My original intention with this piece was to find an image of a smiling person, such as a close up portrait and edit on to the top of another image of someone who appeared unhappy or upset. It was going to be a piece that looked into what people may feel in comparison to the emotions they convey. Much like that of the other piece of physical age versus mental youthfulness.

Whilst I was searching for an image of someone smiling, I came across this image entitled “friendship” (Source):

The lake in the image instantly made me think of horror movies such as Lake Placid, Piranha and Shark Night. The lake itself just came across as ominous.  This is possibly due to how calm the water is, the strong greens of the trees and overcast sky’s reflection keeping what lies beneath the water mysterious and concealed.

This made me want to alter the image so that it came across as having an element of fear or shock. I found that the girl’s smile/ laugh, when taken out of context, could come across to the audience as sinister which I thought could be played on within the image. The first thing I did however was edit the tone so that it would match that of a horror film. I felt that although the subjects were perfect, it still may come across as being too much like a simple family photograph.

I chose to add a hand reaching out of the water  for help at a relatively close distance to the girls. This way it comes across that the person has been pushed in and is possibly being held/ drawn down by something, leading to the mystery of the piece. The hand is central in the image, being placed between the two girls to draw the eye towards it and place it as the center of attention. I chose a hand that can’t easily be recognized as belonging to a person of one particular gender, for example by not selecting a hand that appears delicate or burly. This is deliberate so that the viewer is left wondering who that person is, leaving it up to their own interpretation, with possibilities being created of the drowning person being a cheating boyfriend that the girls worked together to murder, or the girls’ mother or father, or even perhaps a complete stranger.

I chose to put some blood stains on the girl who is laughing, as well as some scuffs on the wooden boards behind her, this way it forces the audience to perceive that she is the main antagonist. I felt it necessary for the image to have a definite antagonist so that the cruelty and savagery associated with horror come across as soon as someone sees it. I also wanted to leave it ambiguous as to what the blond girl’s intentions and reasons for being there are. The girl’s face is hidden due to the angling, and combined with her neutral body language, it allows her to come across as having any range of emotions. It is also worth noting that her hands and wrists are also hidden, suggesting that they could be tied up or loose and possibly holding a weapon. This all helps to leave open multiple routes for the audience to interpret what the story behind the image is.

I felt that the image needed a narrative for what is going on and couldn’t be left completely mysterious. This is why I decided on including the drowning hand.
Without the hand it doesn’t provide any clear reason for what exactly the girl is amused about. Despite having the blood stain still on her knee, it would have simply been too illusive for the audience to grasp and think about what has gone on. That being said, to improve the image in terms of it’s look I would definitely spend more time editing the hand to a realistic point.

To expand the project, I could find images of people showing strong signs of emotions and edit them in ways typically associated with horror. As one example I could edit a picture of someone screaming in joy by adding something such as spiders to the image and changing the viewers’ thought towards the subjects reaction entirely. If I did expand the project in this way, I’m not sure if I could pose questions for what has/ is going on in an image to the same level as is found in this image, simply due to this image having a number of great elements for doing so.