Overcoming the Difficulties

Throughout this process of creating work for my Final Major Project I have had to overcome many difficulties from creating designs for each characters to finding models to finally sending off the book to be published. The best way for me to talk through the problems that I faced is to discuss each element individually. 

Although I already had an element of my final project secured - working as a head make-up artist for a student film, running alongside this I had also chosen to create a book based on the darker side of fairy tales as another element of my final major project hand in. One of the first difficulties that I faced was trying to come up with a new and interesting concept for my book while also choosing a theme that I have a passion for and that will aid me when looking for future employment. I was happy with my final choice of using the Brother's Grimm fairy tales to show the darker, more violent side to fairy tales and I felt that with this I would give me the opportunity to include my keen interest in prosthetics and special effects. 

After analysing each of my choosen fairy tales I then had to design and create a look for each based on what I had learned about their characters through the narrative of their stories. This for me was challenging as I didn't know har far to push my designs for each character and whether to make the looks more fashion based, or theatrical looking or something that you might find on a TV programme or film. As I have always wanted to work in either film, TV or theatre so I eventually choose this route and I have tried to keep my character designs more theatrical rather than fashion based. 

After designing each character and setting everything in place before shooting one of my main challenges was  finding and securing both models and photographers, the people I have collaborated with on this project have been either students or other young people all of which are very busy at this term time with hand in's themselves so trying to get both model and photographer available on the same days proved to be more difficult than I first anticipated. I found a photographer that agreed to work with my on all of my shoots but through illness and lesson clashes she ended up only doing one of my eight shoots. I was unable to find another photographer at such short notice so I was left to shoot alone. Although I have had photography lessons this was a challenging task for me as I had to set up my own lighting, as well as using a light meter to read the correct lighting, a lot of what I had been taught before came into play and with some help from one of the photography technicians I was able to shoot successfully. I was happy with how the shoot came out so I choose to do my photography for the remaining 6 shoots also.    

I have always thought of myself as being a very organised person and having good time management skills, however with this project these skills have been put to the test. I have found it very difficult to arrange shooting dates in a time frame that would work best for the deadline and as I had troubles booking studios at the university I have had to complete seven of my eight shoots in just three weeks. This isn't what I had planned in my original timeline and through this difficulty I had to make the decision to remove one of the stories from my book so instead of having five fairy tales, I now have just four, I choose to remove the story of Snow White & Rose Red as I felt this one went the least with my overall concept for the book.

The shooting of my eight looks was a stressful and hard process and I have found it difficult to maintain a high reoccurring standard through each. I decided to shoot most of my looks myself as I had now learnt how to create a correct lighting set up, however for two of my shoots I choose to use another photographer to give me more time to concentrate on creating the looks on the day. This however slightly backfired as the lighting set up created by this photographer came out differently on her nikon camera than previously on my canon camera. I felt that the images were quite dark and I became concerned about how dark they would be when printed in CMYK colour. I spoke to my photography teacher who suggested I lighten the exposure slightly brighter than normal on all of my images as when images are printed they automatically become darker anyway. This has taught me that it is best to use the same photographer or the exact same light set up for each shoot so that you have continuity through your images. 

After all of my shoots were complete and all the final images had been chosen and edited I now had to begin designing and laying out the template of my book. As my book includes four fairy tales, I wanted important quotes or sentences from the stories to run with the images as a way of telling the stories to a reader, however one of my first difficulties was choosing which quotes best suited which images and whether those images expressed what the story was saying. Although I am happy with all of my model choices, when shooting each it was hard to get them to express the emotions that they were meant to be expressing in the narrative so some of my chosen images don't quite read the same as the book, in future I feel that I need to go into a shoot more focused with what I actually want to achieve from the shoot and therefore I shouldn't leave until I'm happy with the outcome.

When creating the layout of my book another difficulty that I came across was choosing the positioning and placement of the images on the page and how I could use tools such as the crop tool to create more interest with my images and to help focus on the most important parts of an image, the parts that actually tell the story. Originally I wanted my text to run through the images, in a swirled or arched way however when it came to this stage in InDesign I felt that it didn't look as effective as I had hoped, I then choose to use straight lines of text as this to me looked more clean cut and less messy. I also spent a long period of time choosing a suitable font for the book as I felt the narrative and my concept needed a stronger text font, I was happy with my final choice of a swirled font but upon reflection it is slightly harder to read, I then had to use the spacing tool to create a more spaced and readable text. However with the amount of text in my introduction this wasn't possible so I choose to use a completely different, plainer font for this. 

Once I had fully completed my book design and gathered advice and feedback from two of my tutors, I thought that uploading it onto the book publishing website was going to be the easiest stage of the whole process. However once I had uploaded it and viewed it as a PDF document on their website I noticed that my page colours that were meant to be black were grey and this completely changed the whole mood and design of the book. I began to panic and went to visit a printing company as a second option for printing, I told the shop assistant of my complications and she advised me to change the colour of my blacks in InDesign to another shade of black that's called registered black as apparently this is a darker shade of black, her advice thankfully worked and I could then upload my book again with ease. 

Although I have faced many difficulties and had to overcome a lot of problems throughout this process, it has been a massive learning curve for me. At times it has been very stressful and wearing but I feel that the outcome of my book shows my hard work and dedication to the project. I now feel more confident in tackling future projects and overcoming any obstacles I might face through them. 

Little Red Riding Hood's - Little Red Riding Hood

My final shoot was the character of Little Red Riding Hood in the most well known fairy tale of the same name although originally called Little Red Cap by the Grimm Brothers. This was for me my least favourite character out of the 10 as I found it difficult to develop this look further from its stereotypical image. With all of my characters I have tried to push the boundaries of their stereotypes while also trying to keep symbolic elements of the characters that make them well known, in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, her famous red cape. 

Many theorists have labelled the original tale as holding sexual themes, with the concept of a young girl walking alone in the woods approached by a stranger. I however see this as showing the characters naivety as well as vulnerability as she opens up to the wolf, a stranger, about where her grandmother lives. I found these emotions challenging to show through make-up and hair alone, so I have relied on my model and composition to say a lot about her character. For the styling I've also used the red cape and a short skirt to reiterate the sexual voodoos surrounding this story. 

Before I talk separately and more in depth about the make-up here are some of the most successful images from the Little Red Riding Hood shoot - 

Make-up 

I found the make-up design for this character the most challenging of the ten as realistically Little Red Riding Hood is a child, however I felt this look would be too bland without a stronger make-up look so I've used darker and more sultry tones of red and black on the face to create some more interest, although I am still concerned about whether the image is to simple. 

 To steer away from the more plain make-up, I choose to add a diverse element to the look by adding severe looking claw marks along one side of her face, to show the more violent side to the story - whereby the wolf leaps out of bed and devours Little Red Cap alive. I initially choose to use tuplast to create these scars however on the day of shooting my tuplast had blocked itself and wasn't working as it should so I choose to use wax as a second option. Derma wax is known for being hard to apply to the skin and doesn't have longevity on the skin; this became a problem during shooting. Once molded the wax began to fall of the skin, so I had to get as many shots as possible while the make-up was still in tack, in future I will check the working condition of all of my make-up products before taking them to a shoot. Upon reflection I also feel that the bruising surrounding the cuts are quite dark and perhaps I should have used less dark purples and blacks and more redder tones as it is meant to be a fresh wound.

 I also think that I should have used a lighter fx blood coming from the wound as the image that sits next to this one in the book I have used a lighter shade and different brand of blood, this difference might become more apparent when the two images are sat next to one another. 

Although I have come across a few elements of this look that I would change, I feel the sharp, straight lines of the claw marks across her face contrasts well with her straight sleek hairstyle. Also the composition of her turned away head works well in conjuring up a feeling of sympathy towards her character and reiterates her naivety and vulnerability.

Styling

In order to make my characters easily recognisable to an audience and to use the advice given to me by a industry specialists I choose to keep the styling element of Little Red Riding Hood's symbolic red cloak. I hired this cloak from Hampshire Wardrobe as I felt it was the only suitable option to represent the description of the appearance of the character told in the narrative. To portray the underlying themes of sex in the story, I have teamed the cloak with a short, feminine cream skirt and a floral lace crop top that is purposely meant to show a small amount of the model's stomach. I wanted to portray the characters naivety in the fact that she hasn't purposely dressed in a slightly revealing way to attract attention from men as she is only child however her stopping and talking to the wolf, a stranger in a forest presents her as both naive, vulnerable and easy prey. The element of the styling that was least successful is the cream underlining of the cloak that can be seen in the images, throughout shooting I tried to push the lining into the hood so that it was less visible but the way in which it had been sewn wouldn't allow for much movement so I had to make do. If I was to shoot this look again, I would try and source a clock that had both red on the inside and outside of the hood.

Hansel & Gretel's - The Witch

My last but one shoot was that of the evil Witch in the story of Hansel & Gretel. When designing the make-up and overall look for this character I was in a predicament as to whether to go for the stereotypical witch look of wrinkled skin, a big, pointy nose and dark long hair or to steer away from that image and try to create something with more of a modern twist - taking inspiration from modern sources such as Hansel & Gretel the 2013 film remake of the fairy tale and Once Upon a Time, again a TV series based around the stories of well known fairy tales. I felt with this character that I had a lot of creative scope with both make-up and styling although I had to stick to some guidelines, these being her descriptions and characteristics in the narrative of the original tale. 

The Witch doesn't appear in the story until after Hansel & Gretel have been left deep in the wood by their parents, they begin to walk deeper into the forest until they come across a house that's made of cakes and sweets, they begin to eat away at it. However this house belongs to the witch that uses sweet treats to entice roaming children into her property, she then bribes these children with kind words and talks of luxuries until they are trapped in her house and power then she feeds them up with lots of food until they are fat enough for her to eat. Although we stereotypically think of a witch as evil and malicious, this witch first appears in the story as a kind and sweet old lady, it is only further into the story that we begin to see her more evil side witch eventually results in Gretel pushing her in to an open oven whereby she 'burns to death miserably.' This element of the story was always going to be my biggest challenge for a make-up change - I had a limited amount of time to create a half face of burns on the model - using both latex and cotton wool, upon reflection I would have really liked to have covered the whole face and neck to create a really extreme look, however I felt this would be too uncomfortable for my model as latex can be a painful product to remove. 

Overall I really enjoyed this shoot and I feel that the make-up and hair are successful and also what I had first envisaged for this character. A crucial part of this look was finding a model that would fit the characteristics of this particular character, although I found it difficult to find and secure a suitable model, I feel that Ami's facial structure and small frame really fits well into the look and her dyed white hair creates that old witch style that depicts the character quite clearly. 

However here are some of my favourite and most successful images from the witch photoshoot -

 Make-up

When designing this make-up look I wanted to keep in mind the elements of the story that depict the appearance of the witches character. In the original story she lives in a small house that is tucked away deep in the forest, I wanted to use elements of the forest such as leaves and twigs in her hair and branch strokes coming into her face to show the witch as almost part of the forest that surrounds her. I feel these elements work well and aren't too distracting from the overall look. She is described in the story as being as old as the hills so I originally wanted to use old age stipple to create wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, however once I had applied the product and dried it lightly with a hairdryer, there was no obvious difference and I decided there and then to remove this element completely. If I was to do this shoot again I would practice the technique not just on myself but also the skin of my model. However with the dark colour choices of black and dark green I feel it is successful in creating an evil looking character while also keeping elements of somebody initially approachable. I am also really happy with how the black long nails came out, as in shooting they were difficult to stick onto the model's nails as she had acrylic nails already on, it was then also hard to blend the black into her pink coated nails but after some editing and blending I feel they work successfully with the look. 

 Hair 

I purposefully choose this model for this character as she has white and blue dyed hair which I felt would be really apt for the hair of an old witch. I wanted to create quite a disheveled look with the hair, as she lives in a forest and is both an evil and crazy woman so I back combed the hair to create a messy, pushed back look and continued to back comb and hair spray the front hairs to accentuate the overall disheveled style. I then added fake leaves and branches, using these to weave in and out of the hair style, I did this so that they weren't obvious and overpowering to the hairstyle but visible if you look closely. Overall I am really happy with the hair styling and of course my choice of model. 

Styling

For the styling of the witch I hired a brown floor length dress from Hepwrights which had beautiful and intricate beading on both sleeves that to me immediately represented branches and my forest theme. I was unable on the day to secure a full length studio so unfortunately I was unable to get a full length image of her in costume. I did the best that I could with the set up given and I tried to include some of the detailing in the shots by having her hold her hand and nails up to her face, if I could have shot this look again I would of really liked to have had the chance to shoot full length. 

At the end of story the Witch is pushed into a burning open oven by Gretel, so I wanted to change the look half way through the shoot to match the narrative of the story. I used latex and cotton wool to build up layers on the model's skin, once dry I used both a bruise and cut wheel to create a burns effect, using both dark and light colours to create texture. I then added wound filler into random parts of the burn to give it a more gory effect! Burns can be difficult to create as there are different stages for example first degree, second degree. As the witch had been pushed into a burning oven I wanted the burns to look extreme - with this in mind I am happy with this look. However as I have said above I would have liked to have taken the burns further along the face to create more of a realistic effect. 

Hansel & Gretel's - Gretel

My next shoot was the character of Gretel in the story of Hansel & Gretel. The main make-up look for this story is going to be the Evil Witch as there is much more creative scope that can be built upon with her character, Gretel's look on the other hand is much more subdued. I found this make-up look the most difficult to create even more so than my more complex shoots that involved prothestics and special effects, the part that I found most difficult was trying to keep Gretel looking realistic as a child without letting her make-up and overall look bland and uninteresting. I feel however that this is my least successful look and one that upon reflection I would change the most. I had a new photographer working with me for this shoot, as I was trying to shoot two characters in my four hour time slot I left the photographer to shoot part of this shoot on her own. I directed to her what I wanted from the images and explained that the lighting should be quite dark as the book is dark themed however her lighting set up was much darker than I had anticipated and hoped for and after looking at the photos I've had to edit them quite heavily on Photoshop to completely lighten the images so that the make-up, hair and styling can actually be seen. This has taught me that with future shoots, even with a photographer its best for me to be in the room from begin to end so that I get my exact desired photographs. 

Although there are some elements of this look that upon reflection I would have changed if I had more time here are some of my more successful images from the shoot - 

 Make-Up 

I found the make-up for this character quite challenging as creating a natural make-up look can sometimes be more difficult than creating a more complex make-up design. Gretel is in fact a child and in reality wouldn't actually wear make-up so I have had to keep the make-up minimal and simple with just a cover up make-up of a base, concealer and light blush. However I am worried that the simplicity of the make-up could make a quite bland image, in contrast to my other images here I have relied heavily on the styling and composition to portray Gretel as a innocent child figure as apposed to using a strong and dramatic make-up look. A problem that I occurred shooting this look was that the model showed up wearing blue nail varnish, usually I carry nail varnish remover in my kit but today I had forgotten it and only packed what I thought I needed. The nail varnish is completely irrelevant to the shoot as it doesn't symbolise her age or status so I've tried to edit out her nails using Photoshop, although it does look slightly over edited I feel it looks much better than having the nail varnish so obviously showing.

Styling

I am really happy with my styling choice here, originally I felt that the dress could look a bit too over the top however as the make-up is simple and quite plain I feel that it makes the look of the character and is obvious in depicting her as a child. I also feel that the blue colour works well with the lighting and black colorama, its bright and playful but not too over powering to the overall look. On the other hand I am less pleased with my styling choice of the blue ribbon in the hair, all though it matches well with the outfit and adds to the innocent, child-like look, I feel that the size and positioning of the bow along with the positioning of the lighting almost makes the bow the main focus of the image and detracts away from the make-up and actions of the model. If I had time in my schedule to shoot again I would remove the ribbon completely and use a different brighter light set up. 

Hair 

This is the part of the shoot that I struggled with the most, as this was the look I was most worried about looking too plain. Due to this I felt that I couldn't leave the hair natural but I also couldn't have the hair too stylised as in the narrative Gretel is living in poverty with her father and step mother and a overly stylised hair wouldn't be realistic to the plot. To depict her character as I child I choose to lightly curl the hair with straighteners as I felt this was quite a childlike style; other than the option of plaiting the hair or putting it up in high bunches, both looks that I felt were over done and inappropriate to the narrative. Thankfully due to the lighting the hair blends into the black backdrop and doesn't become the main focus of the look, I like how the curls have created a short shoulder length to the hair and doesn't detract at all from the strong styling of the image.

Cinderella's - Cinderella

My shoot today was the character of Cinderella in the well know story of the same name. When people hear the name Cinderella, a lot will automatically conjure up a picture of a beautiful, young Princess however in reality when reading the original Grimm's tale Cinderella is through most of the story, a slave - dirty and unkempt. This is the image of Cinderella that I wanted to portray to eliminate people's initial Princess interpretation, Cinderella is in fact a house slave forced to work day and night, wearing the same ragged clothes and sleeping in a pile of ash at night - this ultimately doesn't conjure up an attractive appearance. 

Although I am very happy with the outcome of this shoot, throughout this whole final major project process I have faced many difficulties, one of the most difficult things for me has been finding suitable models for each character. I've used students from the performance course, model mayhem, mutual friends and university students, however as the shoots are long and obviously unpaid it has been hard to actually secure models for my booked shoots. Finding models has also been difficult because the people I find need to fit the character as apposed to being just photogenic, however with the models that were on offer to me I feel satisfied with the people I have chosen, particularly with this model Jessica as her child-like features and petite figure cause her to look quite timid and innocent (fitting with Cinderella's character). As my book includes violence and gore another problem I have faced has been getting the models to work with props such as contact lenses, uncomfortable and strong make-up products that are hard to remove, an animals heart and unusual styling elements - to overcome these difficulties I have to be very patient and understanding, skills I hope to carry with me into future employment.

Here are some of my favourite images from the Cinderella shoot - 

Make-up 

The purpose of this make-up look was to make the character resemble someone that looks worn, tired and unkempt. I wanted the model to look as hard done by as possible without making her look too ill or deathly, this became quite difficult as dark tones under and around the eyes automatically create that ill look. I used small amounts of brown and grey powder around the eyes, mouth, temples and cheeks and built up layers of this powder until I was happy with the complexion. As Cinderella is described as sleeping in a pile of ash I used fullers earth mixed with water to paint onto the forehead and roots of the hair, once dry this created a dry, grey, cracked look and could resemble ash. I am happy with the outcome of the make-up however I feel that the fullers earth technique looked better in real life as on the camera it became washed out and not as visible, if I had more shooting time I would have applied an extra layer of fullers earth.

Styling

The styling as this shoot is my favourite element, the ragged cut skirt and loose grey top instantly show to an audience a character that is dirty, poor and unkempt, this also creates a instant reaction of sympathy for her character. I hired this outfit from Hampshire Wardrobe where it had previously been used as a peasants outfit in the theatre, so it was instantly very fitting to my design. I also hand stained a piece of material to resemble a dirty cloth, to match her dirty outfit and to show her role as the house slave to her step mother and step sisters, I feel this works well in some of the shots however to create a range I have a variety some with and others without. 

Composition 

Within the book and this story one of my main images is going to be Cinderellas transformation from a ragged house slave into a beautiful lady fit for the ball. Originally when researching into design elements for Cinderellas character I came across this image, which I felt re interpreted would be a successful and very visual way to show her magical transformation. 

To create this I had to take several shots of the model in different positions, both moving and staying still, from here I can then crop elements of each together and layer them on photo shop to create the same flowing, movement effect as the image above, I felt by pushing myself to create something I had never tried before would show both my editing and Photoshop skills as well as just my make-up and styling. This however took me a whole day to complete as erasing elements of each layer becomes tricky and precise as you begin to add more layers, although I feel my hard work has payed off as I feel I have created a very successful and technical final image that will run across a double page spread. 

Little Red Riding Hood's - The Wolf

My fourth studio shoot was for the character of the Wolf in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I have never  attempted a wolf make-up before so I always knew that this look would be my most challenging. I designed the look of the wolf to be mainly human looking with some small elements of a wolf, this unfortunately became the most challenging part of the look, as it was difficult to create a balance between human and wolf. The whole look took around an hour and a half to achieve as the hair had to be placed on in small parts at a time, this inevitably ate into my shooting time and left me with less time to shoot then I had initially hoped. Another difficulty I faced within this shoot was the second cancellation from my photographer, by this point I had already shot on my own another one of my looks so I felt slightly more confident taking the pictures myself however using twenty minutes to set up the studio space again took away from valuable shooting time. This has taught me to always be prepared and organised for your shoots and if possible to have a second back up plan if anything does go wrong. 

Here are some of my favourite images from the Wolf photo shoot -

 Make-up 

The make-up and special effects for this shoot were by far my most difficult and challenging. I began by creating a darker skin coloured base and brown eye shadow for contouring the cheeks, jaw and nose to give the face structure and add darker tones to the skin. I then used latex and cotton wool at the top of the nose to create height between the eyebrows and nose and to give the wolf a more evil look. However when I then used brown supracolor to colour over the white of the cotton wool the colour stuck to the latex and created a dark, blotchy effect and made the make-up look messy, upon reflection I don't think that this technique adds much to the overall look, if I were to do the look again I wouldn't include this element of the make-up. Once I had the base and contouring done, I began to add the wolf's fur, with a limited budget I used wool roving to create the fur - the wool was a light brown colour and on the skin it looked ginger so I used a brown hairspray to create a darker more natural fur - with a larger budget I would have bought more realistic fur from a reputable makeup company. I then used spirit gum to stick the fur on, little bits at a time, this became a very messy process as the spirit gum began to stick more to my hand than the model's face. I was very weary as to how much fur to put on the face, bearing in mind the more human elements of the look, I choose to just have fur on the eyebrows, side of the face and the temples. Upon reflection after editing the photos I am happy with the overall look of the wolf's character and although I faced many complications this look is my favourite so far. 

Props 

To create a realistic wolf look I bought and hand decorated wolf fangs and ears, without these I feel the look would have been incomplete. The most difficult obstacle faced when faced with the props was trying to blend the prosthetic ears into the natural ear skin as the prosthetic ear only fitted half way down the ear - most of the blending had to be done in editing with the smudge and clone tool. Again a difficulty with the fangs was the unnatural white colour of them, I tried to stain them both with make-up and blood but nothing would stick to the slippery surface of the fangs, however in Photoshop I have managed to edit them to create a dark, stained look using the paint brush and opacity tool. My favourite of all the images are the ones with the blood in the mouth, here I used a blood capsule which dissolves in the models mouth and momentarily fills the model's mouth with blood, I've got some great shots with this and the blood really adds to the violent,  gory and evil atmosphere I hoped to create through the character of the wolf. 

Cinderella's - The Ugly Sister

My third shoot was the character of the Ugly Sister in the well known story of Cinderella. All though the Disney remake of Cinderella is well known the original Brother's Grimm story isn't so well known so for me the main purpose of this character was to show the violence and gore that featured in many of the Grimm's tales. I also wanted to use this look to experiment with new special effects techniques as when it comes to prosthetics I am always keen and enthusiastic to learn new skills, for example I had to use a new self taught technique using black cardboard, latex, wax, bruise colour and blood to show at the end of the story when the Ugly Sister's get there eyes plucked out by birds. 

Although the characters name has always been the Ugly Sister, in the original tale the only thing that depicts her as ugly is her evil ways, in appearance she is described as 'fair of face', so within the shoot I wanted the first make-up look to show an attractive make-up and throughout to show a change in the make-up showing the model as getting more 'ugly' as in the story she becomes more evil - I also asked the photographer to change the lighting to become more and more dark as the make-up looks changed, I feel the lighting here is successful in creating an eary mood. 

Here are some of my favourite images from the Ugly Sister shoot - 

Make-up 

As in the story the Ugly Sister is described as fair of face, I wanted the first image to show the complexion of the skin as fresh and natural looking and just to use a darker lipstick and eye colour to depict elements of her evil personality. As the make-up looks changed and  the character became more evil I added darker lines on the face into the creases around and  under the eyes and on the forehead to accentuate her natural lines and to give the illusion of older skin - in editing I also used the clarity tool which gives the skin a pigmented look. The last and final look needed to show the eye missing as it had been plucked out by birds, I used black cardboard, derma wax, latex, a bruise wheel, blood and a stipple sponge to create this self taught effect. In test shooting this came out well and looked realistic however under time pressure I felt this make-up look wasn't as successful, as the cardboard wasn't sticking completely to the skin and this created a raised look to the cardboard which gave it quite an unrealistic effect and caused me to have to darken the image dramatically  If I had more time I would have cut the circle of cardboard smaller and used more latex to stick the cardboard to the skin. 

Hair 

I wanted to create a Victorian look with the hair styling of the Ugly Sister, to create a successful hair I researched into classic Victorian hairstyles in order to create my own design. I noticed that a lot of the styles included a lot of volume at the top of the head with pieces of hair hanging down at either the front of the sides , so I used this as the basis of my hair look. To create this hairstyle I used a handmade base using a pair of tights shaped into a circle and stuffed with tissue paper - this would be the template for me to mould the hair around, this is the only way to create such height with natural hair, I then curled the remaining hair with curling tongs. The styling of the hair is my favourite part of the characters appearance, I feel that it adds to the overall look and feel of the character. 

Styling

I again used Victorian references for my styling and found a frilly, lace Victorian style dress hidden away in my attic that I felt was perfect for the shoot. Ideally I would have liked the dress to be a darker colour however upon reflection the lighter colour of the dress makes the model stand out from the darker background and dimmed lighting. I felt that the dress would be to plain on its own so I added an old style flower necklace that reflects the type of costume jewellery worn in that era. At another gory and violent point in the story the Ugly Sister cuts off part of her heel to fit into the glass slipper (in hope of becoming the new Queen) but her blood stained stockings prevent her, I bought a pair of cream tights and hand stained them with blood, with the lighting used the image is quite creepy and hopefully shocking to an audience unaware of the original Cinderella plot - Overall I am very happy with the styling of this image.

Props 

The only props used in this shoot is that of the heart. In the original story, the Ugly Sister is described as 'fair of face but foul at heart', I wanted this element of the story to be shown in a very creepy and eary way, so I made the decision to use a real heart (a lambs heart), held by the Ugly Sisters hand in my shoot. With the way in which its been shot with dim shadowed lighting, it almost creates this second glance image whereby it isn't initially obvious what she is holding until you look closely, I'm hoping this effect of the heart and blood will create quite a shocking reaction to an audience.

I have always wanted the overall mood of my book to be dark and something of the horror genre, I feel that this shoot with the make-up effects, props and lighting is the darkest of my images so far and sustainable in creating the eary atmosphere throughout the book that I had hoped for.