Weekly diary of work for ‘Design for Animation, narrative structure and film language’.

This week’s research is about Story Circle and Characters Archetypes. I took the dark Knight as an example and analyzed it in detail. Also, it gives me me example of one role takes two or more archetypes. Herald is sometimes hard to describe because in this case it’s not a person. All the breakdown needs an in-depth understanding of film.

Here is the link to this week blog: Week 5: Film analysis – story arc & Characters breakdown & Character timeline

Note

Three kinds of story curves by Kurt Vonnegut:

1. A protagonist who lives better than the average person encountered a predicament, he broke free from the predicament, and finally got something better than the original.
2. An ordinary person encountered a good thing, but then encountered a predicament. After he solved the problem, things changed for the better.
3. A person with a bad life encounters many good things at different stages, everything seems to be getting better, suddenly encounters a predicament, and then becomes better again.

Story Arc

1. Exposition: Introduction of setting, characters, problems.
2. Rising action: Characters struggling with problems
3. Climax: Tense moment of crisis.
4. Falling action: Movement toward an ending.
5. Resolution: Final outcome.

Story Circle

1. You: A character is in a zone of comfort.
2. Need: They want something.
3. Go: They enter an unfamiliar situation.
4. Search: Adapt to it.
5. Find: Get what they wanted.
6. Take: Pay a heavy price for it.
7. Return: Then return to their familiar situation.
8. Change: Having change.

Terminologies and definitions Character types

• Protagonist: Main character, the hero or story driver (good or bad).
• Antagonist/s: Stand against/challenge the protagonist but can have something to learn or redeem.

• Dynamic: Experiences inner growth/ change and learns.
• Static: No growth or change, repeats actions no lessons learnt.
• Round: Developed, understood, life like, deep relatability.
• Flat: Undeveloped, one dimensional, minimum insight.

Eight Archetypes according to the Hero’s Journey

1. Hero: Protagonist, answers the challenge, we experience the Journey through the eyes of the Hero. Only one hero.
2. Mentor: Provide motivation, insights, training to help the hero.
3. Threshold Guardian: Protects the Special World and its secrets from the Hero. Provides essential tests to prove a Hero’s commitment and worth.
4. Herald: Issues challenges, announces a Call to Adventure. Need not to be a person. It can be an event or force: the start of a war, a drought or famine, or even an ad in a newspaper.
5. Shapeshifter: The Shapeshifter’s mask misleads the Hero by hiding a character’s intentions and loyalties. The shapeshifter’s alliances and loyalty are uncertain, and the sincerity of his claims is often questionable.
6. Shadow: The opposite of the Hero.
7. Trickster: The people show the audience how things are getting out of control.
8. Allies (sidekicks): Fill in the gaps where the hero is deficient. Supporting the Hero the complete the journey.

• If there aren’t enough characters in the story, some of them need to serve double duty.
• Regard them as jobs or positions rather than stereotypes.

Character Dimensions

Animation promotes a broader definition of a ‘character’ than other media formats through the re-interpreting human form, applying anthropomorphism, bringing inanimate objects to life with the plausibility for all to interact with each other.

Advancing narrative through character

Character movement should convey the necessary action pertinent the narrative but the attitude, emotion or mood in which the action is performed will contextualise and emphasise the narrative objective and most importantly connect the characters predicament to the audience.

Key considerations

1. Establish the personality or demeanour of your character for the film or scene.
2. Determine anatomical details and physical fluidity and extremity of action required (stretch and squash).
3. Identify all the actions your character performs in your piece.
4. Design the actions and emotions that drive the narrative.
5. Clearly frame or stage your character/s for performance in a scene.
6. Design audio to support the performance and action of your character/s.