Bibilography

1. Wikipedia - (Emotional Abuse): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_abuse
2. NSPCC - (Emotional Abuse): https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/emotional-abuse/what-is-emotional-abuse/
3. Wikipedia - (Schizophrenia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia
4. Wikipedia - (Psychosis): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis
5. NHS - (Psychosis): http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/psychosis/Pages/introduction.aspx
6. Wikipedia - (Bipolar Disorder): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder
7. NAMI - (What is Mental Illness?): https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions
8. stylisheve - (60s Mens Hairstyles): http://www.stylisheve.com/1960s-hairstyles-for-men/
9. slickedbackhair - (60s Mens Hairstyles): http://www.slickedbackhair.com/classic-hairstyles-for-men-1930-1960s/
10. American Horror Story: Asylum (2012)
11. American Horror Story: Murder House (2011)
12. Wikipedia - (AHS Asylum): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Horror_Story:_Asylum
13. Wikipedia - (AHS Murder House): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Horror_Story:_Murder_House
14. thetelevixen - (Women In Horror): https://thetelevixen.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/female-archetypes-of-american-horror-story/
15. telegraph - (Women In Horror): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/halloween/11200852/Horror-the-film-genre-where-men-dont-have-all-the-fun.html
16. offscreen - (Women In Horror): http://offscreen.com/issues/view/volume-18-issues-6-7
17. horrormoviesandfeminism - (Women In Horror): http://horrormoviesandfeminism.tumblr.com/
18. bust - (Women In Horror): http://bust.com/movies/15093-horror-films-and-feminism-women-who-don-t-run-from-danger-but-step-up-to-it-thank-you-mary-shelley.html
19. Wikipedia - (Women In Horror): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misogyny_in_horror_films
20. YouTube - (Women In Horror): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-HqozfQ5M
21. IMDB - (Rick Baker): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000711/
22. Wikipedia - (Rick Baker): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Baker
23. victorianweb - (Victorian Men Hairstyles): http://www.victorianweb.org/art/costume/nunn21.html
24. Wikipedia - (Vampire): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire
25. Wikipedia - (Werewolf): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf
26. Wikipedia - (Ghosts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost
27. fearof - (Zombies): http://www.fearof.net/fear-of-zombies-phobia-kinemortophobia/
28. psychologies - (Zombies): https://www.psychologies.co.uk/self/why-are-we-scared-of-zombies.html
29. Wikipedia - (Fictional and Modern Monsters): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster
30. Wikipedia - (Gothic Horror): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction
31. Frankenstein (1931)
32. Wikipedia - (Frankenstein): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein
33. Frankenstein (1818)

Evlauation

During this project we explored the history of gothic horror though out book and film history, whilst also learning about past and present interpretations of gothic horror. As this is a personal interest of mine I found this project very enjoyable and interesting to do as I got to express my work though a completely different way from our first semester.

   During this project I have gained a large amount of knowledge of special effects make-up such as handling products like; gelatin, latex, wax, and creating realist effects on the skin such as bruising. Along with learning these techniques we was also shown how to handle certain products in a safe environment. Although I have found these techniques interesting to learn they haven’t always been easy to perfect. One material I really want to perfect more is using gelatin, but more importantly my skill in blending this material into the skin as I’ve found that quite difficult to get right. Overall the most enjoyable parts of this project was the practical sessions where we learnt some of the basic skills and techniques of special effects make-up, which is something I’d love to be able use in my future career. Another element of this project that I loved, but was also one of my most successful areas of this project, was creating Claudia and Quentin, as I love being able to tell stories though my work and create interesting concepts about characters with my newfound skills in special effects make-up.

   One artist I have looked into throughout this project was Rick Baker. This was mainly due to him creating the iconic bride of Frankenstein look, which helped inspire my Frankenstein design at the very start of this project. Baker had gave me some inspiration on placement of the scars of my characters face, it’s not a complete exact copy of his work but I felt that placement of the joining of the skin on the face would give my monster an interesting twist.

   Looking back at all my work I have achieved throughout this project I’m rather proud of everything that I have put out, although if I could change anything about anything I’ve done this project it would be making my Claudia design a lot more intense. I felt like Claudia’s designs didn’t always match up to Quentin’s design, purely because she wouldn’t always be as effected like in my storyline of Claudia and Quentin, however I felt I could of shown a lot more skills when creating her.

Quentin

   For my Quentin shoot my aim was to make my model look a beat up as possible, and as you'll be able to see during creating my design I decided to a bit off track and add another facial wound to my model. I started off by adding different textures to the face such as irritated eyes and under eye bags and broken capillaries around the cheeks and wounds. I also added other discolouration around the face to give my model a tired, textured look to his face. 

   Now for my favourite part, yet also the scariest part, the gelatine wounds! I was slightly nervous when using gelatine as it can be very uncertain when using this material and I also have a slight issue with blending edges when using gelatine, but I found when using gelatine this time round none of these issues came up! I'm so pleased with how textured and gross looking both my facial wounds turned out on the face and also how blending the gelatine wasn't an issue at all which saved me a lot os hassle during the shoot. After applying the gelatine and setting it with powder I then coloured the wound, adding dimension in holes or in any textured part of my wounds to make them look more realistic and as if blood had been sitting in the wound for a period of time. And lastly, it was time for to add the blood. To get the dripping blood over the wounds and on the face, I used a cotton bud to get some of the product and laid it on the wound where I wanted it to drip/sit on the face.

   Overall I'm so happy with how my Quentin turned out and I can't wait to learn more techniques in the second year and hopefully be able to improve on some of my skills I have now. 

Claudia

   For my character Claudia I wanted to keep her quite plain and simple, but also have an element of special effects in my design and that's how I came up with my busted knuckles effect. To start off my character I wanted to make her look slightly greasy, so I added highlighter over my models face and concentrating the highlight in areas where people would naturally show sweat/grease on the face. I also added texture to my models face, such as bruising and tiredness to the face by building up various blue, purple, green and yellow eye shadows and water activated paints on the face where people would naturally hallow out.
   For the knuckles I painted different shades of red paint to my models knuckles along with also adding bruising around the wounds and on knuckles that wasn't cut open. I next took a cotton bud and lightly tapped latex around the paint and started to layer the latex more towards the wound instead of having it thicker throughout that whole area. Once the latex had dried I dusted it with translucent powder and using some tweezers, I started to pick at the latex and lift it up away from the paint to create a loose skin effect which I then added darker shades of red under the latex to create the effect of dried blood.
   Lastly the hair, which was rather simple for me to achieve as due to Claudia being in a mental hospital she wouldn't have the classic 1960s hairstyles, so instead I just added texture to my models hair by using various sprays and gels. I also wanted to give the effect of having dirty/greasy hair to my model so I concentrated one of my gels towards the roots of her hair, yet sadly this didn't really show up on camera.
   Overall I'm rather pleased with my character Claudia design, although sometimes I wish I had added more interesting make-up to my design, I believe that if I had done that then she wouldn't of captured what I had my vision of Claudia to be like.

Contemporary Victorian Hairstyles Inspired By 'American Horror Story'

   In todays hair session we was shown how to recreate Victorian inspired hairstyles from the hit TV show 'American Horror Story'. Today we was shown Moira, a maid that used to work at the house and was murdered by the pervious owners. Moira's hairstyle embodies aspects of a late Victorian hairstyle.
   To create this we used hot rollers over the whole head, using the brick method over the whole back of the head and stacking the rollers on the remaining bits of hair (the front and side sections). After the rollers had cooled down I removed the back section and pinned the very bottom curls up and together to create a lift to the hair, next I started to pin the rest of the hair, following the way the curls wanted to move and exaggerating the design of it and making it look more stylised. Lastly I took down the front rollers and did exactly the same as the back curls by pinning them into more stylised curls on the sides of the head and parting the hair into a middle parting.
   When trying to recreate this design I did stumble across some issues. I do not see myself as being good at hair, so trying to get my head around pinning curls in places and learning how the hair moves once you curl it or put it in rollers. However looking at my design now, I can see where I can improve this look but I'm also very happy that I managed to complete this in a somewhat successful way.

Storyline Idea: Being Hurt By Words (Emotional Abuse)

   In my background story of Claudia and Quentin, even though Quentin is imaginary Claudia is still able to effect him emotionally and physically but also physically hurt Quentin with her words either towards him or any derogatory words she says during her emotional outbursts. When I figured out this idea I thought of way I could show this concept, and what sprung to mind was the idea of emotional abuse. But instead of the words not leaving a visible mark on Quentin, you see every scratch, bruise or cut on his face and body.  

   Psychological abuse, also referred to as psychological violence, emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterised by a person exposing another person to behaviour that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. This abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such as abusive relationships and bullying.

   In a review of data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (a longitudinal birth cohort study) Moffitt et al. report that while men exhibit more aggression overall, sex is not a reliable predictor of interpersonal aggression, including psychological aggression. The study found that no matter what gender this person is, aggressive people share a cluster of traits, including high rates of suspicion and jealousy; sudden and drastic mood swings; poor self-control; and higher than average rates of approval of violence and aggression. Moffitt et al. also argue that antisocial men exhibit two distinct types of interpersonal aggression: one against strangers, the other against intimate female partners, while antisocial women are rarely aggressive against anyone other than intimate male partners. Male and female perpetrators of emotional and physical abuse exhibit high rates of personality disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. Rates of personality disorder in the general population are roughly 15%-20%, while roughly 80% of abusive men in court-ordered treatment programmes have personality disorders.

TW: Schizophrenia

   Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterised by abnormal social behaviour and failure to understand reality. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, hearing voices, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and a lack of motivation. People often have additional mental health problems such as anxiety disorders, major depressive illness or substance use disorder. The cause of schizophrenia is believed to be a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Diagnosis is based on observed behaviour and the person's reported experiences. During diagnosis a person's culture must also be taken into account. As of 2013 there is no objective test. Schizophrenia does not imply a "split personality" or "multiple personality disorder" a condition with which it is often confused in public perception.

   Individuals with schizophrenia may experience hallucinations (most reported are hearing voices), delusions, and disorganised thinking and speech. The last may range from loss of train of thought, to sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to speech that is not understandable known as word salad. Social withdrawal, sloppiness of dress and hygiene, and loss of motivation and judgment are all common in schizophrenia. Impairment in social cognition is associated with schizophrenia, as are symptoms of paranoia. Social isolation commonly occurs. Difficulties in working and long-term memory, attention, executive functioning, and speed of processing also commonly appear. About 30 to 50% of people with schizophrenia fail to accept that they have an illness or their treatment.

TW: Psychosis

   Psychosis refers to an abnormal condition of the mind described as a "loss of contact with reality". People experiencing psychosis may display some personality changes and thought disorder, depending on its severity, this may be partnered with unusual or weird behaviour, and difficulty with social interaction and in carrying out daily life activities.

   The term "psychosis" is very broad and can mean anything from relatively normal aberrant experiences through to the complex and catatonic expressions of schizophrenia and bipolar type 1 disorder. In properly diagnosed psychiatric disorders, psychosis is a descriptive term for the hallucinations, delusions and impaired insight that may appear. Psychosis is generally the term given to noticeable deficits in normal behaviour (negative signs) and more commonly to diverse types of hallucinations or delusional beliefs, especially as regards the relation between self and others as in grandiosity and paranoia.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are different from illusions, or perceptual distortions, which are the misperception of external stimuli. Hallucinations may occur in any of the senses and take on almost any form, which may include simple sensations (such as lights, colours, tastes, and smells) to experiences such as seeing and interacting with fully formed animals and people, hearing voices, and having complex tactile sensations.

   Auditory hallucinations, particularly experiences of hearing voices, are the most common and often prominent feature of psychosis. Hallucinated voices may talk about, or to the person, and may involve several speakers with distinct personalities. Auditory hallucinations tend to be particularly distressing when they are derogatory, commanding or preoccupying. However, the experience of hearing voices need not always be a negative one. One research study has shown that the majority of people who hear voices are not in need of psychiatric help.

Delusions

Delusions are false beliefs that a person holds on to, without adequate evidence. It can be difficult to change the belief, even with evidence. Common themes of delusions are persecutory, when the person believes that others are out to harm them, grandiose, when the person believing that they have special powers or skills, etc. Karl Jaspers has classified psychotic delusions into primary and secondary types. Primary delusions are defined as arising suddenly and not being comprehensible in terms of normal mental processes, whereas secondary delusions are typically understood as being influenced by the person's background or current situation e.g., ethnicity; also religious, superstitious, or political beliefs.

TW: Bipolar Disorder

   Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterised by periods of depression and periods of elevated mood. The elevated mood is known as mania or hypomania depending on its severity or whether symptoms of psychosis are present. During mania an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy or irritable. The person may often make poorly thought out decisions with little idea of the consequences. During a period of depression, the person may be crying, have a negative outlook on life, and poor eye contact with others. The risk of suicide among those with this illness is greater than 6% over 20 years, while self-harm occurs in 30-40%. Other mental health issues such as anxiety disorder and substance use disorder are commonly linked to bipolar disorder as well.

   The cause is not clear, but both environmental and genetic factors play a part in why someone could develop bipolar disorder. Environmental factors include a history of childhood abuse and long term stress. It is divided into bipolar I disorder if there is at least one manic episode and bipolar II disorder if there are at least one hypomanic episode and one major depressive episode. In those with less severe symptoms of a prolonged duration the condition cyclothymic disorder may be present. Other conditions that may present in a similar manner include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia and substance use disorder as well as a number of medical conditions.

What Is A Mental Illness?

   Mental illness is a condition that can affect the way you think, feel and behave and can also effect that persons way to function on a daily basis, and everyone reacts differently to their mental illness even people with the same diagnosis. They affect around 1 in 4 people in Britain, and range from well known mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, to more uncommon problems such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A mental health problem can feel just as bad, or worse as any other physical illness only you cannot see it.

   A mental health condition isn’t always the result of one life event. Research suggests that multiple, interlinking causes are more likely to effect the person more compared to one life event. Genetics, environment and lifestyle also influence whether someone develops a mental health condition, as well as a stressful job or home life makes some people more vulnerable, as do traumatic life events like being the victim of a crime. Biochemical processes and circuits as well as basic brain structure may also play a role too.

Quentin Hair Design #3 - Final

   For my final (and my chosen) design, I decided to make a mixture of both my first and second hair design in combining the messy 'rock-n-roll' vibe with the classic 60s heartthrob hairstyle, with created this messy, slept in quiff. This design will also fit my final design so much better due to it being very care free and messy looking, which will fit with my scene I want to capture Quentin in. I have also considered putting some fake blood within the hair, again to tie in the whole look. To achieve this I would follow the same as my second look, with slightly curling the top of the hair but not being too neat with it and not curling as much hair as the first look, then backcombing the hair to loosen the curls and create messy knots within the hair to make it look like it has been tugged at. Lastly using texturising gel and sprays to make the hair even more messy and undone.

Quentin Hair Design #2

   This second design was truly inspired by the heartthrobs of the 60s, which is when Asylum is set in. I thought I'd do a design inspired by the 60s male hairstyles purely because the 60s had some of the best hairstyles for men and was also worn by some serious heartthrobs which is what Quentin is meant to embody, true beauty. Although, again, this may not be my first chose for my final design as I want Quentin to be shown when he is at his worst, bloody and gory, so to show him with a neat and tidy hair design wouldn't work well for my final outcome.
   Parted at the side with messy, curly/wavy hair styled on top and to the side of the head. I'd achieve this by slightly curling my models hair (if he hasn't already got naturally curly/wavy hair) then add texturising products to help bring volume and texture to the hairstyle, as this hairstyle is all about texture.

Quentin Hair Design #1

   This first Quentin hair design was inspired by Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain. My idea was to have semi flat long, messy curly/wavy hair that embodies the 90s grunge theme, as this was one of my final ideas for how I wanted Quentin to look like. To achieve this look I would flatten my models hair, yet still keeping a tiny bit of texture in his hair to make it look very slept in, again another vibe I wanted to go for Quentin. Although this may not be my final design, I felt I had to design a hairstyle that would show off a rock-n-roll version of Quentin.

Claudia Hair Design #3

   For my final hair design I just wanted a simple centre parting, slightly knotted, messy pony tail. Again keeping with the messy and rather simple theme, I just wanted to show another side to Claudia, a more relaxed version of her. Still rather textured and loose hairs falling across her face, but I imagine her being so much more relaxed compared to my other designs the situation she would of been in would see her in distress and not comfortable, whereas now she's a lot more content, most probably around Quentin or taking her mind off her own thoughts. Unlike the other two, this design wouldn't really fit with my chosen design, as I wanted to show her while she's coming down from her emotional outburst.

Claudia Hair Design #2

   For the second design I wanted to go the opposite from the first design and make Claudia seem a little more tidy, but still embodying a 90s grunge vibe with messy, knotted hair thats been flicked over to the side. Again, I want this look to be very textured and almost knotted/slept in by using various texturising sprays and gels to scrunch though the hair, paired with backcombing to really get a lift to the hair. Another thing I wanted to keep from the first design is the hair falling over the face. I think this idea really makes the look, look very messy and undone which fits with Claudias whole aesthetic and I think this hairstyle would work really well with my 3rd face chart that shows her for 'natural' side to her.

Claudia Hair Design #1 - Final

   My first hair design I wanted to show Claudia in distress, and untidy due to the environment she's in but also to suit her emotional outburst. To create this I would have my models hair rather straight and over textured, to do this I would use a mixture of sprays and gels to keep the hair big and rough. Another element I wanted to add to this design was strands of hair covering the face, again to show her distress but to also show her own movement with her hair, to show how she must have touched and grabbed her own hair whilst having an outburst and this was the finished result of that. Looking at my design now, another finishing touch for this design would to make the hair slightly dirty/greasy to again add to the overall effect of her being untidy and not really taking care of herself whilst she's in the mental unit.

60s Mens Hairstyles

   The 1960s era had been considered to be as the completing piece of what the 1950s had produced concerning the hair industry. In the 1950s era, men’s hairstyles had been hugely transformed. The 1960s era, had transformed the 1950s men’s conservative hairstyles into more stylish hairstyles. The 1960s era had produced very stylish and elegant hairstyles for men, one of the most seen and worn 1960s mens hairstyles are; the crew cut hairstyles. Those hairstyles had been worn by many men with different ages from the young boys to the business men. The men in the 1960s also had worn the other forms of that crew cut hairstyles like; the buzz-cut hairstyles and the flattop hairstyles. Those hairstyles had been, and still are, very trendy among those conservative men with any age. Another trendy men’s hairstyles in the 1960s, were the Rockabilly hairstyles, those hairstyles had been worn by many celebrity for example; Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Another very trendy 1960s men hairstyles were the Mop-top hairstyles. Those hairstyles had been introduced and popularised by the Beatles band and also the Herman’s Hermits rock groups. The mop-top had the fringes which covered the men’s eye brows and hit the shirt collar in the back.

Quentin Face Chart #2 - Final

   For my second Quentin design I wanted to kick it up from the first design, making this one a lot more gory and intense to show what Quentin could look like after being involved in Claudias outbursts. As you can see I would have a lot of open wounds across the face that are dripping blood, partnered with scars across his body to show old fights the two have had. Red, sore eyes and eye bags are going to be a big feature of this look as well, the whole aim is to make him look as gory and ugly as possible. Again, to create these wounds I would use gelatine to create the raised and irregular texture along with possible use of wax to create raised scars.

Quentin Face Chart #1

   For Quentin, I wanted to show the effects of when Claudia has an emotional outburst which can lead to him being psychically effected by her actions, even though he is imaginary she can still touch, feel and smell him. For this design I wanted to show that he had been recovering from an episode, so he would have a few large and small scratches and scars across his face and body along with a rather large wound on his forehead. For all these wounds I would either use wax or gelatine, gelatine especially for the head wound to create the irregular and raised texture a wound can have. When creating the scars I want to make them look raised and pale which I could create using gelatine and a stipple sponge to add the pore texture of skin, also once the mould is created and you've powdered the mould it starts and have that skin texture. For the rest of his face I would have his eyes looking tired and irritated a long with a few bruises in different healing stages, scattered around his body and face focusing it around wounds and hallow areas of the face.

Character Profile: Quentin

   Quentin is Claudia’s imaginary boyfriend, who has been in Claudia’s life since she was in her teens. Quentin is in his mid twenties and doesn’t age like a normal human, as he is imaginary. At the very start when Quentin would ‘visit’ her, he would only show when sh was in distress and needed comfort or a friend, however Claudia has since then fell in love with Quentin and they now see each other regularly, even though she has been in an asylum  for the past few months, he can just appear whenever she so desires him. To Claudia Quentin is very much real, as sh can see, hear, touch and feel him whenever he is around which means he can be affected by her emotional outbursts, which could be though psychical or emotional. As he is part of her imagination his appearance can change to suit her mood. In his normal state, he is a tall with messy dirty blonde hair, almost a Kurt Cobain look alike, with a dashing smile.