquaman.

  • I am what Aquaman was supposed to look like.

  • Sinead: It's very similar, actually, in design

  • to a lot of the "Star Trek" lenses.

  • These lenses were painted by the same artist.

  • Ju: I've really got that kind of bug-eyed, fishy look

  • going on, but there is something really alien about it.

  • The detail here is incredible.

  • The most strange feeling,

  • 'cause they feel really jelly-like

  • but they look so glazed, like ceramic.

  • The lenses flatten to your eye,

  • so it's important to get rid of air bubbles

  • and keep putting in drops.

  • Sinead: If we're gonna sell this as an actual creature,

  • the pupil would always be in the same place.

  • So we make sure that the lens is stabilized.

  • I think one of the biggest issues we have with that

  • is actually when someone is lying down,

  • because the lenses are weighted,

  • so they tend to wanna fall with gravity to the lowest point.

  • So if you can imagine you've got your lenses

  • sitting like a cat's eye, for example,

  • and then they lie down, everything kind of swings.

  • Ju: And they're not the only lenses in the building.

  • Sinead keeps cases of celebrity eyes

  • from productions the company's worked on.

  • Sinead: Serpent or snake-eye looks that we used

  • on David Tennant on "Good Omens."

  • So, we've got our Night King.

  • When you see them in this show,

  • they have a post-glow, which is added in CG.

  • And also we put some pixelated points on there,

  • which, with VFX, they could work with that

  • to pull the glow effect out.

  • They weren't the original blue.

  • Who else have we got in here?

  • Ju: I love the fact you're saying "who else,"

  • like it's just, like, a collection

  • of very dishy actors. Sinead: To me,

  • they're all people.

  • Ju: The company has made lenses for

  • "Penny Dreadful" and "Spectre."

  • These are the Mountain's from "Game of Thrones."

  • Wow, that was a fascinating process.

  • I can't believe that my eyes looked like that.

  • Into that celebrity eye graveyard

  • that we saw at the end,

  • if my contact lenses can make it into there,

  • I would be very, very happy.

  • It's clear the industry has come a long way

  • since just being able to change eye color in 1939.

  • Now, thanks to this movie magic,

  • actors can become all sorts of creatures.

Ju Shardlow: These eyes aren't real.

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