Gothic Horror

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Creating Burns

When creating a burn you can use gelatine from the supermarket or you can use Jellac Latex.

For this look I used Gelafix Skin

Tools:

A pin
Spatula
Supra colour palette
Foundation palette
Translucent powder

You will need to melt the Gelafix in a microwave. You only need to do this for a few seconds.

Once it is melted and cool enough to be comfortable on the skin, using a spatula, apply it to the skin in a patting motion.

To help blend it into the skin you can use warm water to smooth it out and make it more blendable.

Once the gelafix is dry you can powder over it with translucent powder.

After this you can use the supra colour palette to add colour to the burn.

Use reds and brown colours to make it look more realistic. You can also use reference pictures of real burns so you can have a look that you are trying to achieve.

Once you have got the desired colours you can go over it with a cream foundation on a sponge to make it blend more seamlessly into the skin.

The Burn I Created

The Gothic On The Catwalk

The gothic era has acted as inspiration and influence in modern day life and I wanted to research and explore its influence on the catwalk. The Gothic looks seen on the catwalk usually combine dark colours, heavy fabrics and often references to the skeletal structure. The collections I have seen usually combine strong make up and expressive hair which combine to create a style of excesses. Gothic horror has inspired many designers including John Galliano, the Mulleavy Sisters and Karl Lagarfeld for Chanel. On the blog 'Drapers' it says, 'John Galliano has had a life long love affair with the Gothic Girl, the edgy, cool, vampish and mysterious women who is fascinated by the erotic and the blackness of the night'. This can be seen in many of his collections. The website 'Dazed' talks about the love that the Maleavy sisters have of horror films and how it was inevitable that this love would make it into their collections. I think that the use of Gothic as a style inspiration is very interesting as it can make for very beautiful, expressive and moody pieces. I think that the decadence that can be achieved, without looking over the top, is also very easy to capture using gothic as inspiration. These images below are some of my favourite looks from the catwalk. The Chanel Spring Summer 2003 look reminded me of how I imagined Miss Havisham's wedding dress to look like.

Sources:

http://www.drapersonline.com/gothic-the-fashion-inspiration-that-never-dies/1889012.blog

http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17663/1/ten-collections-that-horrified-the-runway

Alexander McQueen Autumn Winter 2006
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17663/1/ten-collections-that-horrified-the-runway

Christian Dior Haute Couture Autumn Winter 2000
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17663/1/ten-collections-that-horrified-the-runway

Chanel Haute Couture Spring Summer 2003
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17663/1/ten-collections-that-horrified-the-runway

Iris Van Herpen 'Capriole' Haute Couture Autumn Winter 2011

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Victorian Weddings

One of the main focuses in the book 'Great Expectations' is the wedding of Miss Havisham that never was. I am interested in buying and finding a wedding veil or headdress for my model to wear for the timed assessment so that the whole image and sense of character is captured. While looking for inspirational images of how to alter a non Victorian veil that I may buy, I came across interesting information about Victorian Weddings.

Weddings were either held in a church or at home in the morning and were traditionally carried out in the bride's parish. It was in the 1800's where the tradition of the bride not seeing the groom on the day of the wedding before the ceremony was established. The weddings were usually small with only close family and friends, and before the ceremony bells would be rung to drive out the evil spirits and the rings would be dropped as it is said that it would release any evil spirits that were inside them. After the ceremony the bride and groom would sign the parish register in the vestry. It was tradition for the bride to sign with her maiden name. The food that was consumed after the ceremony was usually breakfast type food, due to the ceremony taking place early on in the day. One of the most interesting facts that I found was that any guests at the wedding who were in mourning would enter the ceremony and try to hide themselves amongst the other guest so that they would not affect the mood of the bride and groom. I found this interesting as I have been learning about how it was important for Victorians to respect the dead, this treatment of mourners is not respectful and unlike now there appears to be little sympathy for those left behind.

One of the main traditions of a Victorian wedding involved what the bride wore. Brides used to wear a wreath or orange blossom flowers. This was a very popular tradition and the words, 'to gather honey blossom' eventually became to mean, 'to seek a wife'. Queen Victoria wore the colour white on her wedding and after this it was tradition for all weddings to be carried out in white, before this the bride was able to choose the colour of her gown and the colour she chose was said to influence the couple's future, for example if the bride wore red, she wished herself dead and if she wore blue the love would always be true.

This research has been interesting as I now think that along with a wedding veil I may also buy some orange flowers as it appears that they were a main feature of Victorian weddings. As I am trying to capture the decay and age of Miss Havisham's wedding attire I may try to distress the veil and flowers to make them look more aged. I think I may do this by staining the veil with tea, to give it a more yellow colour, as described in the book 'Great Expectations'. I may do this also to the flowers as well as ripping them. I will buy fake flowers so that for the continuity part of the assessment they look exactly the same in both.

A Victorian Wedding Recption
http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/ceremony.html

A Victorian Couple Signing The Parish Register
http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/ceremony.html

Queen Victoria With An Orange Blossom Wreath In Her Hair On Her Wedding Day
http://hrhprincesspalace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/todays-princess-queen-victoria.html

http://www.victoriana.com/bridal/bridal-welcome.htm

http://classroom.synonym.com/victorian-era-wedding-traditions-7133.html

http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article003.html

http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article004.html

Hengistbury Head

Recently I visited Hengistbury Head, this is a headland located on the Southern Coast of England located in Dorset. It is a Ancient Monument as well as a Natural Nature Reserve. Hengistbury Head has many different types of geology such as grassland, woodland and wetland. During a walk I came across some of the wetland areas and I realised that they depicted what I imagined the moors to look like from the Charles Dickens Novel 'Great Expectations'. They also resembled the moor areas of Thornham Marshes in Norfolk and marshes in Essex where the BBC TV Series, starring Gillian Anderson and Douglas Booth, was filmed. It precisely reminded me of the scene where the convict Magwhitch is fighting with the other convict Compeyson.

On previous visits to this area the eerie and scary nature of it had not previously struck me, but since studying the book and researching more into the story the area became a setting that could be used as inspiration especially when you see it in misty conditions.

Hengistbury Head
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186262-d1141218-Reviews-Hengistbury_Head-Bournemouth_Dorset_England.html

My Image Of The Wetlands

Sources:

http://www.tvmaps.co.uk/where-were-marshes-great-expectations-filmed

Films With Early Victorian Hair

I have begun to research films and television series that were set in the early victorian era. I have done this is to get an idea of the hairstyles created and look at the accuracy within the films.

The TV series that I have chosen to study is the TV Mini Series from 2006 of 'Jane Eyre'. This series is set in the 1840's and1850's. The hair during this period ranged from an apollo knot with a centre parting and loop plaits with ringlets to a style where it was smooth on top with ringlets and was usually covered by a bonnet, Accessories were also being added such as flowers and ribbon. I decided to choose this series as I remember watching it when it first came out, it is interesting for me to study it now as I appreciate far more what society was like at the time and also the accuracy of the styles as well as how to create some of the looks. I like the hair designs in this series as I think they are very accurate to the time. They are also very beautiful especially the image below of Christina Cole who has very pretty and tight ringlets. I however would say that I think the hair looks too clean and healthy, in the Victorian era women rarely cut their hair meaning that after constant heat it would become very damaged. I also feel that the ringlets in the first picture are too short as Victorian women are famous for having very long hair and ringlets. I also think the bottom image is slightly too far forward in terms of hairstyles. I think that the hair is too loose and a style such as this would not be seen until later on in the Victorian era.

Hair With A Centre Parting And Ringlets
https://www.pinterest.com/eloise888/jane-eyre/

An Apollo Know With Loop Plaits
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/romantic-movie-moments/images/1621430/title/jane-eyre-proposal-scene-screencap

A Much Looser Hairstyle
http://thoughtsandstuff12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/jane-eyre-2006.html

The Ageing Process

Learning the art of ageing someone's skin is important as it is a vital skill needed when working in TV and film as well as theatre. My knowledge of what happens to the skin during the ageing process is limited, and I felt it vital to me to research this so that I am able to create more accurate depictions on the skin depending on the stage of the ageing process.

The first main factor in ageing skin is that the regeneration of new cells becomes slower which causes a dulling effect on the skin. The production of elastin and collagen becomes slower and these are the two key elements which create plump and firm skin. As the production slows skin becomes looser and this results in the development of wrinkles. Wrinkles begin to appear in someone's 20's, become more apparent in the 30's and wrinkles become deeper and tend to appear in areas where muscle movement is high. In the 40's lines start to appear around the mouth, and can be more severe in people who smoke. When you reach your 50's wrinkles on the skin start to become their highest as the skin begins to sag. The skin becomes looser over time as our bodies begin to shrink, which can result in loose skin, for example jowls on the face. The skin becomes drier, which can cause itching, this is because the body produces less oils which causes less hydration in the skin. Skin also becomes thinner because the fatty layer which is located below the epidermis becomes less, which means that the skin is more delicate and prone to bruises. The skin also is harder to mend, for example after a scratch. Veins also become more apparent as the skin is thinner. As you age, photo ageing becomes more common, this is where sun spots, liver spots and freckles appear more frequently.

This research has been useful as I now feel more confident in my knowledge and ability to produce a more accurate aged face.

Sources:

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/new-idea/a/15179307/skin-ageing-how-does-it-work/

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/anti-aging/5-ways-skin-changes-as-you-age.htm#page=5

Miss Havisham On Screen

Whilst reading the book 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens, I began to imagine and interpret my own portrayal of Miss Havisham in my mind. The descriptions of her character throughout the book are very descriptive and detailed which made it very easy to build up a picture in my mind. These descriptions and my thoughts made me interested to know how other people perceived Miss Havisham. For this project I will be designing my own make up look and interpretation of Miss Havisham, I am excited to do this especially after researching the previous portrayals of the character as I feel that they are all similar and I am looking forward to creating my own version. I began to research different films and television show versions of 'Great Expectations' and paid close attention to Miss Havisham. These are are some of the films and televisions shows that I researched.

1946 Great Expectations

In the 1946 version of the film 'Great Expectations', the actress Martita Hunt played Miss Havisham. She was born in Argentina to British parents in 1899, and when she was aged 10 they moved to England. She was praised for her role and level of acting in the film 'Great Expectations' and after the film was released her popularity grew and she was consequently offered a wider range of more interesting roles. The 1946 film version was shot in black and white, I believe this adds to the effect in making Miss Havisham seem spiteful and bitter. From all the images that I have seen the shadows seem more prominent adding to the overall effect of age but also highlights her skin making it appear paler. In the film her make up appears to be minimal as if to reflect that she has given up and is stuck in the house and room where she spends most of her time. As the book was set in Victorian times the make up designer I imagine drew inspiration from cosmetics in that era which, from what I have researched, was very minimalistic and almost secretive. Her hair in the film appears to have been backcombed and is a half up half down style and almost blends in with the cobwebs that appear around the room with her. This type of hairstyle is currently very popular and can be seen on many different people including the celebrity Arianna Grande. This was interesting to me as it gave the film a contemporary and modern feel even though it was released over sixty years ago. The make up artists working on this film were George Blackler and Ernest Gasser. They are both English make up artists and between them are known for films such as 'Tommy' (1975), 'Stairway To Heaven' (1946) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Martita Hunt died in June in 1969. I think that Miss Havisham's look captured in this film is the closest to that I imagined while reading the book. I think the age of Anne Bancroft is more what I imagined, I also think that the hair and the clothing is more what I had in mind.

Martita Hunt As Miss Havisham
https://www.pinterest.com/muirhewitt/the-grande-dames/

Martita Hunt As Miss Havisham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8907506/Gillian-Anderson-Helena-Bonham-Carter-and-Miss-Havisham-on-film.html?image=11

1998 Great Expectations

The 1998 film of 'Great Expectations' saw Anne Bancroft take the role of Nora Dismoor, who was the film equivalent of Miss Havisham. This film is a modernization of the original story and is loosely based upon the book. Anne Bancroft was born in New York in 1931to Italian parents. Her most famous film role was that of Mrs Robinson in the 1967 film 'The Graduate', she also appeared on Broadway for five years during a break from films. In the role of Nora Dismoor she wears very heavy make up and appears nothing like the original Miss Havisham. In the film she has a very pale face, which I believe was used to reflect the fact that she rarely goes out in the sun. The make up also seemed out dated and too young for her age, this helped to highlight the fact that she was stuck in a time of 20 years ago. The way the make up was applied also highlighted her aged as it settled into her fine lines and wrinkles, I also think that the make up made her look quite masculine as well as sad. The most famous and iconic outfits worn throughout the film were predominantly green which is said to have been the director's favourite colour. Interestingly the house name of Ms Dinsmoor in the 1998 film is ‘Paradiso Perduto’ which means lost paradise. I thought this was interesting as it continued with the theme throughout the film portrayed by Miss Havisham that she was longing for her past of love. She also wears pearls during the film, this is interesting to me as they resemble peace, and to me she is far from peaceful. Overall this portrayal is far from how I imagined Miss Havisham, this is however a modern version and my imagination is based upon the original.

Anne Bancroft As Miss Havisham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8907506/Gillian-Anderson-Helena-Bonham-Carter-and-Miss-Havisham-on-film.html?image=17

Anne Bancroft As Miss Havisham
http://rosamondpress.com/2012/04/06/great-expectations/

2012 Great Expectations

In the 2012 film version of Great Expectations actress Helena Bonham Carter played the role of Miss Havisham. She was born on May 26 1966 to a merchant banker father and psychotherapist mother. She has appeared in many films, with one of her most famous roles being Belatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter films. On the website Stylist.co.uk I read an interview with the costume designer Beatrix Aruna Pasztor who worked on the 2012 film 'Great Expectations'. She speaks of her processes in finding inspiration and designing the wedding dress and other costumes worn by Helena Bonham Carter in the film. In the interview she speaks of how she ‘consulted paintings and bibliographies from the Dickensian era’. She also says how she ‘tried to combine them with contemporary fashion shows for a fresh modern look.’ She also talks about how she also had a contemporary vision for the story. In the film Helena has very curly and frizzy styled hair which, like in the 1946 film, reminds me of the cobwebs that are hung around in the room. Interestingly the style of hair in this film was actually of gothic origin instead of victorian. This is due to the hair style being twenty years prior to the date the film is set, representing her being stuck in the past. Beatrix Aruna Pastor also expressed in the interview that she wanted to have dramatic hair and make up to go with the costumes that she designed. Helena's face was pale in most of the pictures that I have seen of her with an ashy look around the eyes and other areas of her face. I think in this version of the film she looks far younger than that of the 1946 and 1998 films, I presume the thought behind this is the director's interpretation of the age of the character and Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's vision of the look of Miss Havisham being more fresh than previous portrayals. This portrayal to me is a good interpretation of the book but is however not how I perceived Miss Havisham to look and, like the TV mini series, I think that Helena Bonham Carter looks too young for the role.

Helena Bonham Carter As Miss Havisham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9726621/Great-Expectations-Seven-magazine-review.html

Helena Bonham Carter As Miss Havisham
http://diymag.com/archive/first-look-at-helena-bonham-carter-as-miss-havisham

2011 Great Expectations BBC Mini TV Series

In the 2011 BBC mini series of 'Great Expectations', Miss Havisham is played by Gillian Anderson, an American actress born in Chicago Illinois in August 1968. She has appeared in many films including 'The X Files' (1993) and 'Playing by Heart' (1998). Some people were critical of her role in the TV series expressing that they thought she was too young to play the role of Miss Havisham as well as her high pitched voice. On a BBC interview that I have read with Gillian Anderson, she discussed the process of turning into Miss Havisham. She says how she had two different wigs to wear which had three different stages of deterioration. In the beginning of the film her hair was set into tight curls at the front, but the back was messy and unkept. I think this was done to show that she was trying to keep hold of something of her looks but did not have the energy to fully complete it. At the end of the film however her hair is almost falling out, Gillian explains how she had to wear a bald cap underneath due to the lack of hair in the wig. Her make up in the film is very pale and dusty looking, she looks more ill and frail than the film interpretations. She almost has a grey undertone to her skin, her lips are also chapped and dry which reflect her lack of care for herself and her disinterest in life. This version is how I imagined Miss Havisham to look whilst reading the book.

Gillian Anderson As Miss Havisham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8907506/Gillian-Anderson-Helena-Bonham-Carter-and-Miss-Havisham-on-film.html

Gillian Anderson As Miss Havisham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8907506/Gillian-Anderson-Helena-Bonham-Carter-and-Miss-Havisham-on-film.html?image=1

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/great-expectations-feature

http://vintagemakeupguide.com/victorian-look/