Another horror shoot - Gagged to death..

Today I did another photo shoot which was based on an idea I had from the song 'Suzanne' by Plan B which tells the story of the tragic murder of one of the 'Camden Ripper's' victims. (See blog post 'my general inspiration..' 03.03.10 for more detail).

I wanted to create a make up look of someone with a serious injury from being gagged, also indicating some of the pain that would have been caused. Inspired by the events that took place by the notorious Camden Ripper I was able to imagine a similar scenario based on what had happened and put my own interpretation on it for the shoot.

In order for me to create a realistic make up I would have to think of all the factors surrounding the circumstances, such as:

- What was he gagged with?

A thick piece of material soaked in acid, secured on extremely tightly with rubber bands making sure that the acid soaks into his flesh. He was in excruciating pain and in shock. Therefore I have paled his face down using White Mac full coverage as it's thick but not too heavy knowing that it would show, as the lighting used was quite soft. There would be bruising under his eyes from lack of sleep and stress which I have subtly applied using a bruise wheel as I didn't want it to be too obvious. The main focus is on the mouth. The tightness of the gag would have broken the skin and caused the blood to be mixed with the third degree burn from the acid. The flesh would have turned purple around the mouth from a lack of blood circulation, and bruising. I created this by:

1. Painting an outline by blending in a fine line of red greasepaint, to make it look even and precise before I applied the scar make up. I then applied tuplast with a hairpin to the outline, layering it and making it tacky so that it created a raised and jagged mark. If it was applied in a straight line it would look too neat and unrealistic. I applied it using a patting technique with a hairpin to give it a textural definition which will look like raised flesh. I then blended some of the edges with rigid collodion which stretches the skin to make it look like the flesh has been eroded away from the effects of acid and the gag.

2. Colouring in the textural areas with red, and two shades of purple to create the first layer of the aggravated skin. I used these light tones of red as it would have been a fresh wound and I combined this with a small amount of reddy purple and a darker purple for definition, slight bruising that would occur and the illusion of a deeper wound. After experimenting before hand I decided that greasepaint works well on this sort of surface as it sticks well without smudging.

3. Applying wound filler to small areas of tuplast especially in the cracks and under some of the picked up tuplast will create that burnt eroded away effect. I have chosen wound filler purely because it is a perfect red tone for the type of prosthetic I am creating. It looks realistic as it clumps together in a dark red ball of bloody flesh. I then coloured in some more dark purple to look like the wound is deep and added some fresh scratch around the edges with a stipple sponge to blend the blood and redness of the mark. Making it so its not one straight line cut which it wouldn't be as the material used would be rigid.

4. Lastly, by adding congealed blood. I tested 4 different bloods before to make sure I had the right consistency. Such as pro blood - which was too runny. Charles Fox branded blood - too brighter red it looked more orangey. Ben Nye's blood - which was again not thick enough and looked too ketchup like. Congealed blood - which worked the best, it was thick dark red blood which looked the most effective as it stayed put but still kept its freshness.

(experimenting with bloods before hand)

5. To finish I added a little bruising around the lips and corners of the mouth where the gag would have been pulled so tightly. I also dabbed some tuplast onto the lips to create chapping. Which would also occur due to dryness from the gag.

What is the scenario?

I have mentioned above what had happened for this massive wound to appear. The victim has already ripped off the acid gag and the image shows him aggressively pulling the elastic to free himself completely he is blind with rage.

The shadow created in the background was created by mistake but I thought it looked extremely effective so decided to keep it in.. It creates a tense mood and atmosphere, and reminded me of the film 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock.