Feedback from presentation

After my presentation I feel a lot more secure in my ideas for my two characters. As I was unsure as to what character to choose between to go with Quentin (Mrs Laderman or Claudia), I am glad that I got the opinion of those in my class as to who they would rather see me do. I definitely agree with their opinion that I should do Mrs Laderman over Claudia because she is a much more interesting character. Kat did mention as to whether I would be able to adapt the storyline I have chosen to make her more interesting, I did think about using the 'lost Princess' idea as there is one in the TV series- however I don't know if it would make her more interesting or not. 

I think that now I need to research more into my characters, to see how I can style them along with what poses they can do in the character portraits. For Quentin, I did think about going down the religious route of having him also be a symbol for religion, which would also work with my idea of a crown of thorns and the words 'Save Us'- making him the epitome of the 'Saviour'. 

I think for Mrs Laderman I need to research into how I can do different makeup looks for her character- I can go all out on the makeup or refine it back so that she is shown as just a normal human. I think I would quite like to do more makeup as my TA piece was very simple, however her being just normal could also be seen as evil because it shows her 'human' side making her even more of a monster because of what she does. 

I think that if I do multiple face charts for each character, I'll be able to assess my options and then make a decision as to what route I want to go down when finalising my characters. 

My Presentation on chosen characters

Below is my Presentation on my ideas for my TV series and chosen characters. 

Modern Victorian inspired by AHS

TOOLS 

- Heated Rollers

- Clips

- Bobby Pins

- Hair Pins

- Pintail Comb

- Hairbrush

PRODUCTS

- Heat Protectant

- Hairspray

STEP BY STEP

- Spray heat protectant onto the hair.

- Do a deep side parting in the hair and section it off to just behind the ear.

- Use the red heated rollers in this front section, curling the hair away from the face to create volume.

- Then 'brickwork' the back of the head to just halfway down the head using the blue rollers.

- Finally use the white rollers to curl upwards from the nape of the neck to the blue rollers. 

- Let the hair set.

-Once set, let the hair down.

- Pin the two front sections away, you won't need them yet.

- Backcomb the crown lightly.

- Section the back into three, roll each section up and bobby pin into place just at the nape of the neck. Once each section is pinned up, use hairpins to perfect them so they look like one roll. 

- Take the two sections at the front out of their pins, use the natural curl to pull back and pin into place above the rolls.

- Hairspray to finish.

MY INTERPRETATION

I'm quite proud of the final hair look, I think that it still has the kept look with the messiness as well. I did find it difficult to get the rolls right, and I did need Lottie's help with getting the hair to roll up on itself, and then I used hairpins to make sure it looked neater. Another thing that I found difficult was making sure that the bobby pins were placed so that they couldn't be seen, which was tricky with the rolls. However I think that being able to see some of the bobby pins added to the messy look of the style, but if it was less messy then it wouldn't look very good. One element that I do really like about the style is the volume that the red rollers gave the hair, so that there is a lift at the root at the front. 

Creating Light Scars using Moulds

PRODUCTS

- Mould: which you can fill with Gelatin/silicone

- Petrolese : release spray, which you need to spray onto the mould before 

- Pros-aide : prosthetic glue, a flexible glue. 

- Pro- Clean: remover of the glue. THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL REMOVE THE GLUE.

- Kryolan Foundation palette

- Kryolan SupraColour palette

- Fake Blood

- Witch Hazel

- Powder

TOOLS

- Makeup Brushes

- Baby buds

- Cotton pads

- Puff

- Scissors 

HEALTH AND SAFETY

- Make sure that hands are clean before touching the model's skin.

- Make sure to cover over the model so that none of the products can transfer onto the clothes. 

OTHER TIPS

- Pros-aide is a contact glue, which means that you have to apply glue to the skin as well as the mould. 

-You have to make sure that both sides are dry (they will go completely clear) before you stick them together.

- You may have to trim the edges of the mould slightly. It's better to have some rough edges as they won't show up as much on camera in comparison to straight edges. 

STEP BY STEP

- Use a baby bud to apply glue onto the mould and the skin.

- Wait until clear, then stick the mould on. You need to press down hard to make sure that it is stuck properly.

- Use Witch-Hazel on a baby bud to melt away the edges of the mould. Use a downwards motion to do this as this will melt the edges better.

- Powder the area to see what edges need melting away. 

- Clean away any excess glue around the edges, making sure not to go under the mould as it will cause it to unstick. 

- Colour the wound. Make sure that the colour is translucent and not heavy. If the edges are too hard, bring lightly over the edge.
- To remove the mould, just peel off and wipe the excess glue from the skin using the Pro-Clean. 

MY INTERPRETATION

The wound after I applied it to the skin.

The wound after I coloured it.

I did find it incredibly difficult to get all of the edges melted away and I don't think that it looks very good because of this. I did try to blend the red colour out and around to make it look like it was blended in more, but I think that it made it stand out a lot more. I think that adding the fake blood to the wound foes give it an extra element of depth to the wound, making it look a lot better than just using the normal SupraColours. I do think however that I went slightly overboard with trying to blend the black SupraColour into the wound, so that instead of a hint of blackness to the wound it became slightly purple which I don't think looks very realistic.
Another thing that I found slightly tricky to remove was the glue from my arm, I did have to use quite a lot of the Pro-Clean to make sure that it was completely removed from my arm. This makes me wonder if I used a bit to much glue on my arm so that it became more difficult to remove with more product. 

'Darkness' - A short narrative about Quentin

Quentin knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop Mrs Laderman, she was just too powerful, all he wanted to do was protect Claudia from her. Every time he tried to save Claudia, every time he stepped in front to stop Mrs Laderman, she always found a way to hurt the girl he loved. She was always there waiting for them, never letting them leave. 

It got to a point where Quentin was so frustrated by never being able to leave and protect Claudia that he took his anger out on her, they argued - much to the glee of Mrs Laderman who could see that the fighting was tearing them apart and making Claudia vulnerable. As the days wore on and they fought even more, Quentin could feel something different start to happen, he was no longer tied to Claudia as much which meant he could leave if he wished to. As he was so sick of the arguments he decided to leave Claudia in his past and move on. However when he took one step out of the door, Mrs Laderman was laying in wait for him, it only took a small amount of her magic to propel him down the back stairwell of the apartment block and into the unkept garden area where no one dared enter. 

As Quentin fell further down he thought about Claudia and how much he wished he hadn't left and how sorry he was for arguing with her, until his thoughts were broken by sharp stabbing pains all over his body. He didn't want to move, his eyes stayed closed hoping and praying that nothing was broken, all he could hear around him was the rustling of the trees until Claudia's screams broke the silence. He bolted straight up, he didn't care about the pain any more, all he needed to get to was Claudia. He opened his eyes to look up at her but everything was clouded. Bringing his hands up to his eyes he felt something protruding from them, not thinking he pulled them out. He thought this would make things all better, he would be able to see again but as soon as he pulled them out everything turned to darkness...

First Ideas for Quentin

Below are some initial face charts that I have done with my ideas for how I want Quentin to look. The top chart shows the idea that I had of his eyes bleeding as a result of being thrown into the thorns  like the Prince in the story. I wanted to add in the element of bruising and a cut lip to show that he is being affected by Mrs Laderman's abuse alongside Claudia. I did wonder about investing in some contacts that make the eyes look clouded and like he has gone blind, however I need to talk to my model about whether he can wear contacts and the logistics of using blood with them. 

The middle chart again shows the idea of him being thrown into the thorns in the story, with his eyes being scratched and bruised as a result of it. I think that using a pin to drag some fake blood across the eye area would look really effective to create the scratches from the thorns, I think with bruised eyes it would look really good. Again I was thinking about using the clouded contact lenses to give the illusion of blindness. 

The bottom chart takes out the element of the blindness and just focuses on the abuse of Mrs Laderman on Claudia. I thought that just having his face bruised would make him seem vulnerable and like he is the victim alongside Claudia. If I was to do both Claudia and Quentin then I would have them with identical bruising to show that he is being affected by what is happening to her. 

Horror and Fashion

In our lesson we were given the choice of different images from runway shows that have influences from horror. I chose the one below from the 2009 John Galliano Fall show. 

najeema (2009) Galliano fall/winter 2009 runway makeup. Available at: http://www.astylizedhysteria.com/galiano-fallwinter-2009-runway-makeup/ (Accessed: 9 March 2016).

I was really drawn to this makeup look because it was very pretty and was very fantasy-like rather than scary. Furthermore I loved the texture that it showed, I thought that the pigment on the cheeks adds a beautiful dewiness to the skin along with the shine that is on the lips. 

As I didn't have my liquid metal palette with me, I found it more difficult to get the same density of colour with just the gold from the SupraColour palette. However I used the pigment from Illamasqua on the cheeks to give the highlight, which I think adds a really nice effect to the skin and replicates the dewiness seen in the photo. 

I decided to use more purple and pink toned shadows instead of the black and grey, I thought that it would look a bit better with Justine's skin tone. I think that it still keeps in with the tone of the original image, especially with the different textures on the lip and cheeks, but adds a different look to the original idea. 

I did try to add some of a pearlescent colour to her lashes, however nothing that I tried worked which is down to me not having my Liquid Metal palette in my kit, which would've been the ideal product to use 

Timed Assessment Part 2

Below are the final images from the second part of the Timed Assessment. I'm really happy with how they turned out, I think that I was able to replicate the look well. The images on the left are from the first TA and the images on the right are from the second TA. One element that I am incredibly frustrated about is that the brightness of the lights/flash is different in the two photos- I think this is due to how difficult it is to judge on a camera screen.

Another thing that is different between the two photos is the height of his hair, this I think is due to me lifting the curling wand more when I was curling his hair. However I think that I managed to get the shape of the hair pretty similar in the two photos. 

When looking at my final makeup, Sue did mention that I could've coloured the scar on his forehead, so that it does stand out more on the photos. However when I did practise colouring the scar it looked awful and not how I wanted it to look. As I wanted to place the Creature in the novel later on when he was living on his own and finding his own way, I didn't want the scar to look too new, so I only used the Collodian and didn't colour it. 

First TA

Second TA

   

  

 

Moodboards for Claudia, Quentin, Mrs Laderman & Grimm

Grimm

Claudia

For Claudia, I decided to go down the route of using Rapunzel as the basis for my character. I wanted   to show all aspects of her character as being the agoraphobic girl, locked away inside herself and from the world. I would like to show some kind of bruising on her, just to show a difference in power between her and Mrs Laderman, with dark undereyes and makeup to add a 'grunge' style to her look. 

Quentin

For Quentin I wanted to show him as the Prince character, but after he has been blinded by the witch with his eyes bleeding as a result. I think that if I was to choose both Claudia and Quentin, I want them to have identical bruising on them to show that he is a figment of her imagination. 

Mrs Laderman

For Mrs Laderman, I looked at Zombie makeup as the Hexanbiest look in the show is done using CGI. I want her to have the mouth similar to a Hexanbiest but dark eyes with veins coming down to add the element of dark magic to the look.  

I'm still unsure as to what two characters to choose,  I think that after I do some face charts it will make my decision a bit easier. 

Gender and Horror

In the Horror genre, there is a lot of debate about how gender is portrayed- especially the female gender. Furthermore there has been an increase in the number of female viewers of the Horror genre, as it used to be dominated by male viewers. 

In the first season of American Horror Story, different types of women are shown, as T Schull analyses in her Wordpress article about the series. She writes about the female characters, placing them into individual archetypes of women in Horror, some of which are listed below;

- The Scorned Woman : Vivien Harmon played by Connie Britton, whose husband cheats on her with a younger women. In spite of what she goes through in her personal life, she is unlike a damsel in distress because she stands up for herself and doesn't just take what life throws at her. 

- The Femme Fatale : Moira played by Alexandra Breckenridge, who is seen in two forms depending on who is looking at her. To women she appears as an old housemaid but to men she appears as a french maid who uses her beauty to entice them in and reveal their secrets. 

- The Cougar : Constance played by Jessica Lange, who is in equal parts the 'Boss' character of the series. She has a lot of power, which a lot of female characters don't seem to have in the Horror genre. 

When I looked for articles on gender and horror, I found a lot about how nowadays women are being seen to be having their 'revenge' because they are being shown in more powerful roles, even being the 'monster' rather than the victim or 'damsel in distress'. (Donahue, 2014) Instead of waiting for men to come and rescue them from a serial killer, they are more empowered and fighting back. This could be seen as a reflection of changes in society, with feminism becoming a more prominent part and equality between the genders being campaigned for very publicly also. This could be why there is an increase in the number of women who are watching the Horror genre.  I think that if the film industry continued to show weak female characters being overpowered by men then they would have a lot of complaints, especially considering the society we live in now.  

Claudia, Quentin & Mrs Laderman

Here are my ideas for the three characters, along with the three words I want to use to help with the characterisation.

The Princess and the Grimm

Claudia- Ascend 

I want Claudia to be the grown up version of the 'Lost Princess' from the TV series- the daughter of Sean Renard and Adalind Schade. As she is half Zauberbiest and half Hexanbiest along with being of Royal bloodline I went along the thinking that she will age quicker due to her special blood and magic. As the character profile says that she is agoraphobic, I wanted this to be because she has so much magic that she doesn't know what to do with so believed the outside world was attacking her whenever she went outside, this was due to objects floating and glass & mirrors shattering whenever she became emotionally unstable. I wanted to use the idea of the 'Lost Princess' because ever since birth many different parties have been looking for her, so I wanted her to have been stolen by Mrs Laderman (who is coincidentally a Grimm) and she changed her identity to Claudia. However due to the lack of tutelage from Mrs Laderman, she is unaware of who she is and thus has been driven agoraphobic by the magic that she has. I also want the magic to be the reason why she has imagined Quentin, along with why she abuses him and lashes out with her magic. I think the fact that Claudia is obsessed with horror films could be her trying to find a solace away from her troubles or looking for a reason as to why she is like she is.  I chose the word Ascend due to her birth right to Ascend the throne of the Royal family. 

I would like her to have purple contact lenses, which is what she has in the programme when she is younger and is doing magic.

Quentin- White Rose

I want Quentin to be the victim of Claudia's magic, but also use the idea from the Character Profile that he is actually 'having an affair' behind her back to give fuel to the fire. I'd like to use the element of the White Rose in both the photos of Claudia and Quentin (if I choose them both) with her holding a white rose, and Quentin having thorns poking out of his face/neck as if Claudia has cursed him. Furthermore I would like for him to have gashes/bruises on his face as if she has been abusing him. Having the male being abused by the female creates a distortion because in TV and Film usually the male is the abuser. In order to add in the element of an affair into the picture, I want to have an element of lipstick on either the neck, cheek or on a shirt collar. 

Mrs Laderman- Face 

I want Mrs Laderman to be a Grimm who has been tasked with looking after Claudia, making sure that she is okay. However due to the lack of tutelage that she has given Claudia, she is the reason that Claudia has gone off the rails and isn't in control of her magic, but she still looks after her nonetheless. I would quite like her to have partly black eyes that Grimms do have, but not completely full as Claudia does not woge, she just uses magic. I chose the word face, as the eyes are the most important part of the Grimm's identity as they can show Wesen who they really are. Furthermore technically Mrs Laderman is hiding her true face from Claudia as she is not telling her the truth regarding who she really is or her birth right. 

Rapunzel

Claudia - Glass Prison
I was looking at the original Grimm story of Rapunzel, and I thought that the series has yet to use this story so it would fit in quite well. I thought that Claudia could be either the Lost Princess that I mentioned in my previous idea, or just a girl that was abducted when she was a baby. I think that I'd like to go down the route of the abducted baby, because it would fit in with the police work of Nick Burkhardt  as an old case of missing persons they need to work through to see if they can figure out what happened. I thought that the character profile of her being an agoraphobia could be described by Mrs Laderman telling her that people are trying to hurt her so that she won't want to go outside, furthermore as her neighbour and the other holder of the key to her flat she can lock her inside to keep her 'safe'. I thought that the words 'Glass Prison' would refer to her apartment, even though it has windows to the outside world she is a prisoner inside it because of her agoraphobia as well as Mrs Laderman.

Quentin - Save Us
I pictured Quentin as being the Prince in the story, however he is a complete figment of Claudia's imagination as the character profile writes him to be. I quite like the idea of in the original story, he is thrown out of the window into a pile of thorns and blinded- I thought that this could link to Claudia abusing him and blinding him accidentally, but I would rather it was Mrs Laderman doing the abusing. I thought that her could become abused as a result of Mrs Laderman abusing Claudia through her use of magic.
I thought that the words 'Save us' would be good to use as it refers to the 'Prince' side of Quentin's character, who is there to save Claudia from Mrs Laderman.


Mrs Laderman - Ascend
 I thought of Mrs Laderman as the 'Mother Gothel' character in the story and also I thought that to fit in with the Grimm universe she should be in the form of a Hexanbiest. I chose the word 'Ascend' because I thought it links to Mother Gothel in the story, and how she climbs Rapunzel's hair to reach the top of the tower. 

Grimm

The TV show that I have chosen to create my characters for is Grimm. It is one of my favourite TV shows and I love how the original Grimm's Fairytales are used as the cases in the show. 

Grimm originally premiered in 2011, with it now being in its 5th season. The show focuses around protagonist Nick Burkhardt a detective with the Portland police, who finds out that he is descended from a long line of guardians known as Grimms. Grimms are in charge of protecting humanity from the mythological creatures known as Wesen, which take many different forms and usually Woge (show their true nature as they look like the average human normally) when under high stress/pressure. When a Wesen Woges and a Grimm witnesses this, the eyes of the Grimm turn solid black showing the Wesen their true appearance along with revealing the identity of the Grimm. 

The Eyes of a Grimm
(no date) Available at: http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Grimm (Accessed: 3 March 2016).

Throughout the series, Nick has to juggle having a normal life whilst battling the Wesen that cause trouble and trying to protect those in his life that he loves. This doesn't always go according to plan, meaning that he reveals his secret to a select few of his 'human' friends; Trubel who is also a Grimm, his friend and fellow detective Hank Griffin, Sergeant Wu and girlfriend Juliette. Nick also is very close friends with some Wesen; Monroe who is a Blutbad (a wolf-like character taking inspiration from the Big Bad Wolf in Red Riding Hood), Rosalee who is a Fuchsbau and Monroe's wife (similar to a fox), Bud who is Eisbiber (similar to a beaver), Captain Sean Renard who is half-Zauberbiest (similar to a zombie/witch) and also a member of the Royal family and Adalind Schade who is a Hexenbiest (a witch who is similar in form to a zombie) as well as the mother of both Sean and Nick's children. 

UPDATED Continuity Notes for TA

Below are my updated Continuity Notes, using the pictures from the first Timed Assessment so that I can properly replicate the look to the best of my ability. 

Timed Assessment- Part 1

Below are the four final images from the first part of the Timed Assessment. I'm really happy with the final images, I think that the look is very simple but looks very effective on camera. I'm really happy with my timings for the whole look, all in all it took about an hour to do the entire look including hair, so I think that I will be able to pace myself to focus on the elements that will need extra time to make sure they are perfect- in particular; the under eyes, contouring and the scar. 

I took some close up shots for my continuity notes as well, so that I can get the placement of each element exactly the same next week when I replicate the makeup.