Bloody Mary: Practice Restraint Injury

This is my first attempt as creating a restraint injury based from an image found on google, unfortunately, I don't think the makeup I applied is as realistic as I could make it, I think if I added a bit more yellowing to the edges it would also help the injury look more bruised and painful. Though I am rather proud of the effect in the middle of the wrist and think it looks rather sore, the edges look too red and fake in my personal opinion. I will continue to practice this for my final look as I will most likely want to use the idea.

[EDIT]

My second attempt was far more successful, this time I added a pale lime green tint to the edges and purples and blues over the red to look more bruised. Working with where I felt the bones I increased the amount of bruising due to the fact there would be increased pressure to the area from the restraint. I am very proud of how this turned out though will admit it looks better at a distance and in photographs, but it is a huge improvement upon my first attempt. I found this trial very helpful and if I desire to do this for my look I have faith that I will be able to recreate it very effectively.

Bloody Mary: Practice Burns

I attempted to create a small burn on myself with makeup as part of my practice towards my final looks. I tried to create a burn I believe Electroconvulsive Therapy would leave upon the sides of the forehead after being performed on a patient. Surprising, I think this is very effective and am rather proud of the outcome. Unfortunately, I don't know how accurate this 'burn' is as I have been unable to find any images showing physical changes due to treatment but there have be indication that burns would be left when using intensive treatment. Despite this, I feel the makeup I used created a rather realistic burn effect which I will most likely use as part of my final work.

Bloody Mary: Summary

Here is a moodboard I did earlier during my research, it shows a lot of my first main inspirations. I don't think my ideas have so much as changed but more so evolved, having a lot more history and depth to them rather then just general ideas, I am very pleased with how my ideas are progressing and can't wait to sink my teeth into designing and then creating the final look.

Bloody Mary: Avant-Garde Hairstyles

Though it was originally my idea to look more into a more period based look using Victorian hairstyles and fashions to compliment to era Asylum's came into being as well as Emilie Autumn's own personal influences, one of my tutors suggested adding more of an Avant-Garde twist to the look though the original base of the image could be from the Victorian styles, I saw no harm into investigating into other looks to explore more ideas after having the idea grow more to my liking.

This is one of the image my tutor showed me, it doesn't have any obvious Victorian influences, but it isn't for this reason it took our interested, it is more to do with the Asylum connections I've been making to my work. How? Restraints. The hair around her neck is asking very much like a collar to tame her, so the idea might be worth exploring involving hair as the restraints adding a more contemporary and styled look to the character. I do like this idea so will definitely consider using in my final look.

This hairstyle have much more direct influences from Gothic Victorian hair-styling, I really like how it looks and would love to do something similar to this where I take a look and add more of a twist to it though maybe not so tame and neat as this, considering that my look is going to be used for a character who is more insane and deranged, if anything I should make the style more messy and untamed.

Having that that, this image here is pretty much perfect for my ideas. It is similar to the image above only bigger and messier, much more befitting the character I have created in my mind. I would definitely love to create this hairstyle for my 'Bloody Mary' look only with much different makeup, I will most likely use this style for my final look or a variation influenced by it.




Reference:
http://www.hji.co.uk/ImagePopup.aspx?imageid=qhs29577&imagename=2008%20avant%20garde&imagetitle=2008-avant-garde
http://www.ukhairdressers.com/style/full_pic.asp?pic=9630
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vancouvermobilehairstylist/6264951252/

Bloody Mary: Image (2)

I recently visited a piercing and tattoo parlour near where I live to get a couple piercings done and booked a few tattoos. Whilst getting the piercings done I couldn't help but notice all the images on the walls, most of them being very gorey with use of fake blood and people pulling at their piercings, this could be off putting for squeamish people and those who worry about getting such a thing done to them which I found added great humour to the place. However, the image above is the one that caught my eye most so I asked permission to take a photo of it for my research.

Following inspirations from "i fink u freeky" I find the idea behind this image to be very similar, the very pale skin contrasted by the deep red of the blood. During a discussion with one of my tutors she suggested an idea similar to this picture in correspondence to a few of my ideas regarding my 'Bloody Mary' character's look, I had mentioned liking the pale, ghostly skin with red or black contrasting against it, she therefore suggested lightening the lips to have the red inside making them look sore and out of place and having found this image I really like how it looks. If I am to use this idea I will first take photos of the look without blood but experiment by taking some with it after, I can decide which I prefer later after the shoot.

Bloody Mary: Image (1)

While browsing my favourites on DeviantART, I came across this image and it peeked my interested regarding this project. It doesn't have anything to do with asylums which has become one of my primary sources of research, but it has given life to another possible idea.

It first caught my eye due to the beautiful and detailed makeup forming from her mouth and down her body, the makeup around her eyes also makes her look very worn out and ill, as though the flowery pattern is a rash or curse of some form, spreading further and further as she becomes more severely ill.

Under this impression, it has developed some ideas revolving around the idea of Bloody Mary inflicting a curse upon the victim that leaves a visible mark, whether or not Bloody Mary bares the same mark only inverted due to mirror view is to be further thought upon. I do like this idea and it can always be involved with my other ideas, though it may also be too much and make the final look too busy. I will explore more ideas involving this before settling upon my final look.




Reference:
http://lileinaya.deviantart.com/art/Blossom-276073568

Bloody Mary: History of Mental Asylums

The earliest recorded Mental Asylum in the UK was the Bethlem Royal Hospital located in London, built during 1247 but it didn't tend to the mentally ill until 1407. This was only the very early stages of Lunatic Asylums, doctors had very little care for the well-being of their patients and treated them as they pleased, only in 1774 were laws created protecting the patients. Though mass construction of Mental Asylum's didn't come about until mid 1800's due to dramatic changes in the law proving them to be safer then previous years.

During the early years of mass construction, the asylums were kept under strict lock down and patients were watched constantly to make sure of no escapes. Patients were encouraged to work doing chores for the benefit of the hospital such as farming and laundry, though those deemed to unstable and dangerous were housed in locked cells and on occasion in padded cells.

Treatments used in Asylums have greatly varied throughout it's existence, constantly changing and evolving when new breakthroughs occurred, in the beginning there was little known about psychiatric conditions and how to treat them. It became common that patients were occupied to help them remain calm and distracted, if patients resisted and caused problems then restraints were used. It wasn't until the 1930's that two major treatments were developed in Europe, One being Electroconvulsive Therapy and the other being the Lobotomy, both of which involved work to the brain. Electroconvulsive Therapy involves passing a current of electricity through the patient's brain, inducing an epileptic fit and was commonly known to cause injuries to the patient. It was proved as very effective for patients with severe depression. Lobotomies involved cutting into the tissue of the frontal lobes of the brain, it had mixed results and was quickly discontinued.

In the past, aggressive and suicidal patients were dealt with through restraints and padded cells, these measures were taken so they could not harm themselves or others. The restraints most commonly used were the Straight Jacker and Fingerless Gloves, both of which inhibited the movement of the patient. It was less common that other forms were used such as continuous baths and bed restraints. In the early years, restraints were very common but became limited after changes to the law, use of restraints had to be approved by a medical officer.

Why is this important?

As I've mentioned in my previous posts, I am very interested in involving Mental Asylums in my final ideas and designs, so only by researching into the conditions patients are kept under and treatments they undergo can I involve my ideas and successfully involve them in the final look. I have gathered a lot of information and think it can provide me with some solid facts to support my ideas.

Reference:

http://www.bethlemheritage.org.uk/explorebethlem/FLOORPLAN.ASP
http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/asylum-history/the-history-of-the-asylum
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/menalhealthandillness/mentalinstitutions.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_restraint

Bloody Mary: Gothika (2003 Film)

After discussing my primary ideas with my class and tutors, it was suggested that I watch Gothika to help me with my research seeing as the story is based around a mental institution as such is becoming a main focal point of my ideas.

Though it is set in a more modern age then what I am focusing my look upon, it did help give me more insight into the condition patient are treated as and how they act though I imagine in the Victorian era there would have been much less control and order.

Unfortunately, there is nothing I can really depict from this film to help persuade either of my ideas though I did very much enjoy it. Saying this, I don't have any definite ideas so may find myself referring back to this film  in my design process and find some details I find useful and therefore applying them to the look.

Bloody Mary: Rankin & Damien Hirst - Myths

Whilst working with a friend on her media project, she ask me what I was currently working on in my course and I told her about my Gothic Urban Legends project. The next time we met for her to film, she showed me this video, realizing it had connections to my work.

Though it has nothing to do with Bloody Mary itself, it is to do with Myths and Legends, the make up and hair done for this video is absolutely incredible and I find it very inspiring and beautiful. I can't do anything nearly as amazing as these looks, but hope further into the course I'll be able to do things as unique and technically difficult.

It doesn't have much to do with my project currently, but I love this video and the creatures created for it so couldn't help but show it in my research.

Bloody Mary: Mirrors 2 (2010 Film)

Though this is the sequel to Mirrors (2008) the story behind it is rather different, only using the same idea but changing the history behind the spirit trapped in the mirror and how it came to be there. I don't really like how it is considered to be a sequel to a movie which is very different yet similar in all different areas, but this is just personal opinion.

In this film, the spirit that becomes trap is from a girl who was murdered looking into the mirror made from the broken pieces of the shattered mirrors from the asylum of the first movie. It is more similar to the episode of Supernatural I previous wrote about then the first film which I find to be more of an original thought. This sequel is about a vengeful trapped spirit, attacking people who know about her death so that the man who killed her will be punished and she can move on.

I much prefer the first film and find it more inspiring, there really isn't all that much that stands out to me from this film so probably won't take any ideas from it but thought it was worth watching and writing about to show more variety in my research.

Bloody Mary: Mirrors (2008 Film)

Mirrors isn't directly based on the Legend of Bloody Mary but it does seem as though it was heavily influenced by it, as suggested by the name, reflections play a huge part in the plot of the film. The spirit in this mirror this time is a demon and isn't summoned by speaking a name, only haunting whoever enters their territory so that they will find the body in whom they used to possess. Getting this person to do their will by hurting the people closest to them, to hurt them it would possess their reflection and inflict the damage upon themselves and it would take effect on the living person, ending their life whether they were aware of this reflection taking on a life of it's own or not.

This film also has connections to Mental Asylums, it being from there and forcing the possessed girl to stare into mirrors hours on end that the demon passed from her into the reflection world. I really like this concept and it helps reinforce my idea about using the Asylum to help shape my own makeup and hair designs. Though there isn't all that much I can take as influence from this movie, I am definitely going to look into the history of mental Asylums.

Bloody Mary: Supernatural

SUPERNATURAL: SEASON 1 EPISODE 5: BLOODY MARY

Being a fan of the series of Supernatural, once I was aware I was doing two looks based on the Urban Legend of Bloody Mary I instantly remembered one of the first episodes based around the story. When they were writing the script to this episode they obviously did a lot of research into the ideas behind the Legend, even the Folk Law about spirit becoming trapped in mirrors after death.

The spirit of Mary in this was murdered in front of the mirror making it easy for her to become trapped, in her murder both her eyes were cut out though the murder was never caught due to at the time the police not having the technology to track them down. Because her murder got away, Mary became restless and vengeful, she didn't however attack anyone who called to her, she would be summoned to the house and present herself in any reflection in the home, attacking those who she believe deserve to die, these people would be hiding secrets and feel guilty towards another's death and involved in the death in some form. Though some people would be innocent, they just felt as though the death's were their fault, other were truly guilty of murder.

As in almost all the Legends, those who are killed by Mary suffer the same death, though in this she didn't physically inflict the damage upon the person, their body would almost morph and take on the damage itself resulting in the loss of their eyes and ultimately death.

I really like the idea of damage being inflicted onto the summoner though not being personally inflicted by the spirit, it leaves my ideas open to show the cause of death on the innocent persona and focus on making the reflection persona more insane.

Bloody Mary: 'i fink u freeky'

DIE ANTWOORD: 'I FINK U FREEKY'

I have involved this music video in my research mostly because of my fascination over the simple but very effective makeup done to Yolandi Visser.

I love how clean and light it all is, but then contradicted by the red blood and black eyes making it more eye-catching and disturbing. I am absolutely in love with this design and am inspired to create something just as striking, taking a few ideas from the image itself in a few of my ideas. One look I will experiment with the idea of is the very pale base and hair to help highlight the more disturbing elements of the design such as any blood involved etc. I find this image to be a very key inspiration in a lot of my future designs for this project.

Reference:

Tenion. [online] [viewed 14 April 2013] Available From: http://www.givemeenoughrope.com/2012/02/09/die-antwoord-i-fink-u-freeky/

Bloody Mary: Opheliac

EMILIE AUTUMN: OPHELIAC

Seeing as the brief is to create two looks for a  music video, finding the right song to use is an important part of developing ideas and a great source of inspiration towards the looks. The song I have decided upon is Emilie Autumn's track 'Opheliac'. This being because the lyrics almost refer to having a secret personality which I could use as the reflection of 'Bloody Mary'. The singing voice of the verses being much calmer then that of the chorus which has a more insane and rough tone.

The title of the song is also defined as the disease of "Ophelia" which is an illness where the inflicted person suffers with self destructive behaviorism of both external and internal influences, and the inability to distinguish the two. They may also present mental illness such as bipolar disorder.

I think I can successfully create two looks inspired by the lyrics and the vocal changes in the song. One look being more innocent and the main character in the video, haunted by the second look in the mirrors, this look being more deranged and insane. One idea I have is from the idea of insanity which was influenced by the title of Emilie Autumn's tour: The Asylum Tour, the idea being that the insane persona would have a more periodic look and her insanity would have placed her in an asylum so the treatments she may have undergone would therefore reflect themselves on the main character adding a more tortured appearance to the innocent girl and matching better to the song.

Emilie Autumn herself takes a lot of influence from history and the Victorian Era, so perhaps the periodic look taking influences from this same era to keep within Emilie's own personal view and ideas of her music, designing my ideas to the satisfactions of the artist as well as meeting my own brief requirements. Emilie Autumn has also publish a novel titled: 'The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls' which helps push me towards the ideas of involving the Asylum history into my ideas and final looks.

Overall, I am pleased with my choice of song and the ideas it has helped to inspire me with, I will look into further research behind these initial ideas and see how they inspire me further.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilie_Autumn
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Opheliac

Bloody Mary: History

BLOODY MARY QUEEN OF ENGLAND

There are many ideas behind the Legend of ‘Bloody Mary’, one of these being that the woman who presents herself in the mirror is none other than Mary I, Queen of England. She was bestowed with the nickname of ‘Bloody Mary’ after her brutal persecution of Protestants, with around 300 Protestant heretics faced to death by being burnt to death in a three year period. However, Queen Mary’s reign as Queen was short and she died of an illness, possibly cancer, leaving the throne to her younger half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I.

It is assumed that Queen Mary’s spirit is restless as all she worked towards was undone by that of her half-sister, so she spends her days haunting the mirrors, waiting to be summoned and take her revenge on those who called her, in her eyes, everyone is now guilty of disobeying her laws, simply because times have changed as have laws, but these don’t follow how she wanted things to be so death befalls all those who speak her name three times into the mirror. However, this is only one theory behind this urban legend and there is no real reason to link her other than her nickname.

VENGEFUL SPIRIT OF MARY

Queen Bloody Mary isn’t the only name for the woman in the mirror though: ‘Mary Worth’, ‘Mary Worthington’, ‘Mary Jane’, ‘Mary Whales’, ‘Mary White’ and ‘Hell Mary’ are just a few more names many people use. These names are more personal and related to a variety of different stories and deaths which caused the spirit to attack whoever calls to her.

There is no way to tell what the original story is as several varieties of the story date back from the 1960s and only more versions have arisen since. Though almost all of the stories of Mary follow the ideas that Mary was once beautiful but her face became disfigured as result of a horrific death, being self-obsessed with her appearance her spirit was disturbed and set out to disfigure other people, possibly so that she would not be alone or perhaps out of jealously. She is also thought to be trapped inside the mirror as because she was so obsessed with her beauty she spent most of her time in front of one.

The general theme of all these stories is that you must speak her name three times in order to summon her, she will then attempt to disfigure and possibly kill those who called her, mimicking what happened to her in death. Though there isn’t a solid story to follow for this Legend, it does leave it open to a lot of interpretation and ideas.

SPIRITS TRAPPED IN MIRRORS

In the past during the eighteenth century, there was superstition behind mirrors. It was thought that mirrors must be covered or facing the wall in the presence of a dead person, many people believed that if it was left uncovered it was an open invitation for spirits, meaning that the spirit would become trapped and never be at peace.

In this respect, the Legend of Bloody Mary could have come into being from this belief. Mary could have died in front of a mirror and this caused her spirit to become trapped, in torment from not being able to move on, whoever calls to her is subjected to die in the exact same way so that she wouldn’t be alone in her hell.

Reference:

Queen Mary I. [online] [viewed 12 April 2013] Available From: http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/elizsister.jpg

http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/maryi.aspx

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/bloody_mary.htm

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/museum/hauntedmirrors.htm

Bloody Mary: Gothic Urban Legends Brief

Entering our final term at university we have received the brief to one of our final projects of the term. For the end of this project I will have to have created two different make up looks designed for a music video, the base of the these two looks being from a gothic urban legend.

The legend I was given to base my looks off of is Bloody Mary, the legend about a woman called Mary how’s spirit is supposedly trapped within the mirrors, staying her name three times will summon her and she will inflict how she died upon those who called her. This is only the basics of the myth, so to develop my ideas I am going to look into the history behind the stories.

My research will consist of the history, song choice for video, related music videos, movies and TV. All of this research should help further develop more ideas which I continue research into and design the best possible makeup and hair look for my two final pieces. I am looking forwards to doing this project and have a good feeling about creating the looks, I feel comfortable in this area of makeup and hair design so know I should be able to create something that reflects how into doing this project I am.