- These masks from the film 'You're Next' at first glance aren't particularly scary
- They are clearly animal masks, specifically: a sheep, a wolf and some kind of feline animal.
- The basic look of the mask is clearly just a plastic child's mask, which would be quite easy to replicate or get ahold of if we wanted to go down that route.
- What makes these masks more terrifying is the use of blood on the masks, accompanied by low-key and under lighting, which makes the faces look more impressive and terrifying
- The mask allows the audience to see that they are just normal people as well, rather than disfigured killers
Saw
- This mask from Saw is a plastic pig mask, which is made to look quite realistic
- There is also blood on the mask and a long wig type hair piece to accompany it.
- The mask fits in with narrative also, as pigs are often used in the film
- Pigs are symbolic: lazy, greedy, dirty, unclean
- This symbol is relevant in the narrative as Saw is all about becoming clean and living good lives, as Jigsaw/John saw it
- Quite easy to replicate, find a pig mask from a shop/online probably quite hard to make one from scratch, expecially if we wanted it to be realistic like this one.
The Purge
- These masks are almost like exaggerated faces, quite caricature like, with emphasised chins, cheeks, eyes and mouths
- Then a wig or natural hair is seen over the top
- This is quite effective as the smile appears quite sinister and mocking almost, so unscary that is somehow becomes scary
- Also, the dark holes where the eyes should be makes the faces look more scary as the audience cannot see the killer's eyes.
- We could possibly recreate something like this by moulding one out of paper-mache or something similar, with help from the art department.
Post WW1 Mask
My first idea for a mask is inspired by the character Richard Harrow from the hit US series 'Boardwalk Empire'. Although the show is set in the 1920s and is a gangster drama, this character has a facial disfigurement from the war, meaning he has to wear a mask to cover it up, so not to shock other people. Below, you can see the character wearing the mask, it appears to be a cast of his face with painted on features to match his real face. The mask is then put on by the glasses, which keep it in place. From a BBC News article, I learned about the 'Tin Noses Shop' from World War One and how they actually made the masks for soldiers:
'The mask-making process began with a plaster cast of the face and then a clay or plasticine squeeze would be taken to reflect the healed face and missing features - like a cheek, eye socket, nose or jaw - would be cast. A copper mask, 1/32in thick, was created from the final cast, which was coated in silver and painted - usually a cream-coloured spirit enamel to match Caucasian skin, and topped with varnish to give a complexion.
Wood would then match the contours of the face, the pigmentation and texture of the patient's skin and if an eye was missing he would either paint on the reverse of a glass blank or directly on to the plate.' Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27592604
Doll Face / Pin-up mask
With Halloween just around the corner, I am aware that lots of masks will be sold in shops for relatively cheap prices. Last year as part of my media work I bought a mask from Asda which resembled the 'Doll face' mask from The Strangers, a film I have heavily taken inspiration from for this project. On the right, the image of the character 'Doll face' can be seen and the mask. Below is the mask I bought last year, with no special lighting or makeup used:
As you can see, it looks more frightening with the underlighting, which casts shadows and the blood. The blood is only cheap and so looks a little unrealistic, but for blog purposes it helps create an idea in the head of what the final result could be like.
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