Exploring Claudia and Quentin

Claudia and Quentin are an interesting couple. 


Claudia definitely has the upper hand in this relationship, she is also often violent and abusive towards her boyfriend. I question what Quentin has done to deserve this cruelty towards him, he must deserve it, because a lot of men are capable of protecting themselves from being beaten up by a woman, therefore, he must be accepting the punishment. 

In society today, it is more acceptable for women to beat up men than vice versa, it has always been that way. A woman has also been considered the weaker sex, therefore, a woman will use violence as a last resort. A woman couldn't possibly physically hurt a man unless he thinks he deserves it. 

However, in our eyes, Claudia is the villain. 

What does a villain look like? Lets look at some great movie female villains.

Mallory Knox, played by Juliette Lewis, is one of the main antagonists from the movie,Natural Born Killers.

As a child, Mallory suffered physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of her father (played by Rodney Dangerfield). Mallory devotes herself to Mickey, stating he is her one true love. Mallory often tells stories and fantasies about her and Mickey living in paradise, to which Mickey often responds, "That is poetry." Of the two, Mallory seems to be the more aggressive, showing signs of being an uncontrolled psychopath with zero empathy for the people she kills. One example is when she and Mickey kill their last victim, Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.). Mallory continues shooting Gale repeatedly after he is dead.

Queen Ravenna, played by Charlize Theron: is the selfish and tyrant ruler of Britain, who learns that her stepdaughter, Snow White, is destined to surpass her as the "Fairest One of All". However, upon learning that the only way to remain in power is by consuming Snow White's heart, Ravenna recruits a Huntsman to capture and kill the young princess in exchange she tells him that she can bring his wife back from the dead, which is a lie.

Elle Driver, fictional character from two part movie, Kill Bill. Elle Driver was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, known by her code-name California Mountain Snake.

“It's the first villain that I've played in a movie that has absolutely no vulnerability and no innocence, nothing whatsoever that is likeable about her, other than she's so bad. All the other Deadly Vipers have some empathetic quality: O-Ren Ishii has this horrible past, [Vernita Green] just wants to be a mom, the Bride has been abused, but my character is just bad all the way through, there's nothing to like about her, and you're going to hate her so much.”

–Daryl Hannah (on Elle Driver)

Maleficent, played by Angelina Jolie. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to a royal christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die" before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. 

One of the sexiest villains has to be Megan Fox in Jennifer's body. This is a great example of femme fatale, using her physical attraction to lure in her prey and making a deadly move that was never to be expected. 


So what will Claudia look like? 

The look that we are trying to create should be appropriate to star in a music video, so, being a protagonist, we assume that she is attractive. From studying some iconic female villains, I have come to some conclusions. 

1. Most Female villains are very attractive. 
2. If they are blonde, 8 times out of 10, they have deliberately dyed their hair blonde. 
3. Eyebrows, evil sensual eyebrows, thin and arched is how a female villain likes it.
4. If the villain has light hair the 'good guy' has dark hair or vice versa. 
5. The villain has strong sharp features, almost pointy, whilst the good have rounder softer features.
6. They all have a power and a weakness. 

To draw some more inspiration, lets look at some music videos that have been inspired by the horror genre. 

Eminem: The Monster Ft Rihanna

You can see that this music video contains a lot of horror elements, it starts off by creating tension, a dark room, a very attractive woman and a series of absurd TV static and images. You can see that the makeup that Rihanna wears in this music video is very dark, dark lips and eyes make her appear much more sinister and malicious. The words in the song itself and those that appear in the video such as ''crazy'', ''monster'', ''death'' are repeated and are commonly associated with the horror genre.  

Lady Gaga: You and I

I present you with a weirder and more graphic video: You and I by Lady Gaga. Its is a love song, but can you spot the horror references? The dark colours, the creepy barn and cornfield says it all. The clip where Gaga plays her own lover is interesting and reminds me how Claudia has an IMAGINARY boyfriend who morphs into whatever she wishes. The lyric 'I'm not leaving without you' is open to interpretation, we see that Gaga has many transformations in the video and this can be compared to Claudia's different looks. You can interpret 'I'm not leaving without you' as a warning that she will do whatever she has to do to have her one, or a sign of mental disorder, where what she wants is unachievable and is trapped in the moment of insanity. 

Katy Perry: Wide Awake 

I have no idea what this song is about apart from she's 'Wide Awake'. However, surprisingly, this music video is packed full of horror film references such as Pan's Labyrinth, Nightmare on Elm Str., The Ring, Orphan, Alice in Wonderland and maybe even Brams Stoker's Dracula. No idea why there are so many horror references, maybe just to try to cover up how boring this song really is. 

Lets now look at Quentin. 

The brief tells us that Quentin morphs into whatever Claudia wishes. So, he is attractive, every girl wants an attractive boyfriend. The brief also tells us that he can be a Christiano Renaldo/David Beckham type, sometimes a Pete Dochery or a Daniel Craig type or maybe a Hollyoaks type and even some ''potato chav''.  

However attractive the guy is, if he's in a abusive relationship with Claudia, you should be able to see it physically. How do we make cuts and bruises sexy on a guy? Lets look at some pics.

Roman Godfrey from Hemlock Grove

Daniel Craig starring in 'Dragon Tattoo'

What if their abusive relationship isn't a violent kind? How would they look. The brief mentions that sometimes Claudia would lock Quentin in rooms. I can imagine him as a depressed character, greasy hair, under eye circles, sore eyes. Does he have a alcohol problem? A drug Addiction? 

Above and Below: Pete Doherty

Gerard Way, Lead vocalist of My Chemical Romance

Could our Quentin be mentally insane under the upper hand of Claudia? We are also told he alike Claudia bases his appearance off horror movies.

American Psycho (2000)

Roman Godfrey: Gremlock Grove
'I have an ugliness that is impossible to love'

Tate: American Horror Story
'I just shot them. Shot them all.' 

Doll makeup, Quentin can be portrayed as a doll, Claudia's doll. A doll on strings, pulled around and manipulated by Claudia. 

Special Effects Makeup: Dirtying down an artist

This practical session was all about breaking down an artist.

The break down an artist comes in different forms, examples include jumping into a shower with makeup on, getting lost in the woods and falling over, drug abuse, weather beaten, and even simply the wearing off of makeup during the day.

In this practical we played around with dirt, dust and stained teeth.

You will need

Grease paint palettes 

Stipple Sponges 

Brown Hair Colour Spray

Fake Dirt 

1. Mix a dirty brown colour using Kryolan Supracolour palette and mix with a little moisturiser 

2. Using your fingers dab onto face and blend slightly. Try not to make it so uniform. 

3. Mix a grey colour and dab onto the areas which you want to seem most dirty. You can also use a stippling brush.

4. From a distance, gently spray brown colour hair spray. This will give a dirty speckled effect. Keep the product away from the eyes. 

5. Throw some artificial dirt onto areas of the skin. 

When dirtying down hands, you want to bend the fingers to get makeup in all the creases and get dirt underneath the nails. This will create a most realistic effect. 

Using Tooth Enamel 

1. Baby bud the tooth dry

2. Paint on the enamel carefully

3. Wait to dry before closing mouth

To remove the coloured tooth enamel, simply dip a baby bud into methyl spirit and wipe over the enamel. A few wipes should remove it all. 

When dirtying down an artist you should also dirty down the hair. To make hair appear greasy, comb through the hair with a little pomade. Remember hair gets greasy from the roots.