Chapter 2
Character Design
The building blocks of the character design process used by Catalyst Studios for all their productions and animations. I found this video which is a good tutorial for the theory of character design. www.catalystudios.co.uk
I used the specialist publications by Focal Press to help in the research for non-human character-design, specifically Richard Rickett: Designing Movie Creatures and Characters (Focal Press, 2002) . If there was one thing Richard Rickett could pass on, it is that when creating a character one should make sure that they know the character; the character should be their friend. And bringing that insight into the fray of my thesis, could anyone connect and get emotionally involved if there is no basic friendship between me and my character?
Is this a completely outlandish suggestion, or is it actually feasible?
Character Design Sheet Sample
Character Description Sheet
Name:
Main Job or Purpose:
Size:
Strength:
Appearance or Organization:
Age:
Where/when character was born and grew up:
Past job(s) or history:
Where character will move:
Parents?
Brothers or Sisters?
Married?
Children?
Personality (3 best adjectives):
Most important thing to know about character:
Allies:
Enemies:
Fears:
Character’s greatest uncertainty or darkest secret:
Character’s role in conflict resolution:
How this character will affect people’s lives
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Jason Bickerstaff ( WALL-E , 2008, Ratatouille , 2007 Finding Nemo , 2003) and Rich Hurrey ( Presto , 2008, Underworld Evolution , 2006, The Matrix , 2004) of Pixar provide a fascinating insight into what it takes to create (and sometimes re-create!) high-quality 3D models of characters and props that will hold up in various shots in a feature film. http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/ninjacrayon/category/Software?page=1 There is no direct quote to say that creating a relationship with the character is going to create a better reaction from the audience. In fact there is no mention of this, only of the quality of the mesh and the relevant animation and key-framing to create the movement of the character. And in the case of WALL-E (Pixar, 2008) neither of the main characters were motion captured nor did they possess any characteristics of human motion flow; only key-frame animation or robotic motion. This brings us to ask the question, does the emotional connection with the viewer need the relationship between the character and the animator to be present? Is the character's personality created by the viewer based on the situation and the character archetypes laid out by the narrative?
Continue to Chapter 2.2 - Character Archetypes
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