Creating Characters:

Dr.Jekyll and Mt.Hyde

In this blog I will be writing about the creation of Characters and how we determined their design. As I am studying the book of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I will have to know many aspects of this character to design my own interpretation. Therefore there are certain elements that I need to know about my character to develop its appearance like; background story, status, characteristics, personality, state of mind and attitudes. These are the elements I will need to research and state to continue the development in my character and its design. To understand the grasp of how design work and the understanding of a characters looks/personalities goes into it we looked at a video called 'Clevver Movies' which showed a character from the 'Harry Potter' films explaining the development of his character over the seven films.

The short clip from the link above was showing the actor Jason Issacs who  plays the character 'Lucius Malfoy' which through the clip he explains the role of his character but also how he has changed over time through the novel through experiences. His character always wanted to be powerful but is undermined by 'Lord Voldamort' and his great powers. He wishes to portray himself as great and powerful as he works beside the great lord but small elements of cowardliness shows the audience that he is scared and afraid. This small clip can help me as I need to understand how the story line and plot will reflect on my characters appearance as 'Lucius Malfoy' first is seen as a clean well dressed character compared to the end of the novel when he looks tired, messy and has grown a beard representing to the audience that he has gone through traumatic times.

Does Design Matter?:

In this video 'Does Design Matter' we look at something a bit different from the previous video but also similar. We are informed in this video that relations between stereotypes is an aspect that can block a lot of designers thoughts when creating a new character. The man states when he is teaching the younger/next generation this ideas of stereotypes is something that has to be ignored as otherwise a lot of female gaming characters can be built in a very sexual way e.g. big chests, small weights and revealing outfits. Therefore as any kind of designer the message is to think past what has already been done, adapt it and make it better. I found that when designing that it is OK to take inspiration from others and their work but as long as you make the design your own. Another thought gathered from this is that the audience needs to connect with the characters that you create and when these stereotypes have been over done many times this can create insecurities for young generation therefore the aim is to connect with whatever target audience on an emotional level in a positive way, this is considered a primary goal.

Therefore the design process for anything or any aspect of planning is always very important if you want it to achieve as 'failing to plan, is planning to fail'. The research and background evaluation into the character you wish to design is vital as one tiny detail could help you expand on a final design. As I am planning my own character I will take every aspect from this piece of writing and show through my work my development of work that I wish to achieve in my character. The key aspect for this unit is 'continuity' making sure that we can repeat the same designs and repeat them. This aspect will be a great challenge in achieving my work and so the design process is very important as they will act as my instructions in repeating the same look for my final character. To continue this blog I will be researching further into the background of my character to fully understand my elements that I can develop further into. Continuity is very important in Tv and Film as any mistake can be seen if not done correctly and this skill is extremely important for me to learn as if I was working within this industry I would HAVE to make sure the costume and make-up was exactly the same. To show bad mistake that have happened I watch ' Biggest Movie Mistakes' which is a prime example of why everything has to be perfect to make a TV series or Film as this make it realistic to the audience. To finish the blog to link to the theme of continuity I practiced a piece of my own work by repeating the same make-up look on my own face and then repeating it to see how easy it is to achieve.

 Attempt One:
In my first attempt I used a pink Dior lipstick and lined my lips and then patted on with my finger a light pink glitter. As this was quite a simple lip I new it would be quite easy to re-create. To practice the continuity practice I then took of the lipstick and then repeated the look. When I repeated the look it does look pretty much the same but while comparing the two images I did slightly over line the lips making it not match. Therefore I have learnt that you need to take your time and always have a reference image in front of me to help keep them the same.  

   

Late Victorian Hair

Late Victorian Hair (1860-1900)

In this blog I will be writing about the hairstyles of the late Victorian period as to continue from the early Victorian hairstyles in my previous hair blog. I am studying into these types of hairstyles due to this unit my book is set in the Victorian times and this will then help me with my further inspiration and studies. 

Women's Hair: 

• !861-65's: Hair was starting to be pulled back in loose plaits rather than looping in round the ear (like the previous hair blog) as this hair style was more practical for women due to the war. The plaits also provide a extra texture to the hairstyle without making it to complex.
• 1870's: The hair has become a lot longer and past the traditional length of past the chin meaning more women wore their hair down. However, most women would still have pasts of their hair half up in long tight curls and large front hair pieces. The hair at the front was not as pulled back but more loose like the back of the hair and the new trend was wearing extravagant hair pieces and accessories e.g. Alice bands, flowers etc.  
• 1880's: As the hairs styles were getting higher on the head due to the pin half up half down curls the fashion of big head dresses came into fashion which many had adapted to fit around the hairstyles.

• Other famous examples of these hairstyles inlcuded within film were worn by a young girl called 'Alice Liddell' who played the famous character 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. The examples of these hair styles are used nowadays as well being used in period dramas and films of today. 

Men's Hair:

• 1861-65: Was the period of the American civil war and was lead by a famous General, General Burnside which is to believed to of founded the idea of side burns due to his very prominent side burns. This was also used as a practical aspect as to keep the men's faces warm from the cold and also as it was hard to get hold of all shaving equipment during the war.
• Another famous icon was a man called 'Charles Dickens' he was known for his famous novels and of course his facial hair as he was believed to be very proud of this.  

Victorian Inspire Up/Down Hairstyle:

As inspired my the research we where taught during our practical hair lesson we were going to create our own versions of the half up and half down curls. As we know the hair has to be neat at the front while the back of the hair has to flow like a waterfall down the back of the head with tight curls and ringlets. As in the Victorian era they would have had different methods of curling their hair but for this practical I have used more modern methods as hot curlers and curling tongs. 

1. To start this look I have sectioned the hair into a center parting but stopped around the middle of the head making two square sections at the front of the head. With the rest of the hair at the back of the head I have taken a hair tie and tied it in a simple ponytail in the center of the back of the head, prepping me for the next step. 

2. Then using the pre-heated hot rollers I took of one of the front sections I sectioned in the first step. Taking this section of hair I then sectioned this into two, horizontally Using the bottom half of this section I then section that into two the same vertically and then I took a white hot roller and rolled this along the hair (underneath) and then pinned it into place with a white grip. I then did the same to the other bottom section. Then using the top section I split that into two sections (horizontally) and then taking a white hot roller for both sections I rolled it on the hair and pinned both into place using a white grip (shown in the picture above). To finish this part I did the same to the other side of the head with the front section and left in to set while I continued to the next step.

3. In the third step I was working with the back section of the head that we put into a ponytail. Using the ponytail I took this out and made two ponytails, having one above the other. Using the bottom ponytail I used a curling tong and curled the entire section of the hair in tight curls. However as my client has very long hair I did struggle to make the curl very tight as the curls where pulled down by the weight of the hair. When the bottom part of the ponytail was finished I started curling the top section of the hair the same as the bottom. However when I curled the hair with some of them I would make into ringlets and pin them into place at the top of the head, therefore making a waterfall effect. This technique can be as random as you like as you can make tight ringlets or have loose curls hanging down.I continued this technique until I was happy with my final outcome. 

4. In this step I returned to the front of the hair and taking out the bottom sections of the front sections I pulled back this section together to make it flat and with the rest of the curls pinned this within the back section of the hair. Which I then did this to the other side to make them match and make the hair look neater. With the top parts of the front section as the hot rolls had created a cow lick on both side I pinned these both over toward the back of the hair while trying to keep this cow's lick shape at the front of the head. But again as the hair was so long and thick the hot rollers had not been able to achieve as much fullness to the front of the hair as I would have liked. To improve on this I would have used bigger hot rollers on the top part sections at the front of the head as this may achieve larger cow's lick that would have set within such long hair. 

5. This had created the final and finished look for the Victorian style. I believed I achieved this look quite well considering I did fine that some parts did not work due to the heavy and long hair type. However, with the back section of the hair to improve I would take the sections of hair that were pulled back at the front of the hair and pin those within the back section to make the whole hair flow better. I really enjoyed creating this look as I have learnt a new style for this era but I will be using something very different in my final design as I am working on a male model.

Burns

Make-up: How to Make Fake Burns

In this blog I am writing about the process of making your own SFX burns for TV and Films. In this lesson I learnt about the correct materials to use to produce a SFX burn in the professional place, how to colour it properly to make it look realistic and to always have a reference picture of the type of burn you are trying to produce in front of you. When making your own burn that is one of the most important rules to know how the burn was cause (for TV/film purpose), therefore to know what the burn will have to look like to make it realistic. As this is key to know for the industry I thought it would be appropriate to research into different kinds of burns e.g. first, second and third degree to give some examples. 

Your bodies biggest organ is the skin and is vital to the human body as it carries out very important functions in the body e.g. protecting vital internal organs and tissues, acts against infection and detects sensations like touch, pain, heat and cold. 'The skin is made up if three layers. The outer layer is called epidermis and is made up of five layers of cells which work their way up to the surface of your skin. The dermis (which is an underlying layer of fibrous tissue) is approximately  0.3-3mm thick. This is made up of a mix of three types of tissue. It also contains your hair follicles and sweat glands, as well as small blood vessels and nerves.The final layer is the subcutaneous fat or subcutis. This layer varies in thickness depending on the person. The subcutis contains your larger blood vessels and nerves. It also regulates the temperature of your skin and body.' ( BlondMcindoe, research Foundation). 

First Degree Burns:

- First degree burns only affect the outer layers of the skin and usually cause pain, redness and sometimes swelling in the skin. These kinds of burns usually fade after a while as it only effects the top layer of the skin. When creating this kind of burn with make-up you always have to consider the type of first degree burn you wish to create e.g. like this sunburn shown below we can see that the person was wearing a vest top and when creating your own with make-up for film the type of clothing and length of time in the sun is something you would have to highly consider. For an example of how to create a make-up sunburn I have linked in this tutorial on how to create your own called ' Extreme Sunburn Make-up Tutorial (SFX!) QueenKingSFX'. This technique will be helpful for the future but it is not an appropriate  technique for my character that I am going to create from my novel.   

Second Degree Burns: 

- Second degree burns affect the outer layer like first degree burn but as well affect the underlying layer of skin. They cause similar symptom  like pain, redness, swelling but also blistering. It can sometimes be called partial thickness burns. Second Degree burns as we can see from the image below are much more severe then first as they cause a longer lasting effect and blistering. For the base of a second degree burn can be created the same as a first but with darker shading and colourings, depending on how the burn was made e.g. boiling water, fire etc. The blistering could be made by a using gleitien and latex to create the raised surface and a yellow body paint. I have find an example of a second degree burn done with make-up which is called ' Second Degree Burn - SFX Halloween Make-up Tutorial'. 

Third Degree Burns: 

- A third degree burn is a combination of first and second degree burns but instead the burn extends to all layers of the skin and causes deeper injury like possible loss of fluids, effecting tissue and cause shock. When creating a third degree burn with make-up, again you have to consider how the burn has been created to know how severe again the burn would look after. This kind of burn shown below we can see is quite a deep burn and has started to heal over so another point to take is how long a burn or any wound has been there for. I have found a video that shows an example of a third degree burn with make-up which is a lot of severe then the other kinds of burns. The video is called ' FX Make-up Series Third Degree fire burn'.  

Making your Burns with Make-up:

In relation to my research into different types of burns and have produce my own first attempt of creating a burn while using the reference photo above as a guidance. As this is a third degree burn I had to consider the depth to my make-up burn making it look raised on the skin. I would make sure I blend out the edges of the burn which will make the burn look even more deeper, I would do this by stippling red colours out around the edge to make it look faded. For this kind of burn we were taught how to use gelatin to create a burn. 

Kit:

- Bobby pins

- old brushes 

- spectacular 

- foundation

- foundation brush

- blood

- gelatin 

- Hair dryer 

- eye-shadow pallet 

- powder 

- bruise pallet

- supercolour pallet 

- latex

- which hazel  

1. To start creating your burn wound always start with a reference picture as this will help you make a more of a realistic burn. To start creating the burn prep the skin with the pro shield foam and then prep the gelatin. To do this cut up one cube of gelatin, put in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Other options with gelatin is that you can add dyes to create different skin tones or even add textures e.g. glitter. You can also add gelatin to molds also for different shapes if wanted. When I had my gelatin prep ready I tested on my skin first to make sure not to burn my clients skin. When the gelatin was cool enough I then used the spectacular to place the gelatin onto the area of skin I wished to create the burn. When putting the gelatin on the skin I did find that it was quite hard to work with as it hardened quite quickly. If I was to used this again I would work faster with the product to smooth out the edges to make it easier to blend in with the skin. To speed up the drying process I used a hair dryer on a cool heat (not hot as it would melt) and then powdered it to take away the shine. Then finally I used the which-hazel and a cotton bud to blend out the edges to make it look more apart of the skin.

2. For the final steps I took some foundation that match the skin colour and used a foundation brush to blend this over the gelatin to make it match further to the skin. Then using a stipple brush and mixes of red supercolour and eye-shadows I stippled this all over my burn, making sure the outer edges were lighters reds to make it look more faded. I then used black eye-shadow to fill in all the little cracks within the burn and blended this out to make it appear bruised and also used yellow around the edges to make it look like an older burn. Finally to finish off the look for the burn I used some blood and a hair pin and filled in the gaps and also putting scab blood on as well.

Reflection: 

To improve on this look again I needed to work faster with the gelatin as it hardens very quickly when working with it. I needed to move the product around faster to create a more wrinkled skin effect and smooth it out at the edges this would have made the look much more realistic. I would like to create cuts/burns for my final look for my character on the body as I want my character (Mr. Hyde) to show him trying to escape from his body but on the other hand I would like to use gelatin to create a growth look up my characters face to represent Hyde taking over Dr. Jekyll's body. 

Monsters:

What is a Monster?

So in this blog I will writing about the question; What is a Monster?. To many of us a monster is something that should frighten us, a nightmare from our imagination, a horrible made-up creature etc. ' A monster is a distortion of something that has a normal, non- threatening form. The monstrous form is threatening and distrusting because it is beyond the pale of what we consider normality. A monster is a deformation of what we consider normal and therefore safe' - David Croneberg. I am writing about the study of monsters as this will give me a better understanding of what types of monsters there are and have been and why they were develop to be used in film and TV. This understanding of there background will inspire me within my work for my final design and give me a better understanding of the development of monsters over time. To start our understanding we mind maps our first thoughts of monsters and what came to mind.  

Werewolves: 

A werewolf is to first believed to be a human that has no control to changing into a werewolf when the full moon shines and having uncontrollable rage. There purpose is to kill everything in sight, regardless of their relationships as humans. The curse mean they lose all control and encounter bad attacks and events but as they wake as human they have no memory of their actions, if they do it would only be small memories thought to be dreams. However, there are other types of werewolves e.g. the original werewolf were a shape-shifting wolf that had no control over changing into a werewolf or it shape shifting power while also having human thoughts. Quoted from this blog 'Werewolves: Narrative and Symbolism in Film and Literature', she states that they are big difference in the representation of werewolves in literature and films. ' For example, in films werewolves are most often infected or cursed from being bitten or scratched by another werewolf. In Literature, they are cursed through a pact with the Devil or because they have a psychiatric illness; also in literature religious symbols are usually no protection. Whereas, for example, a pentagram was used in the film 'An American Werewolf in London'. Traditionally used as a symbol for protection, it is often misunderstood to mean something Satanic'.  This states that there are big changes in the way that werewolves(out of one of the monsters) has been represented differently through literature and film which again has also changed/adapted over time due to how people view things. 

Ghosts:

A ghost is another creature that is considered a monster it is a spirit of a dead person especially one that is believed to appear to the living bodily form or to haunt people or locations. In film and TV ghosts have always been haunting us for a very long time. I believe in some context they are meant to represents our fears, for example in Charles Dickson famous novel 'A Christmas Carol' scourge is being haunted by three ghosts; Past, Present and the future who are there while he is supposedly dreaming to warn him of his behavior and what this has done to his life. I believe the ghost firstly represent our fears or conscience to things we have done which in fact 'Haunt' over us until we solve it, making it go away. Another theory I have gathered about the representations of ghosts is that they represent greive and the idea of letting loved ones go after death. Ghost in most novels or films tend to come to us in dream making it almost show its a made-up imagination of another fear of death and letting go. Over all ghost I believe represent our fears of our inner conscience but on the other hand films are now portraying them as comical monster e.g. in 'Harry Potter', 'Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor House Ghost.   

Monsters:

As we know already monsters are of all different kinds like shown in examples above but I will now be talking of monsters of a different kind that have been constructed by science which is more of a new theme when the industrial revolution happened. Monsters like this e.g. Frankenstein who where constructed by science from lots of different body parts and then released into a world that judged him. This was a main theme in a lot of films and novel with monsters like 'Edward Scirrorhands' as he was abandon very young and had to find his place in the world while being very different. A main theme consists in these films of trying to 'Fit-in' with society and its rules while being very different. Relating back to the industrial revoloutin was that when it happened science was a very new concept to explain why things happened instead of religion and people find this very difficult to understand. Therefore as human are people that don't take kindly to 'change' we always have found it hard to except new things we usually don't understand, like shown in these films and novels.   

Vampires:

A vampire is commonly known for being a dead corpse that reanimate to suck blood of sleeping victims at night. Which is what they were mostly first known as but this concept has changed a lot over time. The 'Vampire' first started off as an ugly and hideous rat like create that would crave for human blood in some of the original films and novels. However, today they are portrayed more as humans in disguise while appearing incredibly sexy and glamorous. A lot of the Vampire films gave a greater meaning to what they first portray to the eye, they tended to reflect the problems of the time e.g. in the 80's vampires where shown having sex, biting and blood giving the warning of AID's as this was a big problem then. The love, blood and boldly fluids where to represent that with lust there can be consequences like with AID and being killed by vampires. Therefore a lot of fears of the time of production was reflected through popular TV and Film. Not relating to vampires but the same concept of influence by time are the many apololictic and Zombie films and TV shows due to big events of death e.g. 9/11.   

Psychoanalytical approach to monsters:

In this part of the blog I will be writing about a piece of writing that I read which was about the 'Psychoanalytical approach to Monsters'. When reading this piece of writing I have to admit that I found it quite complex and that I had to re-read it to fully understand the kind of concept it was trying to portray. Some points that I gathered from this writing where that it used the representation of birth, not as a beautiful symbol of life but quite the opposite. The process of birth being more horrible as we have seen all the insides, guts, blood etc and stating that even though no-one remembers their own birth that we all have experienced this. Relating this to horror films and monster when we all watch horror films we all have a psychological relation to gory films as we can all relate even if we don't relies. 

Hair:

Early Victorian Hair 

The Victorian hairstyles started in the Victorian era when Queen Elizabeth 1st rein over England and the hairstyles were indeed also quite regal in some ways. Women began to wear their hair in center partings, pulled back and high roll curls on the head, this look was apparently known as the 'Jane Austen' hairstyle (1920's). Other styles also included Plait buns with the pulled back hair which was known as the 'Apollo Knot' and considered a Fancy hairstyle.

- In the 1830's the hair was still as an up-do like the 1820's hairstyles but with a little twist the hair was making its way down the front of the face which began to start being used to frame the face. Which may have been inspired by the Queen herself as she began to wear her hair in a low bun but still with the pulled back hair. The most stereotypical hairstyle of this era where ringlets on the sides of the head or down the sides of the face and then the back of the head having low buns with decorative garments in there hair e.g. flowers and even bonnets. But as you may not think hairdressing was a mans job mainly and would make house calls for mostly the rich and the wealthy while less wealthy women could have their maids to do their hair or do it themselves. Stated in this blog ' Hairstyles and Hats, ca. 1830: part 1' its explains some processes of the hairstyles of the 1830's which were very elaborate 'The typical process of 1830 hairdressing began by parting the hair into three sections: one shorter one on each side of the forehead and one longer one in the back.  The hair’s part is sometimes located in the center, sometimes on the side, and sometimes v-shaped, like this:'

'The side sections are curled into ringlets with curling tongs (or else with curling papers or cloths), while the back section is yanked (painfully) into those loops and braids and pinned into place.  Pomade is used to keep the hair on top and in the back smooth and straight and shiny.  Lots of fake hair pieces are used, too, since of course not everyone is equally endowed, hair-wise.' For example:

Lastly, another popular hairstyle of the 1830's was a hairstyle that consisted of straight, pulled back hair with an low twisted bun and hanging plaits around each ear. Which they believed would show off there features of their ears and would usually be worn with a low dress that showed off the chest area. This look is one that I will be showing in practice later in this blog and I will go through the hairstyle step by step. 

Men's Hair:

Quoted by 'The Hair at the Nineteenth Century' was a statement about the men's hairstyles of the time which says  'wore their hair more or less long, and became in fashion big moustaches, sideburns, and beards. Also was "à la mode" the puritan hairstyle of the 19th century, with no moustaches, and sideburns attached to a short beard, like Abraham Lincoln'. This was a very popular hair- do of this era as personal hygiene and washing was starting to become a social norm for everyone so men (mainly wealthy) were becoming very conscience of their looks. They would wear their hair parted down the on one side and then sometimes curled on top, other options also were facial hair, top hats and other accessories.  

Victorian Hairstyles:

As mentioned perilously in this blog as inspired by the Victorian era I have produced one the most popular styles that many of the women would have worn in this period. The hair style consists of a center parting with two hanging plaits and a low bun at the back of the head. This look would have been worn with a low dress that would have exposed the top of the chest and shoulders. 

 To start off the look for this Victorian style as the style is very neat and straight, I parted the hair down the center parting about half way on her head using a pin tale comb. Then with the two sections of hair either side of the head I clipped this to the hair to later plait and with the rest of the hair, using a hair tie I tied it into a simple ponytail.



Then using the ponytail at the back of the head I took the hair and rapped it around the head to create a swirl. While doing this wrap I pinned in many pins to secure the bun into place. This was quite difficult as my client has quite a lot of hair therefore making it quite difficult to keep it all in place whilst also keeping it neat.



 After completing the bun I then took the two pieces of hair at the sides of the face and I plaited both of them in a normal three way plait. Then taking the plait I brought it round to the back of the head making sure it made a loop under the ear as this was in the style of this period. With the ends of the hair, as it was so long I wrapped it into the bun (using pins), which actually made the bun have more detail and look more interesting to the eye.
Overall, I am very pleased with this look and how it turned out and I was quite surprised how simple the look was to do with it looking quite detailed overall. On the other hand, to improve on this look next time I would start the plaits at the sides of the face higher up while making it more secure. I think by doing this next time it would make the hairstyle look neater.

Special Effects Make-up

Cuts and Bruises 

In this blog I will be writing about the process of creating wounds, cuts and bruises that we have been taught in our semester. These techniques can be adapted for my final look of Dr.Jekyll to suit the characteristics of him which will match alongside the story line. Special effect cuts could be used on my character to represent the ending to my novel when Dr. Jekyll commits suicide as Mr.Hyde is taking over his body and mind and he can know longer cope. I would like to create the image of his struggle as he is almost fighting against himself to stay sane against his inner evil, I would like to show this through ripped shirts with scratch and cut marks underneath as to represent his struggle with himself. I will research more into how to produce this to make it more realistic as I feel this would look more professional for my character. 

Kit (make-up used):

- Pro Shield 

- Latex 

- Wax

- foundation

- Stipple Sponge

- Bruising wheel

- Hair dyer

- Foundation brush 

- Hair pin 

- Sponge

- Blood

- Supercolour 

- Spatula  

Special Effect; Cuts

Whenever starting a special effects piece on a client the first tip is to always make sure that they are not allergic to any of the products like latex, therefore you have to test them by giving a patch test before starting. When all your kit and supplies are set up, to start making your wound start with a reference picture of something that you would like to achieve and it helps if the picture is a real flesh wound as this can help to make your cut more realistic. Prep the skin with the pro shield foam and massage into the area of skin where you are producing the cut wound and make sure the skin is dry before starting the next step.

Then taking the molding wax I rolled it in my hands to warm up the molding wax to make it easier to mold on the skin. I wanted to make a burnt finger with the skin pealing and a cut along the arm. So I took the wax and molded a small amount around the middle of one finger, making sure the top of the wax was folded over to represent a pealing wound. (shown in picture below)

   

Using the liquid latex take a cotton bud and cover over the top of the wax to blend the wax into the skin and this will make the wound look more life like. To dry the latex take a hair dryer on a low heat and dry the latex until it goes cleat. To finish this part of the look I took some foundation that match my clients skin and stippled this over the wax/latex mix to further blend into the skin. 

Taking the stipple brush and some dark eye shadows of; purples, green, blues, blacks and reds until I had my desired effect I blended it into the finger and along the hand. Underneath the wound I added black supercolour paint and then a mix of reds over the top to create more depth. On the other hand, after creating this folded over finger wound I was not to happy in the realism of it therefore I removed the wax and continued to create a more realistic look. 

I continued this more realistic look by producing a cut on the wrist by using the same technique as the finger but instead I took the wax and created a slick down the middle which I then added some fake blood (with a hair pin) to create a more realistic wound. Around the wound I used a stipple sponge and stippled the same eye shadow colours to create bruising and then stippled some blood also.

Continuing, I the stipple sponge again and using some blood I got my client to clench their fist and brushed the sponge across the knuckles to create a grazed knuckle look. I still wanted to continue the gory look up the finger so left the dark shadows and blood on the finger but then I added some darker scab blood around the top of the finger to create a butch up finger. Which in the final photo was my final outcome.

Reflective:

Overall, I am quite pleased with my outcome that I finally came out with as I believe it looked quite realistic. But to improve I would plan my ideas better therefore to create a more realistic outcome and it would not make it so fake. I did like my colour pallet that I used for the cut as I think they were the most appropriate colours but to improve I would like to make the wax/latex better blended into the skin as to make it look as it was apart of the real flesh. In conclusion as I wrote in the introduction I would like to create small wounds like this to create a scratch look as to represent the strong desire that Dr.Jekyll had to get his inner evil out, like he was trying to rip it out.  

Genre and Origins

Gothic Horror

Gothic fiction is a style of writing that is characterized by the elements of fear, horror, death, gloom and sometimes romance. The fiction first began as a sophisticated joke which was never taken seriously as a gene and in the 1700’s ‘Horace Walpole’ wrote the first Gothic novel called ‘The Castle Of Otranto’. When the word Gothic was used it mean something like ‘barbarous’ –‘stated from this online article’. The Gothic genre has grown through time and has given us many amazing novels that are still popular today; ‘Dracula, Frankenstein etc, as Dracula was 'One of the significant pieces of literature ever written, the book has never been out of print since it's first publication and it initiated a 'vampire' industry that spans film, radio, television, books, comics and merchandise' -( 'Gothic Horror, book, edited by Clives Bloom)

In this lecture we were taught the history and background information for the Gothic Horror genre therefore to get a better understanding of where our novels originated from and whether this research can help inspired us within my design. To start off this research we watched a video called 'The Gothic'  who featured University of York lecturer 'John Bowon' who explains the main points of what a Gothic novel has to contain to make a Gothic horror, Gothic. Some points that I gathered from this video where;

•    Explain about the first ever written Gothic novel 'The Castle of Otranto' (1700's) which has inspired every over Gothic novel today.
• Place and Time: Its is inspired by strange and imprisoning places that make a perfect set for Gothic novel that would could never imagine. The idea of time is bet shown in Dracula as he is compared from an old time being brought into a modern one making the story contrast which can corrupt the present e.g. the ghost which is from the past and can again corrupt the present. 
• Power: Can be by supernatural powders or normal people discovering this. Many of the novels represent the main characters desires become their main motif and this can sometime over power themselves.
• Sexual Power: They can be full of all sorts of sexual aspects that may not be used in normal novels as the Gothic is already so out there and different. It repeats the same reasons of inner desires but in other forms showing them through un-natural characters. As well as women being shown as sexual objects/innocence and in some cases having to overcome this need.
• The Uncanny: Something that is new but not quite real, like it should not of happened. For example figures that look human but are not quite human e.g. dolls. 
• The Sublime: The ideas of environments and setting that are extreme and overwhelming. 
• Crisis: Is the idea of things always appearing wrong and how in most Gothic novel that the characters have to adapt to the history or modern changes and this can be quite challenging. 
• The supernatural and the real: Is a big part of the Gothic novel and most are seen as a pure supernatural being like the devil but over reasons are books where things may appear supernatural but are then eventually explained as being real.   

The Castle Of Otranto:

These points have made me understand the main frame to a Gothic novel genre which I need to include into my character. Referring back to the first Gothic novel of 'The Castle Of Otranto' this novel was considered to be the beginning of the Gothic Horror genre and as already stated was not taken to seriously when first written. 'The novel itself tells a supernatural tale in which Manfred, the gloomy Prince of Otranto, develops an irresistible passion for the beautiful young woman who was to have married his son and heir. The novel opens memorably with this son being crushed to death by the huge helmet from a statue of a previous Prince of Otranto, and throughout the novel the very fabric of the castle comes to supernatural life until villainy is defeated. Walpole, who made his own house at strawberry Hill into a mock-Gothic building, had discovered a fictional territory that has been exploited ever since.'- ( The Origins of Gothic)

Four Gothic Setting (YouTube):

As we had learnt about the origins of the Gothic Horror genre we were then shown another video to learn about the Gothic horror settings and why these settings can help us understand how Gothic horror novels are represented. Some of the points from 'Four Gothic Settings' where;

•  late 18th/19th century novels where set in Castles or Monastery which would represent catholic religions.
• They represent danger where you can get lost, become trapped, and may not finding your way out. These elements can also represent the idea of fears within the castle like claustrophobia or the fear of being buried alive. 
• The castle is something in a Gothic novel like 'Dracula' can represent the idea of being hidden away from society for being different and the two separations of the un-natural and natural things can clash. Therefore highlighting a castle as a safe place for the un-natural and different. 
• The castle can also represent the mind of a person like the castle is your barrier from all bad things as you can let them in or choose not too (represented by the castle door). As well we choose not to find some of these dark thoughts but in a Gothic novel they sometimes enter into dungeons of the castle which lies the unknown and this can be scary. This highlights the idea of people not wanting to dig deep into there own thoughts as to being to scared on what they may discover. 

History and its Inspiration:

Some parts of History has had a great influence on the Gothic Horror genre and as times have changed so has fears for people which in some elements been incorporated into some great Gothic novels over time.  

• One of the first events is 'The French Revolution' which was a time when social and political up-rise in France when the public overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. This was a brutal time for many people in France and even the neighboring countries like the United Kingdom. Most of the Gothic novels around this time where written in England as inspired by the current events.  The Gothic novel was a way for people to come to terms with these events and therefore creating the elements of terror in fantasy gave them a chance to express their fears and anxieties to what may happen in the future.  
• The next period of time that was a great influence to the Gothic horror genre was the 'Industrial Revolution', which was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the 17/1800's. The influence of change was a main influence that Gothic novel took the idea of man-made, mechanic and scientific aspects taking over natural things. This was to be believed that the famous book 'Frankenstein' was inspired by, the fear of things being explained by science rather than believing.
• When everything became more industrialized the main cities built up and became very urbanized meaning this was the new terror and setting for many Gothic novels e.g. 'Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'. Also in this time period it was the reign of Queen Victoria and this influenced the colour and mood of black due to the passing of her husband 'Albert'. She began to have an obsession with death and it began a lot of strange traditions e.g.; curtains always drawn, clocks where stopped on his time of death, mirrors where covered to prevent spirits getting trapped in the looking glass etc. There were other strange rituals for the dead for example when a loved one died (if you were rich enough) they would dress the dead in their best clothes and have there picture taken, sometimes as families. Another tradition was to hire people to mourn at your loved ones funerals. Highlighting that the Victorians found it very hard to let go of the past which inspired many books by 'Charles Dickson'.