Practical: Noose Burn

For this practical task, using make-up, I created the special effect of the aftermath of a noose burn, as if a victim had been hung using rope; this coincides well with slasher horror as strangulation can be a form of torture.

Research:

Firstly, it was imperative that I carried out research in order to gain an insight into what real life noose burns would look like.

The image on the left shows a girl with bruising and slight cuts on her neck as a result of being hung. The colours and overall look of the burn mark was useful when creating my own. 

On the right hand sided shows another example of a burn mark, this time produced using make-up. This example is a lot more harsh and obvious in terms of cuts and ligature marks. There is also a substantial amount of bruising on the outer edges of the wound would be easy to recreate using different coloured eyeshadows and blushes.

Practical Task:

I then proceeded to create my own special effect using make-up.

The photography on the right shows the materials which I used, which include:

• Liquid Latex
• Green, Black and red eyeshadows/blush
• Black Eyeliner
• Red Lip Liner
• Red Lipstick
• Fake Blood
• Collection of Brushes

The image attached on the left shows the before picture of my neck and then below, the images show  the layer of liquid latex added to the skin. I used liquid latex to create a rough layer to apply the make up to, to act as the injured and damaged skin. Later, using tweezers, I was able to break areas of the layer to create individual cuts.

Using the red and green eyeshadow/blush as a base, using a blush brush, I applied it to the liquid latex layer of the wound. This was to create the look of bruising which would be present after being hung due to the force of all the body weight being applied over the surface area of a thin rope. Using the blush, I blended the colour into my skin to make the bruising appear gradual and centred on the wound itself.

 In order to add more definition to the wound, I used the black liquid eyeliner through the centre of the wound, creating depth. Using the blush brush once again, I smudged the eyeliner to blend in with the previously applied red and green bruising.

I then applied a red lip liner to the outer edge of the wound to make that area of the skin appear more sore and irritated, as if that was where the rope rubbed most. I also applied a red lipstick to the remainder of the wound to make it, again, appear more damaged, cut and bloody. As previously mentioned, this gave the wound more depth and definition, making it look more realistic.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, I used a set of tweezers to break different areas of the layered latex to appear as deeper and more sore cuts in the wound; I then applied an additional layer of lipstick into the newly formed craters to add further depth to the more serious cuts. The last imaged attached below on the right shows the fake blood that I added to make the wound look damaged and cut up, like it would appear recently after the victim had been hung.

Evaluation:

• The one aspect of the wound that I feel let it down is the thickness; as my researched shows, many wounds from rope burns or hanging burns are thinner and more concentrated. However, I could argue that a thicker rope was used for the process rather than a thinner one.
• The mix of different colours, particularly the black eyeliner, adds great depth to the wound, making it look realistic.
• The broken layer of latex successfully creates the illusion of broken, irritated skin.
• The bruising effect really brings the wound to life, adding detail and definition to the wound in addition to the wound itself.