Practical Task: Ligature Rope Burn

The brief for this task was to create ligature rope burn marks using make-up which could be re-created for our trailer whereby the victim is tied up. To do this, I researched different tutorials on YouTube and looked at images on the internet to gain a rough idea of how what ligature marks looked like and how to create them using make-up.

For this task, to create the ligature rope burns which would be caused as a result of a victim being tied up, I used the following make-up:

• Red Lipstick.
• Red Lip Liner.
• Black Eyeliner Pencil.
• Black and Green eyeshadow.
• Liquid Latex.
• Vaseline.
• Fake Blood.

Research: 

The following video clip was the tutorial that I used when creating my own ligature marks. Although I did not have access to some of the products that they used in the video, I was able to create a similar effect using resources that I already had in the house.

The images attached bellow show different examples of rope burns and rope bruises. In my practical task, as indicated below, I used a combination of the blistered, oozing example and the bruised example to create a authentic looking effect.

Practical Task:

Firstly, using hair bands as a template, I applied red lipstick to the skin of the arm. This created the red, sore looking skin, which is common in rope burns as the surrounding skin is often irritated by the friction from the rope or tie. The hair bands allowed for 'white' lines on the skin to remain, which would act as the template for the rope burns themselves. 

I then applied liquid latex to the white lines which remained from the hair band template as this would act as a second skin, allowing me to create a broken skin effect, with blisters or simply rough looking caused by the friction. The liquid latex hardens once applied to look like the skin colour underneath. Using tweezers, it was easier to then pick at the latex to create the broken skin effect.

Using the red lip liner as mentioned before, I was able to fill in the 'white' skin lines left from the hair band template to add definition to the wound and make it look more sore and 'angry' looking. The uneven application on the rough surface of the liquid latex made the wound look more random as if the rope had rubbed in different directions, rather than a thick solid red line.

I then applied a mix of green and black eyeshadow to the edges of the wound to create the bruised effect. This made the wound appear as though the surrounding skin had been damaged and injured from the tight noose of the rope. This is similar to the second example whereby there was an abundance of bruises caused by the tightness and friction of the rope or tie.

I then applied Vaseline to the centre and red, injured area of the wound to make it look more blistered and infected, such as the puss-like watery liquid commonly found in blisters. It also made the wound look more authentic as, although the red-lines indicate the more affected area, in real rope burns, the rope would often move around randomly, injuring the surrounding skin also.

For the final step, I added a few drops of fake blood to emphasise that the skin of the wound had been cut and split from the friction. From my research, it was evident that more severe wounds often have split skin and thus, are bloody looking.

Below shows the finished rope burn created using make-up:

Evaluation:

• Despite not having access to all of the resources used in the video tutorial, using make-up and resources that I had available at home, I was still able to create an authentic looking rope burn.
• The use of the black and green eyeshadow to create bruising added to the effect of the ligature marks as it added depth to the wound and made the rope burn itself look more sore and damaged.
• The Vaseline was extremely effective in creating the blistered effect on the rope burn, making the wound look much more damaged and sore. 
• On the other hand, using the hair bands as a template was tricky as during the application of the lipstick, they kept on moving. This meant that the white lines were more straight than random as desired. However, the overall affect was not limited because of this.