Personal Evaluation of Technical Make-up...

I really enjoyed all of the make-up techniques I learnt throughout this project. All of the blood and gore was really interesting and fun to create as it is a bit of a challenge learning about what injuries really look like and making them appear realistic whether they are major or minor. 

I also love the fact that this project has proved that 'make-up' is really not always to make people look 'pretty' and 'glamorous' but to also make them look ugly, demented, injured, scary, creepy etc.

Not only can you create not to attractive looks with make-up but also hair. Rather than making her neat and beautiful, by making it messy, unfinished, over-sized, can also produce a scary, horrible, disgusting final image of your model.

Evaluation...

I really enjoyed this project as it was a lot different to the other assignments I have been set during the course of my first year of university. Rather than creating attractive looks with make-up, the intention was to design and produce 'horrific' appearances. When making and posting on my blog, I quite enjoyed the research side as I learnt a lot about how individuals are used to portray different characters in films. I also learnt a lot about applying make-up to create injuries. I feel my overall project went well, as my final images reflect my initial thoughts and ideas and I have explained what I am portraying well. I feel the make-up on 'The Dead Girl' images could be slightly better, and the black eye could be more intense, but that is my fault for not doing more practise. I also feel I could of created a more 'fashion' approach as that was a main aspect of the project but I really struggled to involve that in my final images and my photographs look a lot more 'horror' than 'fashion'. Overall I have really benefited from doing this project as I have discovered more make-up techniques and how to improve my approach for any other similar assignments in the future.

 

The Dead Girl...

2nd final character... In this image I wanted to have a similar angle/positioning to the first character as I wanted it to look as though this is the killers' version of his 'school portrait' of her. I also wanted it to look similar as it shows how the death completely takes over her sweet, innocent persona and although it is the same young smiley girl, she has been beaten to death for no reason making it seem like she has almost been taken over by sadness, evil and the sick reality of murder.

The School Girl...

1st final character... With this look I wanted to create an innocent young girl in a school portrait photograph, simple but effective portraying her purity, innocence, sweetness and naivety, as she has no idea what is going to happen to her.  

Pencil to Paper...

Illustrations - Rachel Hogg (Me)

Costume ideas...

'Before' Child: As it is a school photograph portrait, I need the model to look like a school child in uniform. I will put her in a shirt, a tie, and use big hair scrunchies for her hair.

'After' Child: I need the model to look as though she was in bed asleep, I will buy some typical young girls' pyjamas with childish pictures on and then stain them slightly with blood, I will also rip and blood stain a teddy bear for her to hold

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Hair Designs...

'Before' Child: As the model is meant to look like a 10-14 year old girl having a school portrait taken, I need her hair to look as though her mother has styled is especially for the occasion. Most young girls have their hair put into bunchies/pigtails as it is youthful, feminine, girly so I will style my models hair like this with big scrunchies to make it iconic to youthful girls. I will also pull sections of hair out as kids always mess around and play with their hair so it would have slightly fallen out by the time the girl has her picture taken.

'After' Child: As the character would have been asleep, her hair would have been down and would have got slightly knotty in her sleep, so i will slightly back-comb the hair, alter the parting so its not her natural one and it would also be very tangled from having blood dried into her hair line. I will also add/comb in blood into other sections of the hair as though she was having her hair held and the blood spread from the wound to the rest of her hair.

Face Charts...

'Before' Child: I would do very simple base make-up as she is meant to be around the age of 10-14, lots of blush so show innocence, youth and to create a flushed dewy look. I would add slight bags under the eyes as lots of children often look tired especially if they are up early for a school photograph. I would use minimal mascara to make the eyes look bigger and brighter. The lips i would add a slight red tone to just to make the model look extra feminine and girly.

 'After' Child: I would start off with the same base make-up as before but then layer the rest on. I would make the bags under the eyes bigger and darker as she was incredibly tired and now dead, I would also make them look a little red and sore. I would make the lips look sore and slightly bitten. To show she has been beaten to death in her sleep, I would give her a bloody head injury where all the blood has congealed  dried and matted in her hair and trickled down her face. I would also give her a slightly bloody nose and mouth that has also gone tacky.

Character Storyboards...

Before Character...

After Character...

Character Ideas...

There are three main characters in this story; the killer, the babysitter the child/children.





The killer: I think creating the character for the killer would be interesting as they could all be dressed in black, lots of use of shadow for lighting, they could pose for the picture with evil smiles and evil eyes. I don't think I will use the killer as a final character as I think it will be quite hard finding an appropriate model and i don't believe the final image will look very effective.

The babysitter: With this character, there is only one idea and that's a scared teenage girl on the phone. I don't think this will make a huge impact on a final image and it will also be a very predictable photograph.





The children/child: Since first choosing the urban legend I wanted to create a childlike look in my final images. I love the idea of doing a 'before' and 'after' on a young girl. Perhaps something along the lines of a school portrait photograph in the family's house and then another image of the same girl in her pyjamas bleeding and dead. I could get the model to even smile in the 'dead' version like she is in the 'alive' verson to make it creepy with an edge of innocence. 

Pencil to Paper...

Illustrations - Rachel Hogg (Me)

Other 'horrific' factors...

In a vast majority of horror films, it is not only humans used as the 'horrorific' or 'scary' aspect in a film, it can also be an object such as the telephone in 'The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs', although in this instance the phone does not play the evil part in the film, it creates a fear for the victim.


Films where something other than a human character causes fright:

• Saw (2004) - The puppet on the bike
• Chucky (1991) - The toys
• Scream (1996) - The mask
• Hellraiser (1987) - The puzzlebox
• Lord of the Rings (2001) - The ring
• The Ring (2002) - The phone and television
• The Mummy Returns (2001) - The bracelet of anubis
• The Evil Dead (1981) - The book of the dead

                        

The use of men in Horror...

Unfortunately for them, the adult male has always been cast as the 'bad guy' in horror films probably for many different factors such as, their height, build, voice, age, facial hair, strength, knowledge etc. Altogether these aspects add up to quite a powerful character being able to be in control and come across rather scary and threatening. 


Films where men are the villain:

• Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Frankenstein (1994)
• Saw (2004)
• Dracula (2000)
• Amityville Horror (2005)
• Jeepers Creepers (2001)
• The Shining (1980)
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

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Children Horror Fashion...

As the years have gone on society seems obsessed with creating a look in order to keep you looking young rather than growing older, this is wear fashion adopts a childlike edge to their collections.

In 2011 Miuccia Prada during the Malan Fashion Week, presented her dollhouse-like coat and dress sets consisting of cheques, powdery colours, solids, with decor of low slung belts, oversized buttons, shag fur and silver-dollar-sized paillettes that jingled. Her models wore what appeared to look like 'pretty' swim caps and clutched on to their clutches though they were teddy bears. The model also had bare-faced make-up and pulled back scruffy ponytails to create a childlike appearance. 

This spring (2013) the Ne-Net collection was what can only be described as unique and quirky. designed by Kazuaki Takashima, Tokyo, The models sport mixed knit, plaid and elongated  outfits that look like child bed wear or day-time clothing with a twist in their masks/head wear that look scary, odd and as though they have taken control of the model wearing them. According to WWD, the feel of the RTW catwalk adhered to the eclectic garments shown: "Models floated down the switch-back runway as if in a trance, wearing knit masks and headresses that transformed them into fantastical creatures." 

It appears as though the designer has created his models in a childlike manor to then be taken over by a typical childhood nightmare, such as a monster that lives in your closet or under your bed and haunts you in your sleep.

Joshua Hoffine...

Joshua Hoffine is a horror photographer with the majority of his work using children as a victim in traditional horror legends.

  

 

 

 

The use of children in horror films...

THE EVIL:

Children are used a huge amount as the evil character in films as they are seen to be innocent, pure, trustworthy, less intelligent and sweet they are unexpected and cause great twists and shocks throughout  a story line.

Common films where the 'bad' character is the child are:

• The Ring (2002)
• The Grudge (2004)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
• The Shining (1980)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Omen (2006)
• The Orphanage (2007)
• Case 39 (2009)

THE VICTIM:

As well as using the kids for bad to create effect and drama, using them as the vulnerable also produces huge amounts of shock and tension as it is seen as a 'rule' in films to torture the children and make them suffer but never have it result in death, although many films like to break the rule to create edge and shock for the audience.

Films that have used children and teenagers as victims are:

• When a Stranger Calls (2006)
• Hostel (2005)
• Cabin in the Woods (2011)
• Hunger Games (2012)
• A Serbian Film (2010)
• Paranormal Activity (2007)
• Sixth Sense (1999)
• Never take Candy from a Stranger (1960)

The Movie...

Originating from the urban legend, 'The Babysitter and the Man upstairs' a film was released in 1979 called 'When a Stranger Calls'. The film is slightly different to the short Gothic story; A teenage girl looks after some children whilst their parents are out for dinner, she gets many phone calls from a man to check the children, police finally show up but the children have already been killed. The killer is caught and put into prison. Some years later the killer escapes, is homeless but befriends a woman becoming slightly obsessed by him. Meanwhile a detective from his first arrest is determined to capture him again. The teenage girl who once had a horrific babysitting experience is now grown up, married with children, she goes out to dinner with her husband whilst a friend looks after the children. The friend starts getting phone calls but the detective shows up and everything is fine. Later that night the mother wakes up find the killer in her house and her husband alive but unconscious, the detective shows up and kills the evil man, everyone is safe.

In 1993 a follow up television series is aired called 'When a stranger calls back', which follows the traumatising life of the babysitter and the obstacles she has to overcome. 

A re-make is created of 'When a Stranger Calls' in 2006 with a similar story line to the original legend but a much less bloody ending. A teenage girl babysits some children as the parents are out for dinner, she speaks to her friends on the phone whilst they are out partying and a couple of them come to visit her but soon leave. She starts getting prank calls from a man asking to check the children but they are fine. She soon realises this man is bad and calls the police who track the call. The girl soon finds her friend dead in the house so she grabs the children, escape to the police who have arrived to protect them. The killer is caught and put away. The babysitter ends up in a psychiatric ward suffering from nightmares about phones and the killer.