Claudia & Mrs Laderman

Bate Motel - Claudia & Mrs Laderman

In this unit we need to create two characters which will be from the chosen series, which for me is Bate Motel. I have chosen the characters Claudia and Mrs Laderman because i think i can fit them into the series quite well with changing a few events and characters around.

I have been watching the series and have nearly finished season 1, the part of the season i enjoyed the most and found most interesting was the part about Norman finding the book of drawings in the motel room. 

This scene starts off with Norman cleaning or tidying the motel rooms, he comes across a book which is full of drawings of an Asian girl which has been tired up and abused, Norman doesn't think that much of it to begin with but keeps it on him and has a slight obsession with the book. He looks through the book all the time but doesn't show anyone. 

He ends up telling his friend Emma which wants to do something about this book and find out if its true. 

Their is a drawing in the book of an old shed in the forest which Norman and Emma go and investigate wanting to find out more information on the book. They end up finding the abandoned shed but nearly get killed by some guys protecting the weed crop fields so they don't want to go back to find out more. 

They also investigate more about another drawing because it has this girls hands chained to the bottom of a sink which matches the sinks in the motel rooms, they then look for the exact tap and find there is a Chinese writing on the bottom of the skin which tells Norman and Emma that it is true all the drawings in the book. 

Norman's mum was dating one of the cops which was helping her get out of a sticky situation with the police, Norman breaks into his house to find out more information and comes across the girl in the book, shes been chained up in his basement. 

This part of the series was very thrilling and had me on the edge of my seat, i think this would be a really good way to interpret Claudia and Mrs Laderman into the series by using the same idea of the drawings and the girl in the basement. 

I want to change around some of the characters and mix it up a bit by saying Mrs Laderman used to own the motel but was made to move out because she couldn't afford to run place and pay all the bills because she got ill and couldn't run the place on her own. Next door lived Claudia, Mrs Laderman was the only one that's ever been in Claudia's house and no one in the area even knows who Claudia is as she doesn't come out of her house. Mrs Laderman is her only interaction with the outside world. 
Mrs Laderman has always had a soft spot for Claudia and had a slight unhealthy obsession with her and very protective. 
When Mrs Laderman gets evicted from her house Claudia said she can live with her while she gets herself another place. 
Norma and Norman then move into the motel, Claudia is spotted by Norman and then Norman goes round and knocks on her door to introduce himself. This is where Norman instantly falls for her beauty, Mrs Laderman sees this and gets jealous and to stop them from ever meeting again she drugs Claudia to get be able to tie her up in the basement to keep her all to herself and doesn't want to share Claudia with anyone. 
Norman doesn't know that Mrs Laderman is doing this to Claudia and carries on with his mum day in day out trying to set up the motel. One day he was in one of the motel rooms trying to sort out the rooms and came across the a book which had drawings of a girl which had been tied up and abused in the drawings. He keeps the book but doesnt think much of it and carries on. 
He takes another look at the book and starts to think about how much it looks like Claudia who lives next door, one night he goes round to knock on Claudia and Mrs Laderman answers the door she says Claudia isn't in at the moment and shuts the door in Norman's face, he has a hunch that something else is going on and breaks into the house from the back door. The house is dark and gloomy and looks like no one lives there, he hears noises from the basement and goes down and see's Claudia tied up to the wall. She has been beaten and has got bruises all over her. He saves her from the basement and as they are escaping Mrs Laderman stops Claudia by grabbing hold of her, Norman goes behind her and hits her round the face with a rolling pin which was on the side in the kitchen. Mrs Laderman was out cold and they escape the house.   

This is the story i have made up to base my characters on by using facts which happened in the series and then also changing a few of the characters and adding in scenes. I now need to do some face and hair charts for Claudia and Mrs Laderman. I will be doing a face chart for Mrs Laderman showing her after she is hit with the rolling pin and then Claudia with rope burns and bruises from being tied up and beaten up and also needle wounds from Mrs Laderman drugging her. 

Bate Motel Research

Bate Motel

Target Audience - 

The target audience for Bate Motel i think would have to definitely be 18+ because throughout the series there is a lot of sex and swearing every now and again. 
Not just there being a lot of sex but there is a lot about sexual abuse, for example in the first episode there is a scene where Norma the mother is being rapped by the old dirty man that used to own the motel before her. This scene is very graphic and not very nice to watch. There is also a lot of reference of child abuse from one of Normans friends Cody and also reference of child abuse from Norma when she was younger from her older brother. So i think if anyone under 18 would want to watch this it would be very few as its not very nice to watch.
I also done some research on the statistics of who watched the series -  

-The series averaged 2.7 million total viewers and 1.5 million adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 tuning in during the 10-episode run.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-bates-motel-finishes-526254

-Another website quotes the target audience to be Teenagers, Adults who have watched the movie Psycho, apparently the commercal for Bate Motel is meant to attact teenagers, people who love film which put you on the edge of your seat, and females which are attracted to drama. 
https://prezi.com/1yaubjwjdwvq/bates-motel-media/

I agree with the points above that the trailer and commercial for Bate Motel might be being aimed at teenagers but it think it might attract people slightly older than teenagers just because of the sexual abuse side to the series. 
This show has a little bit of everything, i think the target audience would be for men and women because it has a little bit for everyone, it has bits of romance, bits classic high school behavior, crime and police, suspense and thrill. This keeps everyone interested, and that there is always something going on.

Next Unit - Claudia and Quentin

Bate Motel 

In this next part of the unit we have to choose a TV series to base the next part of the project on. 

We were given a list of shows to choose from, after looking through all the trailers i narrowed it down to American Horror Story and Bate Motel. 

I then went on to watch the first few episodes of both series, i really liked both of them but Bate Motel caught my interest because of the mystery and secrets which came from the fathers death, the new village they live in and the families background. There is always something that isn't right with the family. 

The series takes place in the fictional town of White Pine Bay, Oregon. The main characters are the mother Norma Bates, Norman Bates, Dylan Massett, Bradley Martin and Emma Decody. 

All the characters above play a huge part in the series, as the series unrolls you find out more and more about the characters, especially Norma Bates. Norma Bates has a very interesting and abusive pass, when she was growing up she was sexually abused by her brother and her mum and dad were far from perfect parents. This is how she has a slightly unhealthy relationship with Norman as shes very over protective of him and cant seem to let him go. She wants him all to herself. This also has a huge effect on Norman as a character because hes very nervous to every betray his mother.

Norman in the beginning just looks like a normal young boy which hasn't got a lot of friends and maybe hasn't got many social skills because his mother smothers him so much he never had the chance to develop these skills.   

As the series goes on you start collecting more and more pieces of the puzzle about why Norman is the way he is and why their family is how they are. 

You start by finding out that Norman isn't just a normal boy there is something odd about him, you start finding this out because he kept the belt from the guy his mother killed when defending herself, you then start finding out that he has these black outs when hes angry or upset and doesn't know what hes doing and doesn't remember what he did while he was having one of his black outs. He then has one of these blackouts while in his teachers house and from what we think he ends up killing her because he thinks his mum is telling him too. 

He then pushes someone down the stairs when getting angry at the father of his friend because he was being rough towards his daughter. 

The village it is set in is a small country town with a hidden secret. The city council and the police ignore the fact that all of the towns money comes from drug money because there is a huge weed crop field in the forest, which is where the town gets all their money from and everyone is involved in this operation one way or another. 

Another weird thing about this town is that there was a few people running a prostitution chain, this involved one police man, the man that used to own the motel and also a few other people in the village. Norman found a book of drawings in the motel room, this book showed drawings of a Asian girl being tied up and abused. At first he didn't really think anything of it, he then shows his friend Emma and she wants to find the girl in the book and they start doing some investigating. After doing some investigating Norman goes to the Cops house and comes across the girl all tied up in his basement. The girl from the drawings in the book was real and tied up in one of the policeman's basement. 

I really liked the idea of this series because it has loads of hidden secrets and twists to the story which i really like and think it would be interesting trying to fit two other characters into the series. I will carry on watching the series and take notes of parts i really like in the series and see if i can fit two other characters in and plan a back story for them.  

Next Unit Character Profiles

Next Unit

In the next part of this unit we have to choose from three characters which we have been given character profiles for by our lecturers, these consist of a little bit about their personalities and a little bit of a background story about them. 

We have to incorporate two of these characters into a horror/thriller series of your choice from a list they have given us. We then need to pick two of the character profiles out of the three, have to make sure to pick the ones that are most likely to fit in with the story. 
We then need to choose a word which can inspire your final outcome, we have been given a list of words and then we have to choose one of them for each of our characters.

We have to make sure that our characters fit in with the type of horror/thriller, but also it needs to relate to the target audience that this series is meant for. 

Claudia

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
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.

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 designs on Quentin. In fact she has designs on Claudia.

Exam Continuity Images

Continuity Exam

First Exam-

Second Exam-

Reflection Of Exam

Reflection Of Exam

Over all I found the exam went extremely well, and most importantly enjoyed every second of it. I thought I would be more stressed out in the exam than I was but once I got started all my nerves went as I think practising so much really helped because I knew what I was doing both times which made me stress less.

The first exam went really smoothly and really happy with the final outcome, the second exam I had a little bit of trouble with the wax as it kept sticking to the spatular which didn't happen the first time so I had to restart at one point but once I started again it went fine so didn't manage to loose too much time. 

The final images I was a bit annoyed with because I made sure I used the same camera settings but the first images are brighter than the second ones  I don't know if thats because someone changed the bulb maybe or something but they are just slightly darker. Which does make the makeup look slightly darker which in person didn't really look like that. 

Over all I was extremely happy with the first part of this unit and felt I did really well with all the practical lessons, and if I wasn't happy with how it turned out in class I went home and practised it again to make sure I got the outcome I wanted which I think really helped in the final outcome because I knew how to get through certain problems if they occurred. 

Im excited to start the next part of the project. 

Walk Through/Equipment List Character Exam

Walk Through/Equipment List 

Equipment List- 

Makeup-

-Skin Protection Foam/Kryolan 

-Blood Paste Dark/Kryolan

-Liquid Latex/Kryolan

-Liquid Blood Dark/Kryolan

-Hydro Spirit Gum/Kryolan

-Cine-Wax/Kryolan

-Wound Filler/Kryolan

-Cream Colour Circle - Black Eye/Kryolan

-Matte Skin Coloured Powder

-Stipple Sponge/Amazon

-Selection Of Brushes 

-Powder Puff

-Piece Of Acrylic Mirror/Glass 

-Spatular 

-Cotton buds

Hair-

-Pintail Comb

-Hair Spray

-Gel

-Small Curlers

Step By Step Makeup-

I started off by covering the places I will be using products with the protecter foam, this is to protect the skin from the harsh products because I will be using the products on the face. 

After I have protected the skin I go straight in with the first step by creating the skin curling away from the piece of glass which has been wedged in the skin. 

I start this by creating my base using wax, I start smoothing the wax into the correct place on the forehead and making sure its big enough for my piece of glass by measuring it up to the piece of glass every time I make an adjustment just to make sure the piece will fit inside the wax.

After I have got the shape correct and haven't got any harsh edges once I have smoothed out the wax to create the skin like look, I then go over a push in the stipple sponge to create the texture of skin because after I smooth it out it looks very smooth compared to the skin. 

I then move onto creating the whole in the wax where the I will be putting the piece of glass, this does get tricky because the wax tends to stick to the spatular which makes it slightly more difficult because you don't want to end up ripping the wax and creating a bigger hole than you need. 

After I create the hole I need for my glass which is the right side, I then try coat the edge of the glass which will be against the skin in spirit gum just to make sure it holds on there and once it dries it wont move around, I then wait till that is tacky and then wedge it inside the piece of wax.

After it is in the correct place I then use my spatular to smooth the wax onto the skin so it looks like the skin is attached to the piece of glass. I then need to make sure that the wax wont be moving around while colouring it so I use latex to cover all the wax and the join between the wax and the glass to make sure it is secure. 

After the latex has gone completely clear I then can start to colour it, I start off by using a powder which is skin colour to cover the wax and latex to make it look more skin like. After this I mainly use the bruise wheel for this to create a sore bruised effect on the skin. 

I start with the darker colours of the bruise wheel in the middle like the dark blue and dark red colours and then fade that out by using the stipple sponge to get a gradual effect of colour like bruising. 

I then use the wound filler and blood paste on the join between the wax and the glass, this creates more texture, making it look like a deep wound. 

I then add blood using cotton buds around the wound, and blend it out using a stipple sponge.

I then repeat this process  on the lower cheek on the other side but instead of putting glass in the wound I just leave it as a cut/scar. I use the exact same step by step to create this but minus the glass. 

In my design I also have slightly black/dark eyes, which I created using the colours in the bruise wheel. Just in the main places you see when people are tired or have a black eye. 

Step by Step Hair-

When doing the hair I started off by creating my sharp side parting, to secure this in place I used hair spray as I move it to make sure it was as sharp and exact as possible by using my pin tail comb. I then combed done a single ringlet using a straight across position of the curlers, which creates a shelf like curl on the side of the parting with not as much hair. 

I then use the curlers to curl the rest of the hair away from the front of the face, creating a waved effect on top I then hair spray that in place.

Scar Moulds

Scar Gelatine Mould

Equipment- 

- Gelatine Mould 

- Super colour Pallet
- Fake blood
- Procaine
- Which Hazel
- Powder
-Bruise Wheel
- Fluffy brush
- Cotton buds
- Stipple sponge

In this practical lesson we practised using scar moulds which have been made in a mould from Gelatine. 
To make the Gelatine mould you melt the Gelatine and pour it into the mould, to a tip when creating the mould is to use talcon powder to stop it from sticking to everything.
To stick the mould to the skin you have to use Procaine, you have to use it on the scar and on the skin, once you put the two together they lock and this creates the bond between the skin and the scar. You also have to wait till the glue goes completely see through before sticking them together otherwise the glue will stay white.

Then to blend away the harsh edges with a cotton bud and which hazel, this melts the gelatine to get rid of the harsh edge of the mould, this takes a long time to do this as just have to keep going until it works. 
The motion you need to use is a downwards stroke not side to side as this will help it blend in with your skin.

After I thought I couldn't do much more blending I decided to start the colouring process, I started by powdering it to take the shine away. 
After I powdered I then used my bruise wheel to colour it and then used blood on the main part of the scar.

Reflection- Im not sure I really like this way of creating the scar just because I don't think it looks very real, and also its very time consuming because of the blending.

,

Creating The Mirror Wound...

Creating The Mirror Wound Practise On Myself...

Final Face Chart Design

Final Face Chart Design...

I decided that I really liked the idea of using the clip from the film where he is looking in the mirror at himself once he's changed into Mr Hyde. I have then twisted this into a seen from my TV/Film and said in the end of the film when he changes uncontrollably, he then looks in the mirror and smashes it, and then the mirror is shattered and imbedded in the skin.
I then experimented using mirrored acrylic to use as the shattered mirror, I realised it took me a lot longer than I was expecting. I originally had quite a few shards of mirror in the face but I have made it slightly more simple as I only have an hour and a half and would rather do something well than rush it and try and get more done.
So I have changed my design slightly by just doing one mirror wound on the forehead and then a cut/scratch on the cheek.
This will then give me enough time to do the hair as well as the makeup.

First time experimenting with the mirrored acrylic and products i brought from Charles Fox...

Final Face Chart Design...

First Practise - Characters Hair

First attempt at my characters hair...

I started doing some research into Victorian male hair, I used a few books from the library but I couldn't find anything I particularly liked. 
I then went onto google images and I found this hair style shown on the left, I really liked this one because I also thought it reflected how Stevenson looked in some of the portraits I have seen of him. 
Stevenson has slightly longer hair and had a middle parting but the model I will be using doesn't have long enough hair to use a middle parting so I will be using a sharp side parting.
I will also be curling the hair so that I get a slight wave to it, adding texture and creating the swept back style. 

Equipment...

-Hair Spray 
-Pin Tail Comb
-Curling Tongs
-Gel 
-Hair Dryer  

Step by step...

I started by creating the side parting in the hair, this started out to be quite a challenge because my models hair is extremely thick and bouncy which made it hard to flatten down. I tired using hair spray to hold the hair down but it didn't work because the hair that I was putting over doesn't normally sit there which made it very bouncy and not stay put. 
I had to think of another way of making the hair sit flat on the side of the head, I decided to wet the hair then blow dry it in the side parting which would help it stay. 
I wet the hair using a water spray, I then combed the hair into the parting I wanted and then blow-dried it flat. 
This worked really well as it set the parting, I then sprayed this with hair spray to set it and then combed that through while it was wet to stick all the fly aways down.

I then moved on to creating the swept back look, I used  small tongs to create this by curling the top part back away from the face. I then used the curlers to curl the side part and wanted a pronounced curl at the side which was facing straight down to give volume to the side which didn't have as much hair. 

I was extremely happy with the results from my first practise as I really like the way it sits swept back from the face. I also really like the sharp side parting because this is a very classic Victorian.
The only thing was it took me quite a long time to create this style. I will have to adapt the hair style so I can get it done in the time I have.

Wounds On The Face Research

Wounds On Face Research...

In my design i have created based on my character i have got two different wounds on the face, one has a piece of mirror in and one is a scratch on the face. 

I thought it would be a good idea to look at some real wounds on the face and the best way i could find some real wounds is to use images from rugby because when you google wounds on face all that comes up is special effects makeup which has been created.

I needed real wounds to work from.. 

Looking at this top image is really interesting because i have a scar like this one but on the side of the cheek in my design. I think looking at this has really helped my because looking at the edges of the skin where the cut starts it kinda shows its lifting up but only slightly. 

The colouring also shows a slightly darker colour in the centre to show a slight depth in the wound. 

In this image on the left it shows another wound to the face which shows a fresh wound which hasnt been cleaned  up at all, the top one i think had been cleaned up slightly. 

This image shows where the blood ran down his face, the colouring of the blood on his face is more of a dark red which i will take note of because blood changes colour depending where it is from on the body which is really important to take into account.  

Biggest Movie Mistakes - Continuity

Some Of The Biggest Mistakes In Movies...



-Making sure nothing that isn't planned to be in the shot is in the shot. For example on the left is a shot from a film which is set way way before airplanes were around. This is quite an obvious continuity mistake. 
Making sure that your not just checking the actor but everything around them is extremely important. 












-Another small but noticeable mistake is in Lord Of The Rings he has blood stains and dirt on his axe but in the next scene its been cleaned off. 
Its important to check not just the makeup and the background to the movies but the props and the clothing. Making sure they match the previous shot. 
Also making sure that the blood or dirt used in the last shot matches the same in the next. 

-In this one you can see that the tattoo which in the top scene is quite high up on his arm then moves lower down in the next scene. This is a very obvious mistake but easily done because it might look correct up close but when its in shot and the cameras are slightly in the distance this changes the look of the tattoo. 

Importance Of Continuity

The Importance Of Continuity 

All Films and TV productions are never shot all at the same time, this is to do with the access to certain locations, availability of actors and weather conditions. 

All these different problems have a big impact on the film and can effect the continuity not just in the makeup but if its a stormy day and suddenly its sunny in the next shot then this wont make sense. 

A lot of films have to be filmed when they can, so if the actor has to go they will have to shoot the next scene the next week sometimes, which means that in an action film if the actor has a cut on his face, this has to be recreated. This would need to be in the exact same place and have the exact same effect to the audience. It can even be more than a year later that they will go back to a certain scene and decide its not perfect and have to re-shoot. This mean that its the makeup artists job to keep track of what they are doing and take pictures and take notes as they go so that they can go back to it at any time and recreate the same thing.

Creating face charts is a good way to note down all the products you will be using and the tools and brushes you used to create the look. Its also really important to make sure you use the same brushes, different brushes create different looks and lines and shapes. Also the same for hair, creating hair charts of what tools and brushes you used to create this look and also noting down the types of products used because using a gel will create a different look than hair spray will. 

The easiest way i find is taking pictures of every step and then putting them onto my laptop and printing them out, then writing under the image what went first and what products i used. Also any problems i came across that i wouldn't do next time to make it easier for me if i have to recreate the look over and over.