Films

Psycho

 

Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is ranked one of the greatest films of all time. It is responsible for allowing more violence, sexuality and psychotic behaviour in American films, so we can thank it for allowing the horror films of today. The main point that this shows is the power that cinematography and soundtrack has on creating and eeire and suspense filled scene. If you watched a film on mute, or just with the dialogue, it would not be nearly as frightening.  

The Exorcist 




The Exorcist directed by William Friedkin, is another film that changed the way we look at the horror genre. It features child possession, and sparked a series of child possession films to be created in it's wake. To this day the film is still an important influence on popular culture, showing that if a film is moving and memorable enough it can stand the lest of time.

Gothika 




Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, Gothika is a supernatural horror film. It features psychiatrist Dr Miranda Grey, played by Halle Berry, who one day wakes up to find herself on the other side of the glass. The film has lots of psychological elements to it and shows how playing tricks on the mind is much more frightening than just plain out blood and gore.

References:
http://youtube.com
http://imdb.com

Music videos

I decided to look into music videos that featured dark and gothic themes to help get myself in the right mindset for the project.

Die Antwoord - I FINK U FREEKY 


The video has a very dark a dirty theme throughout and features many people who don't fall under the definition of what people traditionally class as beautiful, in short basically "freaky" people. Also Yolandi and Ninja aren't afraid of looking "bad" which a lot of artists are very concious of when filming music videos. I love the use of black sclera (full eye) lenses on Yolandi, they work really well with her image. 

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

 

The main theme in the video is about Amy Lee calling out for someone to save help save her from committing suicide. The city that it's set in is very dark and gothic looking (think Batman's Gotham) which works really well with the style of music. Amy is wearing an off white/grey nightdress which could symbolise her being a fallen angel/losing of her innocence.  

Five Finger Death Punch - Coming Down 


 

While not traditionally "gothic" this does contain very dark theme that isn't addressed nearly as much as it should be; suicide and bullying. It features two different teenagers who are going through a tough time and feel suicide is the only option. The message of the video is loud and clear and it shows that you don't need a massive budget and production to create a moving video. The message of the video is that one friend can save a life.
If you or anyone you know is contemplating suicide I urge you to visit http://www.samaritans.org/ or http://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Emilie Autumn

Emilie Autumn is a singer-songwriter who also plays violin and writes poetry. She labels her style of music as "Victoriandustrial" which is heavily influenced by the Victorian Era, as well as asylums, mental health, feminism and glam-rock. 
Sadly Emilie suffers from bi-polar disorder and has attempted suicide, landing her in a psychiatric ward for a period of time. She tries to turn her disorder into a positive by being a positive idol for people with similar issues to look up to. 

Her image involves brightly coloured hair, often pink and sometimes sporting dreads. It shows an interesting blend between "Victorian gothic" and the "gothic subculture" of today. Her makeup and reflects this too as Victorian makeup was kept very fresh and simple whereas the makeup she wears is quite heavy and theatrical. 

Her fashion follows the same vein in that it is obviously inflenced by Victorian fashion, with the use of corsets and lace but it is used in a much more modern and contemporary way. 
 

References: 
http://www.bizarremag.com/film-and-music/interviews/9292/emilie_autumn.html 
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/emilie-autumn-mn0000373923 

http://www.contactmusic.com
lastfm.com 
emilieautumn.com 

Let The Record Show

Whilst I was thinking about what music videos I could look at for inspiration it an artist who I haven't listen too for a few years, Emilie Autumn, suddenly popped into my head. I thought her music matched the gothic urban legends theme perfectly so immediately went to look at her music videos, however I found none. I found it rather odd that for such a visual person she didn't have any music videos, although I suppose this will work better for me as I won't have any previous material to influence my project too much.

The song I chose is Let The Record Show

 

Here are the lyrics: 


"Turning tricks with absent guile
Reeling in your crooked smile
Why did I turn to you?
I only wanted a hand to pour my heart into
And now I'll bump my grind through another night
Lose my mind in another fight
Why did I turn to you?
I only gave you a chance to prove the rumours true
And now I'm paying with my
Paying with my life
I'm paying with my life
My life
My life

So let the record show
That you murdered me
In your coldest blood
With your own two hands
Don't think no one understands
It happens every day

Working life like a burlesque show
Get them off and they'll let you go
Why did I turn to you?
I only turned out to be just one more girl you slew
And now I'll bump my grind through another
Lose my mind in another
Why, why, why, why?
I only gave you a chance to prove the rumours true
And now I'm paying with my
Paying with my life
I'm paying with my life
My life
My life

So let the record show
That you murdered me
In your coldest blood
With your own two hands
Don't think no one understands
It happens every day
You're jealous, oh
You're jealous, why?
It's a simple excuse
For a complex crime
So write this on your soul
But don't waste my time

If I'm going down
Then I'm doing down good
If I'm going down
Then I'm going down clean
If I'm going down
Then I'm going down
The prettiest broken girl you've ever seen
If I'm going down
Then I'm going down good
If I'm going down
Then I'm going down clean
If I'm going down
Then I'm going
The prettiest wretched whore you've ever seen

But while I breathe
I've got no evidence to prove my end
And so you'll walk away?
Nope, wrong again

So let the record show
That you murdered me
In your coldest blood
With your own two hands
Don't think no one understands
It happens every day
You're jealous, oh
You're jealous, why?
It's a simple excuse for a complex crime
So write this on your soul

And let it show
That you murdered me
In your coldest blood
With your own two hands
Don't think no one understands
It happens every day
You're jealous, oh
You're jealous, why?
It's a simple excuse for a complex crime
So write this on your soul
But don't waste my time" 

The song is about a man, possible boyfriend/husband, who kills Emilie. I feel that this fits perfectly with the theme of the urban legend that I chose. 

Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Light?

The legend I decided to base my project on was "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Light" which in short describes how a girl returns from a party and decides not to turn on the light to save waking up her flatmate. When she does to wake her flatmate in the morning she discovers that she is dead and the message "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights!" is written in her blood. 

Here is the legend in full:


"Two dormmates in college were in the same science class. The teacher had just reminded them about the midterm the next day when one dormmate — let's call her Juli — got asked to this big bash by the hottest guy in school. The other dormmate, Meg, had pretty much no interest in going and, being a diligent student, she took notes on what the midterm was about. After the entire period of flirting with her date, Juli was totally unprepared for her test, while Meg was completely prepared for a major study date with her books.
At the end of the day, Juli spent hours getting ready for the party while Meg started studying. Juli tried to get Meg to go, but she was insistent that she would study and pass the test. The girls were rather close and Juli didn't like leaving Meg alone to be bored while she was out having a blast. Juli finally gave up, using the excuse that she would cram in homeroom the next day.
Juli went to the party and had the time of her life with her date. She headed back to the dorm around 2 a.m. and decided not to wake Meg. She went to bed nervous about the midterm and decided she would wake up early to ask Meg for help.
She woke up and went to wake Meg. Meg was lying on her stomach, apparently sound asleep. Juli rolled Meg over to reveal Meg's terrified face. Juli, concerned, turned on the desk lamp. Meg's study stuff was still open and had blood all over it. Meg had been slaughtered. Juli, in horror, fell to the floor and looked up to see, written on the wall in Meg's blood: "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights!""

From reading this there is a number of things that we can infer. Juli was present when the murder took place, or arrived after but while the murderer was still there, hence the message written in blood. Also the murderer most likely had a specific grudge on Meg and only wanted to kill her, mean they were probably close. Or perhaps the murderer wanted to mess with Juli's dead, by leaving her living and writing the message in blood, so maybe Meg was the true victim?

These are just a few ways in which the text can be interpreted, so it is up to me to decide how I want the story to play out.

References:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/turn_on_light.htm

First impressions

Upon being presented the project brief I was immediately excited as doing makeup for musicians/music videos is one of the areas which I am looking at possibly specialising in. 
The outcome of the design brief is to create two fashion-focused images for a music video. In addition to this I must create one gothic urban legend storyboard and two character moodboards.

Horror themed music videos are popular and thus the brief has instructed me to use a gothic urban legend to influence my designs. 

My blog will include 
- Thoughts and ideas
- Drawings
- Sourced imagery
- Type written reflection
- Videos
- Music