Sunday 28 April 2013

TESTING TESTING TESTING



This was my test-shoot for my murderer make-up and hair, however I was very displeased with the quality of the hair, and I felt that the model was also the wrong choice for the look. 

It is important to get a model that will be comfortable and almost daring in front of the lens, to get the desired pose and effect you imagine when creating the look; unfortunately this model was uncomfortable and did not work well in the studio. I also feel that her face shape was not right for the role, as I wanted to give a more contorted, long shape to my character, however this model has a more round, plump face. I like the eye makeup, as I feel it looks smokey, and works well with the model's brows. I will re-shoot this with another model and a different hair style to see if this makes any improvements; if not I will have to go back to my face charts and design something more suitable.

MURDERER STYLING

I want the murderer to be very slinky, contorted and adaptable to its environment; thinking along the lines of a more lethal catwoman...

For this I want to style my model in disco pants and a high neck top, as if she has suited up to hide amongst the girls' bedroom.

Another reference I thought of was a character from CSI, "Sqweegel" who wore a latex body suit:


http://youtu.be/lHZjOgP8Las - a further youtube clip on the behind the scenes of the character




SURVIVOR STYLING

FABRICS



I went to a local haberdashery shop to look for possible fabrics that I could use to style my looks; wanting to re-use at least one fabric for both characters to link the pair (used in different ways of course). I came back with two large pieces of fabric and a line of black fabric roses.


I picked up the roses, as I thought I could trial them as a blindfold if the hair doesn't work, and also I liked the imagery and symbolism of using black flowers; reflecting the death of a young girl and innocence. If I use them other than a blindfold, I want to smudge some 'blood' onto some of the petals, again tying in the urban legend.




























 The other materials are a variation on a sheer mesh, one more wiry, stiff and sparse than the other. The fabric on the left is a lot more sparse and could be used to create a good pattern by printing colour through and onto the face of my murderer (tying the characters together) as well as a more structured veil around the survivor.


The fabric on the right has a lot more elasticity to it, and could be nice stretched across the models face, giving a similar effect to the visuals from Illamasqua's new collection, "Paranormal".




Further examples of how I might use the fabrics & general inspiration






SURVIVOR








For the make-up, I wanted to keep the survivor very natural - following the theory of the Final Girl - with a fresh, dewey complexion, light blush and minimal eye make-up. I want the focus to be on her styling and hair.




 Carrying on the theme of not being able to see and darkness, I thought about using the hair (wet-look and slightly distressed) as a blindfold, and applyng a small smudge on the outfit or hair of blood to reference the story and bloody message very subtly.






I also thought about creating a sheer black veil to create the illusion of darkness, with the hair piled on top of the model's head in a full ponytail, coming round and across the face underneath the fabric.



MURDERER





These are my initial face charts that I had developed over a course of a few days as my vision of my character morphed from conducting research and thinking about creating a fashion based make-up. I wanted to ensure the theme of darkness and camouflage.


TESTING








I started using a black liner to create an exaggerated cat eye crossed with a mask (representing the dark) that flicked up toward the hair line to give a playful yet sinister impression. I felt that it was too harsh, so kept the top line very clean and hard, yet blended out the bottom edge into a more slate grey colour and smokey texture.







I then added a small amount of Illamasqua's liquid metal in superior along the inside of the shape, to give more dimension rather than a flat black mask.






















I then experimented by trying to keep the intensity of the black in the centre of the shape, and blend out from both edges. I feel that if I kept applying and blending that I would get the desired effect.



On the other eye, I trialled keeping the concentration of black on the lid, and blending again outwards. I feel that this is more effective than the previous attempt, as it looks less messy (other than its intentional distressed/smokey appearance). I think I will merge the two eyes together for my final look, but block out the model's eyebrows. I like the contrast between the black and the blue of Tasha's eyes, so will try to keep this if I decide to use another model (I would prefer a model with darker hair for this character).

I quite like the effect of having two different shapes on the eyes, to add the idea of insanity of the character, however I don't feel that such a drastic difference will translate well into an editorial piece.

The idea of smoke came to me during trials, similar to the movie The Fog, carrying on the theme of not being able to see and something sinister coming out of the abyss.





MUSIC VIDEO


The title of this song is perfect for the theme of gothic horror and death coming closer to an individual. I like the dialogue at the beginning of the song, where a girl on a phone is asking if anyone is there; this could represent the victim discovering the presence in her room. The song is fairly 'screamo' for the first two minutes, which I feel may be a little too strong for a fashion based look, until I thought about the photography and techniques I could include to create a more edgy look. I also think that as the current music video only focuses on the band itself (and occasional broken crockery), it would make it fairly simple for me to create a video, or at least characters for a video, in a completely different style - one with more of a story line and narrative.




Blood and ink stain the walls.Silently with bloodied knuckles, I carry onHoping it's not too wrong.You said the nights were far too long.
The lyrics above also closely relate to my urban legend, especially the first line.


FINAL GIRL

The concept of the "Final Girl" is often used in horror movies and stories, which consists of the last girl alive who is to confront the killer and spread the story of her experience.

This theory is apparent in my chosen gothic urban legend, as the survivor of the story, through luck, escapes death, but not the trauma as the killer continues to torment her through the message he leaves on the bedroom wall in her roommates blood.

I found a couple of blog posts explaining and referencing examples of the Final Girl

BLOG ONE

BLOG TWO



CHARACTERS

As I have to design two looks I decided to take inspiration from both the themes I identified but also the characters (victim, killer and survivor).




VICTIM

The first character I identified is the victim of the story; the girl that was murdered in the room and found the next day by the roommate. Due to the story being an urban legend, the exact cause of her death is uncertain, leaving more for me to explore. However I feel that this character is fairly flat as her fate is already decided, in that she will definitely die in the story. If I were to represent this character, i feel that it would become more focused on horror and special effects/gore than a fashion focused editorial style image.



SURVIVOR

The survivor or "final girl"is more of a main character in my eyes, as her story line involves fear, a close encounter and luck. She is the one that survives but will always be haunted and traumatised by the experience (the victim is no longer suffering). I think that the factors and themes I have identified with this character give a much more unnerving feel to the character to play upon for a fashion based image; its all about subtle hints at danger and an unseen presence. 


MURDERER

The most haunting and fear evoking character is obviously the murderer. The one that hides in the dark, an unseen predator, contorted and camouflaged in a place you associate with comfort and safety. Giving the audience the idea that nowhere is safe, you must always be on-guard and looking over your shoulder... but not for too long just in case you turn around to meet your wildest fears in front of your eyes. I invisage a slinky murderer, able to contort their body to fit the smallest of spaces and bend into positions to blend into the architecture and furniture of your bedroom without detection; almost like a horrific version of Catwoman.


Thursday 18 April 2013

HORROR AND FASHION FUSION


I created this mood board to get an understand of the cross over between horror and fashion, both on runways and studio shoots. I looked at multiple images, and I feel this mood board gives me a good spectrum of the amount of horror I could choose to include and how to represent it in a fashion based piece.

Along with runway collections I looked at nail art and styling as these are areas I want to include in this project, as I felt they had been overlooked in past projects.

After deciding on an urban legend, I looked at the main themes throughout the story.


The three most important themes that I came up with are:

LUCK, BLIND & CAMOUFLAGE

Luck, because this is the only reason the survivor of the legend was not killed
• could link to russian roulette and other games of chance

Blind, as there was an unseen presence in the room; this thought would continue to haunt the survivor
• could link to blindfolds or the cover of darkness, as well as the senses in general

Camouflage, as the killer was hidden in a private and intimate setting without detection
• this will become apparent in my chosen colour pallets and the composition of my images

Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On the Light


THE URBAN LEGEND:


Two dormmates in college were in the same science class. The teacher had just reminded them about the midterm the next day when one dormmate — let's call her Juli — got asked to this big bash by the hottest guy in school. The other dormmate, Meg, had pretty much no interest in going and, being a diligent student, she took notes on what the midterm was about. After the entire period of flirting with her date, Juli was totally unprepared for her test, while Meg was completely prepared for a major study date with her books.


At the end of the day, Juli spent hours getting ready for the party while Meg started studying. Juli tried to get Meg to go, but she was insistent that she would study and pass the test. The girls were rather close and Juli didn't like leaving Meg alone to be bored while she was out having a blast. Juli finally gave up, using the excuse that she would cram in homeroom the next day.




Juli went to the party and had the time of her life with her date. She headed back to the dorm around 2 a.m. and decided not to wake Meg. She went to bed nervous about the midterm and decided she would wake up early to ask Meg for help.


She woke up and went to wake Meg. Meg was lying on her stomach, apparently sound asleep. Juli rolled Meg over to reveal Meg's terrified face. Juli, concerned, turned on the desk lamp. Meg's study stuff was still open and had blood all over it. Meg had been slaughtered. Juli, in horror, fell to the floor and looked up to see, written on the wall in Meg's blood: "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights!"




I chose this urban legend to inspire my two make-up looks as I felt there was more I could do to explore the characters, rather than having a pre-conceived idea of how the make-up would look. This way I could explore themes within the story rather than giving a more literal representation of the legend.