Chapter 4

Building Character and Location

Stories are about people. The people (toys, fish, aliens, cars, dragons, etc.) are the characters through which the story is told. The story belongs to the character. Without a good character you don’t have a story.

Character Explorations for Defective Detective, by Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and Design

What is a Good Character?

A good character is one that is both believable and memorable.

A believable character is an ordinary character (in relation to the world that he lives in) who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances and reacts to those circumstances truthfully.

A memorable character has the ability to move an audience emotionally through the events of the story. It is a character that elicits a reaction from the audience.

Appeal is something different. Appeal refers to the visual design of the character. Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas originally coined the term appeal in their book, The Illusion of Life. To them, appeal meant that “your eye is drawn to a character and you appreciate what you are seeing.”¹ You immediately identify with the character. The character can be beautiful or ugly, intricate or plain, good or bad. The character’s appeal makes you want to watch and find out more about him.

An appealing design is complemented by a captivating personality. A good character is imbedded with strong personality traits with which an audience can identify. These traits are constructed to either aid or impede the character in the pursuit of his goal. As you watch and get to know more about the character, he engages you. You begin to hope for the character’s success or failure. At each event in the story, the emotional investment becomes greater.

A good character is one that is right for the story.

Character Profiles

A good character is also a character that you understand. Knowing your character well allows you to construct believable reactions to conflicts faced in the story. These reactions are what will move your audience through the story. To engage the audience, you need a fully developed character.

What does that mean? In films there are many types of characters. There are main characters, supporting characters, opposing characters, minor characters, and extras. The term flat is often used to describe minor characters or extras. As an audience we don’t get to know them very well. They are singular in both function and emotion. Sometimes they are more like props used to move the story forward. Main characters are fully developed. We engage with them because they have a history complete with a full range of emotion, strengths, weaknesses, idiosyncrasies, and faults.

In feature films, character development is called a back story. A back story is an extensive biography of the character. It includes everything from physical attributes, education, professional history, family, relationships, lifestyle, and hobbies to past diseases, disorders, strengths, weaknesses, fears, and phobias to a myriad of other traits that determine a character’s success or failure in a situation.

For the short we just don’t need to know that much. There is not much time, in the few minutes your film will last, for deep character development. Instead, your audience needs to know immediately—within the first ten seconds of your film—who your character is and what he wants. As the animator, you need to know a bit more to progress the story. But what you need to know can be limited to a few major traits determined by the following definitive questions:

1. What is your character’s ethical perspective? Ethics are the means by which we make decisions. Knowing—or assigning—an ethical baseline to your character will help you keep him consistent in the way that he approaches conflict. Paul Lester, author of Visual Communication, outlines six ethical baselines:
   1. Categorical Imperative. This character would have a strong sense of justice. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
   2. Utilitarianism. This character believes in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The focus is on consequences. He would sacrifice one life to save many.
   3. Hedonism. This is the pleasure principle. This character just wants to have fun. He is selfish.
   4. Golden Mean. This character compromises and negotiates. He will try to find the middle ground to reach a peaceful agreement.
   5. Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This character has empathy and compassion.
   6. Veil of Ignorance. This character blissfully goes through life wearing rose-colored glasses. Everything is good, everyone is equal.²
2. Is the character dominated by emotion or logic?
3. What is his greatest strength?
   1. What might help him in the face of his conflict?
4. What is his flaw?
   1. A Hero will be flawed, but the flaw will be redeemable.
   2. A Villain is fatally flawed. Whatever is flawed will be his downfall.
   3. What would be something that would be an impediment to your character’s success?
5. How does he see himself?
6. How is he seen by others?
7. What is this biggest secret?
   1. What is at stake for the character?
8. What does the character want?
9. How far will the character go to get what he wants?
10. What does the character need to learn?

These questions build what is called a character profile. The character profile forms the personality of the character. It is best if these questions are answered with the story and story conflicts in mind. Then you can construct a character that meets the conflicts and drives the story in the way that you intend.

Let’s look at a possible profile for Chunk, the main character of the short The Animator and the Seat.

Concept: There are no breaks during crunch time.

Premise: An overworked, tired animator wants to take a break, but is forced back to work by an unexpected authority.

Chunk:

1. Ethical Perspective: Golden Mean.
2. He is dominated by emotion.
3. Greatest Strength: Chunk usually has an unwavering work ethic, incredible talents and the ability to sound cooler than he really is.
4. Flaw: He is bored with his job.
5. He sees himself as complacent and law abiding.
6. He is seen by others as weak, but a great workhorse. He will go the extra mile to get a project done.
7. Biggest secret: He has decided he needs a change in employment.
8. What does the character want? A break.
9. How far will the character go to get what he wants? Not very far. He is a pushover. He is extremely excitable when faced with physical threat. He will use all of his willpower to avoid a physical situation and will give in rather than fight.
10. What does the character need to learn? There are no breaks during crunch time.

Chunk by Eric Drobile, Ringling College of Art and Design

Chunk is an animator who starts to take a break, only to be forced back to work by his chair. His chair has clearly been charged with the task of keeping him in his place—working.

The Animator and the Seat, by Eric Drobile, Ringling College of Art and Design

The character profile makes sense when put in relationship to the story and how the character emotionally reacts to the situation in which he finds himself. If your profile doesn’t help your character progress through the story, then you need to change your profile or change your story. Don’t think of the profile as something that is set in stone. Think of it as a working document that can be refined as you go through the story development process and learn more about your character(s). Characters are constructed. Their personality traits may need adjustment for the good of the story.

Note that the profile defines internal character traits. This is because there is a difference between character and characterization. When most people begin to define characters, they talk about physical traits, occupations or hobbies. This is characterization. What really defines a character—and why we watch—is to see how he reacts under pressure. Two characters might have the same build, work at the same company, like the same girl and drink the same coffee from Starbucks, but can react very differently when the Starbucks they are at is robbed. One might confront the robber while the other one flees. This is when we see what the true character is made of and, from this, what life lesson he/we might learn.

Working with Two or More Characters

Gopher Broke, directed by Jeff Fowler, Blur Studios

When working with two or more characters, there is additional information you need to add to the profiles:

1. What is the relationship of your characters? Characters have relationships. Did they just meet or do they have a history? Are they strangers, acquaintances, friends, foes, family members, lovers, siblings, enemies? How do they feel toward each other? How does that affect the way they act in the story?
2. What is the status of each character? Status is defined by how much power you wield in a relationship. The power in a relationship is negotiable. We negotiate status all of the time. In a restaurant the customer is of higher status than the waiter. It is the job of the waiter to serve the customer. But that power shifts if you ask the waiter for a recommendation. Characters will negotiate power by being aggressive, passive, pleasing, assertive, or manipulative. Who has the power in your story and how is it negotiated with the other character(s)?
3. What do they want from each other? This is slightly different from the original question, “What does the character want?” In Gopher Broke, all of the characters want the same thing. They want vegetables. The gopher wants the other characters to leave the vegetables alone. After all, he has done all the work. The other characters simply don’t care. In fact, they are willing to threaten and fight the gopher for the vegetables. This defines the relationship between the gopher and the other characters and becomes the primary conflict.
4. Who is the story about? This may seem obvious, but frequently when there are two strong characters, you sometimes lose sight of whose story you are telling. Make sure that you keep it clear who the main character really is. Often the main character is the one who arcs—or learns—the most.

Character Arcs

A character arc is the transformation of the character(s) through the course of the story.

In Gopher Broke, the gopher starts out clever and hopeful as he digs holes to dislodge vegetables from the produce truck. As his efforts are continually foiled and his frustration rises, he buries the vegetable sign causing a huge crash and ultimately his own demise.

In The Animator and the Seat, Chunk begins the story as a bored, overworked employee looking for a break. In a bizarre occurrence, his chair refuses to let him leave and he ends up trapped, despondent, and still working.

Character arcs can be:

• Physical: life to death, rich to poor, fat to thin, weak to strong, drunk to sober
• Mental: sane to crazy, foolish to wise, naive to enlightened, confusion to clarity, forgetful to remembering, positive to critical
• Spiritual: bad to good, wrong to right, stingy to generous, out of love to in love, nonbeliever to believer, intolerant to tolerant, revenge to forgiveness.

All transformations include an emotional arc. There cannot be a transformation in character without a corresponding transformation in emotion. Determine how your character changes and identify the emotional arc in your story.

In terms of design, determine if there are any physical attributes that change as the character arcs. This would give you the ability to express the arc in the design of the character. This is the Pinocchio principle. In the beginning, Pinocchio has a small nose. The more he lies, the bigger his nose gets until he learns his lesson. This is not something that is necessary; it is just a possibility that is often overlooked.

Character Design

A well-designed character has the following characteristics:

• It will be immediately recognizable and relatable.
• It will be have a recognizable shape or silhouette.
• It will reflect the personality of the character.
• It will have physical attributes that complement the content of the story.
• It will be able to complete the actions that are required by the script.
• It will be interesting to watch.

Searching for the right gopher. Sean McNally character design sheets for Gopher Broke, Blur Studios

Recognizable and Relatable

In the animated short, we need to set up the story, tell the story, and get out. There is precious little time to get to know your character. Therefore it helps if we understand the character’s personality and function the first time we see him. If your character is a weird part-alien, part-human, part-machine creature, we need to know immediately if we are for or against him, if we like him or hate him, how he works and why. If this isn’t clear you will either lose your audience or waste time trying to explain the character. The point is to engage your audience, and to construct empathy, concern or at least curiosity about the character as soon as possible in the story.

Shape

Shapes have inherent meaning. Circles are organic, cyclical and innocent. Squares are human-made and solid. Inverted triangles are strong (think of the chest on a superhero). Upright triangles have a lower center of gravity. They can be subordinate, complacent or content (think of the nerdy scientist). Sharp angles and diagonals are dynamic suggesting tension or danger.

Most characters are constructed from a combination of basic shapes. The relationship of the shapes to each other will determine the visual interest that your character will command. The goal is to have a nice contrast of size, shape, and proportions that will express the personality of the character and meet the needs of the story. If you have more than one character, you want each one to have visibly distinctive traits. You will need to put them in contrast to each other, each made out of different combinations of shapes, proportions, exaggerations, and details.

For example, in The Triplets of Belleville, Sylvain Chomet created distinctly different and geometric figures:

Mme. Souza in Belleville. Sylvain Chomet, Triplets of Belleville

Mme. Souza in Belleville. Sylvain Chomet, Triplets of Belleville

When you begin a character, begin by thinking in shapes. Style and details can come later. What are the basic shapes that communicate the essence of your character?

Personality and Function

After you have identified the basic shapes for your character, it will need to be pushed further. Why? Whether you’re designing a gopher, a computer animator, a grandmother, or a robot—there are hundreds of similar designs out there. Your character will be generic unless you express their unique personality and style.

The best character designs have personality. They pop off the page. You’d love to meet them. So how do you do that? Achieving personality means combining two things: originality and function.

To make a character original, you need to look closely at its character profile. Who are they and what makes them unique as a character? Find this trait and exaggerate it in the design. If your character is a great intellectual, exaggerate the cranium. Give him a big forehead. If your character is a habitual eavesdropper, give him big ears. If a gopher is highly optimistic but slow, give him big eyes, but a heavy lower body. Define what visual attributes are necessary to effectively tell your story.

Sometimes these attributes are defined by what characters have to do in the story. What they have to do gives cues to their visual design. In The Incredibles, Elastigirl is not just an interesting design for a superhero; she stretches because she is a mother and must always multitask. Dash is fast because he is a little boy with so much pent-up energy. Violet disappears and has a protective shield because she is in adolescence. Elastigirl is organic and loose in the joints. Dash is solid, low to the ground with strong legs. Violet is slim and has hair that perpetually hangs over her large and watchful eyes.

Another way to find a unique character design is to look at the characters’ goals and the conflicts that they must confront. In The Triplets of Belleville, Mme. Souza’s goal is to save her kidnapped grandson, Champion, from the French Mafia. She is small and old. Many obstacles are put in her way: an ocean, lack of money, the city of Belleville, and the Mafia. You would think that this would be enough. But Sylvain Chomet designed her with one leg shorter than the other. She wears one elevated shoe. Because of this, she can only move slowly. There is, in her physical design, an impediment to her goal: to quickly rescue her grandson. It is not enough that she is small and old. We expect grandmothers to be small and old. That is ordinary. Her foot makes her different and memorable. The first time we see her we see her foot. It creates intrigue and we want to know more about her.

Similarly, Chris Perry’s little girl in Catch is made of simple geometric shapes. Her environment is also made up of shapes. The shapes represent the simplicity and innocence of childhood. They contrast sharply with the photographic reality of a grown, well-developed woman in a billboard. The little girl must confront her future and decide what is worthwhile at that time in her life. The design of the character is in direct contrast with the conflict she must face.

Catch, Chris Perry, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Creating originality and function can be simpler than that. It can be as simple as designing a character who wants to sew on a button but has extremely fat fingers, or a character who needs to scratch an itch but has very short arms.

Finally, there may be times when it is necessary for the design to contrast with the personality traits or functions of the character. In Meng Vue’s The Dancing Thief, the policewoman is defined by her over-bearing size and her badge. These are cues that signal how seriously she takes her job and the threat that she poses to the thief. We are surprised and delighted when we discover that she is graceful, loves to dance, and is capable of love.

The Dancing Thief, Meng Vue, Ringling College of Art and Design

Remember that the short film needs to deliver more in a smaller time frame. Carefully constructing your character design to immediately convey strong personality traits or character functions will communicate the essence of your character to your audience faster.

Actions, Gestures, and Additional Attributes

The final step to designing your character is to test it against the actions and gestures it will need to perform in the story. If you have designed your character with a big head and short arms, but the story requires him to cross the monkeybars in a playground, you might be in trouble. If you need his mouth to drop to the floor and his tongue to roll out across the room, make sure he is designed in a way that will allow him to do so.

Look at the extremes of the emotional expressions your character needs. The face and the hands are the most expressive parts of the body. How far do they stretch? What kinds of exaggerations are necessary? This becomes a bigger consideration when you begin to model, but at the design stage, you want to make sure that the expressions are readable.

Also think about how detailed the character is and how the design will affect the time it will take to animate it. Things like flowing hair, loose clothing, big bellies, and large feet all have additional considerations when you model, rig, and animate the character. Make sure that you will have the time to execute what you have designed. Consider leaving out unnecessary attributes that do not drive the story forward.

The bottom line is that your character design is driven by the story. It needs to match the tone of the content. That is the goal of your character design.

Model Sheets

Once the character design is finalized, a model sheet is required to begin the production process. The model sheet will be used to create your 3D model. If you have more than one person working on the film, it will help keep everyone consistent. The model sheet is a detailed drawing of the character that shows exactly the style, proportions, costuming, and all anatomical details in front, back, three-quarter and side views. It is also the first step in guaranteeing that your character is appealing and animatable from all angles.

The Animator and the Seat, Chair Model Sheet

The Animator and the Seat, Chunk Model Sheet

Building Location

A good location:

• Sets the stage for the animation
• Determines the mood of piece
• Supports the story.

Setting the Stage

Some of the most cutting-edge work in animation is in the design of the environment. We only have to look at the ballroom scene from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the vast, frozen terrain of Blue Sky’s Ice Age, the underwater world of Pixar’s Finding Nemo, the complex kitchen in Ratatouille, or the islands in Avatar, to see how environments have been innovative in pushing both visual and technological progress as essential storytelling elements. The location is not just a background for a piece. It is not just a space in which the character acts. The location is the world in which the character lives.

Props

Props are objects that populate the environment that the character uses to drive the story forward. A landscape is never just a landscape, a town just a town, a building just a building, or a room just a room. The location, and the objects in it, is specific to the character and the story. They give the audience many visual cues that provide instantaneous information about the character, the back story, and the situation.

For example, in Gopher Broke, we begin the story on a dirt road in the middle of a wheat field. The first thing we see is a sign that points in the direction of the Farmers’ Market, posted in the rocky dirt on the side of the road. Next, we see dandelions. Then we see the dandelions disappearing into the earth until the Gopher runs into the sign and gets a better idea as a pickup truck loaded with crates and tomatoes (identical to the ones on the sign) drives by. We learn from this introduction that we are in the country. There is a critter who ordinarily eats dandelions but now has an opportunity for something better. The make and model of the truck tells us the time period. Because the story involves several iterations of vegetable displacement from various trucks that drive by, we need to consider the other props we need for the story: trucks—making them the same but different colors will help with feasibility; types of vegetables; types of crates.

Gopher Broke, Prop Concept Art by Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Blur Studios

Important props, like the sign and the dandelions, need to be prominent. The sign is of particular significance because it is the prop that ultimately causes the demise of the gopher. The gopher, in frustration, throws the sign on the road where it is hit by a truck that careens out of control, catapulting a cow from the back of the truck, which lands on the gopher. The lesson here is that a prop is also never just a prop. It must be used to convey information or drive the story forward. Be careful not to overpopulate your sets with props. Use only what you need to tell the story. Make sure the props don’t steal the scene from the character.

Props give us important information about time period, geography, character personality and history. If a piece is set in the present, props become especially important, providing specific and unique information about the character and space that distinguishes them from the rest of modern society.

The Animator and the Seat, by Eric Drobile, Ringling College of Art and Design

Space

Space is the empty area in a set that must be big enough for the characters to do what they need to do. Whether this is a claustrophobic interior or a vast expansive exterior, the design of the space should direct the viewer to the important action in the scene. Therefore, great care needs to be taken to analyze the action and compose the props in such a way that they do not visually interfere with the action and so that they are where they need to be when the character needs to use them.

Look at the space in the design on p. 91. In this story, the animator needs to move from his desk toward the entrance to his cubicle. As the entrance is blocked by his chair, he tries to climb the bookcase as an alternate route of escape. He is pulled off the bookcase and forced back to work at his computer. The space is designed with a direct route from the chair to the door. The desk is placed against the far wall of the cubicle. The character simply needs to turn his chair around and head for the entrance. When the entrance is blocked, the bookcase is to the left of the character so he can turn and begin to climb. There is, then, the same direct route back to the computer from the bookcase, allowing for maximum action, minimum interference from other furniture, and minimum movement of the camera.

Imagine the difference if the desk was turned around facing the entrance and if the bookcase was located behind the desk on the far back wall. The space would require the character to run around the desk, creating a barrier between the character and the chair, stopping the action.

Too often, beginner animators create their locations from something they have seen or something they know. They then move the characters to the props rather than position the props where they are needed for the story. They waste valuable animation time making the character move around obstacles or walk or run great distances—movements that with good design are avoidable. Analyze first the function of the space, the action that takes place, where the camera will be placed, and then design for maximum efficiency.

Defining the Mood of the Piece

What is the mood you want to create for your piece? Is it night or day? Are we in a happy place or a scary place? What is the atmosphere, the weight of the air, the temperature of the space? As soon as the film fades up from black and begins, an impression, emotion, feeling, or dramatic effect is created by the texture, color, lighting, and design elements of the location.

Texture

Everything in a location has a texture—the hard surface of a desk; the smoothness of a flower petal; the coarseness of a brick street. Texture is the fabric, material, fiber, grain, pattern, flexibility, or stiffness that gives a tactile surface quality to the objects in the world. The amount of texture defines the level of detail and reality in a scene. The more texture and detail present, the closer to reality the scene becomes for the viewer.

In The Animator and the Seat, there is a relatively low level of texture. This supports the boredom of the cubicle and desire of the animator to leave the space. The lack of texture also means there is a lower level of reality present which supports the believability of the unusual occurrences that take place in the space.

On the other hand, Respire, Mon Ami, is filled with semi-realistic, heavily textured locations. The reality of these spaces magnifies the weak grasp the boy has on his own sense of what is real.

High texture and detail give a sense of realism. Respire, Mon Ami, Chris Nabholz, Ringling College of Art and Design

Color

Some colors that we use in a scene are dictated by what is called local color. These are colors that have natural associations. Grass is green; the sky is blue; the wood floor is brown, etc. Other colors are used to create emotion through visceral, psychological, or cultural associations. For example, green is associated with nature, growth, and rebirth. But it can also mean lack of experience, good luck, greed, envy, jealousy, or sickness. How can one color generate such a range of possibilities? The range of emotion often has to do with the value or saturation of the color. Yellow-green connotes sickness. Dark green is the color of ambition. Pure green symbolizes healing, safety, and nature. Colors have finite emotional associations. Reds and yellows are warm. Greens and blues are cool. Grays are neutral. Good design requires that you understand the range of emotion that a color can create so you can apply it thoughtfully in your work.

• Red—warmth, richness, power, excitement, eroticism, romance, anxiety, anger
• Orange—hot, healthy, exuberant, exhilarated, ambitious, fascinated, exotic, romantic, toxic
• Yellow—happy, energy, joy, innocence, caution, cowardice
• Green—vital, successful, healthy, fertile, safe, inexperienced, jealous, ominous, poisonous, corrupt
• Blue—stable, calm, dependable, tranquil, loyal, sincere, passive, melancholy, cold
• Purple—wise, dignified, independent, mysterious, mystical
• White—innocent, good, pure, clean, cold
• Black—elegant, formal, strong, authoritative, powerful, dangerous, evil, grief, death.

For every location in your piece, you will have a color palette that will define the emotion in the scene. The color of the scene may set one mood that remains constant throughout the scene or the color may change with the emotion of the character or the rising intensity of the action to support specific moments in the story. A color key or color script is used to plan the color scheme of a given film.

Color Script for Defective Detective, by Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and Design

In this story, an old woman is making tomato soup. When she hears a mouse, she screams and drops her pot. Some of the soup leaks through the ceiling to the apartment below where an inept detective decides to save her. The color script shows the difference between the monochromatic world of the detective and the bright high key world of the old woman. Both color and light contrast their worlds.

Light

This is the most important element in creating the mood of your piece. Many cinematographers refer to light as the paint for their canvas—the screen. Light is what shows or hides important details, defines shapes. Light sets the atmosphere, the tone, color and the drama of the scene through the quality and intensity of the light. Light determines what we see. It sets the composition.

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Bert Poole, CG Supervisor at DreamWorks. Bert describes the use of lighting situations to support different types of narrative content.

Design Elements

The line, shape, scale and directional orientation of the elements in a scene communicate meaning and create style. An environment composed of organic shapes has a very different feeling than one created with geometric shapes. Curves, right angles and horizontal orientations are calming and stable. Diagonals, pointed edges, repeated verticals and whacked perspectives create energy and tension.

In The Animator and the Seat, the perspective and shape of everything in the environment from the doorway to the bookcase to the desk is off kilter, creating an environment that is tense—like a bad dream. This reinforces the idea that the chair could come alive in this environment. It walks a line between reality and hallucination.

Catch uses primary shapes to evoke a sense of the simplicity and childhood. The beginning of the piece is open and round. The forest is large, vertical and sharp. The scale of the forest creates danger. The billboard scene uses hard verticals to create a feeling that is industrial and cold.

Gopher Broke is more realistic. The design elements reinforce the story of a gopher in the Midwest.

In Defective Detective, the design elements used in the characters place the height and angularity of the detective against the compact and curved elements in the old woman. Likewise their apartments are equally contrasting. Everything in the detective’s environment is square and slightly at an angle. It communicates the detective’s need for control and his inability to get it. In contrast the old woman’s environment has a lot of circular elements and rounded edges. Just from the environments, we know that the woman will control the situation when these two finally meet.

Supporting the Story

Everything about the location—the props, space, texture, color, lighting, and design combine to support the story and communicate the time period, genre, and style of the piece. Styles range from general categories such as realistic, abstract, caricatured, cartooned, exaggerated, organic, and geometric; to specific recognized styles in art like Art Deco or Film Noir; to very specific times or locations like Muncie, Indiana, in the 1950s. Don’t copy styles from other people. Don’t make the style of the piece the way it is because “that is the way you draw.” Choose a style that will best enhance your character and tell your story.

Locations are developed in concept art called master sketches or master backgrounds. This is art that is produced to accompany story pitches. It should communicate the atmosphere, lighting and design of the piece. These pieces should create intrigue, curiosity, and interest in your audience. For the short, you want the visual of your location to get your audience into the story quickly. Just as with your character designs, the location design needs visual interest that makes us want to know more.

The following drawings show two possible variations for a scene that takes place in a grandmother’s house. The first is a perfectly acceptable drawing of the living room. It sets the stage, has room for action to take place, and gives a sense of who lives there. It is a passive but functional space.

However, the second drawing has intrigue and implication. It is a location where something has happened and more could happen. It is an active space. The furniture and accessories have been carefully moved to the edges of the room. The rug has been rolled up, the mirror taken off the wall. Tools lie prominently in the foreground and a hole has been broken through the floor. It creates questions in the mind of the audience. Who has done this and why?

Gary Schumer, Ringling College of Art and Design Gary Schumer, Ringling College of Art and Design

The first drawing sets the stage, but the second drawing is what you want to sell the piece and to start the story.

Summary

Character:

• A good character is one that is believable, memorable, and right for the story.
• Understanding your character will allow you to create believable reactions to the conflicts in the story.
• Knowing your character comes from creating a back story or character profile.
• The character profile forms the personality of the character.
• When working with two or more characters, you must also establish their relationship, status, and individual goals.
• You must establish which character the story is truly about.
• That character will arc or change, physically, mentally, spiritually, and always emotionally, throughout the course of the story.

A good character design will:

• Be immediately recognizable and relatable.
• Have a recognizable shape.
• Reflect the personality of the character.
• Include physical attributes that complement the content of the story.
• Be able to complete the actions that are required by the script.
• Be interesting to watch.

A good location:

• Sets the stage for the animation through props and space.
• Defines the mood of the piece through texture, color, light, and design.
  • Texture determines the level of reality.
  • Color evokes emotion.
  • Light creates atmosphere, tone, and drama.
  • Design communicates meaning and creates style.

• Supports the story.
• A good location design creates intrigue, getting the audience quickly into the story.

Additional Resources: www.ideasfortheanimatedshort.com

• Telling a Story with Light: An Interview with Bert Poole, DreamWorks Feature Animation
• Visual Design: An Interview with Kendal Cronkhite, DreamWorks Feature Animation
• Visual Design: An Interview with Kathy Altieri, DreamWorks Feature Animation

Recommended Reading

1. Tom Bancroft, Creating Characters with Personality For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games and Graphic Novels
2. Eric Goldberg, Character Animation Crash Course
3. Marc McCutcheon, Building Believable Characters
4. John Alton, Painting with Light
5. Patti Bellantoni, If It’s Purple, Somebody’s Gonna Die
6. http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/1999/08/05/bird/: This is a great interview with Brad Bird that explains how everything in an environment supports the story. If it is still available online, you should read it.

Notes