Gothic Horror: January 2015

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Gothic Horror-Hammer Horror

Twin Lens Film (no date). Twin Lens Film. Available at: http://twinlensfilm.com/?tag=hammer-horror (Accessed: 28 January 2015).

While studying film at A Level we studied Hammer Horror.
Hammer Horror is a British film company that specialised in Gothic Horror. It was founded in 1934 by William Hinds. Although most of their Hammer Horror Series being produced between the 1950's to the mid 70's, Hammer Horror has recently made a revival with their successful film adaptation of the stage play The Woman In Black which now has a sequel being released on Hammers 80th Anniversary Year.

‘The Woman in Black 2 Angel of Death Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Jeremy Irvine Horror Movie HD’ (2014). The Woman in Black 2 Angel of Death Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Jeremy Irvine Horror Movie HD. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYk0slXSY6s (Accessed: 28 January 2015).

Most of the Hammer Horror films are adaptations of Gothic Novels such as Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde.
Critics acclaimed that The Curse of Frankenstein revived the genre of horror after its decline from the 1930's and early 40's

The Curse of Frankenstein (no date). The Curse of Frankenstein | Hammer. Available at: http://www.hammerfilms.com/ourwork/10/the-curse-of-frankenstein (Accessed: 28 January 2015).

The early Hammer Horror Series relies on the dear of classic horror icons. De Montfort Universitys Cinema and Television History Research Centre in Leicester hold the largest collection of Hammer Horror memorabilia and last year it was on display to the public for the first time. Steve Chibnall, the director of CATH and professor of British Cinema said "when I was growing up, Hammer and Horror were virtually synonymous, and seeing one of their films was a rite of passage into adulthood...Of course, they liked to sail as close to the wind as possible as far as the censor was concerned, but their products were memorable and influential internationally, and have now been recognised as Britain's most important contribution to fantasy cinema."

Their new horror films have created a new generation growing up with the Hammer Horror name although this generation will know the new icons created by Hammer such as The Woman in Black, the Vampire from Let Me In and the ghosts from The Quiet Ones.

Ben Nye's Ultimate Old Age Effect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4eSYqBc4ZQ

When researching old age makeup techniques I found this video of Stan Edmonds, a feature film artist who is Head of Department at Vancouver Film Schools makeup Design for Film and Television, demonstrating his techniques to creating old age realism for theatre and film.
In the video he transforms a man and adds years onto his appearance.
Its interesting to see some of the techniques that Stan uses. He focuses on two basic elements; structure and texture. He uses Ben Nye FX Creme Colours and pencils.
He claims his objective is to design layers that blend into the actors own complexion instead of sitting on top.

above is some of Stans work that's available to see on the Vancouver Film Schools website.

Faculty (no date). VFS Webmaster, webmaster@vfs.com. Available at: http://vfs.edu/programs/makeup/faculty/view/688 (Accessed: 28 January 2015).

Old Age Stipple

Old Age Stipple is a Kyolan product which is latex based.

To apply, stretch the area of skin that the stipple will be applied to.
Stipple the product on with a sponge in a thin layer and wait to dry. You could use a cool hairdryer to help dry the latex however always test the heat on yourself before your client and keep the hairdryer moving to avoid rippling the product or burning the skin.
Powder the area and apply another layer.
Repeat this until you're happy with the result.
Release the skin and gently scrunch it up to create wrinkles in the latex.

This product is available from the Charles Fox Website or from Charles Fox in Covent Garden London.

https://uk.kryolan.com/product/old-age-stipple-500-ml

Theatrical Aging of The Skin

Its important to understand how to apply makeup using ageing techniques. Ageing makeup can add just a few years to the face or, when using more dramatic techniques, many years.

Needed

Small pointy brush

Supra Colour Palette

Foundation Brush

Foundation Palette

Disposable Mascara Wand

Black Stipple Sponge

Tooth Enamel

Method

Face

Apply Moisturiser to the skin.
A base colour of foundation can be applied first and will help the colours blend because it is grease working on grease however this is not necessary.
put a pea sized amount of moisturiser onto your palette
Mix together red, green and yellow from the supra colour palette to create a brown, add some black if the colour is too light.
Add the moisturiser to this mixture to thin the consistency.
Asking your model to work with you make them smile and screw their face up so the natural lines in their face are visible. Follow these lines.
Shade the nasolabial crease, the jowls and create eye bags.
screw up the eyes and raise the eyebrows to get the forehead lines
Shade under the cheekbone to make the face appear hollow and gaunt.
Smudge these lines with your finger but not too much. Smudging too much will just make the face look dirty.
Highlight the areas you want to appear prominent eg. in the eye bags, the cheeks, the chin.
This is a theatrical look and so not every line has to be perfect. it is to be seen from a distance.
Using the black stipple sponge in a red and blue mix of supra colour stipple this onto the cheeks, nose and chin to create the appearance of broken veins.
Coating a mascara wand in a TV white colour brush through the brows and lashes.

Teeth

get your client to hold their lip away from their teeth
dry the teeth with a baby bud
paint the tooth enamel onto the teeth with another baby bud
this will give the appearance of rotting or missing teeth.

Saturday 24 January 2015

Victorian "Hairspray"

Whilst researching Victorian hair I came across this video.
It is a video by Ruth Goodman the author of How To Be A Victorian. In the video she styles a ladies hair to resemble the styles of the early Victorian ear which I attempted in my previous blog post. During the video she talks about and makes what she calls Victorian "hairspray".

‘Ruth Goodman’s Victorian Hairstyling 101’ (2013). Ruth Goodman’s Victorian Hairstyling 101. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZLUuRiAt98 (Accessed: 25 January 2015).

The ingredients she uses are;

Gum Arabic
Rose Oil
Vodka/Any white spirit

These things are both readily available now as they were back in the Victorian era. Once mixed together this mixture was either placed on a comb and combed through the hair before styling or used with a finger to smooth down any fly aways.

I found it really interesting to know that the Victorians used to fix their styles with this mixture. It also helps me when designing my Miss Havisham interpretation because now I know that she would have had something to help fix her style in and so even after 20 years her hair will still somewhat resemble the style it once had

because she could of fixed it with this everyday.

Ruth's book would be a really good source for me to cite to help with my research.

Creating an Early Victorian Hairstyle

In class we practised an early Victorian hairstyle. This included a definite centre parting, weight by the cheeks with the hair curled in front sweeping back into a mid to high bun.

Needed;

Tail comb
Hair band
Clips
Curling Tong

Method;

Step one:
Brush through the hair creating a centre parting. Part the hair again behind each ear.

Step 2;

Pull the back section of the hair back into a sleek mid-high bun. secure with pins.

Step 3;

Let the front sections down and curl towards the face, make sure your curling tong is thin. In this session my tong was a lot thicker than I would have liked.

Hold the tong vertical wrapping the hair around it from the very bottom. Tucking the ends in with your tail comb to make sure the ends don't kink.

Step 4:

complete this on both sides and the hairstyle is complete.

At home I was able to practise a second early Victorian hairstyle. This one included a plait which looped around the ear rather than curls. Just like the one shown below.

Complete all the previous sectioning step but instead of curling the hair, plait the hair bringing it slightly forward onto the cheek.

Loop the hair around the ear and connect to the bun.

Victorian Hairstyles

Due to Queen Victoria's long reign Victorian hairstyles changed significantly during her time on the throne. this is most visible from the early Victorian era to the late Victorian era.
The Victorian women didn't cut their hair and so it was very long and worn up.
When Victoria came to the throne it was in fashion to have what was known as a double parting, a V shaped parting. After a few years this moved on to a more obvious middle parting The weight of the hair was high up on the cheek bones, this could be either as ringlet, tight curls that fell onto the cheeks or a smooth sleek plait that swept back. the back of the hair would be in a middle to high bun. the hair was never low.
If women had shorter hair at the front or a fringe it had to be curled.
These high buns were called Apollo Knots and were styled so they would fit under the ladies hats.

The allure of the bun (no date). 4 Responses to The allure of the bun. Available at: http://www.behindballet.com/the-allure-of-the-bun/ (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

As you can see in this diagram above the buns were high and the fringes were curled.

Victorian Hair Jewelry (no date). Victorian Hair Jewelry | How to Make Victorian Jewelry. Available at: http://www.victoriana.com/Jewelry/victorian-hair-jewelry.html (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

This picture depicts an early Victorian hairstyle probably around 1840. the weight is high up on the cheek bone and the centre parting is obvious.

As the years went on the curls by the side of the face moved further back towards the ear and dropped a little.

Beautiful Victorian Hairstyles (no date). Beautiful Victorian Hairstyles | Victorian Hairstyle Pictures. Available at: http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/beautiful-victorian-hairstyles.html (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

As the decades went on ladies attitudes to hair loosened and the styles became looser and more romantic, the curls dropped from ringlets to be loose curls and they moved further back.

The curling tong was invented in 1866 and so this made curling the hair easier and quicker making it a lot more fashionable to have a lot of the hair curled, however this tong was not like one we'd use today. It was made completely of metal and the ladies would place this in an oven like box to heat it up. It was incredibly damaging to the hair due to the temperature the tong would reach and the amount the women used this on their hair.

Its known that the women of the mid to late Victorian era used padding in their hair or would collect the hair that they lost and use this as a rat just like in the Elizabethan era. This gave for higher more elaborate hair styles. Women also would leave curls out of the bun to cover the neck. All the weight of the hair was in the back.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88idTcHjd7U/Uaz4iRrj0nI/AAAAA
AAAAio/ilEpKuZjyGk/s1600/victorian-hairstyles.jpg

Great Expectations Miss Havisham and her Portrayals

A brief synopsis of the book

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens following the protagonist Pip as he grows up as the son of a blacksmith growing into a London City gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor and Miss Havisham, An emotionally destroyed woman who is heart broken after her fiance didn't show up to their wedding. Miss Havisham introduces Pip to her foster daughter Estella and they fall in love. The story follows Pip as he tries to win over cold hearted Estella and discover the identity of his benefactor.

Miss Havisham according to the novel

Miss Havisham is described in the book as;

'..a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress, that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement.'

After being left at the altar Miss Havisham decides to spend the rest of her life locked away from the world in her house. She's stuck in time, still wearing her wedding dress.

'I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but that brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young women, and that the figure upon which it now loose, had shrunk to skin and bone.'

'..her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine..'

'..I felt as if the stopping of the clocks had stopped Time in that mysterious place, and, while I and everything else outside it grew older, it stood still. Daylight never entered the house..'

'"The marriage day was fixed, the wedding dresses were bought, the wedding tour was planned out, the wedding guests were invited. The day came, but not the bridegroom. He wrote a letter -"
"Which she received," I struck in, "when she was dressing for her marriage? At twenty minutes to nine?"..
.."she has never since looked upon the light of day."

Dickens, C. and Bartlett, N. (2007) Great Expectations. United Kingdom: Theatre Communications Group.

Portrayals of Miss Havisham

Florence Reed 1934

Walker, S. (1934) Great Expectations.

This 1934 film directed by Stuart Walker had Florence Reed depict the character of Miss Havisham. I don't find this film to be historically accurate according to the visual styling of the character. Jack P Pierce was the makeup artist on this film. As can be seen in the picture above Estella's makeup reflects the late 20's early 30's rather than the minimal cosmetics used in the 1800's. Miss Havisham would have a hairstyle from the 1790's- early 1800's however in this film the hair is not reflective of this.

Martita Hunt 1946

Correspondent, L. C., Education (2010) ‘Return to real lessons: Dickens and key dates in history to be taught to raise standards’, News, 2 July. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291188/Modern-students-poor-grasp-history-depressing-says-Schools-minister.html (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

Directed by David Lean this 1946 interpretation of Miss Havisham was portrayed by Martita Hunt. Roger Ebert the notorious film critic later wrote in 1999 that she "dominated the films early scenes, playing Miss Havisham as a beak-nosed, shabby figure, bedecked in crumbling lace and linen, not undernourished despite her long excile."

Margaret Leighton 1974

Directed by Joseph Hardy 1974 TV film shows Margaret Leighton portray Miss Havisham. Theatrical ageing using makeup is visible in this character. Although this productions criticism was mainly negative McFarlane expressed some admiration for Margaret Leighton's interpretation of the jilted Miss Havisham.

Joan Hickson 1981

In 1981 Joan Hickson played Miss Havisham in this TV mini-series directed by Julian Amyes. Miss Havishams hairstyle in this series is one of the early Victorian era which would be historically correct. Gwen Arthy was the makeup and hair stylist on this film.

Jean Simmons 1989

Jean Simmons who played Estella in the 1946 version of Great Expectations went on to play Miss Havisham 43 years later in this TV mini series. Eithne Fennel was the chief hairstylist and Eddie Knight was the key makeup artist on this production. "she is magnificent as Miss Havisham. she completely subsumes that vibrant personality of hers into the role of the bitter, vindictive old woman, to the point where I hardly would have recognised her....The lighting and camera angles and set are all artfully managed to add to her air of mystery and gloom, and again give the film a bit of that Gothic Horror feel."-Patti (no date) Dickensblog. March 24, 2010. Available at: http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2010/03/great-expectations-1989-part-1.html (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

Anne Bancroft 1998

In 1998 Alfonso Cuaron created a modernised interpretation of dickens novel set in New York. Anne Bancroft played Ms. Dinsmoor. Roger Ebert said "Anne Bancroft's performance is interesting: Despite the weird eye makeup and the cigarettes, despite the flamboyant clothing, she is human, and not without humour." This version of Miss Havisham is so different and unique from the others I felt I had to include it.

Gillian Rampling 1999

In 1999 Gillian Rampling played Miss Havisham. Fran Needham was the makeup designer. Although Rampling is an acclaimed actress I just don't feel that the makeup department went in the right direction when designing this character. She does not look old enough or as if she is stuck in time.

Helena Bonham Carter 2012

One of the most famous depictions of Miss Havisham was portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in 2012. The hair and makeup in this film is reflective of the era in which it is set although Helena seems to be playing herself rather than the character of Miss Havisham. She plays it very similar to the rest of her roles.

Gillian Anderson 2011

Gillian Anderson, Great Expectations (no date). 2013-02-20T00:00:00Z. Available at: http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/interviewextra/gillian-anderson-great-expectations (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

Although not the latest adaptation I have put this film last in my listing because it is my favourite interpretation of Miss Havisham. Throughout the series Miss Havisham gets more and more decrepid. The curls which once framed her face fall out and her skin breaks due to malnutrition. I love the fact that Gillian gives Miss Havisham a nervous tick, constantly picking at the skin on the back of her hand to portray her social anxiety. One of my favourite aspects of the makeup designed by Kristin Chalmers are the lips. Miss Havishams lips are dry and flaking, they look soar. this could be due to dehydration or malnutrition which creates a back story for the character that she doesn't eat due to her heartbreak.

Victorian Beauty Ideals

Initially I was unaware of any Victorian beauty ideals and so I had to do some research.

In the early years of the Victorian era women of a higher class practised restraint with their makeup. Bold colours and heavy application initially was thought of as taboo as it was used only by prostitutes. Using makeup actually became contentious due to many religions banning then, labelling them as "the tools of the devil". however this only made women want to use cosmetics once again in an attempt to be considered "naughty" or "rebellious".

Available at: http://www.thetudorswiki.com/page/More British Royal Tiaras#fbid=fRTmdT30B-b (Accessed: 24 January 2015)

Here is an early portrait of Queen Victoria, her restraint in cosmetics is obvious.

just like in the Elizabethan era, a pale face was still admired and seen as a sign of nobility. Women achieved this however using a less dangerous method than those in the Elizabethan age. They would use a white, mineral powder made from Zinc Oxide as well as avoiding the sun and consuming lemon juice and vinegar to achieve this ideal.

Hair was used to portray beauty during the Victorian era. Queen Victoria reigned longer than any other British monarch, staying on the throne for 63 years. over this long reign hair styles changed and evolved and I found it very interesting to see what was popular during the early, mid and late 1800's.

La enagua voladora (no date). Notes: Available at: http://decimonono.tumblr.com/post/93413509349/1873-revue-de-la-mode-details-dune-coiffure-en (Accessed: 24 January 2015).

These two images show magazine articles depicting how to style the hair from two different decades of the Victorian era. Its obvious to see the change just from 1866 (the top image) to 1873 (bottom image).