For my work on the Issues of Representation course, I focussed on the topic of masculinity in character design. My essay focussed on how male protagonists are presented in American animation, and for my documentary I wanted to look more into how people perceive certain shapes.
I wanted to base my animation on an interview, so in order to do so I interviewed a friend who had nothing to do with animation, and so would know very little about character design. From what I researched about shape theory and what they represented it was interesting to see what similarities and differences his opinions were in regards to said shapes. The interview process was in two parts; I first showed the interviewee three shapes : a square, triangle, then circle. I then asked what shape he related to the most. Originally, I wanted to interview multiple men in order to get a better idea of how men perceive their own, and characterised masculinity. However, due to it being exam season, it was difficult to get willing participants, so I used the footage I was able to gather to create a documentary based on how an audience member interprets a shape.
The visuals for the documentary were based of fan-made animatics created for podcasts. I wanted the audio to be the main focus of the film, so the visuals were kept simple, with straight-head animation being used only to visualise the shapes being described. I also looked at official animated podcasts such as The Ricky Gervais Show for ideas on how they differentiated between animated character segments and the 'bits' - the stories in which they talk about.
I wanted to base my animation on an interview, so in order to do so I interviewed a friend who had nothing to do with animation, and so would know very little about character design. From what I researched about shape theory and what they represented it was interesting to see what similarities and differences his opinions were in regards to said shapes. The interview process was in two parts; I first showed the interviewee three shapes : a square, triangle, then circle. I then asked what shape he related to the most. Originally, I wanted to interview multiple men in order to get a better idea of how men perceive their own, and characterised masculinity. However, due to it being exam season, it was difficult to get willing participants, so I used the footage I was able to gather to create a documentary based on how an audience member interprets a shape.
The visuals for the documentary were based of fan-made animatics created for podcasts. I wanted the audio to be the main focus of the film, so the visuals were kept simple, with straight-head animation being used only to visualise the shapes being described. I also looked at official animated podcasts such as The Ricky Gervais Show for ideas on how they differentiated between animated character segments and the 'bits' - the stories in which they talk about.
The character designs were based on myself and Dominic's own likeness. His character incorporated what he had said in the interview, including the idea that if he were a shape it would be a triangle. I then thought about how I'd design his character around triangles, when they are often seen as aggressive or negative. I took the idea of angles from the triangles and put this into his hair, hat, and nose.
[Still from the final film showcasing both mine and Dominic's character]
Overall I am happy how the documentary turned out - though it does not quote any specific author, I wanted to put the idea of shape theory to the test and see if people who are not involved in the arts at all respond to shapes the same way people who do know about shapes and their corresponding personality traits do. It is interesting to see that some shapes and their words matched up with their traditional characteristics, such as circles being "cheery" and "non-threatening", but others did not, such as the square being considered "aggressive". It would be interesting in the future to repeat this exercise with multiple men from different backgrounds and cultures to see if this has any difference in the way that people consider shapes and personality traits.
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