Hexenbiest Mouth

Before I made the decision on what look I wanted to do for Mrs Laderman, I wanted to test out one of my ideas to see whether I can do it with the supplies I have to hand. I used the same technique that we were taught when doing cuts. 

PRODUCTS USED

- Wax

- Liquid Latex

- Moisturiser

- Fake Blood

- SupraColour

- Foundation Palette

- Powder

TOOLS USED

- Palette Knives 

- Palette

- Baby buds

- Cotton pads

- Brushes

-Cape

I did find it quite difficult at first to get the wax to spread evenly and into the shape that I wanted, but after it warmed up a bit on the skin it was definitely easier to spread. I think another thing that made it more difficult for the wax to spread, was that it kept building up slightly on my knife causing the rest of the wax to pick up as a result. Once I cleaned off my knife it was much easier to spread the wax. Initially I wanted to use latex to create the 'stringy' look, however once I tried doing this, I couldn't get the look that I desired- so I decided to try using rolls of wax to create the look instead. I think that it looks really effective, and is much better than my original idea of latex. I definitely need to work on blending out my edges a lot more so that they are seamless with the rest of the skin, and I think if I used slightly bigger pieces of wax it might be easier to do so. I think that using more wax in the rolls will be easier to work with as the rolls will be less flimsy and less inclined to break- which I was very concerned about especially when applying the layer of latex over the top and drying it. I am very happy with how it looks, I think that from a distance it will look very effective in photographs and I think this will be the look that I do for Mrs Laderman. As this is a very delicate and slightly uncomfortable for my model, I think that when doing the makeup for the look I will do this last so that my model isn't sitting there with this covering her mouth for so long. 

Below is the photograph of the final look. 

Hair Charts for Mrs Laderman

For my Mrs Laderman hair charts I decided to focus on having her hair down rather than doing an undo. I think that because of the makeup that I have planned for this character, I want her hair to be framing the face and as I like the 'messy' look for her hair I think this will make her look more mysterious. 

For the first hair chart I based the look upon very natural curly hair- almost similar to afro hair. I think that this hair would be quite a good look for the character because I think having her face framed by massive messy curls will create this mystery to this character- making her more interesting to look at. However I do have reservations about choosing this because my model has quite a lot of hair so it will be very difficult to curl all the hair to get it looking as I want without spending an entire day on it. I think that although this would look good practically it may not be the best design to choose. 

For the second hair chart I decided to do something a bit different and chose to do straight hair. Although it wouldn't be as messy as doing curls I think that this would make my character look very polished- which is what Hexanbiests look like in show. However because the makeup is quite dark and magical I wonder if it wouldn't go with the makeup and not add the sense of mystery that I want from the photos. 

For the final hair chart I decided to do a toned down version of the first one, with the ends being curled along with a  few mid-length sections. I think that this would be a happy medium between the other two hairstyles and much more manageable than the first one. Furthermore I think this would allow me to backcomb and create a very messy look whilst keeping it look slightly polished. 

'She's Mine' - A short narrative about Mrs Laderman

Mrs Laderman brushed back her curls from her face and looked at herself in the mirror, as she felt the  scream leave her throat she could feel herself Woge and hear the glass shatter. She couldn't believe that her baby had been taken from her, she was left all alone now with her husband gaining full parental custody and leaving the country. She didn't know what she was going to do now, how was she going to carry on?

She went through the next few weeks in a daze, those around her didn't want to deal with her moods and she didn't want to deal with people so she was left completely alone. Mrs Laderman didn't care though, she liked the solace, it meant she was left alone with her thoughts. However being left alone with her thoughts proved a bad thing when it ended her up in the hospital- she never seemed to pay attention to traffic anymore because "who would care if she lived or died?" and she got her answer when that taxi hit her. No-one. 

Although there was no major physical damage that hospital visit changed her life. As she was trying to navigate her way out of the hospital she passed the nursery where she saw her. She was the most perfect little baby she had ever seen, although she was a newborn she had a full head of hair and the brightest blue/green eyes, as soon as Mrs Laderman saw her she knew that she needed to have her for her very own. She used her magic to disable the hospital cameras to hide the crime she was about to commit, no one could stand in the way of her having this baby, and as soon as she picked her up from her cot and walked out of the hospital she felt whole again. 

That night as she rocked the baby to sleep, she knew that she would need to keep her hidden from the world, people would be looking for her- but no one would be able to take her away. She smiled, as the baby snored away in her arms, for the first time in a very long time. 

"Thank you Claudia" she whispered as she kissed the baby's forehead. 

Initial ideas for Mrs Laderman

I had three initial ideas for what I could do for Mrs Laderman. 

As I wanted to draw out the 'zombie smile', I didn't want to mess up my face charts so I traced the face and used pencils rather than makeup so it does not show up as well as the others. This look is the most complicated out of the three and involves light SFX. To do the smile, I would use the technique that we used to do cuts; by applying wax to the outer corner of the mouth and bringing it out into a triangular shape. I think that in order to get the 'stringy' look that the Hexanbiest's typically tend to have, I would apply liquid latex in strips across the patch of wax. I will need to test this to make sure that it can work properly, and if it doesn't I will have to think of an alternative or choose another design. I did also want to use liquid latex to age around the eye area, as that is what Hexanbiest's look like. 

For the second face chart, I decided to do a more 'normal' makeup in comparison to the first. I thought that purple would be a nice contrast to the typical grey smokey eye, and I added extra 'darkness' with the dark purple lip. I thought that even with this simpler makeup, she could still look quite terrifying as it will show the 'human side' to her and that she is acting out of her own volition rather than the magic being the cause. 

For the final face chart, I wanted to show a combination of the human and magical side to her character- using the same smokey eye and purple lip as before but adding black 'veins' under the eye. I thought that the black veins would add a sense of mystery to her character, and be another alternative to using SFX makeup. However I think that this would be too theatrical and doesn't keep in as much with the look that the Hexanbiest's have in the show, so I wonder if this isn't the best look to choose. 

I would like to style her to look very professional, as in the show the Hexanbiests are shown to dress very nicely and quite smart. This usually creates a contrast between them and every other character in the show, almost to make it seem as though they are better than them. In the case of Mrs Laderman and Quentin, she is of much higher status to him so I think that the clothes will reflect this. My model has a navy blue lace dress which is very smart that I have asked for her to wear for the shoot- I think that dark navy with create a contrast between her and Quentin as I want to style him in white. 

Final ideas for Quentin

After the presentation, I did a lot more thinking and research into how I can present Quentin in his photographs. Initially I did have the idea to go down the route of showing him very obviously as a 'Prince', with him wearing some sort of crown. However my idea was to have him wearing a crown made of thorns, which could have been seen to have him almost a symbol for Religion coming to save Claudia from her distress, but after asking the opinion of those around me I decided against this because I thought there was the chance of offending some people- which I don't want to do. As I didn't want to do just thorns, I thought about sourcing a crown and lacing it with thorns- however the ones that I found looked very fake and cheap, so I needed to re-think my idea again. 

Upon reflection of my original idea of having a crown, I think that it might look over the top and I think that having him as a symbol of the Prince might be better. I came to this because if he was to be seen in the TV series, he wouldn't be seen with a crown on his head - as none of the 'royal' characters do. I thought that instead I could use the idea of a bloodied bandage over his eyes or pulled down around his neck. When I shoot the character, I will take multiple images showing both and then decide which I like better. 

In my initial face charts I did use the idea of contact lenses, however upon deliberation I decided against them due to not being confident putting them in, and also my model not being confident in wearing them. So I have done a final face chart of the look showing this. 

I decided on doing the scratches from the thorns over his eye area and down his body, with grazes on his knuckles also. In my initial face charts I did have bruises on his face and chin, however I thought it would be too much. However when I do the look, if it looks like it needs a bit more adding to it, I may add in some defensive bruising to his hands and arms, to show that he is protecting Claudia from Mrs Laderman.

When I shoot him, I want him to be wearing a white shirt that I will rip and add fake blood to. I wanted the styling for him to be very plain and simple because the makeup is quite full on and I don't want to make the photo look over the top. Furthermore the white from the shirt would give a connotation of innocence to the photo, making it seem as though he a victim of Mrs Laderman.  

Hair Charts for Quentin

Below are my hair charts for my Quentin character. As my model's hair is quite short, there isn't a lot that I can do with his hair, and I don't particularly need to for my portrayal of him. 

For the first hair chart, I've shown a more messy style, with his hair slightly ruffled which I will use product to make sure that it has the texture that I want. I thought that this look would be good to make it look as though he has just come out from his 'pile of thorns' and so wouldn't look terribly neat and tidy. This is my favourite of the two hair charts, as I think that it goes better with my vision for the look that I want to do for Quentin. 

 The second hair chart I did shows a much more slicked look for Quentin, with his hair looking much smarter and put-together in comparison to the previous chart. Although I like the slicked look, I don't think that it would work with my idea for Quentin- especially for the character portraits where I want to shoot him looking ruffled and defending himself. I think that choosing this hair chart would be a mistake as it wouldn't link together with the rest of the look. 

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.