Specificity in Character
I wanted to to speak briefly about defining your characters. I see so many people that could benefit from spending more time making their characters unique. An overwhelming number of 11 second club submissions have very ambiguous characters, which not only makes them bland to watch, but makes it a total drag to vote when you have to get through hundreds of entries. This post was not inspired by any particular entry, month of submissions, or anything like that – I’m merely making generalizations. If you feel that this applies to you then consider character specificity when planning your next submission.
Besides, how do you think you make your demo reel stand out from the rest when you apply somewhere?
Entertain the viewer.
How do you entertain the viewer when you have less than a minute to make an impression? No amount of roundhouse kicks, pratfalls, or cleverly humorous and ironic dialogue clips will truly entertain someone. Perhaps your mechanics will impress… but entertain? Probably not. Not in my opinion at least.
It’s about WHO the character is… when they fall offscreen, or when they say the funny line, that will make the clip entertaining. Who the character is will inform everything you do with the animation. What do they want? What do they need? What experiences have they been through? These sorts of things will inform how they are feeling now. How they are feeling now will inform how they act. How they act, with specificity, is where you will get your entertainment value and create a memorable performance.
It’s not enough to slap a lab coat on the rig and say your character is a doctor. Sure, it’s more descriptive than just ‘some dude,’ but that’s not WHO he is, that’s just WHAT he is. How does a doctor stand in front of you? arrogantly? eagerly? defiantly? The possibilities are endless, right? You can easily lose sight of what you want and start to muddy the performance. So be more specific! The way in which a doctor picks up a clipboard is different than the way in which a jaded, ‘seen-too-many-patients-today,’ and ‘wanting-to-go-home’ doctor picks up a clipboard. You’re already picturing it, aren’t you? See? Knowing more about your character informs your acting choices.
So if you’re submitting to the 11 second club, or submitting your reel to a place you want to work, take the time to know your characters – BEFORE you start animating. All of this is part of the planning stages. You’ll end up with something more entertaining and you will be much more proud of your work.
Create something unique and specific!
-Jacob
Update: Continuation in Specificity in Character Part 2
January 6, 2010 - 10:20 am
Very good point… As a novice, I was more concerned about body mechanics and how I’m going to get from point A to B. I never really thought about the “character” in that way..Thanks for the new perspective..
January 6, 2010 - 1:32 pm
Thanks for the post. I totally agree. You look at the thumnails from people like BJ and you can see how much work he’s done in planning out who his characters are and really getting to know them.
I’m in the middle of animation on a thesis project where three different people are doing the animation. As the lead, I have spent some time developing who they are and how they would act in different contexts and that has helped guide the story team as well in terms of how scenes would play out. In the real world, do you find that characters remain consistent throughout the whole film from having dailies and or just talking with the lead/supervising animator or director?
January 6, 2010 - 2:12 pm
“It’s not enough to slap a lab coat on the rig and say your character is a doctor. ”
Yep I totally agree.
January 6, 2010 - 4:07 pm
Absolutely. to both. It’s obviously a very collaborative process. There are many many people involved and solid communication is a very important part of making everything come together.
Paying close attention in dailies is always important, even when you aren’t the one showing. Learning from the director’s response to how different animators are handling a character informs how you will handle your own shots with that character. The supervisors are great at this, and really understand what the director is looking for out of a character. They help guide you.
Working with a brand new character at the beginning of a production is a lot of fun because there’s room for experimentation and everyone is finding out who the character is together. Conversely, it may not be as experimental working with characters everyone already knows and loves. But in that case the fun comes from figuring out how that particular character might handle this new emotion. It’s about finding a way of expressing that character in a way no one has really seen before, but is still true to who they are.
It’s certainly not easy. On occasion you might hear, “that’s a great expression, but it doesn’t feel like [the character].” Which is fine. Every day is a learning experience and now you have more information on what NOT to do. Roll with it. Evolve.
January 7, 2010 - 8:35 pm
Speaking of animation… speaks the truth! Personally, when using basic/student rigs that do not come with any clothes or too-specific personality dressings, I always do my animation with the character as a nudist.
That is, I find all the emotional acting beats, the storytelling poses, the character defining traits and mannerisms while the rig is completely bland and boring looking, without a singe piece of clothing, hat, or jewelry.
If I can make my character read clearly and sincerely without any dressing at all (hint: this is just like animating an early rough pencil test that is more gesture based than “on-model”!) .. if I can find the character, and more importantly, OTHER people can see the character when the rig looks completely bland, then I know I’ve done my job as an animator.
When all is said and done, I’ll dress the rig up in whatever attire I see fit! It sure looks more spiffy at a glance with the bells and whistles attached, but even without the dressing, I know my animation has the character and sincerity that it should.
January 9, 2010 - 1:35 pm
thanks for this post Jacob! This is one of the fun aspects of pre production! Adding Character to the performance is essential and will indeed make you think of more unique acting choices than common hand gestures we see over and over…and over.
January 10, 2010 - 12:39 pm
I used to get weird reactions from fellow industry people when I would say that I found watching people far more interesting than watching most animation. Just watching the talking heads news shows gives you a wider range of expression and personality than you see in most animated films.
Animators for the most part live in the animation bubble. When the Dick Williams book came out you started seeing a lot of his animation examples being used on characters whether it made sense to do so or not. People in real life aren’t so fixated on the principles of animation like we are.
It is easier to copy old animation and blindly follow rules than it is to try and find the true story within your character and let that guide you. Yesterday I went to the Walt Disney Family Museum and got a real sense of how the spirit of discovery and invention was what drove the studio in those early days. It is that sense that keeps me glued to the screen when watching the old stuff.
January 10, 2010 - 2:34 pm
thanks for sharing, everyone! It’s great to hear all your input. It would be awesome to get a discussion going on this stuff!
This sounds like a great idea. It might be worth a try. However, I would think you have to be very careful, since dressing up the character can sometimes change the shapes or silhouettes you’re working with. The first thing that came to mind when i read this was a cowboy hat (extreme example, I know). When you put it on your naked character it immediately changes your perception of him – so it’s not the same as animating the character completely bland. Yet, it’s not the type of thing you could leave off til the end, since such a wide brim would change a lot of your performance and posing. Sometimes you would end up hiding the eyes if you didn’t mean to, for example. I suppose I’m just being a pain
But it does sound like a good idea.
I definitely agree. I am often way more enthralled by live action than animation. Even terrible reality shows are worthwhile if only to see real people having real reactions. No acting.
I try to get my ideas and inspiration from live action rather than watching other animation. I don’t want to keep reusing old (even though proven) acting choices you’ve seen many many times before.
I also try really hard not to put something into my animation simply because ‘it’s a principle.’ I think it’s really easy to get pulled down that road and add things that aren’t really called for in the scene, but you feel like you have to do it anyway – because Richard Williams or Frank and Ollie said so.
January 13, 2010 - 7:32 am
Great post Jacob! I think this is a part of what’s necessary to make your character actually live instead of just move around on screen. Fantastic reminder, thanks for the inspiration!
March 21, 2010 - 7:11 pm
Great post!
Ironically, getting specific with your characters doesn’t limit your acting and animation choices – it actually gives you more useful ideas to introduce.
With a two person dialog scene you have so many options that it’s likely to be pretty hard to come up with something that isn’t cliched and generic.
Once you’ve established that the two people are doctor and patient, or father and daughter – all of a sudden you have lots of ways to be creative with the specific choice.
Looking forward to more posts.
–Phil