Quentin studio Idea?

I came across this image today by make up artist Justin Henry and photgraphed by TinTin Hedberg that inspired me for my shoot for my Quentin character as I plan on making the skin look synthetic and plastic as if he has undergone surgery. I thought this image was particularly interesting as the model appears robotic and man-made.

Picture Source: http://hellstudios.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Skin_Thumbnail.jpg

 I thought this might be an idea for my shoot, I'm not too sure whether they've used products or editing to create this effect but I'm interested in how it might turn out!

Imagination playing tricks?

A little random but I thought I'd post about what happened the other night that scared the begeezes out of me! In my room the other night I noticed a letter had fallen next to me that was stored on top of a chanel bag on my shelf which I thought was a little odd but as I was doing some work on my computer I noticed that the letter had moved (creepy right?!) And that's not the end of it! As I was drifting off to sleep later that night I as woken up by the noise of something falling onto the floor in my room, as I turned on the light I noticed that all of my loo rolls had fallen or been knocked to the floor (this is when I got scared). Then it got me thinking about real horror and ghost stories that maybe films take inspiration from. Was it real or just our imagination creating something more dramatic and thrilling out of a coincidental situation? Can we really prove that the supernatural exists or do we enjoy the unknown aspect of horror and the feeling of being scared of what we do not know?

Victorian Hairstyles

Victorian Hairstyles changed dramatically from 1830 to 1890. In the 1830's women's hairstyles appeared to consist of tight ringlet curls at the sides of the face with a neat bun (sometimes decorated) at the back of the head. Through research I found this image of  'Jane Elizabeth' Countess of Ellenborough in the 1830's who appears to be fashioning something along these lines. This portrait was recreated by Maxim Gauci after an unkown artist from the 1830's.



This apollo knot was very popular in the early Victorian era with a centre parting and tight ringlets at either sides of the head almost on the face. The knot at the back would often be achieved by adding hair pieces as it would require a lot of hair to achieve an exact apollo knot, decorations would also be added to add interest with flowers or jewels.


1840's
Moving onto the 1940's the hair style changed quite dramatically with the curls becoming looser and more 'romantic'. The curls were created by using a small curling iron which they would heat up in the fire or hot stone and then wrap the hair around the the hot iron.

1850's
Here is an image I've found of a lady in the 1850's painted by an English pre-raphaelite painter and illustrator, John Everett Millais. Her hair seems to be looped over her ears with a middle parting and a neat bun at the back of the head. The hair is quite simplistic and quite sleek at the sides where the hair was made into a definite loop around the ear making a difference to the earlier loose romantic curls of the 40's.

1860's





Here are some hairstyle sketches I found from hair from the late 1860's As you can see updos were an 'in' hairstyle especially with the curls at the back and the wrapped bun. This is probably my favourite of all the victorian decade hairstyles, I feel like the feminine curls at the back are really flattering and the buns are something copied even today.

picture number 1
picture number 2: http://www.ariacouture.com/1840s.html
picture  numner 3;http://hoocher.com/John_Everett_Millais/John_Everett_Millais.htm
picture 4: https://www.pinterest.com/venfashions/1860-s-accessories/

Claudia and Quentin Initial Idea and Presentation

For my design idea on Claudia and Quentin I decided to choose the American  hit TV series American Horror Story - Coven. The episode that I am focusing on is part of the fourth series where the witches of the coven have to undergo several tests to determine who will become 'Supreme'. Claudia who is also a witch took part in the tests but failing in the decensum test in which the witches have to go into hell and come out again. Claudia could not return after the hourglass was up and so she is stuck in her own personal hell forever.

Claudia's vision of hell is her old apartment where she lived with her boyfriend Quentin. Claudia and Quentin are both obsessed with the way they look and their whole being revolves around vanity. Claudia who is constantly trying to impress Quentin becomes jealous when she hears voices telling her that Quentin may be cheating. She was unaware of her powers when with Quentin and acted out because of his suspicious and flirty ways towards the neighbour next door that visited once and a while. Both Claudia and Quentin were always striving for perfection Claudia to impress him and Quentin because he was quite the ladies man. They both appear plastic and doll-like in Claudia's 'hell' as that's ultimately what they both wanted. In a jealous rage one evening as Claudia was sat drinking tea, Quentin then enters asking Claudia 'what the hell are you wearing' she then replies asking him where he's been and as he answers saying he's been out with friends thee voices once again tell Claudia that he is lying and in a jealous rage she smashes her teacup, picks up a shard of china and slits Quentins throat.

She relives this moment over and over again on repeat and can never alter the outcome this is why it is her idea of hell. Everytime Quentin is killed he comes back as someone different depending on how she's feeling, most of the time he appears smart, good looking and cocky but when she's feeling helpless he turns into a childhood sweetheart kind of guy.

My final designs for Claudia and Quentin are going to reflect the feeling of vanity and I'm planning on having Quentin appear plastic and fake and having Claudia looking doll-like and creepy almost like a stepford wives sort of thing using bright colours.

For her hair design these are my initial ideas just using images I've found to inspire me.




     

My plan is to hopefully use a similar dress to the girl in the top left picture holding the telephone with big bouncing curls and big baby-doll eyes. I want her to appear as if she's trying to be the perfect wife!

My original make-up design and facechart was inspired by the John Galliano look I did in class from 2010 s/s by Pat Mcgrath. I am now howver thinking of toning the makeup down in colour as this design might not work as well with my styling and overall theme.

Facechart 1

                     
         Facechart 2























Quentin's design is going to feature prosthetics to make the skin appear plastic and as if the model has had surgery to enhance certain facial features. I've recently looked at Philip Toledano's photography work for 'A new kind of beauty' he has photographed people who have undergone surgery questioning whether it is us stipping down our own original selves, whether we put our fate in the hands in the surgeon, whether we are influenced by contemporary culture or simply revealing who we really are? The way in which they are photographed portrays them in a powerful manner not in a way that we sometimes see on TV which often appears in bad taste and we as a viewer are almost made to feel sorry for that person. These models from Philip Toledano's work look content and the images remind for some reason of ancient greek and roman portrait images due to their stance and demeanour.

Here is a link to Philip Toledano's work:
http://www.mrtoledano.com/a-new-kind-of-beauty

Through a bit of research I've come across a few videos showing how to apply prosthetics to the face to create that high cheekbone look that many people aspire to have and have undergone surgery for. Here is a video from one of my favourite make-up gurus Chrisspy showing how she recreated Disney's Malefient look. I know this is very different to what I'm trying to achieve but the technique is still helpful!

Ballistics gel is also supposed to be good in replicating human flesh and there are cost effective ways of making it yourself and I may see which one looks more effective on the skin. 

To make the skin look plastic I am going to see if I can use liquid latex and also speak to a lecturer to find out what products would work best to get that shiny effect. 

Fashion Inspired - John Galliano 2010 S/S by Pat McGrath

Inspired by Pat McGrath's creation in 2010 for John Galliano, in class I recreated this look with a few minor tweeks but feel as if I captured a true likeness to this look. 

John Galliano wanted the faces to look like an old trip to hollywood with dramatic signatures such as curled lashes and pencil thin brows which was my favourite thing to recreate! The models were styled with feathers, pearls, laces and colour sprayed flowers. One of my favourite looks was a look shown in the picture below where the model appears to be wearing a wig cap with gold sparkly tape to hold it in place. They all represent an older time in glamorous hollywood that we can only see through classic film and photographs and I feel that Galliano and Pat Mcgrath did this era justice.  

 This was my chosen look and I made a few changes, for example instead of using silver I used gold in the corners of the eyes and on the cupid's bow. The colour on the eyes was taken up to the brow but not as dark and that's something I would have liked to have done looking back at the photos now.

This look has given me inspiration in the creating of my 'Claudia' character for my new project, 

I plan on creating something very similar as one of my Claudia designs. In my mind Claudia likes to see herself as a doll-like girl but similar to this Pat McGrath look shows a sadness and vulnerability. 

As she loves horror I plan on making her look a little more theatrical and over the top. 

My next design will be an adaptation of this design as Claudia likes to change her appearance regularly for dramatic effect.  

Miss Havisham Extra Hair Designs

Here are my other hair designs developing my Miss Havisham character I decided to keep one quite simple by staying quite close to my original design and just ageing the hair really heavily whereas for the other design I decided to create a gibson girl hairstyle with little wedding flowers for Miss Havisham on her wedding day.

Aged Design

Gibson Girl Design

The Phantom of the Opera

The other evening I spent my time watching the 2004 version of phantom of the opera, one of my favourite musical theatre shows and also one of my favourite films.

Phantom of the Opera was originally a book written by Gaston Leroux called La Fantome de L'Opera that was written in 1911 about Leroux's own experiences when visiting the underground lake in the 1880's where the phantom was said to have hid and also 'stumbled upon some poor wretches who had been massacred under the commune in the cellars of the opera.'

Even the front cover of the novel looks horrific and after watching the recent interpretation of The Phantom of the Opera the Gothic Horror elements became very clear to me. 

The film starts with the view of an old tarnished Opera House in the future in black and white as the characters enter it and take part in an auction to buy what remains of the Opera House. The scene is set when the well known Phantom of the Opera song is played and everything in the Opera House turns from old to new as we as an audience are transported back through time to how the Opera House used to look.

I was reminded of it's gothic horror theme when 'Christine' the main character was in her dressing room and the Phantom's voice is heard singing to her in a minor key setting the scene and creepily you see his face appear in the mirror wearing a mask. Admittedly this is a modern interpretation but the mystery of the phantom comes from not seeing his face and also the feeling of uncanny when the phantom reveals his secret shine for Christine in the underground lake where he lives.

In the 1929 version of Phantom of the Opera the silent film follows the story very well but takes quite alot of concentration as there is only music heard and film to tell the story. The Phantom in this appears alot more fictional as it
would compared to the Phantom in the recent interpretation. It was really interesting watching a silent film however trying to figure out what was going on.

Here is the 1929 movie below!

I also found alot of other version of this classic! 

1925

1989

1943

1962

These are various adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera but my favourite by far would have to be the 2004 version with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum as the lead roles. 

Here's my favourite scene from the movie when the Phantom takes Christine down to the underground lake!