American Horror Story mood board

Here is the mood board around the Horror show that I have chosen to base my characters Claudia and Mrs Laderman. The show I have chosen will be Amercian Horror story, the season called 'Coven'. From this mood board you can gain an understanding of the situation and life that the characters will be a part of. 

Claudia Mood Board

Here is my mood board for the character Claudia. As you can see I have taken inspiration on the styling (this being mainly black clothing). From my research I have found that most modern witches wear the hats that can be seen in my mood board, therefore I think I will use this in my design. Furthermore from these pictures I believe you get an idea on the attitude from Claudia. My interpretation of Claudia is that she will be quite a snob. Also as you can see on the mood board there are hints of red on the makeup design (from the lips and the nail varnish) I will include this in my own designs as the colour red holds many connotations, from love and passion to the devil and blood.

American Horror Story Coven

An introduction to my chosen horror show.

For my Claudia and Quentin Brief I have decided to chose the horror show 'American Horror story: Coven'. I chose this because I have previously watched all the series of this show and feel as though I could best create characters that will fit into this tv series. Coven is situated around a group of teenage witches that are having to discover who the next supreme witch is, keep their coven from extinction, keep up with their rivalry with the voodoo witches and find out how to manage their own powers. There are various different characters in this show, all of the girls have different personalities and looks however most of them dress in a similar style, one that signifies that they are a part of a coven. This consists of all black outfits and black hats. The outfits that most of the characters are usually styled in involves a lot of black lace and leather, this gives an element of sex and luxury to the aesthetics. The design of the makeup depends on each character, for example some keep the makeup natural whereas others will be a little more daring with their makeup. This tv show appeals to most of a teenage demographic as it has elements of romance, fantasy, horror and the characters are played by well known teenage actresses such as Emma Roberts. American Horror Story has become very popular since it's first series because it involves the same actors in every series, except they play a different role and character each time. The reason that I believe this has made American Horror Story so successful is the fact that the audience come to love each actor and their different role and this gives them a sense of knowing them. 

Different adaptations of witches.

American Horror story Coven:

This genre of witch embodies a new modern style. They are wearing the traditional black style that witches have been seen in for years however the outfits always have an element of sex appeal in them, this either from the use of black lace or leather. The witches in this tv series do not like to go unnoticed, which is the opposite to what most dramas that contain a witch are like. 

'The Witches of East End'. 

The witches in this series look very different to that of the witches in American Horror Story. This could be because this drama is not horror, therefore the clothing is much more standard in the fact that it looks like what most teenage girls and women wear. The makeup looks more demure and natural, however the styling of the setting looks a little spooky. 

Sleepy Hollow

This I feel represents what the traditional witch looked like. For example you can see that the characters are wearing cloaks and the clothing looks overall more 'gothic' with the large square belt (this reminds me of a typical childs halloween costume), the corset and the long skirt. The styling in terms of makeup is again what I expected to see (darker eyes and lips). 

Into the woods 

Again I think this seems to embody what witches are stereotypically supposed to look like. For example the character is old, her hair is grey, long and straggly and she is wearing all black. Her nails are very long and the way that she has been positioned in this photograph is quite bent and therefore spooky. Furthermore this version of a witch has a pointier nose and chin, again a stereotype of witches. 

all images and information found

 http://www.swide.com/art-culture/movies/best-new-witches-movies-and-tv-series-2014-including-salem-maleficent-and-into-the-woods/2013/10/24

Final Estella Images

Here are my studio shot images from my Estella assessment. I feel this went well as it looks like the face chart I had designed. 

Great Expectations Evalutation.

The first brief that we were given was to create our own interpretation of the characters Miss Havisham and either Estella or Pip from the Charles Dickens novel 'Great Expectations'.
I feel that this was quite a hard brief, this was because I didn't initially realise how difficult it was to recreate your work to the exact same standard and look that you had done on another occasion.

How did I overcome problems with the design and materials?
The problem that I had with the design was not making it look too complicated, for example in my initial face charts I wanted to include much more work on burns and wounds, however I thought this would make Miss Havisham and especially Estella look too over crowded and therefore I decided that less was more with these looks.

How did I develop my character research?
I developed my character research by watching two different versions of tv adaptions of this novel and by reading the book. I then went on to look at different pictures and analyse these versions of each characters.

How did I find it working to the brief?
I found working to the brief ok, however as I have previously stated I found it more difficult than I originally thought it would be to recreate work to the exact same look that I had previously done two weeks before that.
I feel that this breif was a good one and I liked the fact that it was challenging for me.

Miss Havisham assessment 2: Continuity images

Here are the studio images that I took from the continuity part of this brief where we had to recreate the work that we previously created with Miss Havisham. I feel as though they look very similar, particularly the hair (although it looks slightly more messy on the first assessment). In terms of the makeup, again I believe this looks very similar although the lips on the continuity images look darker. Despite this I am happy with how this part of the brief went and I think that I have done quite a good job.

Final Miss Havisham Images. (Assesment 1)

Here are the studio images I took from my assessment creating Miss Havisham. I believe that the ovrall outcome of this was good and I think it looks like my face chart and designs therefore I am happy with this look that I have created.

Primary research: Gothic horror Locations.

For an element of my primary research I have taken a look at common horror locations.
When I think of horror locations from films that I have watched, my mind leads me to abandoned houses, graveyards, old houses and the woods.  Living in a rural area surrounded by trees and older building this was quite an easy tasks. Here are some of the images I managed to capture.

This first image was taken down a road leading to the woods. This I feel is a very sppoky image as the way the camera is angled makes the road look like it gets smaller. This I think is quite common in horror films as the characters who come into contact with a path like this are usually running 'to their doom'. 

This image is taken at an old hall. This I think has an element of the horror genre in as everything is dark and the lighting looks quite eery, this is also fitting with this genre as many horror scenes are filmed in an old location. 

Here in another image I have taken, this time in a church that I live near. When thinking of the horror genre churches and graveyards are the number one thing that comes to mind. 

Here is another image from the church. I felt this gate fit perfectly with the horror genre because of the crosses at the top. When seeing these crosses it leads you to think of God and Satan, this is a common theme in horror films such as 'The exorcism'. The fact that this is in a graveyard also fits the horror theme because of the age old fear of the unknown and if ghosts and haunting truly exist. 

Finally this is a tree outside my house. I think this looks spooky simply because of how tall and big the tree is, this leading you to feel small and uneasy next to it. 

All of my images were taken at night as this way I felt I would be able to engage with what surrounding scared me more successfully.