Character Research- Essay Plan

Essay Plan;In the popularity of the film ‘Frozen’- (2014-US-Disney-Dir Christopher Buck & Jenifer Lee), ana... by Anonymous SXPSkbU on Scribd

'Frozen-mania: how Elsa, Anna and Olaf conquered the world' the guardian article

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/may/13/frozen-mania-elsa-anna-olaf-disney-emo-princess-let-it-go

24/10/2017

'Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Frozen has grossed almost $1.2bn worldwide. It has won Oscars for best song and best animated feature' 

'Margita Thompson from Disney Consumer Products says in her defence: "Frozen is a global phenomenon that has truly exceeded expectations on every level," ' (selling merch) 

'Variety called it "longer on striking visuals than on truly engaging or memorable characters". 

'The Onion AV Club overdosed on faint praise: "Frozen isn't quite as accomplished as The Princess and the Frog, Wreck-It Ralph, or Tangled. But in its simple pleasures, it's every bit as enjoyable as Winnie The Pooh."' 

'the New York Daily News critic complained: "What's crucially missing, however, is a hissable villain. Nor are there any memorable tunes."'  

'To complain that there isn't a clear-cut villain is to miss the innovation that makes Frozen so fresh and resonant. The villains aren't people but emotions: fear and shame.' 

'"Up until then, Elsa was pretty much a straightforward villain," said Lee. "After that, she was much more complex, more interesting and sympathetic."' 

'In plot terms, we know that Elsa is deluded when she sings Let It Go. Her explosive liberation comes at the cost of lifelong solitude and, not that she realises it yet, eternal winter for her kingdom. But the song is so good at conveying the rush of reckless self-empowerment that it suspends our knowledge of the dire consequences for a few minutes. To Anderson-Lopez, the message of the song is: "Screw fear and shame, be yourself, be powerful."'  

'Within the constraints of big-eyed, wasp-waisted princesses and the need for old-fashioned charm, Frozen is progressive in a surprising number of ways. Playing with the viewer's assumptions, it mocks the idea of love at first sight and the magical powers of "true love's kiss", making the handsome prince a "sociopathic" fraud and good-natured Kristoff a helper rather than a hero. It passes the Bechdel Test by having scenes in which women talk to each other about something other than men. Its men are either devious or daft while its women are outspoken and powerful. With so many female-friendly innovations, you suspect that the role of comic-relief snowman Olaf was deliberately overstated in the first trailer so as to lure boys in as well.' 

'part of a long overdue shift addressed by Cate Blanchett at the Oscars when she taunted "those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the centre are niche experiences. They're not. Audiences want to see them, and in fact, they earn money." '

'They're being swept up in an obsession that, echoing my own childhood fixations, feels both communal and deeply personal. Better still, the object of the obsession has powerful things to say about sisterhood, storytelling, adolescence and female autonomy.' (children) 

'How frozen took over the world' article

https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/how-frozen-took-over-the-world
24.10.17


Since its release, “Frozen” has earned $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time and by far the highest-grossing animation. That’s not to mention two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, a soundtrack that’s garnered more than a million album sales and seven million Spotify streams, official YouTube video views in the hundreds of millions, and a DVD that became Amazon’s best-selling children’s film of all time based on advance orders alone.

Creating our charachter

Later on in todays session, we broke out characters into key shapes. Mine evolved a round head, oval face, triangular shoulders, hour glass torso, glass shaped skirt, and rectangular arms and legs.
We then took our character sketch and attempted to make 3d models of them using plasticine, to help us draw out a model sheet.

refing ideas of character

In today's session, we let our colleges vote silently which design they preferred out of our rough sketch's.
Although not my favourite, this one won:

Not liking the design so much, I decided to refine it...

The character is less bulky, and has more of a dainty body shape. Her hair is more attractive with locks and curls, more detail and shape in the corset and dress. The beak hat remains the same, and being barefooted. The cape has been made more delicate but still features the same aspects and badge.

Character design ideas- rough sketches

  I like the top left one, with the cape, bow and arrow.

Taking ideas from different things I saw at the museum on Friday, I decided to create some rough basic character sketches. I took the body shape from a tea pot poster from the café with in the museum and different, a peacock, and other birds for their beaks and wings for inspiration.

More ideas of teapot body, slightly narrowed into a female, dress shape inspired from the ones in the museum. Anther feather cape, and beak hat. The feet on this one are more like a Victorian tea pot, chunky and blocky. The hair too is inspired by leafs. And a broach holds the cape together is designed of the wing bones.

In this unfinished concept, I decided to play with hair, in one the hair is made up of teacups. The second, similar outline but more loose to the first. In the last I have added feathers to the face and hair, with an tea cup hat.

This is similar to the first drawing but more of a bulky,muscular body. The beak too is different, its more round and sharp, on the side of the head, the feet are webbed like ducks, the head is also round. This character would remind me of a mentor/ alley archetype.

 rough ideas for the back and face.

Walk footage

I decided to record movement of a man walking from two different perceptions, to help with my walk cycles to capture key frames and the way the body moves as it makes such movement. I also did it to pick up characteristics of people.