Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Recognizable and Relatable
In the animated short, we need to set up the story, tell the story, and get out. There is pre-
cious little time for the audience to get to know your character. Therefore, it helps if we
understand the character's personality and function the fi rst 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, and how he works. 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. In live action this is nearly automatic because the characters are human and
we assume, since we are human too, that we have something in common with the character.
In animation, characters are frequently not human. It is your job, then, to give them some
recognizable traits that the audience will relate and respond to.
Shape
Shapes have inherent meaning. Circles are organic 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 suggest danger
or evil.
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 fi gures:
Of the characters, many have geometric silhouettes because it is a silent movie. The
characters cannot be recognized by their voices. So when they are far away or even
when they appear in a scene very fast we need to know, okay, that is this character.
So the audience doesn't get too confused. So when they see something that looks very
small like a yogurt pot, they know it is Madame Souza and an enormous square-ish
character in black, they know it is the Mafi a. This is also something you can do with
animation which you cannot do with live action.
I think that the characters are quite convincing because of their shape and also prob-
ably because they have lives on their own. They have a story and they are just like
us—they live, they suffer, they exist, they can get hurt, and they are so natural. [2]
