Production - Make up

The make up used in our trailer is a form of art which is used all over the world in the film, theatre and music industry. It consists of various types of make-up, prosthetics, prostiche and also airbrushing, some of which we have used in our trailer. 

Casualty is a popular form of make-up as you can be imaginative and experiment with different media and techniques; it is often seen in TV, films and theatre. I found experimenting with the different types of cuts, abrasions enjoyable as we were able to create different dramatic effects, which are shown in the following images. 

When filming our trailer, we used latex to create the wound for the male actor. We had to build up the latex, so it would create a deeper wound, and have a more dramatic effect on the audience. I then had to lightly apply the red base colour, and then slowly built up the colour with shades of purple and green to make the cut seem authentic. To enhance the dramatic effect we wanted to create, I used liquid blood and applied it onto the model. 

we also used a technique, which consists of mixing sugar and water together, and we sprayed it onto the model, to give mimic the affects of sweating, We used this as it would have dramatic affect on the audience, to show that the male character is in a lot of danger, and that he is panicking.  

The make up we used for Satan’s mistress is very plain and simple; we used this affect as the killers in horror movies are normally the same type of character. We wanted to break the convention of our horror film, as the best way for someone to be scared by the movie or think about wanting to watch it, is if you make it seem realistic, so they would think that it could actually happen to them. This is why we didn’t use a lot of make up on our model as it would take away the affect we were trying to create. The low statistics of women being killers in horror films, made us want to use a female lead, the conventional make up of a female killer is that they are ‘demented’ and the appearance reflects this.

The ring

 The movies tell the tale of adopted child, Samara, an evil young girl who was pushed down a well and took seven days to die. The film focuses on a mysterious cursed videotape which contains a seemingly random series of disturbing, grainy, black and white images. After watching the tape, the viewer receives a phone call in which Samara condemns the viewer to death in exactly seven days.

The make up used on the girl in ‘The Ring’ is very chilling and the young girl looks very scary which creates a dramatic affect on the audience as although it is a young girl; who is seen as innocent and childlike. However, the make up used and the special affects make her scary.

Scream 2

One of them being Billy Loomis’s mother from the original classic, Mrs. Loomis, played by Laurie Metcalf, who wants revenge for the death of her son in the original. This was a brilliant parody of the horror sequel, by still sticking to the rules of the horror sequel.

Both these movies, the female is different to our leading female. In the ‘Ring’ the girl is young and has that ‘creepy’ young girl look, which is mysterious however it is not something, people would really believe could happen. It is the same with ‘Scream 2’ where the female killer is a mother looking for revenge. Nevertheless there are two killers, so she is not the leading female killer, which is why we have broken the conventions of this and used women as our leading killer.

This will have a great affect on the audience, as the conventions of women’s qualities and attributes does not reflect how Satan’s Mistress is. The stereotype of women are that they are, gentle, loving, caring; everything which this character is not. This is why it has an affect on the audience as the actress looks almost ‘normal’, which is the scariest thought for the audience as they believe it could happen to them.

The make up used on the boy being tortured is very dramatic, at first we wanted to use many cuts and bruises and a swollen face and make it seem like he has been beaten up. However we wanted to usher in a new trend in horror film making deemed "torture porn”. This tied in with the women killer as she is a sadist. This worked better as we didn’t have to use as many cuts on the actor, as it shows the pleasure the killer is getting out of it as the cuts are not very deep, however there are a lot of cuts on his body, which shows that the killer wants as much pain inflicted on the boy. If we used the original idea of the actor being severely beaten up it wouldn’t have worked as well, as it would have seemed that a man would have done the beating of the victim as they are very severe. This is why we kept them simple so they could outline a more dramatic impact on the audience.

The boy also has ‘666’ written on his torso which shows the satanic reference with the devil, which is coherent with the title of the film. The number ‘666’ is thought to be the number of ‘The beast’ which relates to religious book such as the Bible where ‘The beast’ is evil. This corresponds with the leading character as she is evil and almost is ‘The beast’.

The images of the following, show our attempts and the different looks we experimented with, in the production of our trailer.

Both the following two are types of swelling and abrasions we wanted to use on the male character. We chose not to use the swollen eyes and the bruised cheek, but instead we used the idea of the cut, however positioned it different, so it was on his eyebrow.

A special effects make up artist came in to show us how the special effects where created. The rest of the production company also had a go at creating some gruesome looking cuts.