Character Design - Examples

‘A well designed character has the following characteristics:

• It will be immediately recognizable and relatable
• It will have a recognizable shape or silhouette
• It will reflect the personality of the character
• It will have the 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’

(Alexander, Schumer and Sullivan 2008 P.102)

‘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 and low to the ground with strong legs. Violet is slim and has hair that perpetually hangs over her large and watchful eyes.’

(Alexander, Schumer and Sullivan 2008 P.108)

The significance about this is its application to the narrative and to the characters goal. In The Incredibles, Mr Incredible cannot be himself, a superhero, because of the past mistakes made by superheros has outlawed them from acting as such. The theme, according to Alexander, Schumer and Sullivan (2008 P.21) is ‘A Herd sticks together … Mr Incredible cannot work alone … strengths, weaknesses make us whole. Mr. Incredible must learn that he needs help to be a successful superhero.’ It is his family unit that offers security and success, learning this is his emotional arc that is required for the narrative. His family have designed traits that are specific to their role within that unit and ultimately Mr Incredibles success. Each of their roles within the narrative has informed their traits, physical topology and their gestural personality.   

The advert shows all of these qualities mentioned, whilst also conveying the initial exposition of the narrative. The design of everyday objects (car and office space for example) compared to Mr Incredible further aid the narrative by being more obstacles to overcome. Note how his house is big enough to accommodate him, thus aiding the feelings of isolation from the rest of the world. 

‘Other ways to find a unique character design is to look at the characters’ goals and the conflicts they must confront. In The Triplets of Belleville, Madame 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 Sylvan Chomet designed her with one leg shorter than the other. She wears one elevated shoe. Because of this, she can move only 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. 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.’

(Alexander, Schumer and Sullivan 2008 P.108)

With the second video, i think it ties in narrative arc into an end wonderfully by using her main impediment as the characteristic that helps her achieve objective, and shows how the design and narrative can aid each other. 

References

ALEXANDER, K., SCHUMER, G., and SULLIVAN, K. 2008. Ideas for the Animated short: finding and building stories. Oxford: Focal Press

The next stage

For the PGD stage of the project i am going to investigate character design and how it can be used to aid longer narratives and investigate how these techniques can be applied to confusion. I also intend to investigate expression, which is an extension of character design.

http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=1408#.UQggxbvKCkS

The process shown on the link shows the technique of designing a character to a brief and incorporating 3D models into a 2D image. The character design choices were based on requirements of client and their narrative purpose is limited to the context. The reason i am mentioning this here is because this breakdown provides us with the key decisions made on the characters whilst providing technical insight. However, applying this to animation will require slightly more considerations, such as movement, gesture and emotion. While shape and form share similar considerations between 2D and 3D, shape and form in 2D and 3D applied with the fourth dimension, time, change. Movement should aid narrative (pretty obvious), but how they move spatially is significantly different, and thus, have to be designed to accommodate this. 

Artefact 06 & 07

Artefact06 from Adam Weaver on Vimeo.

Artefact 07 from Adam Weaver on Vimeo.

Artefact 06 was another test using the animal characteristic method which is a result from the feedback from artefact 04 and the reference material. They feedback was that they wanted it to be slower. Artefact 07 was focused specifically on gesture and not trying to create a personality. It's purpose was to create the sense of being stuck through a singular action (which has been cycled). This worked well and although this isn't directly linked to performance in character terms, it applies itself to the rhythmic and narrative corners of the project.

The revised pieces (Artefact 05) still had issues which may be addressed if time permits but as they are smaller elements of a piece i want to produce for the PGC stage, they could also be addressed directly within the piece. The feedback was that the red ball that shrugs should remove the 't-shirt' (ball of the each shoulder) and focus on performance rather than shape. This asks an interesting question about at what point does an object stop being one and start to become another, and it seems to be that features that are not present in the primary form should either be their permanently or avoided full stop. 

My next step basically involves me drawing back all the information i have researched and experimented with in this initial stage and synthesis this into a piece of animation expressing confusion through performance, which will have a strong rhythm influence which will express character through abstract and non-abstract elements, whilst providing linear and cyclical narrative forms. This is quite a large experiment, but i hope to uncover the limitations of working relationships with all of these elements, and to see if both external and internal ideas can work together to improve storytelling.

Artefact 03 Reduction

I created the third artefact using my findings from the first two artefacts. I have applied:

• change in tempo to performance 
• utilised the concept of a beat so it is more apparent through gesture (visual over audio)
• applied a similar performance to a reduced form
• used both linear and cyclical narrative forms

Tango and Kryielle

Tango from SlightStruggle on Vimeo.

I spotted Tango on Cartoon Brew yesterday. Following the discussion with my supervisors last Thursday, and my subconscious attachment to rhythm that influences my practice (to a level even i was unaware), this was a pleasant discovery and well timed. It contains the two fundamental narrative forms i am stimulated by - Linear (Beginning, Middle, End) and Cyclical (see here for post on narrative structure). The evolution of age and narrative through action interwinds poetically - it is well planned, staged and timed. At it's peak with so much action it can be quite intimidating and mentally strenuous. The choice to have each cycle ease in and out allows the tension to be built with the audience before allowing them back to a calm state. 

This last point brings me to a piece of work we viewed in the feedback session called Kyrielle. It follows the same two narrative approaches as Tango, although it has a slightly more abstract elements. This, unlike Tango, has a far more unnerving development. Because these abstract elements are conceived through the action of metamorphosis, and the quantity of subjects is much greater (and so is the sound) i feel it creates a sense of confusion and unease. That could answer one potential question raised during the discussion; can rhythm show confusion?

Kyrielle from Boris Labbé on Vimeo.

7 Acting Principle - Ed Hooks

Ed Hooks lists seven acting principles in Acting for Animators, which he describes as essential. They are:

1) Thinking tends to lead to conclusions, and emotion tends to lead to action.

2) We humans empathize only with emotion

3) Theatrical reality is not the same as regular reality

4) Acting is doing; acting is also reacting

5) Your character should play an action until something happens to make him play a different action

6) Scenes begin in the middle not the beginning

7) A scene is negotiation

In order to break down their context and relationship to the animator i am going to list where i feel they sit in the storytelling process of studio animation, and where they fit into that process.

1 & 2 are essential to performance and are subservient to the action of the narrative.

3 i feel is significant to the writing stage (but is still vital for the animator to understand)

4 i feel sits between 3 and 1 & 2 and is important for negotiating the action.

5 again sits just after the writing stage but also important to the establishing the chronology of the action

6 Scenes begin in the middle not the beginning. This is certainly true for live action. (In pantomime we always see the decision to leave home but never the actual leaving, we then join them mid journey for example). However, for animation we can extend this into performance.

7 this, as stated by Hooks, is suited to the scriptwriting stage.

Relationship Graph

This graph is my interpretation and breakdown of Hooks first principle. Thinking is thoughts and decisions that lead to conclusions ('I am going to do this'). Emotion (Automatic value response) is feeling and leads to action ('How i am going to do this'). It is a combination of the two that generates performance.

The Sound - Narrative Relationship Explored

What is sounds relationship with animated narrative and direction?

In order to establish and develop understanding about this relationship we must look it’s birth. Without trying to open the can of worms centred on the question of which was the first fully synchronised animation and sound audio-visual, the popular – and very much disputed idea – is that Disney’s Steamboat Willie was the first.

To illustrate the passion the topic can produce, I have found a conversation spreading from a book over to the Internet between Stephen Cavalier, Rodney Baker and Mark Mayerson. Initially the conversation begins when Mayerson commented on the errors found in Cavaliers’ book The World History of Animation. The blog post commented:

‘On page 97, Cavalier says that Steamboat Willie was half finished before Disney made the decision to make it a sound cartoon. This is wrong. The synchronization that is Steamboat Willie's great advance was due to planning the musical beats in advance of animation.’ (Mayerson 2012)

This instigated a response from Baker via his blog that questioned the validity of Mayersons’ comments on this particular subject. Baker says:

‘The most compelling evidence to suggest Cavalier is at least mostly correct is the storyboard for ‘Steamboat Willie’. Note how right after the “-Main Title” there are very specific instructions for a live orchestra. The way it is written cannot be instructions for and orchestra enlisted to record a sound movie because of its suggestion to create various arrangements coupled with its emphasis to hit certain cues. I must say it certainly reads as written for a live performing orchestra. If the film was not intented [Intended] for live orchestra accompaniment then this document’s origin should be considered suspect.

…My thought: Since at this time not all theaters [theatres] were likely equipped to play sound in sync with moving pictures, Disney probably targeted theaters [theatres] both with and without the technology. Given that cartoons were often held onto and reworked until they fit into proper scheduling, I think it reasonable to say Walt Disney originally did not plan the movie to be gifted with sound but saw the opportunity and took advantage of it. (I seem to recall the xsheets/draft indicate several strategic additions to allow Mickey some breathing space…. I’m willing to guess it was for sound).

At a minimum, the storyboard suggests the author’s assertion of the film being half way done before shifting to sound may require further thought. Knowing Cavalier’s reference would certainly shed some more light on the subject.’ (Baker 2012)

Baker goes on to question Mayersons ability to spot mistakes. Mayerson responded:

‘…I need to say that not everything I note ends up being an error. Many times I question things that turn out to be right. Rodney, my system is dead simple. When I'm reading, if I find anything that might be wrong, I write the page number down on my bookmark. Once I'm done, I return to the pages I've selected and then compare the information with other books on my shelf or with information that's online…I need to say that not everything I note ends up being an error. Many times I question things that turn out to be right.’ (Mayerson 2012)

Cavalier accepts and lists the reasons for many of the errors highlighted by Mayerson and says they will be amended for the new addition of the book. With regard to Steamboat Willie, Cavalier says:

‘Steamboat Willie- In the accounts I've read (ie Charles Solomon's Enchanted Drawings, Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Men), a test screening was arranged with the film, in Disney’s words, 'half finished'. The silent film was projected and the sound effects were produced live in another room. The audience reaction was very positive and they then went ahead with the production. As this was a test as to whether the sound worked with an audience, then it seems to me that the decision about viability of sound hadn't been fully made at that point.’ (Mayerson 2012)

Finally, Mayerson responded with:

‘No one disputes that Steamboat Willie had a proof of concept screening when it was half finished to see if the idea of synchronized sound would work with animation. However, on page 97 you wrote, "The movie was already finished as a silent short before Disney had the idea to make it a synchronized sound film." The decision to make Steamboat Willie with sound was made before the short was started, as everything in the film is animated to a musical beat.’ (Mayerson 2012)

The significance of the subject and the way people define the different areas of audio present in animation could be causing the confusion. Mayersons last comment doesn’t expend on what type of sound was decided on, though he hints that it was a musical score [albeit through tempo] rather than a sound effect. This is important for a number of reasons; a live orchestra could play a musical score. Sound effects, one would assume, would be more difficult, as a musical score playing at a certain tempo could keep in time with the animation if it, and Kaufman (1997) confirms this. Meaning the music may not have been pre-determined in its finished form, but merely a foundation for a score to be produced from. In his book Animators Survival Kit Richard Williams describes the process of sound synchronisation development in two phases:

The first - ‘The Felix cartoons led straight to the arrival of Walk Disney, and in 1928, Micky Mouse took off with his appearance in Steamboat Willie – the first cartoon with synchronised sound.’ [Emphasis added on the latter]

The second - ‘Disney followed Steamboat Willie with The Skeleton Dance. For the first time, action was co-ordinated with a proper musical score.’ (Williams 2009 p.18)

Steve Roberts talks about the relationship between sound and animation and also makes the assertion that Steamboat Willie was somehow the first animated production.

‘Ever since the very first animated productions, Disneys steamboat Mickey and Fischinger’s abstract film Brahm’s Hungarian Dances, it was clear that there is a strong relationship between animation and music. This relationship can be explained on two accounts. First both elements have a basic mathematical foundation and move at a determined speed. Second, since animation is created manually frame-by-frame, it can be fitted to music in a very exact manner. It is further able to capture its rhythm, its mood and hit the beat right to the frame. Most animation makes good use of this advantage.’  (Halas and Whittaker 1981 p.130)

Where Roberts uses the term production, it’s difficult to establish if he means a production with sound or production in general. If it’s the latter this is incredibly hard to believe considering Felix the Cat and Ko-Ko the Clown had been produced since 1924, whereas Steamboat Willie was produced in 1928 (McLaughlin 2001). J.B. Kaufman highlights the ambiguous nature of the topic further. In the paper, The Transcontinental making of the barn dance, he states:

‘It is an unbroken rule in film history: for every film that has achieved recognition as a classic or milestone, other equally noteworthy films lie forgotten in the shadows. The early “Mickey Mouse” cartoons of Walt Disney are a case in point.’ (Kaufman 1997 p.36)

Steamboat Willie did have two predecessors, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho, but these were not released until after Steamboat Willie. The reasoning was ‘that Disney could, technically, approach distributors with three sound films…However, of the three, only Steamboat Willie had been designed to exploit the sound medium to maximum effect.’ Referring to the previous discussion above between Baker, Cavalier and Mayerson, this ‘design’ was that of a pre-planned beat.

‘Dinner Time [by Paul Terry] (1928) is perhaps the most significant cartoon in animation history that no one has ever seen. It was one of the few synchronized sound cartoons produced before (though released after) Disney’s Steamboat Willie. It played a small but pivotal part in Walt Disney’s creation of his first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. It was this film, shown to Walt in New York on the cusp of recording his track for Steamboat Willie, that gave him the confidence to press on with his plans.’ (Brewmasters 2008)

There is however another that claims to be the first sound cartoon, and that is Max Fleischers Ko-Ko song car-tunes. Some had been made and recorded with the Phonofilm sound-on-film process in 1924 (Furniss 2007). However, watching these back one can clearly see that animation and sound isn’t synchronised effectively and doesn’t inform the timing or pacing of the animation. The only aspect synced with any unified purpose is the ‘famous bouncing ball’ (as it states on the DVD casing). The process for creating the effect of the bouncing ball is told by Bernard Fleischer (son of Lou Fleischer):

‘They worked out a situation where they put the lyrics on a drum, which would be turned as needed, and my dad had a laton[? Stick] which was all black except it had a white ball on the end, and he wore a black glove and he would actually bounce the ball and the drum would turn to the next set of lyrics.’ (Fleicher 2002)

The only truly synced part of the shorts was not animated. This explains the expression of calling them series ‘The first sound cartoon ever!’ This is an important distinction. The term sound, void of synchronised, is the first and opposing stage of the relationship between action and audio. Audio has no influence on performance and is merely an accompaniment. This stage would also include Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho because they had been animated with no pre-planning for audio synchronisation, as the idea to include this was an afterthought (Kaufman 1997). The second stage could be seen as what Richard Williams calls the First phase, where sound and action are synchronised at a predetermined level. The second stage can appear quite ambiguous, especially when you could consider both Steamboat Willie and The Skeleton Dance to be in the latter despite having clear differences. Although Williams says The Skeleton Dance followed Steamboat Willie, in this regard he means in animation innovation as opposed to a chronological release and production. As Kaufman (1997) highlights there were other Mickey Mouse releases after Steamboat Willie such as The Barn Dance.

The Silly Symphonies, as Williams (2009) describes, sees music take a more central role rather than the extended accompaniment previously. According to Mayerson (2006), a reason for this is ‘because the marriage of picture and sound was one of the main selling points of cartoons in the early '30's, directors had to deal with musical beats in order to make the films work.’ To find what ignited the prominence of music as a central driving force for the action we have to look back to Steamboat Willie.

‘He [Disney] knew that, if steamboat Willie did achieve a popular success, it would be essential to follow it up immediately with other films… The first, unsuccessful recording session for steamboat Willie had taken place on 15 September and, after hearing results, Walt had a much better understanding of post-synchronization. The main problem was not synchronizing the music – which rolled along at a steady, predictable tempo – but synchronizing the sound effects, which popped up at random intervals and difficult to anticipate.’ (Kaufman 1997 pp.37-38)

It was only natural that Disney would evolve into the Silly Symphonies. Disney was very conscious of not repeating gags and staying ahead of the competition (Kaufman 1997) and this is not surprising.

In search for the differentiation to separate the two types of predetermined sound – action relationships (stage two), the Warner Bros offer a similar reflection. Maureen Furniss cites Scott Curtis

‘… He finds that ‘ostensibly’ the Warner Bros. series split worked on the same principle as disney’s, that is, action taking precedence in the Looney Tunes and music guiding action in the “Merry Melodies” … He also indicates that, while most of the scoring for the “Looney Tunes” series was recorded after the production of images, the music director was still consulted at the beginning of the process, so that timing could be indicated on sheets of written music.’ (Furniss 2007 p.104)

The two statements present the central difference. Music guiding action can be seen as the third and final stage. Where action holds narrative importance, such as Steamboat Willie, it should be seen as action taking precedence, and The Silly Symphonies, can be seen as music guiding action. Although Steamboat Willie was designed to exploit sound with the pre-planned beat, it only holds up for part of the film and falls back to be freed from the musical structure, allowing action to be timed freely. The Skeleton Dance however, uses both musical timing and pitch as a means to manipulate movement from start to finish, and although with a linear narrative structure (start and end), the importance of the action is secondary to the music, and it’s the last statement that defines the third stage.

However, music guiding action was not without its issues, according to Maureen Furniss who cites Chuck Jones in Animation Aesthetics (2007), the concept of sound driving action developed the expression ‘Micky Mousing’, which was ‘being used to describe a situation when sound and visual elements are deemed to be too tightly matched.’ Thus, ‘music guiding action’ became a limited technique and is often saved for more abstract and non-linear narratives. It is still important for budding animators to learn as John Kricfalusi points out:

‘I'm convinced that the quickest way to learn the basics of animation is to start by animating fundamental animation techniques using rubber hose designs. I mean Hell, it worked for all the greatest animators in our history. It could work for you too and you the advantage because you have their stuff to study. They didn't have any reference. They were making it up from scratch through trial and error. Animating to a regular beat teaches you: … Rhythmic timing: it feels better- imagine a song with no beat, it wouldn't be much fun. It would meander. General timing - you get used to what different amounts of frames feel like - what 12x feels like as opposed to 8x. Classic animators and directors were like drummers. They automatically thought of their scenes as rhythms and that helped make their timing so crisp.’ (Kricfalusi 2007)

Just as the first conversation above illustrates, it can produce a heated discussion among animation historians. And although Cavaliers information was incorrect, it is still the ambiguous nature of the topic that causes such debates. Searching the question ‘what was the first animated sound film?’ and one is presented with a variety of responses, each claiming to be correct – and all could be – depending on the interpretation of the definition of the word synchronised. Paul Wells suggests the narrative and action relationship could be seen as the Chicken and Egg question, he says:

‘In arguing for the autonomy of the composer and music itself, Halas fundamentally drew attention to animations ‘Chicken or Egg’ question – Should music be written and recorded before the animation, or synchronized after? In the first instance, the soundtrack essentially delineates the nature of the visuals, as evident in the more abstract works, which have often used music formally as a creative stimulus or a kind of illustration, either of the lyrics of a song or of a popular, often narrative based or symbolically charged instrument melody. In the latter instance, the soundtrack is always subservient to the needs of the visuals with regard to the post-dubbing lip – synced dialog, diegetic sound or atmospheric, mood-determining music.’ (Coyle 2010 p.45)

Conclusion

In searching for a place to start my master’s program, I first had thoughts surrounding where my previous research had ended. Sounds relationship to narrative and performance had influenced the results, and my curiosity and need for further understanding of why it played such an influential role seemed a logical place to start. I had anticipated this would be where my research this year would lead. After further rationalising I realised the sound – narrative relationship in all its forms (abstract, linear and non-linear) would be too big from initial research. Realising I want to use this opportunity to produce a piece of animated character performance to a portfolio standard, I decided the best approach would be to explore the first steps of sound and animation synchronisation and move on.

The relationship between sound and animation was an evolving process. Evidence of this is apparent by the multiple ideas expressed from various sources explaining which was the first synchronised sound animation. Each of the ideas can be acceptable, but only through merit with clear definition (which most have struggled to define). Through the course of the document the interpretations have been categorised into three stages:

1)   Action and Audio = no pre-determined concept of sound integration with action, but sound can be added later. The narrative takes complete lead over action. (Max Fleicher’s My Old Kentucky Home; Disney’s Gallopin’ Gaucho and Plane Crazy; Beuren Studios’ Dinner time)

2)   Co-ordinated Action and Sound = some pre-determined concept of sound in the planning stage, but action/narrative takes majority lead role. (Steamboat Willie)

3)   Music guiding Action = Pre-determined concept of sound in the planning stage and takes lead over any narrative forms and ideas. (The Skeleton Dance (Silly Symphonies) and Merry Melodies)

Each process can be interpreted as synchronisation. Each stage involves a relationship between the visual and audio senses. In the quest to answer ‘which was the first’, further into the discussion (outside of this document) one can see how technology allowed progression onto the next stage. This can also influence an individual’s response to the question. This has been purposely avoided in this discussion because the overall objective was to rationalise sounds influence on narrative and establish the different forms of the relationship. These forms were explored and evolved when sound was exploited for market purposes.

In answer the bigger question, why did the audio affect the outcome of the animation in my previous research? It is clear by the three identified stages that the third stage had been used as the process. Using pre-recorded audio had shaped the action, timing and performance. I had highlighted this at the time, but what I didn’t understand was the context of the process and its relationship with other processes. Now I understand the context, my future research and practice will produce better-informed choices.

Bibliography

Baker, R., 2012. Steamboat Willie: The Sound of Transformation. Newartofanimation [online blog], 17 January. Available at: http://newartofanimation.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/steamboat-willie-the-sound-of-transformation/ [accessed 20 October 2012]

Brewmasters. 2008. Cartoon Brew TV 3: Dinner Time by Paul Terry and John Fisher. Cartoon Brew [online blog], 29 September. Available at: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/cartoon-brew-tv-3-dinner-time-by-paul-terry-and-john-foster-7499.html#comments [accessed 1 November 2012]

Coyle, R., 2010. Drawn to Sound. London: Equinox.

Furniss, M., 2007. Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics. Revised ed. Eastleigh UK: John Libbey.

Furniss, M., 2008. The Animation Bible. London: Lawrence King.

Kaufman, J.B., 1997. The Transcontinental Making of the Barn Dance. Animation Journal, 5(2), pp.36-44

Kricfalusi, J., 2007. Animation Course Level 1, Lesson 1 – The Beat – Kali Does Bosko. John K Stuff [online blog], 5 August. Available at: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2007/08/animation-course-1-lesson-1-beat-kali.html [Accessed 9 October 2012]

Mayerson, M., 2012. Review: The World History of Animation. Mayerson on Animation [online blog], 15 January. Available at: http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/review-world-history-of-animation.html [accessed 20 October 2012]

Max Fleischer’s Ko-Ko Song Car-tunes, 2002. [DVD]. Morley Avenue, Michigan: Inkwell Images, 2002. [Region 0]

Mclaughlin, D., 2002. A Rather Incomplete But Still Fascinating History of Animation [online] http://animation.filmtv.ucla.edu/NewSite/WebPages/Histories.html[accessed 27 October 2012]

Halas, J. and Whittaker, H., 1981. Timing for Animation. Focal Press.

Williams, R., 2009. The Animators Survival Kit. Expanded ed. London: Faber and Faber.

A coversation with Simon Eltz

Having previously posted (available here) about the music video for the song Superfan Unknown by Goodrun. It was created by Simon Eltz and I had asked some brief questions regarding the piece. Here is the resulting conversation...


Firstly, What was the inspiration behind the piece?

The name of the song is "superfan unknown". So I thought I can show a variety of charakters, anyone could be a "superfan" of the band. This worked nicely together with an Idea I had of those Childrenbooks, where you can mix Bodyparts together and make funny characters. I wanted to try something similar but with moving characters. Those were the main Ideas I had in the beginning. Then came also some economic thoughts, the good reusability of the walkcycles, how to fill the minutes in an interesting way, but with not too much effort behind.

Was the concept of the video your sole creation or did you have input from the band?

I developed the whole concept and asked from time to time the band if its ok.

The characters move to the same beat, except where there are scenes with multiple characters (where there has been a slight offset). Was this a conscious decision?

Yes, I didn't want them to be too much like Robots, to give it a more natural look.

There is no linear narrative structure in the work, what was the decision behind this?

I like music videos as a field for experimenting, where you can leave some rules behind you. Well, this video is not very experimental, but I was working with visual Ideas (including Ideas about different characters etc..), and not with narrative thoughts. I tried to develop something that is fun or interesting to watch, that could catch the interest for this short amount of time. 

Could you tell me more about the character who hit's his stomach?

There is the hand of the Illustrator that draws all the characters, but he hasn't everything under controll and doesnt always achieve what he wants. Also I was searching for different ways of interacting with the Hand, I wanted to do alway something slightly different. So I had the Idea of complete changing the style of the drawing, after three unsucsessfull attempts of the illustrator to make a motivated young female superfan. I wanted to make a complete different style of character, children's drawing like, with a silly attitude. But.. also a real superfan of the Band. Well the belly hitting is just another visual Idea. In german you can say "timbal" (if its the right word in english) for a huge belly, so he just hits the rhythm on his timbal.. look at the attached image to see which instrument I mean :) By the way, hitting the "timbal"- is some kind of german expression, leo.org translates it with "to paint the town red"

Final Thoughts

I am in the process of completing a rationale for the relationship between audio and narrative that is due to be published on this blog at some point this week. It highlights 3 different stages that can be applied to the synchronisation process. This concept of the video is music led (the third stage) and this is an obvious statement to be making because of the nature of product. The idea that this area can be used as an experimental playing field is not a new one - this was central to the philosophy of the silly symphonies (see Animation Aesthetics by Maureen Furniss). This area can also be used in terms of practical practice and for expressing non-linear narrative structures. 

Although there is a lack of linear narrative the piece is broken down through a series of alternative actions that conceive the creation of different characters. This is needed because for 3 minutes of continuous walking would see the audience switch off, and this action forms the narrative structure that is guided by the music. Simon talks about wanting keeping a natural look and avoiding mechanical movement, and for this to work there has to be a reserved use for how much influence the music has over the actions - in other words by avoiding Micky Mousing! 

I'd like to say thanks for Simon Eltz for taking the time to answer the questions and for having patients through the language barrier. 

(Narrative) Structural Design

The following narrative structures have been taken from the book Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics by Maureen Furniss. Although they imply storytelling forms, they will play a role by informing the evaluation of other works when establishing the role of sound and sonicity. 

Linear Narrative Structures

1. Beginning, Middle and End - Enjoyable because they conform to the ideology of work ethic: moving forward, achieving goals and making progress.

2. Interactive Narrative - (Such as animated games) - Rather than one linear narrative, the participant is offered many.

Non-Linear Narrative Structures

"An artist can utilise an alternate structure for the purposes of disturbing a viewers sense of equilibrium"

3. Cyclical - ...does not reach a conclusion but rather comes back to it's beginning. Such as myths, natural occurrences, life and death and the changing of the season.

4. Episodic - The most common place...is in weekly television series...[they] involve recurring characters and settings, with out without the addition of an on going narrative. 

5. Thematic - ...Creates an experience that can be quite different than that of a linear or cyclical production. Rather than moving forward, or even in a repeated pattern, thematic works tend towards stasis. In that respect, they can be described as meditative or poetic in nature, exploring an experience, emotion or other abstract concept in depth.