Black and Blue - Portfolio Project Blog Post #14

 Black and Blue

Reinforcing the difference between our survivalist character and a burglar was not an easy task, especially with the rigorous challenge presented to us by being teenagers: a low budget. But, despite my anxiety, we managed to construct a costume that honestly... wasn't that bad?

Before we began filming, we had a pretty clear idea of what our character was going to wear during the film opening. The classic survivalist - a beanie, boots, black shirt, and some pants that are in any color except blue (who would wear jeans during the apocalypse?) While running out the door on filming day, I also grabbed a black belt, my makeup bag, and ... red velvet extract. I know it sounds weird, but just go with it.

Most makeup tutorials focus on removing: getting rid of zits, redness in your face, and, of course, those dreadful eye bags that make it look like you and sleep had a very rough breakup. But, for this film opening, glam was the last thing on our minds; realism is what we were going for, so we felt that those raccoon under-eyes of mine should be accentuated.

The strangest (and my favorite) part of our character design was utilizing things I had at home to make me look even more like a trainwreck (haha). Since I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, we thought it'd be a cool idea to add a bandaged wound to my arm. Using a bandage patch, sports tape, and a strange baking material, we managed to turn my scrawny, boring arm into a scrawny-but-a-little-cooler one.

Over the time we spent setting up camera equipment, testing out lighting, and practicing shots, the coloring on my bandage oxidized to a brownish-red color, just like real blood. I think it definitely made the wound look more realistic, especially in the shot where it can be seen.

I'm actually very impressed by how well the extract we used resembled a bloody wound. Whoever's reading this, if you want some fake blood that you can also use to make dessert, you should really give this a try. It's a great investment.

Finally, we added the finishing touches to our character. Using a blend of purple, pink and black eyeshadow, I dotted at my knuckles to make them appear subtly bruised and added some more red coloring in my nails to make them appear unkept. This worked out great for us, especially in this shot:

Overall, I'm more than satisfied with our character design and how I appeared on camera. No, I wasn't too worried about looking like I hadn't showered in days for a video that all my friends and family will be watching; I was nervous about seeming too clean, or, even worse, unrealistic. Thankfully, our ideas didn't end up looking like ketchup and black paint thrown onto me. This is definitely an unexpected win.