Mrs.Laderman

Overall Character and Designs 

In this blog I will be writing about my chosen character Mrs. Laderman and how she fits into my chosen TV series. As explained in a previous blog Mrs. Laderman will as well fit into my Tv series 'Grimm' as an old frail women living below my other character 'Claudia'. The TV series explains a Portland detective called Nick who is the last of the 'Grimms' meaning he can see mysterical creatures who are masked as humans. Through this power he solves cases to save lives. I took inspiration from the original story of 'Rapunzel' as the series is based on the 'Brothers Grimm Tales' and I thought that I could adapt this story to the characters that we were given. Below I summerised the character of Mrs. Laderman and how she fits into my designs and TV series.

Perosonalities, Bakcground and Appearance:

• Mrs. Laderman lives in the apartment below Claudia and is always telling Claudia that the outside world is a Horror and dangerous, therefore she must never go outside and stay where she is safe.
• Mrs.Laderman wishes to keep Claudia inside her aparement as Claudia is a beautiful young women and Mrs. Laderman was once beautiful but cannot regain her youth therefore she wishes to keep Claudia all to herself as she is a reminder of her youth. Therefore she makes sure that nothing lets Claudia leave her apartment and she uses her Witching powers to make sure this happens.
• Mrs. Laderman is an old lady full of wrinkles and she consists of dark,stressed out eyes as she has been stress most of her life trying to regain her youth. She has a witchy nose and wort and wears dark clothing which represents her feeling, if she has any. 

StoryLines: 

Mrs. Laderman lives in the apartment below Claudia her beautiful upstairs neighbour. Mrs. Laderman is secretly a Witch however the one thing she desires even her magic cannot achieve which is regaining her beauty. Therefore Mrs.Laderman must keep Claudia from leaving her apartment as she need her as a reminder of her youth. As one day when Claudia tries to brave and leave her apartment she has trouble leaving and terrible things begin to happen to her and she return to her home. Therefore Claudia calls detective 'Nick' to investigate. As we know its Mrs.Laderman stopping her Nick begin to suspect trouble. However, Mrs. Laderman begin to become jealous as Claudia see more of 'Nick' and this causes ore trouble in the story. Does Claudia managed to escape her house?

Make-up Designs:

Design One: 

In my first design I have taken inspiration from these images shown here. I wanted to create my character as appearing very age therefore I would use a different technique of shading and light to create the appearance of old skin through colour. Under the eyes I wanted to represent the stress of my character therefore I would use either eye shadows or supercolour in shades of  red to create this tired eye look. I would leave the eyebrow quite natural as she is an older women and I  would believe she would not wear a lot of makeup. To finish off the look I wanted to introduce a part that could replicate that she is a witch therefore I would create a mole/wart like shown in my design to represent this part of her character. 

Design Two:

In this Design I have taken inspiration from my first design but I have adapted it slightly. I would still be using the same techniques of shading and light to create an appearance of old skin however I have changed this look by giving my character dark under eyes which I believe will add to the feel of being a witch. I believe the look of dark under eyes and the wort on the nose really empathizes the idea of her other character without giving to much of her character away. I really like this design however I am unsure if I can make my characters skin appear realtic in 'age' by using this technique therefore in my next design I will explain a different method that I will use.   

Design Three:

In my final design I have taken inspiration from all my designs, however I have changed some aspects and techniques. Instead of the creating the wrinkle with light and shades like shown in the other design I have decided to create them with the 'old age stipple' technique. I would also use a prosthetic witch nose and attach this with latex and blend in with the natural skin using foundation and different colouring of 'supercolour'. I decided to add in the red eyes in this design as I believe the tired eyes really highlights my characters feeling of stress to have youth and the red colouring really will bring out the eyes in photos. In this design I really want to achieve the witch element to my look as this is what my character is truly and I believe this will best represent her.  

Hair Design:

Design One:

In this design I took inspiration from movies and films I had watched with films e.g. 'Stardust'. In that film there are three witches chasing after a star to get her heart as this would restore their beauty. I believed this related to my story as both characters wish to restore 'youth' or 'beauty' in some form. As the characters in the film use up more power this causes more stress causing hair to fall out as they age therefore I wanted this age/stress to be shown in my character. I know this would be quite hard to achieve as I have never done a look like it before. However, I believe if I was to achieve this I would use a bald cap on my model and cut small holes where I would like certain bits of hair to be shown and pull the hair through with a comb. I would achieve the grey look with dry shampoo like used in my previous project and I would use latex to hide the line between the bald cap and the head. I like this design however it may be a bit too extreme along side the make-up as I want my look to appear as if it was in a modern drama/Horror series and not too theoretical.  

Design Two:

In this design I wanted to represent age in a more classic way. I would have the hair fully pulled back into a low bun and by pulling back the hair tight this instantly ages anyone face by pulling back the features. I would create the grey hair with dry shampoo which will age my character instantly as well and to add some detail I wanted to create a black streak through the hair this would reflect the evil/witch side to my character but only shown through a small element of the design. I was thinking of achieving this either by using hair chalks or by using the black supercolour by running it through the hair. At the front of the face I may pull out small pieces of hair at the front and backcomb them to further highlight age as the hair appear split and frayed through me backcombing. 

Design Three:

In my final design I wanted to take inspiration from the stereotypical 'Witch' but adapt it to modern society and my TV series. Firstly again I will be creating the greying hair by using dry shampoo as this instantly ages a persons hair and face. I would split the hair into two by backcombing the hair at the bottom of the head to make it appear old and dry as if it about it fall out. With the top section of hair I would curl the whole of the top but then back comb each pieces and pin into place creating lots of pin-curls around the back of the head. I wanted to create this look as if my character still tries to achieve her beauty by attempting hairstyles but her age has far caught up with her shown through the backcombed ends.  

Mood Board:

I have produced an overall mood board for my character Mrs.laderman. I wanted to included ideas of costume, make-up and hair that I believe my character would look like and help me inspired ideas and designs. 

Claudia

Overall Character and Designs:

In this blog I am writing and explaining my make-up and hair designs for my character Claudia. I have already produced a blog of my first ideas of my characters and how they are interpreted into my chosen Horror series 'Grimm'. As previously explained the series 'Grimm' which is inspired by the stories of the 'Grimms brothers Tales' is about a Portland detective called 'Nick' who is the last of the 'Grimms'. He is tolled by his last living relative that he will see mystical creature within people that appear human. This trait help Nick through the series to solve cases and help stop evil fairy tale creature. Explained below is my overall details of my developed character Claudia.    

Personalities , background and Appearance:

• Claudia is a young women who has never left her apartment as she is afraid of the outside world due to the neighbour, Mrs.Laderman telling her about the horrors of life and that Horror films where a real reflection of the real life.
• She is a young beautiful women, with small facial features, long golden hair and a pale complexion.
• She lives in the town of Portland, on the outskirts of town next to a large woodland. She accommodates herself in a top  floor apartment that she has lived in her whole life above three other apartments which Mrs. Laderman lives one floor below.

Storyline:  

Claudia lives in her top floor apartment and the women below Mrs.laderman informs her of the outside world telling her it is evil and bad. Therefore as Claudia knows this information from a ‘trusted’ friend and also many years of watching horror films she believes this herself, making  her never leave the house. Claudia on some occasions wishes to try and brave to leave her home but every time she leaves terrible things happen to her and this scares her to stay inside. Mrs. Laderman may be the women preventing her from leaving as she has a secret fancy for Claudia as she craves the youth Claudia have as she remind her of her lost youth. But when one day Claudia phones the police (Nick) the last of the Grimms, he turns up to help and over time they begin to have a fancy for each other. One person is not too happy of the situation and bad things begin happen. 

Make-up Designs:

Design One:

In this design I wanted to portray my character Claudia and her natural beauty through this look and design. Claudia is always inside her home and has never left therefore I will be giving my model a pale complexion by using the 'Illamaqua White foundation' mixed with a normal foundation this will represent this aspect of my character. Not only this aspect it will represent my chosen word 'White Rose' as the colour white and the Rose represents my characters youth and beauty. I have chosen to create light brown freckles around the tops of the cheeks and nose as freckles are a natural beauty and represent youth also and I really want to portray this aspect. I took inspiration from these images shown below as I chose a gold lid for my character as I wanted something quite simple but as well gold complements blue eyes (which my models has) and I believe it creates a soft and innocent look. I will has a little blush but not too much as she has never been outside, a light natural gloss lip and a natural brow. To finish of the eye I wanted a hint of shimmer gold in the tear ducks and I may use natural looking eyelashes to make the eyes pop further. I did not want to much make-up as I want my character represented as a natural beauty and really represent the isolation through the pale complexion.   

Design Two:

In this design it is inspired by the design one. I have taken the same make-up look and design but adapted it in a 'Horror' aspect. I wanted to represent the part of my interpretation of how Mrs. Laderman does not let Claudia leave her home by setting traps and setting spells. Therefore as Claudia becomes harmed as she attempts to leave home I wanted to represent this aspect in my look. I would create a black eye, split lip, bloody nose and scar/cut to the face. I would create the black eye either with the 'Supercolour pallet' or an eye shadow pallet, the split lip using latex and fake blood and the slit using wax and blood.  

Design Three:

In my final design I have chosen a more basic make-up look as I wanted to go more natural beauty as I feel this best symbolizes my character. I have taken a lot of inspiration from the third image in. I wanted to as mentioned in every design have the pale complexion but I wanted to use a light peach eye shadow on my design as I believe this is softer than the gold look and more of a neutral tone and I will match the lips with the same colour. To finish of the eye and give a bit more detail I would add again the silver glitter in the tear duck as it represents mystery and sensitivity. I have included the same marks of horror e.g. cut, split lip, bloody nose and black eye but I have emphasize these aspects with bolder colouring and blood. 

Hair Designs:

Design One:

As my character is taken inspiration from the character 'Rapunzel' I wanted to portray some of her iconic look (long hair) into my character. She is known for her long flowing locks of hair therefore by taking inspiration from these images below. I would create pin curls at the front of the head that would flow back acting as a fringe and then continue a large fishtail braid down the back of the hair and by pulling at the braid it would make it appear big. To add more detail to the hair I would place white flowers within the hair. The colour representing her innocence and it represents her desire to go outside, like she is almost there but not quite. Lastly, I wanted to add a silver glitter spray which would match the tear duck within my make-up look and is near to the colour white which represents my characters.

Design Two:

In this design I still wanted to include the element of 'Rapunzel' in my design therefore I have included big bold waves that I believe represent the element and aspect of 'princess' but have been done in a modern way. To make the look more interesting I wanted to create a big curl at the front of the hair like shown in the first photo above. Like explained in the first design I would add flowers and glitter within the hair to represent the innocence of my character. I like this design as it gives drama with its big bold curls and relates well to the 'Rapunzel' aspect. On the other hand, I want my character to seem as she loves the idea of the outside but still a bit worried therefore maybe a more of a 'boho' aspect to my characters look would be more of a suitable idea.    

Design Three:

In this design I have taken more inspiration from the 'boho' theme as my character Claudia is scared of the outside world but at the same time she loves the idea of the outside but is worried to explore it due to horror films and her 'evil' neighbour Mrs.Laderman. In this design I would curl the hair with a curling wand, making the hair appear long and naturally beautiful which will relate to 'Rapunzel' as she had long beautiful hair. I wanted to incorporate random three braid plaits within the hair as to add to the 'boho' theme and they will also let me put the flowers in them. Then lastly, add a spray of silver glitter in the hair which will add to the beauty of my character and the colour showing the innocence. On the other hand, I do worry that this design could be too simple when showing technique however it may suit the characters background really well.

Mood Board:

I have put this mood board in my blog to highlight the main concept that I would like to achieve when developing my main choice of make-up, hair and costume look.

Chosen TV series, Characters and Word

Presentation:

In this blog I will be explaining my research and my first ideas of my characters for my horror series and my reasons behind my development. I will be explaining my chosen series and how my characters fit within my series and what I would like to do with my ideas. I have produced all this information into a presentation which I will explain below and from this blog I hope it will give a summary of my first ideas and how I will work of them to develop these characters into real life.  

'Grimm':  

Chosen Series and why?:

      Grimm is a series about a Portland detective called Nick Burkhardt who works on Grimm cases and has seen many horrid aspects of life. Nick begins to see visions of normal people momentarily transforming into hideous monsters and as he becomes confused he goes to his only living relative to find out the truth. The truth is his visions are that he has inherited the ability to see supernatural creatures  and he is known as a ‘Grimms’. His job is to keep the balance between mankind and mythological creatures. Throughout the series we find that a ‘big bad wolf’ becomes his friend and ally helping him solve his cases when he returns to work to fight against criminals who are far worse then the fairytale fancies let that we have all once known.

  Why?:

        I watched the trailer of all the series suggested to us but the ‘Grimm 'series really stood out to me. I love the aspect of the main character ‘Nick 'being the last of his kind and is the only human left that can see the monster in disguise. The concept of the series takes something as innocent as fairytale stories/creatures and puts a dark twist on them making a really interesting contrast for a plot. I am excited to start researching further into this series and how I can adapt this to create characters that in some way can relate to me as everyone knows fairytale stories. And now I can adapt them in my own way. 

   Setting?:

      The series is set in the City Portland, America in a small town surrounded by woodlands. In the Gothic setting is very important as it sets the scene for all the characters and seen in the introducing trailer it shows a case taking place deep within the dark woods. Woods and Forest represent the edge of society as it is the wilderness that we do not know lurks around every corner. A Forrest is mainly involved in children fairy tale stories like ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and some say it represents the unconscious mind and that a child running through a dark forest show the child exploring their dark fears within themselves. It is also a form of circle of life and is controlled by mother nature therefore human have no control off what could be lurking. I really like this contrast between society and wilderness and I feel I could adapt these location into story, design and hopefully small montage film.  

Example of the trailer from the TV series: 

Audience Demographics:

       Target Audience and why they may relate to ‘Grimm’:

        Typically men would watch horror films as they involved blood, gore and action which mainly would appeal to men. However, as time has moved on women have become a popular target audience for Horror films and TV series. During my research I could not find the information of the target audience of ‘Grimm’ however I research into why women are found to ‘love’ horror films/TV more than men making them a prime target audience for most producers of the Horror genre. In my research I found a website (linked below) that stated the scientific reasons behind this. It states that when watching a horror genre that our brain has not really adapted to technology and it explains ‘We can tell ourselves the images on the screen are not real, but emotionally our brain reacts as if they are’.  It then goes on to state that when studying men watching horror that the more they watch it the more they enjoyed it, as sparks says ‘There’s a motivation males have in our culture to master threatening situation’.  Furthermore, women enjoy horror due to the rush they get from the tense scene and embedded romance that can occur.  Referring it back to ‘Grimm’ I believe from my research that women between the age of 13-35 will be more appealed to be there main target audience due to its fast pace horror and also relation to fairy tale which women have more of a sentimental memory, relating it to there childhood.

          http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/why-we-love-scary-movies?page=2 

        As the series is called ‘Grimm’ it is said to be based on the original stories by the Grimm’s brothers ‘Grimms Fairy tales’. These stories where some of the first original fairy tale e.g. ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and in this series they have taken these elements of fairy tales and adapted them to a horror genre. This inspiration that the series is based gives a big relation for most people, mainly to their childhood making it very relatable for most viewers. 

Claudia:

•How do they fit in with the series?

        As the series of ‘Grimm’ is based of the tales of Brother Grimm I wanted to relate my character to one of their original tales. Claudia is afraid of the outside world and always stays inside her apartment therefore my first thoughts were ‘Rapunzel’. Rapunzel was always trapped inside her castle and never aloud out because of her wicked, so to be believed mother tolled her that it was an unsafe place to be and she should never leave the castle. To put a modern twist on this story I would have Claudia playing a beautiful women who would never leave her apartment due to the fact that her neighbour tolled her the outside world is dangerous and was made more believable by this fact as she thought all the horror films she watched were based on true events/real life. The main character from ‘Grimm’, Nick will be involved with her as she  calls for his help when she is attack by booby traps or horrors every time she tries to conker her fear to leave her apartment, making her more frighten of the outside world. But surprisingly we find the two (Claudia and Nick) become to have a liking for each other and someone is not pleased to hear of this news.

   

•How will the setting inform your character?

       My character is based on off course Claudia but as well Rapunzel and therefore as the ‘Grimm’ series is based in a town near the woods I would have her living in an apartment of houses (which Mrs. Laderman lives as well) which is based on the castle in the tale. Claudia’s apartment is based by the edge of the town near the wood and she lives on the top floor of the apartment which again will be the reflection of the castle and its heights stopping her from leaving.

•What will you need to change/add to your character?

       As my Character will be a modern interpretation of ‘Rapunzel’ I need her to represent some elements of her character and personality. She would appear beautiful to everyone including small facial features but off a natural beauty. Her hair would be long and of a golden colour but her complexion quite pale as to highlight the many years she has never enter the outside.

•How will the look appeal to audience demographics?

        As my character represent an aspect of beauty some men may find this appealing but I believe the main target audience will be of women between the age of 13-35 as they may want to aspire to look like Claudia especially as she gains a lot of male attention. 

Key Word: White Rose

•Why did you choose this word?

         I chose the word white rose as it can represent a lot of aspect for a novel or TV series. White is the colour of innocence and I believe this can highlight my character really well as she is being convince that the outside world is cruel and evil therefore this innocence is covering over her knowledge. I also thought this word relates to my characters appearance as it is an interpretation of Rapunzel who originally represents youth and beauty through her long locks. I can represent this youth and beauty of a rose through my character as well. The word ‘white’ will highlight her completion due to her fear of the outside world she never been outside meaning her skin will be as pale as a ‘white rose’ due to the lack of sunlight but she still contain the beauty of one. 

•What scene do you see your character in – reference the setting and styling of character, character motivation

      Setting: Character is based on the idea of Rapunzel which in the original story she live high up within a tower therefore to put my character into modern terms I will have my character living in a top floor apartment of the town of Portland where my TV series is based.

       Styling: As Rapunzel represented youth and beauty due to the magic powers of her hair I wanted my character to represent youth and this is also why my word ‘White rose’ relate very well as roses are a representation of beauty and a beauty of nature. The word white as explained before will represent her completion and livelihood as she has never left her home her skin is rose white due to the lack of sunlight.

       Character Motivation: As my character is afraid of the outside world her motivation is to try and ignore all the years of bad thoughts of the outside and try and brave to go outside. However, due to my story she may struggle to get out the front door.  

•What else do you now need to do?

     - I would like to research into the original story of Rapunzel and study this and to see if there are any other horror adaptations of this novel already.

     - To what into the series of ‘Grimm’ and find out if I need to adapt my story so all my elements can relate.

     -  Create hair and make-up designs and practice which ones work best. 

What did they Key word inspire you to investigate?

I researched into Editorial Images that related to my chosen word ‘White rose’. The images shown below shown what I have found and when researching this will help me later on when planning my make-up and hair designs. As a rose is a natural element I found that these images used a neutral pallet of make-up on their model as to relate to this natural aspect. I want my character to have this look of a neutral pallet therefore making her appear naturally beautiful and innocence but with a pale completion as to relate to the fear she has. All these images give a theme of appearing dainty and beautiful as the main focus of colour is very pale but at the same time quite contrasting. Overall, I would like to take inspiration from these images to help me develop the ideas of the look behind my character, Claudia.  

Mood Board of overall character: 

         In this mood board I have summerised all my ideas and research together and put them into this board. I have summerised her overall look that I would like to produce for 'Claudia'. Overall, I would like to design Claudia as a representation of of Rapunzel but with a modern twist that fits within the series and the chosen word. I would like Claudia to have a beautiful pale complection represented by the rose and her lifestyle and small facial features of beauty. Her hair will be golden or brown but lay very long down her back.   

Mrs. Laderman:

•How do they fit in with the series? E.g. Job; lifestyle; plot motivation

       Mrs. Laderman is an older women in her sixties who lives below Claudia and convinces her that the outside world is a horrid place to be so she must never leave her apartment. Mrs. Laderman is a frail old women who wishes to redeem her looks and youth as she was once beautiful. I have taken the story of ‘Rapunzel’ just like with Claudia’s character and the mother in the story wishes to be young forever. Mrs. Laderman is based on this character but instead of being Claudia’s mother she is in fact her ‘trusted’ friend and ally. Mrs. Laderman wishes to be young and admires Claudia for her beauty and has a great fancy for her, wanting to keep her all to herself. Therefore she convinces her the world is a terror making Claudia trapped within her own worries so Mrs. Laderman can look after and admire Claudia. As the story is based for the series of ‘Grimm’ Mrs. Laderman is secretly a witch who sets up horror traps with her magic when Claudia tries to brave and leave her house leaving Nick (the last Grimm) to try and save the day. This makes Mrs. Laderman mad as she likes Claudia and wants no man in her way.   

•How will the setting of the series inform your character?

       My Character is based on the novel of ‘Repunzel’ just like Claudia and she lives underneath Claudia in a downstairs apartment symbolizing the evil mother in the original story. I wanted both characters to be in apartments with Mrs, Ladermans below Claudia's as she acts as a barrier for Claudia to leave as she wishes to keep her all to herself.

•What will you need to develop for your character? Consider make-up/hair/styling.

       For my character as she is craving for her youth and beauty I may represent her as old and not very attractive as to further express why she desires this youth. She is an old women and quite mad so I will need to represent this through her hair and clothing. Her hair could be slightly falling out or greying to highlight age and on her face deep wrinkles and a wart to represent her other hidden self, the witch.

•How will the look appeal to audience demographics?

       As I have stated before the series I believe would be mainly for an audience of women aged 13-35 due to the facts stated in my previous slide. I believe that Mrs. Laderman could appeal to either sex in this age category as she is the ‘Fear 'aspect and most audiences who watch horror watch them for this factor.       

Key Word: Veild

•Why did you choose it.

       I chose the word ‘veild’ to represent and add to my character as it relates to her hidden personality of being a witch. The word veiled means ‘not openly or directly expressed; masked; disguised hidden; or obscure' taking from this definition my character Mrs. Laderman is seen from the outside as an innocent old women to many but secretly she is hiding her other personalities of being a wicked witch controlling Claudia’s life.         

•What scene do you see your character in – reference the setting and styling of character, character motivation?

       Setting: To involve my character within the series of ‘Grimm’ I have her living in tower block of apartments below Claudia representing the story of Rapunzel and the evil Mother. Mrs. Laderman represents the mother living below her making sure she never leaves her home just like in the novel. Therefore the setting is very important for my series and story as it is the whole prevention of Claudia’s freedom but Mrs. Laderman safety of keeping her youth close to her.

       Styling of Character: I have adapted my character Mrs. Laderman from the original version as I want her to appear very old in looks. She is a women in her sixty, with either greying or falling out hair to further highlight her age. She was once very beautiful and crave the youth she once had but even the powers of being a witch can not bring this youth back. As she is secretly hiding this other identify I want a small element of it to be shown through her mortal being therefore I would place a wart or mole on her face as a symbolizing of this.

       Characters Motivation: As mentioned before Mrs. Laderman was once a beautiful women and her main wish is life is to regain her once youth and beauty. Therefore living below a women of her twenties with long locks and beautiful features she wanted she began to admire her and want her to herself. Using her controlling powers and innocence's of being a frail old women she convince Claudia the outside world is a dangerous place and as Claudia watched horrors too she began to believe this is what life was really like. As Claudia tries to brave to the enter the outside world  Mrs. Laderman sets up traps and horrors to make sure she never leaves. This plot leads to horror, jealousy and romance.    

•What else do you now need to do?

       - I need to research further into the TV series to gain a better understanding of what I am relating my characters too.

        - Create planned looks by creating face and hair charts to start designing my character.

        - Practise my idea and put them into action. 

What did the key word inspire you to investigate?

I researched into Editorial images for my investigation of my word ‘Veild’. I have collected together a group of reference images based on my word which I believe can help me with my development of make-up and hair designs later on. As the word I chose is ‘Veild’ I believe it can represent hiding or covering an identity which I want my character Mrs. Laderman to be as she is hiding more than one element in her life. In the images below the main colour pallet is ‘black’ which I believe can represent my character again as black is the colour of mystery and this is the main theme that Mrs. Laderman  highlights. 

Mood Board:

In this mood board like shown in 'Claudia's' one I wanted to summerise my total ideas of Mr.Laderman's look. I want her to portray Rapunzel's mother but instead of a mother like a guardian and a friend. She will appear old and frail from the outside and to everyone else. However, to the last 'Grimm' (Nick) she will be seen as a wicked witch which is her true form which represents her veild/hidden personality. She will have greying hair and a wort on her face as a small symbol to the outside world about her true identity. 

Reflect:

To continue on my research I will now start developing ideas of face and hair chart design to produce. For my final outcome I would like to shoot the picture within the woods or either in an old apartment block to represent the story-line that I have produce. Overall, I will be making up designs and I would if I manage my time well produce a small montage clip of both my characters which will represent them plus my story-line. 

New Unit:

Introduction of Claudia and Quentin; A Love of the Dark

In this blog I will be explaining the introduction and tasks of my new unit that still considers the theme of Gothic horror. We have been set the task to base our new designs of characters on a Gothic TV series out of a chosen list along side two characters and a word to represent them. Throughout this blog post I will explain in more detail what it will involve and what I will be wanting to achieving in this unit. 

I wanted to start by researching peoples interest and attraction to horror as to many it can be quite hard to understand the interest to wanting to scare yourself while others gain pure enjoyment out of it. When researching I found this video shown below that explains the Psychology of our brain in why we like scary films but a part of the clip explain why we find it attractive and what is horror. Stated by the video and by 'Glen D. Walters' horror has three facts firsts being; Tension the element of being on edge for a scene and as human its the unknown, then Relevance meaning it needs to relate to the audience for them to connect better to the story-line and lastly, Unrealism even if we are watching it we known that really it does not happen. Overall, he states that these three elements make up a horror film cause as when we watch it in a film we know that it is all fiction but for young children they become more scare of these factors as they find it harder to understand the different between reality and fiction. (link to the website) 

Why Do we like Horror (Psychology) ?: 

The video later goes on to state there are 4 categories of watching horror which are;

• 'Gore watching – characterized by low empathy, high sensation seeking, and in males a strong identification with the killer
• Thrill watching – high empathy and high sensation seeking – motivated by the suspense of the film and more identification with the victims.
• Independent Watching – high empathy for the victim with a high positive effect of overcoming fear
• Problem Watching – high empathy for the victim but characterized by negative effect – sense of helplessness.'

Other Attractions to Horror: 

- Temptation to play God

- Interest of fear and death

- The possibility of salvation 

- The taboo

- Monsters within us

- Inhumanity 

- or do we like being scared ?

A real life example would be the first and second World Wars as people experience inhumane actions that goes against our human views. This is one example of a horror film that has come to life most like to watch horror films as it gives us a 'rush' of excitement as the terror is happening on screen but not to us in real life. However, when these horrors come to life like in war we cannot cope as it goes against this rush and is just pure fear. 

The Task:

During this unit I will be having to pick out of three characters called; Claudia, Quentin and Mrs. Laderman. Shown below is the quoted description from the brief of the three characters and I must choose two characters to incorporate into my chosen horror series and also chose a inspirational word to represent both of them.   'Claudia
a great deal of kitsch décor. She is agoraphobic and is kept in touch with the outside world by her neighbours who provide her with her every day requirements.  She models herself on a variety of girls often twisting her look to suit whichever film she is watching at the time and there is often
a nod to the main character in the current film within her appearance.

Claudia is a girl in her twenties. As a child she was left alone to develop with little parental guidance and through her relationship with T.V. movies developed an unhealthy relationship with Horror films, believing this to be the way life really is.

All the scenes take place in various parts of Claudia’s apartment, which is European in style with

The script portrays her as psychotic and there is always the feeling that although her character is scripted/can be seen as humorous, danger is just around the corner.   However all this is normal to Claudia and she is of a cheerful disposition in this mad world of hers.

Quentin

Claudia has an imaginary boyfriend, Quentin, who is long suffering and a constant disappointment to her. They don’t live together but he visits regularly and they talk on the telephone if he can’t get in to see her. As he is part of her imagination his appearance changes to suit her mood. Sometimes he will be a David Beckham looking guy, whilst in another scene he will appear as a Pete Docherty type, Daniel Craig type or a Hollyoaks Babe. If she is having a bad day he will morph into an uncouth couch potato chav with all that brings with it.

He is as into the horror film genre as she and into role-playing to suit her whims and moods.

Claudia has a paranoid suspicion that he is constantly having affairs behind her back and keeps him firmly under her thumb, sometimes restraining him or keeping him prisoner in one of the rooms.

Mrs Laderman

Claudia’s neighbour in her 40’s. She alternately changes into a variety alter egos and is Claudia’s friend and confidant. Living in the apartment opposite, she was Claudia’s only link to the outside world. Although they are friends there is suspicion that Mrs L’, has desires on Quentin. In fact she has desires on Claudia.'

During this unit I must consider many aspects of many areas. When producing and developing my characters firstly I need to consider my horror element and how I can adapt my chosen character to fir within my chosen TV series. I also need to know what kind of target audience to aim for as if its an younger audience it would have to be less graphic or scary as to fit that age group compared to an older audience. Then with my characters what characteristics they will obtain and their appearance and backstory. When choosing my word I want it to have a deep meaning and relate within both their personality and looks. These elements are what I am going to aim to achieve and show within my development work.