After my research into the look of Werewolves in Film I have decided to look at Werewolves in Television for budgetary reasons. I figured the way they portrya werewolves has to be done in the most cost effective way as with Television as we know there isn't just a one off episode like a film, they have to consider the budget in terms of a whole season and then again as an episode. Televisions shows that I watch/have watched that are based in the supernatural/fantasy genre that also include a regular element of Werewolf-ery include....
The Vampire Diaries (2009-Present)Werewolf: Michael Trevino
Though once in fully transformed the Werewolves in TVD are real wolves with contact lenses, the transition phase shows interesting details. The eyes, the veins and the teeth. Making me realise something I never considered. Changing into a beast can't be all that pain free.
Werewolf: Seth Green
They have chosen to use facial hair, teeth and this time demon clad eyes to represent a werewolf still in half human mode. The black eyes make him more creepy, I think the facial hair looks messy and isn't giving off the right vibe to the audience as it almost contradicts the spooky eyes.
Teen Wolf (2011-Present)
Werewolf: Tyler Posey
It is interesting to see the journey this character has gone through as the Teen Wolf series is based on the
Michael J Fox 1985 movie. This is Scott Mcall in full Were mode. Note the Pointed and hairy ears and overgrown sideburns. The elongates eyebrows that get lost in the protruding nose. Naturally we have the headlight eyes and the teeth. Its good to see though that they've only chosen the canines to elongate.
Supernatural (2005-Present)
Werewolf: Emmanuelle Vaugier
I thought it would be nice to see a female representation of a werewolf as statistically speaking there are more males in the clans.
Again the main feature change will be the eye; this time sparkling blue which I think almost works better than being Yellow or Black, it makes them almost seem human. The teeth of course is another highlighted factor, another thing I have picked up on in the messy hair that all werewolves seem to pick up in transformation. A minor but effective detail.
In comparison with my post on the depiction of werewolves in film where they seem to skip the process between man and beast television series do the opposite. The characters spend half their time in the inbetween, or in some cases what seems to be the inbetween is actually full transition mode.
This is a good idea as it still allows the actor to be visible, coherent and enables me to pick key facial parts I can use to give my own monster it's own unique look.
As well as this looking at how the idea of Werewolves have changed over the years especially in terms of Teen Wolf, the 1985 and Modern versions it's as if less is more in terms of the scare factor. Or perhaps our generation are so used to the characteristics associated with the supernatural that creators no longer need to go over the top. Vampires no longer wear cape and white shirts, Witches no longer have warts and a broom sticks and werewolves don't need to be covered head to toe in fur.
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