Introduction to the second part of the unit: Claudia & Quentin & Mrs. Laderman
During Kat's class we went over the characteristics of the characters:
Claudia, in her early twenties, no parental guidance, her relationship with movies had developed an unhealthy way of thinking horror movies are real life, she is either evil or misunderstood, only parental guidance or help was from her next door neighbour who is over bearing and controlling of Claudia, she believes in supernatural & has a imaginary boyfriend Quentin.
Quentin, Is Claudia's imaginary boyfriend, where he is constantly let down by Claudia, she has suspicions that he's having secret affairs, each time he changes with Claudia's mood, he could be looking very handsome based on her being in a great mood or looking rough and scraggy looking. He visits Claudia regularly as they don't live together, he is also into horror movies as Claudia is into role playing to suit her to what mood she may be in. This relationship is a constant battle, as Quentin feels disappointed and let down by Claudia but he is well and truly under the thumb.
Mrs. Laderman, is in forties, she is the only link for Claudia to the outside world, Mrs. Laderman lives next door and has a variety of mood changes, she is evil and controlling yet she comforts Claudia as a friend or even like a child.
Our challenge for this project is to choose a TV series out of the list that was given to us, I decided to choose American Horror Story Seasn 4 "The Freak Show" because I had recently come to the end of this season and I was fixated with from the era of the period it was set to the weirdness and quirkiness of the carnival freak show, so I felt I could express my ideas well.
After choosing a TV series, we went over the characters (Claudia, Quentin & Mrs. Laderman) we had to pick 2 characters and place them in our chosen TV show or replace them with a character in the show, so I decided to choose Claudia & Mrs. Laderman, I chose for Claudia to be another addition to the "Freak" family and for Mrs. Laderman to replace Elsa Mars the main ring leader of American Horror Story, as I felt their personalities in ways are similar. I was very excited to get started with creating and being as creative as we like with this. I wanted to research more into my characters and produce a great story to fit in with the show itself.
The following weeks we produced presentations to show the class with our thoughts and ideas and what we wanted to achieve.
This slide is all about my chosen TV Show, setting, period and why I chose it.
I went onto speaking about the audience demographics, 18-49 like most horror TV series, it hits a wide age group, where you have the different characters from the handsome rebel young man Jimmy who attracts younger viewers, where he gains a couple love affairs, you have the attractive young lady maggie, you have the powerful, leader who is a women Elsa Mars which is very liberating to have a woman in charge especially in that period of the 1950's/60's. You have a wide mix of things happening which makes it so watchable and interesting. The "Freaks" are strong and powerful and want to be seen as everyone else is seen, it gets them angry and crimes and mysterious things start to happen. I like how all "the freaks" stick together and are as a whole, the show is based on real life historical people who had deformities and how they were perceived as unhuman back in history. I like the empowerment of "the freaks" that stand up proud for what they are.
I needed to add more to the slide, so I am writing more here to explain what I want to achieve with my characters and overall project.
I then research into my chosen character Mrs. Laderman where I will be replacing Elsa Mars with her, she will be controlling of her freaks similar to Elsa Mars, yet more evil, charming and will always get her way. She is the ring leader and overbearing controlling of Claudia, who she saved from her house fire who lived in a derelict old building next door to the carnival and trailor of Claudia's, Mrs. Laderman took her in, reconstructed her as her face melted away, she was now a new member of the "Freak Show" the final act to perform with Mrs. Laderman, as a ventriloquist act, she reconstructed Claudia into a puppet/real life doll, perfect porcelain skin.
She is evil, controlling and has a hidden power, when she doesn't get her way, she can stare at Claudia or anyone else and make them do what she wants and to feel deep love for her. People may say she's a hidden witch, but she saved "the freaks" lives and Claudia's.
With makeup and hair design, I want to keep her glam in style with the 1950's/60's curled/ frizzed hair, prominent eye brows, large coloured makeup with glitter to reflect her carnival showbiz life, with also the classic red lip, with powdered skin and rosey pink cheeks.
Her deformity is hidden, its her power to control everyone, but it does wear off and the side effects for Claudia causes her to go psychotic, insane by fitting and scratching off her face.
My chosen word for Mrs. Laderman is Fork, here are the notes on my slide to why I chose this word, I feel a fork is a controlling use of equipment.
This is also my first attempt of a mood board for Mrs. Laderma, which I feel needs a lot of improvement now looking back at it, I needs a clearer vision and more imagery that isn't entirely makeup and hair based. I will adapt this for my final look at the end of the project.
However, I liked the blue metallic eyes and the classic red lips which is very pin up during the 50's/60's.
Claudia, she has been rescued from a fire next door to Mrs. Laderman, it was an old rustic building, she had no parental guidance, she is very much into supernatural, I fire occurrence is unknown but I feel it was down to supernatural experiments, but the case closes as no one is aware she exists other then Mrs. Laderman, where Claudia is saved by her. She is now in complete control of Mrs. Laderman, reconstructed by her as her face melted in the fire and could not be saved.
She is now part of Mrs. Laderman's "Freak Show", the final act as a puppet/ doll, she is a porcelain freaky beauty and sits on Mrs. Ladermans lap as a ventriloquist doll/puppet, she is misunderstood and depends on Mrs. Laderman for everything. Mrs. Laderman uses "medusa" eyes to keep her in line, for claudia to dote on her and do everything she says, Claudia is mute to every day people but only speaks with Mrs. Laderman or the "supernatural", this is why she is so misunderstood.
I want the makeup to be freaky doll/puppet makeup, maybe with the use of special effects with cracking of the skin from where she is trying to escape from her china looking reconstructed mask. I want her hair either to be in pig tails or in some doll like style, I want to create her skin near enough white to fit a doll like comparison.
I am excited to experiment and research into Claudia more and progress with the character design ideas.
The chosen word I chose for Claudia is 'Stitches' to relate to her being mute because it's like she has her mouth stitched together and also where she's had string attached to her hands to keep her moving during the act with Mrs. Laderman, this causes her skin to bleed and stitches to sow up her wounds.
Mood Board for Claudia, but this will be changed as I was not happy with the imagery, it doesn't say enough.
This is the end of my presentation, I will now develop my character ideas with face charts. hair designs and more research and also I will also recreate my mood boards.
Updated versions of my Mood Board for my chosen characters
Claudia Mood Board
Mrs. Laderman Mood Board
Mood board for American Horror Story/ mood/theme
