Thursday 26 January 2012

Character Analysis

A character is “the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.” (Dictionary, 2012). What can define the difference between people other than their physical appearance are their personalities and their character. In this module, I am going to research different types of villain character to help me gain a feel on what traits are required to make children’s villain characters look like “baddies”.
I have created a mind map combined with a mood board below:


As you can see from the images, although my characters of selection look very different, they have similar traits to make them look evil. The first and probably one of the more obvious traits is that the eyebrows tend to be quite pronounced and angular. This is to make the character look angry or menacing. In the samples I have taken, the mouth area is also very important. Whilst some have more pronounced mouths such as the Joker and Cruella De Vil, others also have pronounced teeth, for example Jafar from Aladdin and Ursula. Eyes tend to be either quite scarily wide or squinting. The scarily wide eyes are usually seen in characters with a bigger personality. They tend to be more out there whilst the other kinds of villains who have squinty eyes are usually more cunning. Some characters also have “props” which people relate to being evil. This especially applies to Sid out of Toy Story, who is easily recognisable by the braces on his teeth and by his black and white skull t-shirt. Captain Hook has the hooked hand as a weapon and Cruella De Vil has the coat made out of real animal fur.
The image below shows an example character analysis diagram:


Basically, it picks apart the character of Cruella De Vil and exposes the key features which make her so recognisable as a villain. Before I start designing my character physically, I will start considering what traits I can carry over from the research I have already conducted/I am going to conduct.

As part of my research, I have also looked into another two characters and created analysis diagrams for them as well (see below):

Scar from the Lion King


The Joker from Batman

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References 

Animation Source
2012
Available Online At: http://www.animationsource.org/sites_content/lion_king/upload/articles/Scar(1).jpg
Last Updated: 19/04/2010
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Anomalous Material
2012
Available Online At: http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/watership-down.png
Last Updated: 03/01/2012
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Blogspot
2012
Available Online At: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Nbqdeu5UXZs/TtcGD7yRr6I/AAAAAAAAAAc/p_lGGPopHek/s1600/heath%2Bas%2Bjoker.jpeg
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Comic Vine
2012
Available Online At: http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/7/71707/1359054-bruce_large.jpg
Last Updated: 28/08/2010
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Disney Villains
2012
Available Online At: http://www.disneyvillains.net/images/Jafar.jpg
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Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Festivals Information
2012
Available Online At: http://festivalsadvices.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Christmas-Grinch-2.jpg
Last Updated: 18/06/2011
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Hearst Communications Inc.
2012
Available Online At: http://blog.chron.com/bookish/files/2011/05/greenwicked.jpg
Last Updated: 03/05/2011
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

LifeSiteNews.com
2010
Available Online At: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/images/2006/Whitewitch.jpg
Last Updated: 08/05/2006
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2010
Available Online At: http://dragonballz420.webs.com/FriezaFinalForm.jpg
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

McKinnon, J
2011
Available Online At: http://jaymckinnon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ursula-the-little-mermaid-villain.jpg
Last Updated: 18/03/2011
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Twimg.com
Available Online At: http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/114229905/tr12.jpg
Last Updated: 30/03/2009
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Wikia
2012
Available Online At: http://images.wikia.com/spongebobandfriendsadventures/images/8/88/Sid_Phillips.jpeg
Last Updated: 02/04/2011
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Wikia
2012
Available Online At: http://images.wikia.com/disney/images/4/4c/Captain_hook.jpg
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

Wordpress
2012
Available Online At: http://theinternetbachelorette.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/cruella-de-vil-in-one-hundred-and-one-dalmations1.jpg
Last Updated: 23/11/2010
Last Accessed: 02/03/2012

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