Character Evolution

The main example of character development over time that I will be discussing in my essay is the development of Danger Mouse. The visual changes to his design will have been added for a number of reasons.



His features have been made much sharper, and his overall build much longer and slimmer. Some of the reasons for these alterations will have been to do with "keeping up with the times." Children nowadays will most likely find it easier to grow a liking to a more up to date and modern looking character. This would link back to the main question of my essay, because in this case, the design of his character would possibly enable a viewer to become more involved with the storyline of that particular episode.

However, even today, the same aspects will be what makes viewers of an older generation love the original episodes, because the original design will be familiar and nostalgic.

In my essay I will discuss reasonings for these developments, such as

• Technological evolution
• New Designers
• Modernisation
• Trying to keep character appeal

Tutorial Time

For this tutorial, I had gotten as far as collecting some quotes together from a range of books and papers, as well as written down the possible visual examples I could refer to for my question.

This tutorial was really helpful because I came out with a much more specific idea of what to discuss, such as:

• Analysing the difference between Toy Story 1 and 3
• Consider how evolution of technology has effected the design of character over time
• Discuss character "appeal"
• Consider time and cost of production 
• The development of specific characters over time, such as Danger Mouse and why they have been developed. 

Now I have these points to also consider, I will be able to refer these back to my main question. I will link some of these points back to the specific animation that I want to discuss. 

Coraline 

I want to include Coraline in my essay because this is such a character driven animation, and it is so visually unique as an animation, with a fantastic story. However I want to address the possibility of the story not being so catching if it weren't for the extensive visual designs that went into this production, and weather or not the designs of the character have an influence on the delivery of the story. This will be a good opportunity to then reffer back to some of the supporting quotes I have researched. 

 Toy Story 1 and 3

The reason I want to discuss the development between these two films, is because they are both extremely popular, however it is clear to see that the more recent film is much more evolved on the technological side. The human characters in the first film, are stuck somewhere in the uncanny valley, but this doesn't seem to have impacted upon the actual story in a negative way.
Clearly at the time of the first film's release, we
hadn't seen anything like it, so it would have been incredibly impressive at the time, however this was the first full length animated 3D film to be released. In my essay I want to discuss the possibility of the storyline of an animated narrative being more important than the visual design. Because this is an example of an animated film that is loved for it's story, even now many years later. It can be argued that nostalgia can take precedence over the visuals.

The reason I would like to use WALLE as another example is because this is an animation with very little dialogue, so it has to be driven by its visual and audio side. This is a good example of the use of character appeal, because in this case, the character appeal of WALLE allows the viewers to feel sorry for him, and would therefore draw them into the story more. Aspects of his design, such as his small size, oversized eyes, and his ability to get on with his job despite being in a post-apocalyptic surrounding, all one, automatically makes the viewer route for him. 

Writing a Plan - Seminar

The nest step was to create a plan to go off when writing my essay. During one of our seminars we were given help with the best way to structure our essay. It was made clear what needed to be included in our introduction and how long it should be, as well as how to lay out the main body of our essay, and to make sure that we linked our question back to the topic of animation.

I had a rough idea of how to structure my essay because I had already selected several resources from which I was getting evidence and quotes from,

but I was unsure on the exact order to write everything. 

I began by writing out all of the points I wanted to consider, including animations and text based sources. 

I wanted to consider mention examples of animations that are very strongly character driven, as well as some examples that are perhaps not quite as advanced, or as renowned for their use of character design. 

I also wanted to bring the topic back to basics, such as mentioning the use of character drive in story books for children, and how important this can be.