Chosen series- American Horror story

I have decided to watch American horror story for my chosen gothic horror series. I did some research on it and thought it looked quite quirky, and i loved the make up, hair and costume from what i saw. I am awful with watching horror films/series but I had heard a lot of good things about it so thought I'd give it a go.

American Horror Story is an anthology series, which means there is a complete different story line and set of characters in each series, although they do use the same actors which I liked. The show is written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, it started in 2011 and there have been five series so far, with a sixth on the way.

As I said, each series is completely different, so I watched the pilot episode of each series before deciding which one to focus on. They were all pretty intriguing, but i decided to go for 'Freak show'. Freak show is set in 1952 in a small town called Jupiter in Florida. It tells the story of Elsa Mars trying to save her struggling freak show. She is desperate to find a permanent home for her 'monsters', despite freak shows having been unpopular for years at this point. Elsa sees an oppurtunity to get her show back on track when conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler are taken to the hospital after being discovered for the first time in their home. She tells them that will never lead a normal life now and will always be considered as 'freaks', so they may as well make some money out of it..

The girls join the show and bring in customers as Elsa had hoped. Just when she thinks things are going well for the show, it becomes apparent that dark entities have taken up residency in Jupiter as several locals are brutally murdered. Everyone automatically assumes the freaks are to blame and their fate is in danger again.

Timed assessment part 2

 

 These are my images from the second part of my continuity assessments. I made lots of additional notes after my first assessment to ensure that i would get it exactly the same the second time round. I was a lot more nervous this time round, as I knew it had to be identical to the first go, so i felt a lot more pressure, especially as it went so well the first time. 

I was most worried about hair (again). I was pretty please with how it turned out this time, the only thing im dissappointed about it the fact that the hair was slightly curlier the second time round. Other than that im really pleased with the positioning of the roses etc. 

For make up, I am also really pleased. However, i feel that i may have gone a bit heavier with the mauve contour this time.

Overall i found these  continuity assessments to be really good experiences- although i know there are some things i could have done slightly better, i am really proud of what i have done. I have found the assessments to be really valuable, as continuity is so important in this industry and I need to get used to it. I feel that it has really helped to improve my time keeping. 

Proucts used:

• Cleanser, toner & moisturiser. 
• Illamasqua matte primer
• 001 skin base
• Mauve from mac pallete
• Dark brown from mac pallette
• Translucent powder
• liquid latex
• Hairspray 

Tools used:

• rollers
• hair grips and pins
• pin tail comb
• hairbands
• straighteners
• Foundation brush
• Kabuki brush
• various blending brushes
• flat brush
• lip brush
• fluffy powder brush 

 Health and safety:

• Before I do anything, I make sure that my brushes have been sufficiently cleaned with  Isopropyl alcohol to prevent bacteria spreading.

• I covered my work station with couch roll to ensure that I had a clean space to put all my products and tools onto.
•   I covered my model with a gown so that no product would fall  onto her clothing.
•   Before starting the makeup I asked my model if she had any skin diseases or medical conditions that i should be aware of. I also asked if she was wearing contact lenses, as some products will irritate them.
•  I washed my hands with soap and water to prevent bacteria transferring.
• I decanted any product onto the back of my clean hand, to prevent double dipping and again preventing any bacteria from the models face being transferred into my make up.  

Timed assessment part one

Timed assessment part one.

Today I had my first of two continuity assessments. I went in feeling really confident about my design as I had a chance to practice a couple of times and knew I was able to do it within the time limit. I took advice from my teachers and decided to create more of a simple look, to ensure that I was able to complete the look to a high standard, twice!

I was quite worried about doing hair and make up in the same assessment, as this is something we haven’t done before. I always worry about hair assessments, as this is something that is completely new to me. As I had a lot to do I the assessment, I made notes that listed the order in which I did these things. This ensured that I didn’t miss a step and helped with time keeping. I also made a list of products and tools that I would need to use, so that I would have it all laid out ready for me, and meant that I wouldn’t be fishing through my kit and wasting precious time.

I chose to start with hair as the rollers needed time to set- my hair design was a lot more time consuming than my make up design. Choosing to do it this way round actually worked really well as it meant that I could prep the hair by putting it into sections, rollers and plaits, then do the make up and then finally style the hair. The one thing I was really worried about was securing the roses into the hair! This was the last step as I was worried about erin moving and the roses falling out- luckily I had about 20 minutes to spare when I got to this step so I had plenty of time to secure them, with plenty of hair grips!

As I mentioned, I kept my make up design fairly simple to make sure that I was able to execute it well in the assessment. I’m so glad that I chose to do this- I’m really happy with how the make up looked today, it was simple yet effective. I feel that I made erin look creepy and ghost-like without going over the top. I’m pleased with how the make up looked on camera, too.

I was actually really pleased with how my assessment went today. I feel that my time manegment has improved this term- perhaps this is down to having more of an understanding of how long things realistically take to complete! Having a better understanding of time management has enabled me to be more organised and confident when going into an assessment. I just need to make sure that I follow every step like I did today in my second assessment and I should be fine. 

Proucts used:

• Cleanser, toner & moisturiser. 
• Illamasqua matte primer
• 001 skin base
• Mauve from mac pallete
• Dark brown from mac pallette
• Translucent powder
• liquid latex
• Hairspray 

Tools used:

• rollers
• hair grips and pins
• pin tail comb
• hairbands
• straighteners
• Foundation brush
• Kabuki brush
• various blending brushes
• flat brush
• lip brush
• fluffy powder brush 

 Health and safety:

• Before I do anything, I make sure that my brushes have been sufficiently cleaned with  Isopropyl alcohol to prevent bacteria spreading.

• I covered my work station with couch roll to ensure that I had a clean space to put all my products and tools onto.
•   I covered my model with a gown so that no product would fall  onto her clothing.
•   Before starting the makeup I asked my model if she had any skin diseases or medical conditions that i should be aware of. I also asked if she was wearing contact lenses, as some products will irritate them.
•  I washed my hands with soap and water to prevent bacteria transferring.
• I decanted any product onto the back of my clean hand, to prevent double dipping and again preventing any bacteria from the models face being transferred into my make up.  

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen  have always been known for incorporating gothic horror influences into their designs. I came across this image recently, it is taken from McQueen’s Autumn/winter fashion show at London Fashion week.  I found this intruiging as it is not what springs to mind when you think of gothic fashions. However, I would definitely say this had gothic influences- I would describe it as a ‘dark romantic’ look. The use of lace and floral patterns is what makes it quite pretty and romantic, whereas the use of colour is what gives it the gothic feel. Black lace is very common in gothic fashion. What looks like a lace undergarment is actually attached to the rest of the dress. As this part of the dress looks like underwear, it automatically screams sex- sex and lust are common themes in gothic horror novels.

This is a very quick post, but I wanted to mention this McQueen number while it was fresh in my memory!! I just found the subtle references to gothic horror really inspiring. 

image- pinterest

Doing make up for a 'R.E.D sounds' event

Some friends of mine own an up and coming company named 'R.E.D sounds'- standing for 'red eyed dj's'. Based in Bristol, they get together a group of aspiring dj's and play a range of House, bass, garage and grime. All of these events have a horror/ sexual torture theme and i was asked to do make up for the five dj's and hosts. They always go to town on the decor which creates a really cool yet trippy atmosphere, and this time they wanted some gory make up to take it up a notch.

As I was going to be making up 10+ guys in about two hours i knew that i needed to design something simple yet effective. When I asked what make up they had in mind- they replied 'go crazy! whatever you think looks cool!' the only request they had was a slit neck, however, i knew i wouldn't be able to do 10 in 2 hours. I had never done a slit neck before, the only special effects experience i had was in sue's lessons. I had really enjoyed these lessons so luckily i had stocked up on special effects make up, so i had all the tools i needed. When creating a slit neck, I tried cinewax first- i knew that the cinewax wouldnt last the night. These dj's were bound to get hot and sweaty and it needed to last from 10pm to 6am. After asking sue for some advice, I came home and tried a slit neck using liquid latex. I was so pleased with the way it turned out and it didnt take me too long either.

• I began by applying krayolan skin protector foam.
• Then drew the outline of the slit i was going to create.
• I then applied clear liquid latex around the shape that i made, covering most of the neck. With a hair dryer on a cool setting, I dried the latex until it went from white to clear. I repeated this four times until i had a good amount of latex to work with.
• Once happy with the latex, I took some latex remover (or acetone) on a baby bud and extended the slit slighty, creating flappy skin. It is important to tease the latex away with acetone rather than pulling it like some tutorials suggest. When practicing this method on myself, i was left with bruises.
• I then began by colouring the wound with the brightest red from my supra colour pallete. Then I put a deeper red in the middle and then black around the edges and even under the flappy skin. This was really effective and created the illusion of a deep cut.
• I added wound filler and blood to the wound, and then coloured surrounding area with a variation of reds and blood, i found a stipple sponge to be very useful for this step.

I did this on a couple of the dj's and it looked really effective. A i said, it would have been impossible to do this on all 10 guys, so i needed something simpler up my sleeve. As they call themselves 'red eyed dj's' i wanted to create something to reflect this. I designed a look to reflect this and last all night. Using supra colour, i created a bruised, irritated eye on just one eye (some people wanted both done). I also added black khol around the eye for an extra dramatic look. I then took a baby bud and drenched it with fake blood and carefully took it along the lower lashline, and dragged it down the cheek slightly and layered it until it began to drip. This took on average under 10 minutes and was very effective. I ended up doing around 15 of the crew and then the bar staff and bouncers wanted this look too! It was very simple but i think it really added to the atmosphere of the night and added an extra something to the promo video they had made. This was such a good experience for me, something completely different. They have asked me to help out with future events. Its even relevant to this project, too!