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DESIGNS AND INFLUENCE

There is a rare condition called Moebius Syndrome, named after Paul Moebius, which leaves patients incapable of facial expression and movement as they are born without the carnial nerve that operates them.

 

People with Moebius Syndrome are unable to blink or smile andtheir faces appear like a tightly drawn mask. 

 

(Kemp, Bruce, and Linney, 2004. P.167)

THE IDEA:

 

Attempts to describe, analyse and even recreate the human face through art, surgery and scientific technologies have demonstrated continued elusiveness. Through this development, my project idea originated from the animation toy story, the character Mr. Potato Head is a feature in the film and his features continuously fall off.

 

 

All images : Mostow, J. (2009). Surrogates. [DVD] USA: Touchstone Pictures

 

In the current developing world, you are surrounded by peoples subtle and not so subtle efforts to dress their faces through an assortment of make-ups, hairdos, moustaches, sunglasses, piercings and tattoos. We pay attention to the way we look to flatter our physical attractiveness, and to present an image that reflects who we think we are, or, who we would like to be. The film 'Surrogates mimmicks societys struggles for perfection and this has influenced my project development. From this I looked at beauty ideals and body confidence campagnes and began to gain an understanding of what an idealised face subjectively looks like. I wanted the new face to look surreal and warped almost, but to still resemble a human face in a hyper realistic style. 

Below images: Lasseter, J. (1995). Toy Story. [DVD] USA: Pixar Animation Studios

When he re-arranges his face to fit his inside feelings you, as a viewer, are often left amused at the outcome as the features are reassembled incorrect on his 'face'. I wanted to re-create the character in the form of a human face, with interchangeable features that actually worked and stayed fixed in position.  

Below images: Franju, G. (1960). Eyes Without a Face. [DVD] France: Champs-Élysées Productions

The design ideas became more apparent and I looked to find a way of establishing how many or how little is needed formally to define an individual and to make them recognisable, and whether re-construction can lead to a formally convincing result in a masked sense. The outline of the design originated from watching the film Les Yeux, where a young woman has her face removed surgically and during this particular scene, the features are cut out.nitially, I knew that the face would be cut out and that the new features would slot into place, I considered carefully adhering screws to the backs of the features and cutting out screw holes in the prosthetic face. However, the prosthetic wouldnt be thick enough to achieve the results I'd expected and I had to think of other options. 

Another problem with the design was the accuracy of placement, I would have to sculpt various different cheek appliances in order for the make up to work as a whole and I couldn't see it looking professional. I didn't want my designs to have ears as they are mimicking a Mr Potato Head and I didnt feel as though ears were necessary, they would take away the simplicity of the prosthetic and I wanted to avoid this. 

Aucoin, K. (2001) Face Forward. United States: Little, Brown and Company. P.171

We gaze at ourselves in a mirror every day of our lives and regular and familiar appearance in the mirror reassures an individual about their identity. Anyone who affects a significant change in their appearance will know what a shock it can be to forget, and then encounter oneself suddenly reflected in a mirror or shop window, they will almost feel unrecognisable. I wanted the make up to have the same emotioal and physical impact on the viewer by tricking the eye into believing its reality.  

Psychology has demonstrated how people approach face recognition by concentrating on those fragments of faces that have particular value for the observer and which lead to pattern recognition and, subsequently, to identification. Brilliant, 1991.P.113

 

Masks seem to be self- imposed disguises allowing the wearer to impersonate someone, even himself, in a favourable disguise; this often manifests some aspect of the wearers personality which isn't often visible, whether or not that representation is accurate or imaginary, delusional, self-serving, or meets the expectations of others. The below programme about human dolls where men like to dress up as their female alters has influenced this area of my design development and I wanted the final make up to show similarities to the masks shown on the programme. They look very realistic from a distance and up close, quite horrifying with an absent an expressionless face. 

The final design changed considerably as I learned through the processes that technically I was not able to achieve the desired look through the initial design, the make up simply wouldn’t have worked and the features would have fallen out of the prosthetic face.

 

Instead, I took reference from the film Les Yeux and created cut out sections of the face where the individual features would slot into place, one by one. I researched into which magnets had the strongest connection and found earth magnets which I would fix inside of the prosthetic features and behind the silicone face.

 

The features would all be expressionless as I wanted the make up to reflect the growing obsession in modern society to look ‘doll like’ and emotionless through cosmetic procedures.

 

I will not personally knot wigs for the final make up, however, during the filming I will have a wig stand decorated with synthetic wigs to reflect the rich hierarchy in the hunger games and in the film surrogates, where my idea spiralled from. The below images are screenshots from the film which have influenced the wig choice and the film props. 

Below images: Lawrence, F. (2014). Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1. [DVD] USA: Color Force, Lionsgate

The Secrets of Living Dolls. (2014). Channel 4. January. [Television] 

After my assessment, I had to alter the design of the final make up and adhere the magnets to the front of the face prosthetic in order for the mske up to work correctly as it should. The magnets were fixed in the wrong position on the back of the silicone and therefore the connection wasnt strong enough to hold the features in the correct placement on the face. Te drawing indicates mesh in the nose area of the face for the models breathing and there was a small incision made in the mouth for drinking. The silicone is think enough on the eye area for the model to see basic shapes and outlines and therefore no alterations were necessary. 

PHOTOSHOP DESIGNS

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I wanted to see a lifelike result of the design and to do this I used the lasso tool in Photoshop to cut out each section of the models faces that were cast. Once I had the features selected I copied them onto layer 1/ the core image. I used the colour burn tool and the colour balance tool on adjustments to alter the gradient in each individuals feature, resulting in a similar match to the models natural skintone. Finally, I used the rubber tool with a feathered edge to soften the edges of the accessory features. The images looked qute horrific and warped but it gave me and indication of how the make up would be seen without any adjustments to the sizing of features and colouring. 

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