Since you guys were curious...
I've always been a fan of chiaroscuro techniques in art in general, and then as far as film, I think it's fair to say that my general aesthetic style is heavily influenced by German expressionist films, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari here,
But later in college I connected more with Scandinavian film, my favorite film image of all time being this here, from
Herr Arne's Pengar av Mauritz Stiller:
I'd be lying if I said
Körkarlen (Victor Sjöström) wasn't heavily influential
And of course, no half-Swede can deny herself some good Bergman:
Persona:
I didn't want to shoot or filter into black and white. I like the blue tones that come out of black when the right light shines on it, and I wanted to preserve that. I wanted the makeup to stand on its own merit (makeup and nail art is another rabbit hole). My design inspirations were from other makeup artists who had done comic-book styles on their faces, but then it became its own thing. There were many other aesthetic details I wanted to affect, but things get complicated, and you have to make tough decisions.