Bibliography

Books:

• Stoker, B. 1897, Dracula. The Country Life Press: New York

• Marsh, M. 2009. Compacts and Cosmetics: Beauty from the Victorian Times to the Present Day. South Yorkshire: Remember When

• Ledbetter, K. 2009. British Victorian Women Periodicals: Beauty, Civilisation and Poetry. New York, Palgrave Macmillan

• Yorke, T, 2012. Victorian Gothic House Styles. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books

• Stamp G & Amery C 1980.Victorian Buildings of London 1837-1887. London, The Architectural Press Ltd

• Heldreth, L G & Phar M 1999. The Blood Is The Life: Vampires in Literature. Bowling Green OH, Bowling Green State University Popular Press 

• Miller E, 2000. Dracula: Sense and Nonsense. Dessert Island Books, Westcliff-on-Sea

• Aldrich M, 1997. Gothic Revival. Phaidon, London

• Kilgour M, 1995. The Rise Of The Gothic Novel. Routledge, London

• Mulvey-Roberts M, 1998. The Handbook to Gothic Literature. Macmillan, Basingstoke

• Ruby J, 1999. Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America. MIT,  Cambridge MA 

• Corson R, 1965. Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years. Peter Owen, London 

• Bryer R, 2000. The History of Hair: Fashion and Fantasy Down The Ages. Philip Wilson, London 

• Sherrow, V. 2006. Encyclopedia of Hair. A Cultural History. Greenwood London 

• Punter D, 1996. The Literature Of Terror: The Modern Gothic. Wesley Longman, New York 

• Cavallaro  D, 2002. The Gothic Vision: Three Centuries of Horror, Terror and Fear. Continuum, London

• Levina M & Bui, 2013. Monster Culture in the 21st Century: a reader. Bloomsbury Academic, New York 

• Palmer P, 1999. Lesbian Gothic: Trangressive Fictions. Cassell, London 

• Le Fanu J S, 1964. Best Ghost Stories. Dover, New York 

• Birchwood J & Jackson C, 2001. Schizophrenia. Psychology Press, Hove 

• Geekie J & Read J, 2009. Making Sense of Madness: Contesting The Meaning of Schizophrenia. Routledge, Hove 

• Warner R, 2000. The Environment of Schizophrenia: Brunner-Routledge, London

• Williams F, 2000. Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. Fitzroy Dearborn, Chicago, IL

• King S, 1987. IT. Hodder and Stoughton, London 

• Aucoin K, 1994. The Art of Makeup. Prion, London

• Aucoin K, 1997. Making Faces. Little Brown, New York

Films:

• Tod Browning. Dracula, 1931 [digital video] ITV

• Terence Fisher. Dracula, 1958 [digital video] BBC4

• Francis Ford Coppola. Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992 [digital video] CH4 

• The Art of Gothic, 2014 [digital video] BBC4 

• Tod Browning. Freaks, 1932 [digital video] CH4

• Joseph. P. Stachura. Scream At The Devil, 2015 [digital video] 

• Stephen King. IT, 1990 [digital video] 

Websites:

• Victoria & Albert Museum, Gothic Architecture [viewed 2nd February 2016] Available from: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gothic-architecture/

• Reilly J, 2013. Victorian Photographs [viewed on 3rd February 2016] Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2450832/Victorian-photographs-relatives-posing-alongside-dead-bodies.html

• Waggoner B, 2004. Understanding HD Formats [viewed on 28th February 2016] Available from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/understandinghdformats.aspx 

• BBC Academy-Production, Tips: Make-Up for HD [viewed on 28th February 2016] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112136285 

• Blaney S, Getty Images. Vintage Photo of Victorian Family Circa [viewed on 28th February 2016] Available from: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/vintage-photo-of-victorian-family-circa-high-res-stock-photography/139839974  

• Grover S, Movie Mistakes Dracula(1992) [viewed on 28th February 2016] Available from: http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture146511 

• Zarate K & Szaroleta T, 2009. Vampire 101: A History of The Fanged One [viewed on 28th February 2016] Available From: http://jacksonville.com/lifestyles/2009-10-27/story/vampire_101_a_history_of_the_fanged_one   

• Sylwia Makris Photography, 2012. Vogue Italia Talent Shooting [viewed on 29th March 2016] Available From: http://www.sylwiamakris.com/index.php/art-portfolio/projects/vogueitalia-talent-shooting.html 

• Sylwia Makris Photography. Diadema [viewed on 29th March 2016] Available From: http://www.sylwiamakris.com/index.php/art-portfolio/projects/diadema.html

• Aitken Jolly Photography, 2012. Dansk Fall Circus Humans [viewed on 29 March 2016] Available From: http://beforeyoukillusall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/editorial-dansk-magazine-28-circus.html 

• Chris Nicholls, 2015. Contour Style, Gold Meltdown, Dress to Kill Magazine [viewed on 28th March 2016] Available From: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/license/463129946  

• Dr Puneet Gupta. Blue Veins Under Eyes [viewed on 8th March 2016] Available From: http://www.drpuneetgupta.co.uk/procedures/spider-veins.html 

• Cheryl Kurelo, 2013. Causes of Spider Veins on the Face [viewed 8th March 2016] Available From: http://www.livestrong.com/article/197714-causes-of-spider-veins-on-the-face/  

• Ryan Roschke, 2014. Which of American Horror Story's Freaks Are Based On Real Circus Acts [viewed 16th March 2016] Available From: http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Real-People-From-American-Horror-Story-Freak-Show-35779436#photo-35779436 

• Human Marvels. Freaks, Geeks and Human Oddities [viewed 16th March 2016] Available From: http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/ 

• Victoria & Albert Museum. The First Circus [viewed 17th March 2016] Available From: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-first-circus/ 

• Tall Girl in a Small World, 2013 [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://tallgirlinasmallworld.blog.com/2013/06/13/on-why-i-love-magazines-i-cant-read

• Ellen Wallwork, 2015. London Fashion Week Beauty Trend: Gareth Pugh sees Spring 2016 as the Season of Clown Chick [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/20/london-fashion-week-beauty-trend-gareth-pugh_n_8165164.html 

Claudia- Face Chart Designs & Practice

As my chosen TV series the American horror story freak show is based during the 1950's, the makeup designs that I have created for Claudia are more so makeup of that time. The 1950's was all about the winged eyeliner, strong shadow and the bold red lips. This particular make up design has the basic features that 1950's makeup would have. For the base I would use my models skin colour matching foundation. On the eyes I would use very subtle colours which are the neutral beige and brown colours.

I would have the classic winged eyeliner and would have just mascara on the lashes to keep the lashes looking natural then supposed to fake. On the lips I would have the red lipstick 009 from the lipstick palette. However as every makeup technique in this design is based on the 1950's makeup, I wanted there to be some element in the make up that describes Claudia's mental state and that is the reason I have messy brows in the design. From the image of Chris Nicholls I got the inspiration of the messy brows. This explains hints out to there is something wrong with Claudia. I would use mascara on the brows and comb them in the opposite direction as this would give me a messy texture.

Looking at makeup from the 1950's I created this design and I was quite pleased with how it looked when I practiced the look. It has all the elements of the typical 50's makeup including the messy brows that were an addition to my design. Although, I was happy with the look I wasn't quite sure whether I want to have the winged eyeliner in my final design as I think this might be a little too modern as Claudia has mental disorders how will she have perfect winged eyeliner everyday? I think I will opt this out from my final design. 

Moving on from the first design that I created I came up with this second design. I kept all the elements of the 1950's make up as well as the messy brows apart from the winged eyeliner as I wanted to try and see how this design would come out without it. However, I decided to smudge the red lipstick from the corner of the lips as I thought just leaving the makeup as the first design might be a little too modern. I will use fake blood for the smear from the corner of the lips as this would be more freaky and more towards the horror side.


Keeping the messy brows and the smeared lip in this design, taking inspiration from the Image of Chris Nicholls I would like my model to have a similar pose for my final images of Claudia. I would also have blood on her hand as this will make her even more of a freak or a beautiful freak shall I say. As in my character profile of Claudia she has a mental disorder I would really like to portray this from her makeup and her expression(this will be my model's expression).

Combining all the elements from my first and second make up design I came up with this third design in which I decided to make half of her face looking flawless having the 1950's elements and decided to have the other half of her face looking the complete opposite and showing how much of a mess she really is. On the left side I kept the winged eye liner, a clean brow, the eye shadow and the clean lips. On the other side of the face I made it a little dramatic.

I kept the messy brow on the left side and went in with black shadow instead of subtle colours. I pulled the shadow upwards and made it look winged to give the cat eye effect. Using the same black shadow I created little tear like structures under the eye. However, these are not tears and they represent how mentally deranged Claudia actually is. I also went in with a darker contour and smudged the lips as I wanted that side to represent the darker side of Claudia.

I practiced this design as I was eager to see what the finished outcome would be as this is half the face of Claudia's beautiful face while the other side shows her disorders and the freak side of her. I liked the idea of having each side of the face representing Claudia's characteristics. However, I wasn't really happy with the way it looked in person. I wasn't pleased with the way the eye makeup looked as seen in the image. I think I should have used supra colour to create the black tears at the bottom the eye instead of eye shadow as this would have looked much more prominent and bold. Looking at the overall design I don't think I will be using this as my final design for Claudia. 

Ref:
Aucoin K, 1994. The Art of Makeup. Prion, London
Aucoin K, 1997. Making Faces. Little Brown, New York

Scream At The Devil

Scream at the devil was directed and written by Joseph. P. Stachura. It is the story about Miriam Jones who has Schizophrenia and usually hallucinates. She things related to the devil that are not usually present there at that particular time. As time goes by she is pushed over the edge and her disorder gets worse day by day as she wants her husband to admit to his affairs. 

Her hallucinations then become an insane as her husband eventually leaves her and Miriam's mental state gets worse and is then put into a mental institute where the ward keepers experience very weird and creepy behaviour from her and in the end Miriam eventually takes her own life. The whole movie is lined around Miriam and her story with the mental disorder Schizophrenia. 

This movie also shows the effects of both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. As I stated in the schizophrenia research blog post about the symptoms of this disorder, Miriam in this movie who suffers from this disorder has both these symptoms as at times she would engage very weirdly with the outer world and see things that do not exist and imagine things happening around her when they really aren't. At other times she would just stay to herself and lock herself indoors from the outer world. This seems like Claudia, would have both the negative and positive symptoms of this disorder as she stays indoor whilst imaging Quentin.

As soon I watched the movie I could relate it back to Claudia's character as they are very similar. The only difference is that Miriam hallucinates about the devil where as Claudia hallucinates about Quentin's affairs. Claudia has Schizophrenia as well and this is the reason why she hallucinates about Quentin as he is her imagination. Another similarity was the fact that they both think that they are being cheated on, when in reality it is only their imagination. This was a good movie to watch and I now have a better understanding towards people with mental disorders, however as this was a horror film I strongly believe that some parts in the movie have been over exaggerated.

Ref:
Joseph. P. Stachura. Scream At The Devil, 2015 [digital video]

Lighting Inspirations for Claudia

This is an image by Sylwia Makris for a shoot called Diadema. I really loved how all the images from this shoot particularly have really dark lighting and the only amount of lighting present in the image is the lighting on the model with the rest all dark. I would have to work with the lighting on the day of the shoot and see which one works best.

I want to have dark lighting for Claudia as, I want the images to describe the mental disorders she has. I know it is impossible to do this through makeup and lighting. However, I want to try and see if makeup, lighting and expressions can actually describe a persons personality. This will be the biggest challenge for me. However, I will try my best and see if this will work.

This image was taken by  the photographer Sylwia Makris. It was shot for the Vogue Italia talent shooting. The makeup artists that worked on this shoot were Kerstin Stengel and Claudia Busch. This image particularly inspired me due to the lighting and the  styling in the picture. As Claudia has never the left the house I thought this would be the perfect lighting to shoot her in.

I like how the surroundings of the model is dark and the only bright light in the image is the light just hitting the models face. I also liked the styling of the image. The net/veil that goes around her face could hide a million emotions. On the other hand it could also mean that she doesn't want anybody particularly Quentin to know what she really is like.

This image was taken by Aitken Jolly and this shoot was called Circus Humans. The name of the shoot as well as the image inspired me as they relate well back to my character Claudia. The lighting I thought would be really bright for my shoot but I like the model's pose and styling. I like the veil/net on the model's face as similar to the image at he top. I liked the pose as if I get my model to sit down in the studio it will have a cool effect on the lighting and I can also check if this will help the lighting get darker around the model.

The model's pose and styling relate back to freaks as she has her hands wrapped in bandages. The way the model is sated on the floor, that is not a normal way of sitting on the floor. These factors make the whole image look a little more creepy. Also the expression on the model's face makes the viewers wonder, why so serious. I think that these points will count towards my shoot and will have a big impact on the outcome to the final pictures.



Ref:

• Sylwia Makris Photography, 2012. Vogue Italia Talent Shooting [viewed on 29th March 2016] Available From: http://www.sylwiamakris.com/index.php/art-portfolio/projects/vogueitalia-talent-shooting.html
• Aitken Jolly Photography, 2012. Dansk Fall Circus Humans [viewed on 29 March 2016] Available From: http://beforeyoukillusall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/editorial-dansk-magazine-28-circus.html

Messy Brows Inspiration-Claudia

This particular image inspired me for the creation of Claudia's make-up. I wouldn't use all the elements as they would not relate back the time period in which my chosen tv series is set in as it looks a bit to modern. I really like the look of the messy brows. I would like to use this for my final design for Claudia.

This could clearly represent her mental disorder is creeping all over her. This could represent her confusion, fear and jealousy. Her pose in this image is also something I would consider as I like the smudge of her lipstick in the corner of her mouth and the red colour on her finger. Relating this back to Claudia the colour on her hand and smudged from the corner of her lips could mean many things. 

Could this mean that Claudia is harming herself? Could this be from the fear of Mrs Laderman? Does Claudia want to end her life? All these questions can be asked looking at this image relating it back to Claudia. I would use fake blood when creating my character version of Claudia keeping in mind the time the show was set in. 

Looking at other inspiration, I came across this look that was worn by a model at the Alexander McQueen collection. As I want Claudia to have messy brows, I really liked this look of the brows. There are fake lashes that have been used as the brows. I like how it looks just really messy but beautiful and divine at the same time. 

However, I think this would be too dramatic for Claudia as described in her character profile she always wants to look as beautiful as she can for Quentin her imaginary boyfriend. Yet I wanted her makeup to kind of describe her mental disorder. I also wanted her make up to scream out saying, "Yes I'm beautiful but I'm also a freak." 

I would prefer to go for the messy brows look in the image at the top as it is quite subtle yet gives an impact on the viewer looking at the image. I would mess up my model's natural brows using mascara and disposable mascara wands. I will have to try and test this out before the actual creation of Claudia, to check whether it works or not. 

Ref:

• Chris Nicholls, 2015. Contour Style, Gold Meltdown, Dress to Kill Magazine [viewed 28th March 2016] Available From: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/license/463129946 
• Alexander McQueen, 2015. The 10 Greatest Makeup Looks [viewed 28th March 2016] Available From: http://mascarawars.com/alexander-mcqueen-makeup/

Hair Inspirations for Claudia

As I my TV series was based in the 1950's, I want to design a hairstyle for Claudia that would be based around that era. The image in the right shows a 1950's makeup and hair look that was recreated today. I really like the wave in the hair and as learnt from all the practical hair sessions I have had so far this can be achieved from setting the hair with hot rollers. Looking at the 50's up do's the hair had structure to one side of the hair and there would always be a side parting to the hair.

The image on the right is an image from the 50's and also has the structure and the curve in the hair. Its seems as if the hair has been set in curls and has been put up in maybe a horizontal french twist at the bottom of the hair. The structure in the hair almost reminds me of the Victorian hairstyles more towards the contemporary style as seen in American horror story.

For my design on Claudia, I would like to have the curve in the hair as the structure and would perhaps put the hair into a horizontal french twist at the bottom as I would like her hair to be up. For this I would set her hair in rollers to  get the volume and the structure in my model's hair. I would then slightly shape the hair to one prominent side without having a strong lined side parting. I would want to have a similar curve in the hair to the ones in the images above at the front side of my models hair.

Claudia Moodboard

Mental Disorders- Schizophrenia (Claudia)

Not many people know what is exactly meant by the term schizophrenia. Even though this mental disorder is quite wide spread most people know less about it. People with schizophrenia are seen being more of alien like, mysterious and aggressive compared to any that diseases like cancer or aids. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder. A person who suffers from schizophrenia usually has impaired emotions and thinking. Hallucinations are also common in the people who suffer from this mental disorder.

Hallucinations and abnormal experiences are often seen as the positive symptoms of this mental disorder. Even though these are not normal they are still seen as positive symptoms as they involve emotions and the persons indulgence with life that they have no clue about. On the other hand schizophrenia also has negative symptoms. These are that the suffers not having any emotion at all  in which they shut themselves from everyone. The behaviour of the people who get the negative symptoms is usually calmer than the ones with positive symptoms.

Schizophrenia has two common functional psychoses which are bipolar disorder and schizophrenia itself. Bipolar disorder usually has symptoms related to severe mood swings. Where as schizophrenia has symptoms related to a person lacking emotions completely or having too many inappropriate emotions. Hallucinations can occur in both conditions however, in schizophrenia the person hallucinating will often feel like they are being controlled by outside forces. The point of being controlled by outside forces is usually portrayed in many horror films.

Schizophrenia is developed due to a deficit in the regulation of the normal brain activity by interneurons and this causes the brain t over react to situations in the surrounding environment. Kraepelin argued that recovery from schizophrenia was impossible and that the suffers only got worse with time instead of getting better. However, Warner disagrees and differentiates between clinical recovery, in which the suffers undergo the loss of psychotic symptoms and complete recovery in which they have the loss of psychotic symptoms to gaining levels of functions that occurred before the diagnosis of Schizophrenia.


Ref:
Birchwood J & Jackson C, 2001. Schizophrenia. Psychology Press, Hove
Geekie J & Read J, 2009. Making Sense of Madness: Contesting The Meaning of Schizophrenia. Routledge, Hove
Warner R, 2000. The Environment of Schizophrenia: Brunner-Routledge, London

Mrs Laderman- Face Chart Designs & Practice

As I want Mrs Laderman to be the clown character for the freak show TV series. This is one of the face charts I designed and practiced on myself. What I liked about this design is the fact that it has the horror elements as it is for American horror story. I was not really happy with the way the way it looks in reality once I had practiced it on my face. I was happy with the mouth area and not too happy with the way the eye area came out. It kind of looks a little too fake and more of a Halloween type makeup. I did mot like the way the wrinkles came out in the middle of the forehead as it looks unreal. I wanted to create a freak, however this looks a little scary as it has the horror elements but I don't think I shall use this as my design for Mrs Laderman.























This was another design that I created for Mrs Laderman. I came up with this design from the the research I did on clown makeup in fashion. I wanted to combine the both and see what result I would get at the end. I used my skin colour matching foundation as the base and set it using translucent powder. I then used black supra colour to create the design around my eyes and to create the design on the lips. I like the finished look of this design. However, I think it looks better on paper then it does in person. I feel that this is because it is hard to create very symmetrical lines next to the nose and also the area between the eyes and brows is too big. I like the way the nose looks as it is a very modern type of a clown nose and not the classic big round nose of a clown. I thought that this look would be great for runways but I'm not sure whether I can use it for the TV series. I would like Mrs Laderman to look more freaky than this look. I thought that this look describes a beautiful clown rather than a terrifying clown.























This was the third design I came up with for Mrs Laderman and I was really pleased with the finished outcome of this look as it has a very realistic look to it. I liked all the shadings in the practice that I did because I really feel that they brought the design to life. I used supra colours to create this design as well as black eye shadow to create the shadows. However, I think it has more of a skull look rather than a clown look. It has the appearance of a Halloween skull more like the grim reaper rather than a freaky clown look. For this reason, I don't think I'll use this as my final design.

Superstitions Presented in Circus Shows

Superstitions are characterised as pseudoscience, however they are so widespread and are known to be immune to science. There are many people who believe in he pseudoscience side rather than science. Astrology, fortune telling, black magic and many more are examples of pseudoscience. Where as all things to do with technology are considered to be science based. 

Astrologists are normally at circus shows. Astrologers use the planets and stars to give a person some sort of information about their future. Some people believe in astrology a lot and their life revolves around this myth. They would do whatever the astrologer would tell them to do for a better tomorrow. 

Some critics argue whether astrology is really true or not. they believe that if this was true why couldn't we know about real life crises like, aids global warning and nuclear weapons beforehand? Also, if we know that the world might be ending due o global warming why can't science do something about this situation beforehand? This leaves some people just hanging around, as what do we put our trust in science or pseudoscience?

Along with Astrology, divination also known as fortune telling is also a superstition that is presented in circus shows. Fortune telling is not an ordinary power that certain people have. Its is done using supernatural or magical means. Fortune telling consists of information on future events, finding information about the past and much more. Fortune telling started from the ancient world and still continues today.

It is known to be part of some religions not all. For example, Christianity does not agree with this supernatural activity. They believe that this could be harmful for the church as, people will no longer believe in a priest any longer. There are normally two main ways of fortune telling.These are using tarot cards and a way in which the fortune teller enters a special physic state and then transmits information to the client.

Some critics say that fortune tellers are nothing but frauds and are just arty performers. This is just a way for them to get money from innocent people. Some also say that fortune tellers do not have any special powers and that they do not possess anything more than the knowledge of normal human nature. I believe that fortune telling is not true to some aspects as no one ever knows what will happen tomorrow. I think it is all a myth, however some people do believe in these superstitions and thats their personal preference.

Relating this back to Mrs Laderman, she has the power of her third eye, that always watches over Claudia. How could this be possible? Could she also have some sort of superstition power that enables her to know wha Claudia is up to, even without her physically being with her?

Ref:
Williams F, 2000. Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. Fitzroy Dearborn, Chicago, IL

Clown MakeUp Used in Fashion

Looking at clowns I wanted to see whether 'clown makeup' was used in the fashion industry as it is commonly used in the horror film industry. The images above show catwalk images from different shows by different fashion designers and makeup artists. In the film industry clowns usually have more extreme makeup in the sense of special effects and the creepiness level. However, looking at these images it shows that horror and fashion can be mixed with each other and these two genres do work well with each other.

The image on the top left corner is from the the Gareth Pugh Spring 2016 collection of the clown chick, in which clown make up has been worn by the models with a twist of modernity. The makeup artist for this show was Mac's Val Garland and other Mac artists. This clown make up was really modernised and looks creepy in a way too. I think that the model's face is covered with a gauze, the hair line being too high up with the coloured wig and the bright colours on the face make it beautiful and a little terrifying at the same time. It almost looks like fake doll on the runway as it looks like plastic and creepy.

The image on the top right corner is from the Vogue Paris Haute Couture in the Circus Spring 2012 collection. The model on the left side in the image is wearing clown makeup. Looking at the image the clown makeup looks much more clown like than the picture on the left. This is more of the traditional clown makeup. However it is slightly modern slightly around the eyes design and not having the classic clown nose. To me this is a more beautiful version of clown makeup as just looking at it feels so sublime.

The image at the bottom is from the Yoshio Kubo Spring/Summer  2013 collection. To me the clown makeup worn by the model is the most closest to the traditional clown makeup that clowns have been wearing since the past. As it has all the classic items like Stephen King described the typical look of clowns back in the day. Relating this mixture of fashion and clown makeup to Mrs Laderman as she is going to be the clown freak figure in the tv series, I could think of combining these two genres and see what effect I get as the finished result.


Ref:
Tall Girl in a Small World, 2013 [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://tallgirlinasmallworld.blog.com/2013/06/13/on-why-i-love-magazines-i-cant-read
Ellen Wallwork, 2015. London Fashion Week Beauty Trend: Gareth Pugh sees Spring 2016 as the Season of Clown Chick [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/20/london-fashion-week-beauty-trend-gareth-pugh_n_8165164.html

The Clown Transformation Timeline

1950's Pickle Clown Ad

1960's Cereal Commercial 

1990's IT- Pennywise

 

2004 Fear of Clowns 

2009 Zombieland-Zombie Clown

2014 American Horror Story-Twisty The Clown

2015 Banned Clown Halloween Ad

I created the above timeline to show the transformations in clowns from the past till today. Looking at this timeline it shows how drastically the look of clowns has changes in the years from the 1950's stepping into the 21st century. Looking at the image of the pickle advertisement in the 1950's the clowns had very simple yet very clown like makeup. I guess this would be definitely known as the traditional clown makeup. Looking at the clown it doesn't look scary at all. I think this is because of the use of light colours instead of bold strong colours. I also think a clowns smile makes it look scary or not at all. This specific clown has a rounded smile mouth. I think as the edges are not pointy at all this makes it less terrifying.

Next I found this clip on YouTube that is a cereal commercial from the 1960's. Looking at the clowns make up everything has started becoming pointy at the edges specially the smile and there is less colour used or maybe this is because the commercial is black and white. The dimensions of the details draw on the clowns face have started becoming thinner and looking a little more creepy. I also think that why would you have a clown doing a commercial ad for cereal. The next clown in the time line is Penny wise created by the legend Stephen King in 1990.

This was the first dramatic and terrifying change in the history of clowns. Looking at Pennywise his mouth is the most scariest part of him. I also think that the high hair line and the red hair as well as the big red nose make the clown look scary. From this point forward clowns began to appear in horror films rather than circuses where they were originally born and were ever so friendly. This is th reason that people have developed Coulrophobia today.

Coulrophobia is the excessive fear of clowns. Some people are extremely terrified of clowns. Carrying on with my research I came across the clown Halloween advertisement that is at the bottom of the timeline. This as was published in 2015 and was banned as several people complained of how terrifying it was for them and their children. Their is one question to think about that no one has ever answered till today and that is, "why have clowns become an excessively terrifying figure?" I guess this will continue as the years go by and more terrifying clowns will be created by the horror industry.

I looked at how the appearance of clowns has changed along the years as I wanted to see how I could design the clown make up for Mrs Laderman. As I will be crating her as a third eyed freak I wanted to have a look at the difference and have a look to see how scary I can actually make her look as we are talking about having her as a clown figure in American Horror Story and looking at twisty the clown he is really frightening.


Ref:
Omar Oakes, 2015. Scary Clown Halloween Ad Banned for Being Irresponsible & Causing Offence [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available from: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/scary-clown-halloween-ad-banned-irresponsible-causing-offence/1374263
The 10 Weirdest TvAdverts [digital video] [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/5005220/10-weirdest-TV-adverts-ever.html
Marie D Jones, 2016. Coulrophobia, or is that a Creepy Clown in Your Closet [viewed 23rd March 2016] Available From: http://jimharold.com/tag/clowns/

Mrs Laderman Moodboard

IT- Stephan King

I wanted to find out if clowns were seen as terrifying creatures in the past as they are today. After carrying out my research I found out that clowns were not always monsters in disguise and Stephan King was the first person to show the world a clown as a monster. After this point onward many horror films have portrayed clowns as evil creatures who hide their real identity behind a smile. For example relating this back to my chosen tv series American horror story the freak show this is seen in the form of twisty the clown.

Stephen King first wrote and published the book IT in the year 1987. This book is about a deranged clown who feeds off the fears of its victims. In the novel pennywise the clown is seen exploiting children as they are easier prey. This is because children think that clowns are friendly and its monsters that eat children and not clowns. After the novel a movie by the same name IT, was then released in the year 1990. It had the same story line of the novel.

The clown pennywise is portrayed in a very gruesome way as it hunts for its prey that are normally children. This is because they are considered to be easier prey. Stephan King was the first person and author who portrayed clowns in a horrifying image, as until this tie clowns were seen as happy go colourful people that made children laugh. A question can be raised from this and that is, "Could this be the reason why we are terrified of clowns today?" I came across the video's below, that show interviews of Stephan king himself in which he explains why he himself is afraid of clowns and why he came up with the idea of portraying clowns as a freak. 

In the videos below Stephen King describes a clown that he saw as a child. During his childhood clowns had dead white faces and mouths were red as if they were filled with blood. King in the interview stated, that what scares children the most in a circus, the answer is clowns. Thinking about this myself, clowns are seen as terrifying creatures not only to children but also adults. This is because of how clowns are shown as monsters in disguise in the world of horror.

Relating this back to Mrs Laderman, I want to portray her as a monster in disguise as, in the freak show she will play the role of twisty the clown, who is the original clown of the tv series. This is because as stated in my character profiles Mrs Laderman is the clown character that hides her true colours from Claudia and always watches her from her third eye as she is also a freak of the circus. Looking at clowns as a scary figure has become a trend today as this is commonly seen all the time in fantasy and horror novels and films. However, it can be argued that why are clowns shown in this image while they are meant to child friendly figures.









Ref:
King S, 1987. IT. Hodder and Stoughton, London
Stephen King. IT, 1990 [digital video]

History of Circus Shows

Philip Astley was the creator of the modern circus in England during 1742-1814. He as a major before this and spent 7 years of his life serving the war. On becoming a performer his specialty was displaying his performance a a horse-breaker and trainer as well as performing equestrian tricks.

In the year 1768, Astley opened a riding school next to the Westminster bridge in London, England. During that time performing arts was still a developing talent and here he developed the term circus from the word circle. However, the circus ring was an act that Astley invented as this was done earlier on by other performing trick riders of the time.

In the year 1770, the circus was finally born as Astley hired acrobats, rope-dancers and juggles to be part of the acts. These are some of the popular circus acts today. From the Elizabethan theater he also added another character to the circus the clown and this was the first ever clown that was seen in the history of circus acts. As this was a success, Philip Astley then opened the first circus in Paris in the year 1782. After the success of all these shows then began the American travelling circus in the early nineteenth century.

At this point the circus started making its mark at many other places round the world. This included places like Russia, Australia, New-Zealand, India, China and many more. Getting into the twentieth century acts presented in circus shows were beginning to change and some being restricted from circus acts. For example, clowns were an essential act for all circus shows which included them singing, talking juggling and doing balancing acts. Now adding to all these they would also be expected to perform trampoline somersault acts which were seen as quite fearful at that time compared to the 21st century.

Looking at circus shows now in the 21st century not much has changed. Acts that were famous in the past are still part of shows and more acts have been invented along the way. However, health and safety play a major role in acts around the world more than they did in the past due to some acts being life risking yet being performed at the circus. This could be argued that even though some circus acts are sometimes life threatening why are they still allowed to performed at the circus today.

Ref:
Victoria & Albert Museum. The First Circus [viewed 17th March 2016] Available From: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-first-circus/

American Horror Story- Where Were The Character's Inspired From?

Taking my research further into the season Freak show I wanted to actually see if the freaks that were shown in the freak show were inspired from real people around the world. I found out that some freaks that were presented in American Horror story were actually inspired from real circus acts that have been seen in the past. I also watched a film called Freaks that was released in the year 1932. 

This film pretty much has similar freaks and a similar story line to that of the American horror story freak show. This film could have been an inspiration for the characters and the whole story itself. The film freaks that was released in 1932, is about a circus that consists of freaks and is run by a lady who thinks that she has the best of everything and has a desire to be the best. I thought that this relates back to the freak show as it links to the circus of freaks and Elsa who owns it and wants to be the best of them all. 

The freaks that were presented in American horror story were also quite similar to those in the film freaks(1932). There was a pair of freaks that were co-joined from the shoulders. They were always back to back facing away from each other and had two separate bodies. While in the freak show Bette and Dot were co-joined from the side and had one leg and hand each which was one joint body. They had two heads and were side to side the whole time. I think that American horror story created an extreme version of a freak by making Bette and Dot have one body. The tiny Ma Petite was also inspired from a similar characters in the film freaks(1932).  

Looking at other sources, I found out that Pepper from the American horror story was actually inspired by a Schlitzie. This is the term known for a pinhead. It is known that Schlitzie's condition was infectious. He was actually born a boy but advertised as a girl. Pepper in the freak show was inspired from this Schlitzie. In the freak show there were two pin heads one presented as a girl and one as a boy. Along with Pepper the freak show character Jimmy was also inspired from a real life professional freak show performer Fred Wilson. Just like Pepper and Jimmy the other characters are also inspired as they relate to many real life human oddities.

Ethel the bearded woman in the show was inspired from not just one but many inspirational women. One of them is Helena Antonia from the 17th century that is is the image next to Ethel. The reason why these woman including Ethel had excessive hair is due to a hormonal imbalance. Another reason for this could be the over dosage of anabolic steroids. This look became popular for circus shows as people did come to watch these acts as they were amused by seeing women with beards.

Bette and Dot the co-joined twins were inspired from Millie and Christine McCoy who were twins fused from their spine as seen in the image. They were from North Carolina born in the year 1851. They had all their own organs. However, I think American horror story freak show took the story of Bette and Dot to the next level by them having just one reproductive system. I think they must have done this to increase the audiences anxiety and to get more viewers attracted to the show.

Jimmy in the TV series also known as Lobster boy was inspired from Grady Stiles who also ha lobster claws, not only on his hands but as feet as well. This is a real medical condition that is known as deformity ectodactyly. While carrying out my research I was amazed to find out how many of the freaks from the freak show, were actually inspired from real life medical conditions/oddities. Looking further into the life of Grady Stiles, he was known to have murdered his daughters fiancee. Jimmy was also seen committing a murder could this also be an inspiration for the story line?

Finally, coming to twisty the clown he was inspired from the real life happenings of John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was a serial killer who dressed as a clown when committing the murders, hence twisty is known as the clown killer. Thinking about it this could also be the reason that people are so terrified of clowns today, the fact that the clown killer was a real person who murdered and raped people. This is the exact same story about twisty the clown as he murders people in the series too, that too way too brutally.

Ref:
Tod Browning. Freaks, 1932 [digital video] CH4
Ryan Roschke, 2014. Which of American Horror Story's Freaks Are Based On Real Circus Acts [viewed 16th March 2016] Available From: http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Real-People-From-American-Horror-Story-Freak-Show-35779436#photo-35779436
Jacob Stolworthy, 2014. American Horror Story- the Freak Show Influences [viewed 16th March 2016] Available From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11162007/American-Horror-Story-the-Freakshow-influences.html
Human Marvels. Freaks, Geeks and Human Oddities [viewed 16th March 2016] Available From: http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/

Women in Horror

Women in Horror is an article that shows how female characters in horror tv series like American Horror Story are the foundation of the series. This Tv series breaks boundaries as it is commonly seen that men are usually the ones that always have the lead roles in all shows. However, AHS has changed this mindset and this can be seen as it has many female audiences than men. Saying this, the tv series still does appeal to men as well as some female characters are portrayed in quite a sexual manner. 

American horror story has some strong female characters like: the cougar, the femme fatale, the scorned woman, the mistress and many more. During the San Diego Comic Conference, Jane Espenson said that the secret to writing great female characters is to make them appear flawed. In the AHS series most female characters are seen as inherently damaged. He brought up a a point that could this be what women have to deal with in a daily life and could this be the reason why the show has more of a female audience than men. Could women watching the show relate their daily lives to the show and this leaves them wanting to know what happens next.

Relating this back to American horror story the freak show there are some strong female characters like Desiree, Elsa, Bette and Dot. As well as many more these female characters are portrayed a little more stronger than the rest. However, as Jane Espenson said they are also portrayed as internally damaged in some way or the other.

Relating this point back to Claudia and Mrs Laderman they are both very strong female characters in their own ways. Women that are more vulnerable will relate to Claudia in the context of staying indoors and insecurities about various reasons. On the other hand women that are more stronger mentally will relate to Mrs Laderman as she is in charge and gets everything her way regardless of the situation and surroundings around them. 

American Horror Story Freak Show Moodboard

Changes to Character Profiles - Claudia & Mrs Laderman

From the feedback I got from my initial ideas of my characters Claudia and Quentin, looking further into the story line of American Horror story the freak show and carrying out more research on the characters I decided to change my characters that I will be using as my final two. Initially I had Claudia and Quentin as my characters. However I shall now be using Mrs Laderman instead of Quentin. As the freak show is a story based on freaks who run a circus. Mrs Laderman is in charge of the circus and rules over it.

I still want to use the initial clown make up idea that I had for Quentin, instead now use it on Mrs Laderman instead. Looking at tall the terrifying clowns there has never been a woman as a frightening clown figure and this might attract even a larger amount of the audience to the tv series. As this is a freak show I would like to create Mrs Laderman as a clown character that is aslo a freak in a certain way. This could be shown from her makeup.

Moving onto Claudia, as she was always locked away since her childhood she has developed schizophrenia and as she started to loose her mind she was brought to the circus. As Mrs Laderman brought her into the circus she always looked out for Claudia, however still kept her indoors. Claudia then developed a relationship with Mrs Laderman and she was the only way Claudia could see and know about the outside world, that is activities that take place in the circus outside her room.

Claudia sees Quentin performing in the circus one day and as they start meeting regularly she starts to develop feelings for him. However, when Mrs Laderman gets to know about this she is not very happy as she too has feelings for Quentin and wouldn't let Claudia come near him, hence she is always locked away. Mrs Laderman tells Claudia twisted stories about Quentin and the outside world to keep them apart. This only makes Claudia's mental disorder worse and worse.

Designing Mrs Laderman's look as a freak I want to add extra features to the make up for example an extra eye that would make her a third eye clown freak of the circus. Using this third eye Mrs Laderman always keeps an eye on Claudia making sure she is no where near Quentin. I will have to look into how I will incorporate something like this into the design which I will do by practicing different designs.

Going onto Claudia's makeup I want to have a beautiful face with certain elements that give hints about her mental stability not being right. I will have to research into my design work and see what works best and what horror elements I can use for Claudia's design.

Claudia and Quentin Initial Character Presentation

This is the initial presentation I did on Claudia and Quentin and how they would fit into my chosen Tv series that is, American Horror Story-The Freak show. I chose this particular season as I thought it fits in really well with the gothic horror side due to all the, mysteries, monsters freaks and murders. This season was set in Jupiter Florida in the year 1952. Most people in this world have fears of something or another and this is the reason this show is appealing to the audience as after every the audience is left eager wanting to know what happens next.

The fears related to this season are: phobias, supernatural fortune telling, romantic relationships, monsters and murder mysteries. From the feedback that I got from my tutor I was told to go deeper with my research. As how I have described my characters in this presentation I was to look at closer to the characters in this particular series as there already are similar characters in the show. I could even replace a certain character with my characters and this would be another option. Also I was told to re think about my character profiles for both characters and see how they would fit into this season with a stronger background story.