The Art of a Scream
the story of a student filmmaker looking to keep shocking storytelling alive
Hello! I am Therese Bailey, a freshman studying filmmaking and makeup artistry at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Although it has been quite an interesting feat to enter college during a global pandemic, I still had goals coming in that I tried to stick to, including keeping on top of makeup artist credits, getting good sleep and holding a good schedule to maintain motivation and spending time with friends and setting aside time to relax aside from schoolwork to avoid burnout. I would say that (for the most part) I achieved these goals, but I won’t lie and say there weren’t nights where I stayed up until two am on the top of the parking garage singing and dancing to Katy Perry’s hit 2010 album Teenage Dream with new friends. What I’m doing at the moment to build my personal brand is searching for work within the makeup artistry field while building a strong portfolio of both gory special effects looks and classy glam. I often spend my free time helping friends on the sets of their short films for school and practicing editing skills to build my horror filmmaker and makeup artist brand.
I would say that my biggest passion as a student is creation and making our world a more artistic and creative place. I am greatly interested in creating anything from art to stories, films and makeup looks, especially those of the horror genre. I think my “Ikigai,” where my passion and interests overlap into purpose is spreading creativity through my work as a horror artist and encouraging others to engage in the great rush of adrenaline that is horror in all its forms. A piece of media entitled “Speak No Evil” I have created can be seen at the top of this article. I always have the intent to put a story behind every SFX look I create. The story behind this is having one’s mouth pinned closed so that they physically cannot speak. To me, makeup is more than just painting your face, but an art of visual storytelling.
My absolute dream job is to direct horror films. I am working towards this by building my film editing skills, observing others creating short films, working on sets and studying horror films. A horror short I created entitled “Fire and Vice” depicts the consequences of the seven deadly sins for a relentless businesswoman after her boss’ CEO position. I experimented with angles and color correcting to improve myself as a horror director.
Grit can be known as how passionate and persistent you are in efforts to achieve your life-long aspirations. I would say I am a fairly gritty person, but even though I struggle with self-sabotaging habits, such as procrastination, I still have a strong passion for horror that keeps me going. I have several ways to pursue my dream job. I will set short term goals for myself, like improving a certain facet of film editing, like color correction. I will stay motivated by continuing to brainstorm ideas for horror films and continuing to practice screenwriting, camera work and directing. I will continue to create and watch myself improve. The best way I can stay motivated is to never stop growing as an artist and an individual.