Character Development

1
Character Development

• Computer Animation SS2008

2
Characters Types

• Protagonists
• Antagonists
• Supporting players
• Background extras

3
Character Resumes

• Questions to ask
• Where did he come from?
• How old is he?
• What does he look like?
• Is he exceptionally tall? Dangerously skinny?
• Do people generally like him? Does he have many
  friends? Enemies?
• Do you want your audience to like, despise or
  fear him?
• What does he need or desire?

• What skills does he possess that will help him
  achieve his goals?
• What is his biggest fear?
• Does he have an Achilles heel?
• What, if anything, does he do for a living? Is he
  good at what he does?
• Is he married? Does he have kids?
• How does he see himself? Is it different than the
  way his friends or enemies see him?

4
Character Resumes

• Try to keep your characters fairly simple in both
  design and personality
• Choose a few major character traits and explore
  them sufficiently
• Only include such details if they directly or
  indirectly relate to your story

5
Character Resumes

• Exaggerate your characters most significant
  traits
• If your protagonist is fat, make him obese
• If your villain is muscular, make him enormous
• Exaggeration increases the clarity of your
  characterizations allows for a margin of error

6
Character Development Tools

• Names
• Words (text, narration and speech)?
• Design
• Behavior

7
Character Development ToolsNames

• Use descriptive names
• Ex, Jimmy Neutron
• Use suggestive names
• Ex, Han Solo
• Use personality traits

8
Character Development ToolsText, Narration
Speech

• To imply
• Personality
• Nationality
• Status
• Intelligence
• Motivation
• Goals

• Use
• Pitch
• Tone
• Volume
• Style
• Accent
• Vocabulary
• Content of a characters words

9
Character Development ToolsDesign

• Interpretive visual cues
• How important is the look to the story?
• Try designing characters with specific
  unmistakable visual elements
• Appeal
• Interesting to look at, not necessarily
  attractive
• Indicative design
• Visual cues should tell the audience something
• Can reveal attributes
• Should invoke audience reaction or expectation

10
Character Development ToolsDesign

• Faces
• Most distinguishable and expressive part
• Try out many versions facial expressions
• Keep it simple!
• Dont overload your design
• Be clear subtle
• Think ahead characters need to be animated
• Think 3-D
• Even if your animation is 2-D

11
Example Rodney(Robots, Blue Sky Studios)?

• Notice how most of the final details are in the
  sketch
• But, there are still differences
• Does the design tell you anything?
• Is it too simple? Too complex?

12
Example Mr. Incredible(The Incredibles, Pixar)?

• Three stages in the characters life
• Why?

13
Example Shrek(Shrek, DreamWorks)?

• Before
• and after!
• Notice anything different?

14
Example Ratatouille(Pixar)?

• What can tell about these characters from their
  faces?

15
Your Turn!

• Task Develop a character for a short animation
  about a flower that yearns to run free
• Include
• Character resume
• Sketches

• Possible characters
• Main flower
• Friends
• Bullies (weeds?)?
• Insects
• Etc.
• You have twenty minutes!

16
Reference

• Inspired 3D Short Film Production Character
  Development and Design - Part 2
• Jeremy Cantor and Pepe Valencia
• Animation World Magazine
• September 14, 2004