Quentin

• Quentin:

  After choosing the film to base the looks and researching Claudia, i had a few ideas of how i would want my Quentin to look. My first was inspired from the film 'May.' In this she makes her own boyfriend out of other people. So my first idea would be that Quentin would have stitches going across his face to represent Claudia sewing him together to make her perfect boyfriend. I then remembered that he is imaginary. And i thought, if Claudia is imagining her 'perfect' boyfriend. He would be perfect, no this sewn together man with blood and stitches going across his face. She would imagine him to look completely normal.

  I think Quentin would also be 'socially normal' looking because she is desperate to find love and human connection - and what is portrayed as being normal and accepted is to be in a loving, successful relationship with a boyfriend. So she feels like this will help her to feel better about herself, less like the odd one out, and give her a sense of purpose - which will inevitably help her to feel comfortable leaving her house.

  I then thought about what i've talked about before about how the horror films would effect the way she is with Quentin. If she is constantly watching people getting chopped up or beaten of locked away. She would begin to think this is normal and do it to Quentin. I imagined Quentin looking normal, but looking tired, slightly beaten and dirty from being trapped in Claudia's Imagination for too long. I then thought about how to make this look contemporay for a music video as i didnt want to just create bruising and tiredness i want it to fit in with the theme of the video.

  
  

  Pinterest mood board for Quentin: http://www.pinterest.com/lailahamidi/quentin/

  Storyboard for Quentin:

  

  
  

  (My Quentin model also has a beard.)

  
  

  Face charts:

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   This first face chart is keeping it simple, as if she was imagining him he would be her idea of perfect.
  
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   This face chart has some lines going across the face which would represent him being sewn together subtly.
  
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   This face chart is very simple again, but with some black liner under the eyes, showing Quentin's dark side/ Claudia's dark side as its her imagination.
  
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  This final face chart is to show the months of being locked away and possibly beaten by claudia, without using a bruise wheel and making it too theatrical.Also to show the dark gothic horror side they both share. I have used black to spread over the eyes, also i like that you can still see the brush strokes as it in keeps with Claudia's paint like feel. I would also apply red liner in the eyes to make them pop out a bit more.

  
  

  Quentin's hair:
  

  Quentin's hair would be very short and tamed. Although he is a prisoner to Claudia, i feel like there are aspects of his appearance she would maintain in her head and the hair would be one of them. I imagine it to be a typical 'man' hairstyle with shaved at the side and longer on the top. This is a very popular hairstyle these days so it would work being in a current music video.

  
  

  

  
  

  Quentin's style: I think Quentin would dress very 'Indie' and festival like. He would be quite scruffy but it would suit his overall appearance and personality. I feel like he would wear colour, whereas Claudia would only wear black. His clothes would look dirty and worn, where Claudia would always seem to have more pride in her appearance. Maybe because she is craving acceptance from everyone and thinks the only way to get it is by her looks. Also if Quentin is seen to be the messy scruffy one, she might think this would help with that too.
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  
  

Other face charts and experiments for Claudia.

Here are some other face charts and experimentation before i came to my final design.

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Claudia

Claudia.

I have made a pinterest mood board for ideas for 'my Claudia'

http://www.pinterest.com/lailahamidi/claudia/

• Make up:
  After deciding to use the film 'May' as my inspiration, and Claudia being inspired by the doll as she finds it more relatable, i started looking into how i could use this in my make up look. I would want the make up too look doll like in a contemporary, not theatrical way. I started too look at images on Pinterest and looked at images of make up that looked paint like. As the doll would have been painted so i would want the make up too mimic that and look like paint.
  Here is a storyboard for Claudia's make up look.
  

  

  After speaking with Lottie she told me that i should use aqua colour to get a paint effect so i made some face charts and experimented to come up with my final design.
  
  Face charts:
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  Experimentation of this design:
  
  
  

  

  
  

  
  
  

  

  
  

  After experimenting with this design i really didn't like it. I choose to use these colours because dolls are usually made up from white for the skin, pink cheeks. reds lips, then black mascara. I thought the whole thing was to over the top and theatrical. I decided to try and bring it down a level to try and skin tone base instead of a white base.

  
  

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  Experimentation of this design:

  
  

  

  
  

  

  After experiementing this design, i definetly feel like this is an imporvement on the first one. The normal skin colour base defientely brings it more into the contemproay music video feel.

  
  

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  Experimentation of this design: 

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  After doing this face chart i still wasn't happy with the look at all. I had originally chose to use white, black, pink and red, due to conceptual consideration for my look. As most dolls you see, have a white face, pink cheeks and red lips. But through practices of working with the materials and colours of this look, i found that the look wasn't what i wanted. I didn't think all the colours worked well together.
  So i decided to then experiment with other colours and chose to use blue, white black and gold. Because i understand that the aesthetic of the look is very important and i didn't feel the original colours blended together and complimented the look (regardless of their more direct links to my concept) so i adapted it. Which i feel adds a more contemporary feel too - as i'm not just coping the same old doll look that has been used in horror films in the past.
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  Experimentation of this design:
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  I feel like the colour of this design work a lot better. However there are still a couple things i would tweak like the line under the eyes and the gold on the lip so i made one final face chart. 
  
  
  

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  Experimentation of this design:
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  Hair:

  As this task was to be influenced and inspired by a chosen horror film, and the look produced is for a music video, i'm aware that the 'live' element is very important in how im thinking about constructing my design. Because i am working with moving image, rather than a still/stationary image on a magazine cover for example, I became aware that the look needs to contain more than something that is just visually pleasing. When thinking about how other senses are considered when producing moving image, i recognised that sound is a huge part of it (horror films using sound to create suspense etc) so i want my look to contain auditory elements as well. After Seema's lessons where we were showed how to slick and smooth the hair i wanted to use these techniques in my hair look. I want a high slick pony tail pulling the hair all off the face. But i want it to contain metal, so it would stand up higher. The metal would also be the 'sound' element of the design, as when she would move around it would clang and scrape together.
  
  I found the metal rings in b and q: 
  
  

  

  
  
  Here is a storyboard of Claudia's hair look:
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  Experimentation of my hair design:
  

  

  
  Props:
  
  Nails and hands: I would Claudia's hands to be dirty and look they have 'paint' on the from getting herself ready. I also want them to have long nails of bits of metal or wood attached to them to symbolise that she hurts everything that she touches. And to give a more horror appearance to them.
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  Styling: I want Claudia to be wearing black. At first i wanted something with big structured shoulders to show her power in her relationship. But then after thinking more about it i thought, with the strong hair, make up look and the hands it might be a bit too much and i thought i would go for the opposite. Something more soft (still black) but to represent the act she is putting on with the hair and make up and the contrast between the too. Cause she is still just a young girl who wants to find love.
  
  

  

  

  Something like this, which is the complete opposite and contrasts, the strong hard metal in the hair, and the sharp wooden nails, to symbolise the girl she is underneath all the characters she creates.
  

Howl.

After researching horror films and being inspired buy dolls and Claudia's want for love and relationships with Quentin and other humans. I began thinking about what the music for my video will be and what lyrics will relate and put Claudia's thoughts into words. I started first looking at heavy rocky bands like, Nirvana and Foo fighters because i feel the song would be quite dark but couldn't find anything that i thought was right. I then looked a paramore and the song miseries business but it still didn't have the vibe i wanted.

Eventually i decided to go with Florence and the Machine- Howl. I feel the song is perfect for my Claudia. The lyrics i feel express exactly what she would want to say and the whole general tone of the song really gives a feel of horror but really contemporary feel. Lyrics like ' drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart.' 'i want to find you, tear out all you tenderness.' Are just a couple of the lyrics that portray how Claudia would be feeling about Quentin, in Claudia's case it could be just a figure of speech or it could be true, cause she is known to lock quentin away and beat him. And her mental state and horror obsession could lead her to rein act the films she watches.

What film is Claudia watching?

As Claudia transforms her look depending on what horror film she is watching i have been looking at different horror films to get inspiration for my design. Claudia is unstable and mentally ill and is already displaying signs of being taken in by horror films, by locking away quentin and possibly hitting him, this is something that i think has clearly stemmed from horror films. A horror film that is an example of this is the 'Human Centipede 2.' Where the lead actor in it was mentally ill but got so obsessed with the first film he decided to re-create it. Although the storyline is extremely far fetched it is showing how horror films could affect people who are already unstable in real life.

I started thinking about what horror films i have watched and what other horror films are out there. The most recent horror film i have watched was 'The Conjuring.' The storyline is that paranormal investigators work to help a family that is terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. The thing that intrigued me about this film though, was the doll. There is a haunted doll in the film that is kept locked away.

Adam Chitwood. (2013). Over 30 New High-Resolution Images from James Wan’s THE CONJURING Read more at http://collider.com/the-conjuring-movie-images/#C8Tz49krDVshKohS.99. Available: http://collider.com/the-conjuring-movie-images/. Last accessed 22 April 2014.

After looking at the doll i decided to look more at other horror films with dolls in. As i think this could be a good design idea for Claudia's make up look and also because of her personality. 

My first thoughts was 'Chuckie' as it is probably the most well known doll in horror. However i dont feel like the storyline fits with my characters and Chuckie is also quite clown like. Which i think would be to theatrical for a contemporary music video. 

Lardplanet. (2013). JLA Vs Team Darkness. Available: http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/jla-vs-team-darkness-1487761/. Last accessed 22 arpil 2014.

After more research into different doll horror films i found a film called 'May.' It is psychological horror about a lonely young woman traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her, who's only friend is her doll. She is desperate for a boyfriend so she decides to make one out of different people.

  

Cavigilas. (2010). If you cant find a friend, make one. Available: http://cavigliascabinetofcuriosities.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/may-if-you-cant-find-friend-make-one.html. Last accessed 22 April 2014.

I tried to empathise with what is might feel like to be in the shoes of somebody who is agoraphobic, thinking about how Claudia's mental illness could be rooted to not feeling accepted or deserving of love or acceptance. Essentially from not feeling like you fit in. So if Claudia feels like she relates to the doll in the film, rather than the human characters then she is connecting with how the doll feels different, misunderstood and out of place, even more so than May. Perhaps Claudia feels like she is striving to build relationships with humans, but because of her insecurities she seems to push people away, maybe hurting them in the process, (mentally or physically.) So her attempts to seek love have her hurting other people, hurting herself and causing her mental illness and agoraphobia to be worse.

Also the- 'If you can't find a friend, make one.' Fits in really well with Claudia as Quentin is imaginary so he can be whatever she wants him to be.

Alongside this i also looked at Tim Burton's movies, in particular, the nightmare before Christmas. Tim Burton is a director and all his films are animated. They are not necessarily horror films, but they all have a very haunting eerie feel. I particularly thought the doll like character Sally who is very in keeping with the theme i want to go for.

I love the different colours of this look and the way it look like paint. I like the fact that they are your typical 'doll' colours, and the use of purples and blues make her look less life like.

I found this image on pinterest where somone has re created sally. 

Mental Illness

I was really intrigued to look at mental illness because i feel this would play a big part on Claudia's appearance. She is agoraphobic and is already displaying some psychotic behaviour and from a lifetime of isolation and horror movies it would eventually mess with you head. The way she becomes different characters and transforms her look immediately makes me think of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is believed to be caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain. The main characterisations are delusions, hallucinations, disturbances in thinking and communication, and a withdrawal from social activity. While schizophrenia is a serious disorder of the brain which affects a person's ability to know what is real and what is not. 
The most common signs of Schizophrenia are social withdrawal, isolation and suspiciousness of others. All of these signs and symptoms really relate to Claudia. She is withdrawn from the world as she is an agoraphobic. She really suspicious of her 'imaginary' boyfriend and thinks he is cheating on her.

After researching and looking into Schizophrenia i noticed one of thee side effects is 'Shaving head or removal of body hair.' I feel like this would fit my image of Claudia perfectly. She would have a shaven head for many reasons. One because of her mental state she is in, as shaving her head would be because of the Schizophrenia. Britney Spears is an example of a women who wasn't in the right mental state and shaved her head. It might be a sense of release as she is shaving it off. Another reason for it would be for her constant transformations as she becomes a different girl and has a different image depending on the film she is watching. So if her head is shaven she would be able to use different wigs to transform her image. 

However after discussing this with my tutors we decided it would be better for me to design a hair look, but for whatever my design is although i would be using my models real hair, to Claudia it would be a wig because i think she would be bald underneath it. 

La Femme

We were asked today in Seema's lesson to create a look following the instructions of our team leader's interruption of 'La Femme' (Femme Fatal.) That was 'super smooth, no bumps, no pins showing, no hairspray or straighteners, and must have a middle parting.'
Here are some photographs of the outcome:

The feedback that we go is that it needed a little bit more originality, instead of wrapping hair around the hair bands, to use other materials, e.g. gaffa tape, wire etc.