The whole idea behind this image is really quite interesting and i enjoyed learning about a subject i've never really looked into. I had an initial idea of what I wanted to do and this was to use animal masks in some way as, in my view there is something rather dark and creepy about them. I started to research into animal masks and came across a few horror movies that use them to disguise killers identity’s. Killer’s using animal masks to hide their real identity made the overall use of masks quite dark and scary so I decided to roll with the whole horror theme. I then thought to myself how can I give my image a meaning? I then started to research into famous horror killer’s that use masks, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street & Halloween are the classics. I then stumbled upon a site that gave a more in-depth insight into the world of horror movies. It was explaining how most horror movies are based on the killer having some sort of disorder or mental illness, and this is what keeps the audience interested. I then researched into the most common illnesses used in horror movies which are, Schizophrenia, Phycosis and Dissociative Identity Disorder. I then found an interesting blog, which explained how these illnesses were used in films such as Physco, (1960) uses a case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Maniac (1980) uses an extreme case of physcosis. The films are taken to the extreme in most cases, for the audiences 'entertainment', but for people with these conditions it can be like living a horror movie in reality, but not really being aware of it.

 

In my image I have tried to display subtly on how having an illness can affect a person and how other's view them, they no longer know who they truly are, their personas can control and define them as a ‘monster’ but they themselves can not see or explain their behaviour.