Understanding Characters - Bayonetta (Cereza) from... Bayonetta

Bayonetta is probably one of the most unique and coolest female characters in gaming today. The game, Bayonetta, is a part of a type of genre called "character-action", which is a sub-genre of hack 'n' slash/beat-'em-up games that focuses solely on the fast-paced action-oriented gameplay, and the main character, without much emphasis on story. Bayonetta has a pretty bogus story but awesome gameplay and characters, hence the genre (this is also a given seeing as the studio that made it, Platinum Games, is known for having pretty terrible stories in their games, with the exception of Wonderful 101). Bayonetta, the character, is very memorable for being a very strong, witty, and sexy character, three character traits that work very well together. I suppose her flaw is that she is rather cocky as well, which if you think about it is rather appropriate because the gameplay is meant to make the player feel pretty badass, I mean I'd be pretty cocky too if I could do sick air-combos and turn my clothes into giant monsters.

Anyway, probably the most prominent detail about Bayonetta as a character is that she is clearly sexualised, but she is still written with so much detail and effort that it doesn't come across as objectification; and that's an important distinction that a lot of people miss when designing female characters in games. A lot of female characters, when trying too hard not to be offensive, end up making the characters weaker and overly emotional, such as the ungodly trash that is Metroid: Other M, or when they want to desperately pander to the feminist audience, they'll make the character simply strong, with no existing traits other than that. The idea for Bayonetta was to have that perfect balance of sexuality, intelligence, emotion, and depth. She is quite shamelessly sexualised, but it is done in such a goofy fashion that it just feels appropriate for the game.

Overall, Bayonetta works very well as an action heroine because she cool in every aspect, which is not a common trait with female video game characters.

Understanding Characters - Ice King from Adventure Time

Ice King is probably the most fascinating character in Adventure Time, as he is probably the character that is the most connected to the lore of the series, and is basically the result of tragedy that occurred before the apocalypse that created the land of Ooo. It's interesting, though, because even though Ice King is quite a tragic character, he is still written as a funny character. That's normally the style of the show, being depressing and dark but still funny. Ice King is also interesting because he was originally only written as this insane wizard that would be a regular villain and general nuisance. As the show developed, though, they eventually thought of new ideas that made him into a deeper and sympathetic character, that actually worked well in the story. There was a lot of weight added to the series since they developed the lore over time, and Ice King going from a quirky villain to a deep character was one of those aspects that developed the series from what was originally just meant as a dumb kid's show to the much more intense series that it became today.

Mixing a Narrative Up

Now, just make this clear, I absolutely adore stories that are told in an unconventional manner. Just any way they do it, works for me. Movie's like Pacific Rim that introduce the conflict immediately in the opening sequence, rather than spending the first half hour setting it up (something far too many movies do these days, to the point where sometimes the conflict doesn't even begin until an hour and half in). Even the occasional non-linear narrative structure, which, as the name implies, doesn't tell the story in chronological order. It just makes the story all the more unique and engaging when it is able to surprise by using this structure. It can also inspire more creative ideas for the writer/director, by telling the story in such a manner that encourages them to add more elements along the way.

A good example of non-linear narrative is the anime, Baccano!, which follows several different characters and goes to and from different points in time, from the present set inside a train, to the events that occurred before then, and even far back into the past. It's a really interesting anime, hard to follow at first but becomes very engaging eventually.

I think a linear, three act narrative structure is a major sign of a lack of creativity. I tend to avoid those types of stories, because they are usually very samey and uninteresting. They aren't necessarily bad, just not very interesting because I can usually guess what happens right at the beginning. Hollywood romances (aka "chick flicks") are examples of this because they always have the same exact structure of, flawed male character meets woman, falls in love, she gets with jerk guy, realises she loves the main guy, they get together, the end. It's not interesting at all, you know he's going to get with the girl in the end, regardless of setting and characters. Wedding Crashers was no different to something like Shark Tale, technically speaking. The same exact things happen but in different settings. What if in a story like that, they don't get with the girl in the end because they mess up so much throughout the narrative that she basically hates him? Or what if there was a romance where they are together the whole time? There are so many directions to go with this genre that people just refuse to go.

Understanding Characters - Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Something I have always praised My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for is it's uncanny ability to create characters with quite a lot of layers of depth, while on the surface maintaining the girliness and obvious product placement the franchise is known for. The character, Pinkie Pie, is one of many characters in this show that are extremely well-written, and while not every episode nails her character perfectly, it is still clear that a lot of thought was put into her character from the start, when you look at her critically.

Primarily, she is generally a fun and happy character that always finds some excuse to throw a party, and is just generally a hyperactive character. The writers, storyboard artists, and animators really like to have fun with her hyperactive nature, essentially exaggerating her actions and using Loony Tunes-esque physics, which they sometimes do for other characters but none more-so than this one. I love this aspect to her character because I generally enjoy that style of animation when done well, and these animators nail it every time.

There are still times where this character isn't as bright and charismatic as she lets on. What's interesting is that she is also shows clear signs of social anxiety, which is not something you see that often with characters like this. There is one episode where she has a party that everyone refuses to go to, because secretly they're throwing one for her. She begins to suspect that they are ignoring her and eventually that they straight up don't want to be friends anymore. This literally drives her insane, as she is also nothing without her friends, and she becomes rather sociopathic, making up her own friends out of inanimate objects. This aspect of her character makes everything on the surface all the more interesting, because it adds an extra layer of depth to the overall nature of her, and makes it all the more hilarious when she does go mental.

Understanding Characters - Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks

Agent Cooper is the rather quirky FBI agent from David Lynch's TV series, whose most famous trait is his love for the town's coffee and cherry pie, his most famous line, regarding how he likes his coffee, being "black as midnight in a moonless night". He stands out to me as a character, because he is very unlike any interpretation of FBI agents. Usually they are rather samey; a gritty, edgy, grumpy, tough guy, that don't take nothing from nobody, nohow. Dale Cooper is a much deeper character than that. He is dedicated to his work but uses unconventional means, using evidence gathered from his dreams to solve the Laura Palmer case. The dreams are, of course, there for the audience too to figure out who the killer was, and Dale solving the puzzle from his dreams creates an interesting relationship with the audience. Originally they were never going to reveal the killer of Laura Palmer, and you were left to figure it out and solve the puzzle using the clues the show gave you. Then it would be open to interpretation, like pretty much most of David Lynch's work. I think this would have also maintained the audience and Cooper relationship, but it works fine after Laura Palmer's killer is revealed, because Dale Cooper is still an interesting character.

As a character, he is very quirky and well-written. Among the darkness he comes across in Twin Peaks, he still sees the lighter side of it all in the town's more warm and welcoming atmosphere. He uses quirky but effective methods to solve the case, trusting the puzzling nature of his dreams to help his instincts. He is lovable for being a friendly character, creating an uplifting vibe simply from his joy at doing his job, his love for little things like the food at the Twin Peaks diner, the service at the Great Northern Hotel, and the town's Douglas Firs. Even at the beginning of season 2 when (spoilers) he was shot and incapacitated, he still wasn't mad. Kyle MacLachlan's performance helps a lot too, because he really has an infectious smile and chipper attitude, which makes both the comedic moments and the serious moments more engaging. I think he is one of the main reasons why I love Twin Peaks so much. It's no exaggeration that the show takes a very serious dip in quality around the beginning of the second half of season 2, and Dale Cooper was basically what kept it going until the show picked up again. A more conventional FBI agent would have taken away from surreal tone of the narrative.

Acting Reference: The Joker

The Joker has a number of interpretations by different actors that usually work well in their own right. Some of the most famous examples are Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, and Heath Ledger. These are normally the first versions of the Joker that people tend to think of, because of how much they stand out on their own.

Cesar Romero's Joker, from the Batman 1966 series.

Due to the rather silly nature of the Batman 1966 series, Cesar Romero's performance is incredibly goofy and over-the-top, to the point where he is not even the least bit scary. That's the idea, though, to perform the villain as more of a silly character than a typical threat. This portrayal actually fits the tone of this series very well, and there's no denying that it is fun to watch.

Jack Nicholson's Joker, from Tim Burton's Batman (1989)

Tim Burton's adaptation of Batman was famous for taking the story in a much darker and edgier direction, because he felt it was more fitting for the portrayal of Batman. This didn't change the lack of subtly to the story too much, though, and this was reflected by Jack Nicholson's performance as Joker. He essentially does what Malcolm McDowell does with Alex DeLarge, which is establish the character's insanity whilst still portraying them in both a charismatic and frightening manner. Nicholson portrays Joker effectively by combining the silliness of Cesar Romero's performance with his own intense acting style, and it works very well with the universe of this film and makes Joker both loveable and terrifying.

Mark Hamill's Joker, from Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995)

Mark Hamill, at the time known more for the Star Wars franchise, pulls off a surprisingly great performance as Joker. He is performed with such a great amount of glee and craziness that it creates a perfect contrast between his very over-the-top, light-hearted attitude, and his scary lust for chaos (and this show was not above adding a few murders here and there), it also helps that every scene and episode about him is essentially tailor-made to be as depraved as he is. Mark Hamill was apparently known well by the other voice actors for being the only one to act with his whole body, because his character was the most charismatic of them all, and Mark Hamill would stand up and do insane gestures in order to maintain that high amount of energy. It effectively makes his version of Joker one of the most memorable one of all.

Heath Ledger's Joker, from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008)

This is easily the most memorable Joker of all time, and with good reason too. Heath Ledger portrayed Joker as someone who sees true order as disorder, and he is empowered both this ideal, as well as his lack of morals, his sheer joy and charisma, and his insanity. The performance perfectly establishes this idea. Since Chris Nolan was taking Batman in a much deeper direction than usual, Heath Ledger essentially uses this as an opportunity to give a much fresher take on the character, and he plays it so perfectly that even for a second I forget that I'm watching an actor play Joker and instead feel like I'm watching a real-life Joker.

Acting Reference: John Kricfalusi as Ren Hoek

A somewhat more relevant example, since it is voice-acting. I didn't want to look at only voice-acting, because I feel that being able to act in general is more beneficial than just being able to voice-act. To put it simply, a good actor is one that act in any environment, whether that's a film set, a theatre production, or a sound booth to record voices. With that said, I wanted to look at who I feel is a perfect example of an insane character performed with such a high level of bliss and over-the-top madness, and makes it both creepy and hilarious. Ren Hoek, from The Ren & Stimpy Show, is a rather notorious character, particularly, and rather ironically, for more grown-up audiences because he is one of the most depraved cartoon characters ever. He is basically designed to work alongside Stimpy, a much nicer and dumber character. Ren's reactions to Stimpy's actions are basically due to both of their varying levels of intelligence, and Ren typically goes insane at Stimpy any time he does something blatantly stupid. It's quite a typical dynamic, really, but the writers always knew how to make the characters work on their own too, and with Ren, they really enjoyed making him go completely out of his mind to the point where he completely falls apart, mentally.

I'm going to look at how John K voiced Ren, not Billy West. That's not to say Billy West did a bad job as Ren, but John K just did that little bit better. For starters, Ren's voice in general is supposedly John K impersonating Peter Lorre, which I think adds to both the charming side of Ren's character, and also makes the moments where he is getting a bit more gritty seem very fitting, as well as comedic. The voice really suits him, perfectly. The performance, during the scenes of Ren just insanely rambling to himself is so over-the-top that, to me, they come across as hilarious and frightening. The acting of the animation also adds to this, since every pose and keyframe is given that much exaggeration that it works very well with the voice-acting. I do have a couple of damn good examples of this, but unfortunately those particular clips are not available on their own on Youtube. The scene in the episode Stimpy's Fan Club, where Ren contemplates killing Stimpy to "end the farce", as he puts it, is a very dark scene, but the way it's acted makes it far less intense and instead more funny. There's also a scene in that same episode where Ren is reading all of Stimpy's fan letters, and the entire time, the character is forced to act with just the upper-half of his body, because he is sitting at a desk. He jumps between happy and angry throughout the scene, and at the second half of the sequence, after getting told off by Stimpy, Ren appears to be happy again, but his descent into madness begins to shine through, and John K manages to portray this quite subtly.

Finally, there is this famous scene, where Ren is so mad at Stimpy that he stops screaming and instead talks quite slowly, seemingly holding back a tonne of rage. Another example of John K's great performance and the manic animation coinciding very well together.

Acting Reference: Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge

Alex DeLarge isn't exactly a typical psychologically distraught character, but rather a charismatic yet amoral character with psychotic tendencies. Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of the character is intentionally done so that audience finds the character sinister, threatening, and also strangely likable. To put it simply, in a metaphorical sense, this performance is sort of the ancestor of the general portrayal of The Joker, from most modern Batman adaptations. Alex DeLarge's mental breakdown actually results in him losing his ability to be the psychotic man he was in the beginning, rather than the other way round like it usually is. His performance is relevant to my project because I want my character to have a negative side that audiences would appreciate, due to my performance.

 

I want to emphasise the fact that what Malcolm McDowell does is play this character in a manner that supposedly makes the audience care and empathise with him. The character having a monologue that plays throughout the film immediately puts the audience's viewpoint in his perspective, and Malcolm McDowell plays the character with such charisma that it makes audience understand Alex DeLarge, and his desire for "ultra violence". This both reflects Malcolm McDowell's love for the character, and Kubrick's view towards humanity, that people all still have a primal urge for violence, that has been around since the dawn of man. Perhaps, in that sense, Alex DeLarge gives audiences that satisfaction by treating them like equals and living as freely as does on our behalf? Mainly, it is Malcolm McDowell's performance that gives me the sense that he is as human as anyone else, despite being clearly psychotic.

Acting Reference: Jack Nicholson in The Shining

In Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Jack Nicholson pulls off a fantastic performance as a man slowly descending into madness. His portrayal of this character is brilliantly done throughout the film. His performance in this film portrays the character's descent in both a subtle and non-subtle manner, because Nicholson finds a perfect balance between the two. He manages to jump between chewing the scenery and moving in a subtle manner, while a lot of his lines are read silently, they can also be quite manic without being delivered in an overly loud voice. His performance typically reaches a level just below over-the-top so that feels believable and genuinely makes the audience uncomfortable.

His performance in this scene is a perfect example of how his madness is established through the way his lines are delivered and his body language. He starts out walking down that corridor in a slow pace whilst jerking his arms angrily, and stills shows a lot of stress when he sits at the bar. I can then detect a transition from this stress to a seemingly relaxed state when he sees Lloyd and moves his hands from his face. It gives me sense that this is his way of venting, by hallucinating and creating this scenario where he's talking to a friend and drinking beer. I also get a sense that he comfortable in this scenario, but the shaky and manic body language, as well as the manner in which Nicholson reads his lines also gives the audience discomfort, as his madness is still extremely evident.

Acting Reference: Introduction

I have been looking at several different actors that will inspire my performance in this animation. Since I am trying to establish a character's descent into madness, I feel like it is appropriate that I look at performances from different characters and actors, and see how their madness is establish within their performance. I might also use this as an opportunity to learn about how the cinematography and post-development techniques are used to establish this as well. After looking at these actors and characters, I will try and act out versions of their scenes that stand out to me, as proof of concept, then apply whatever techniques I've learned into both my reference videos, and my actual performance in the animation.

So I plan on looking at appropriate actors and characters, analysing their performances, and applying that knowledge into my own performance.

Acting in Animation

I've been intrigued with acting in animation for a long time. It's always been something I've taken into consideration as an animator, because I've always seen it as a major fundamental. They should add it to the 12 fundamentals... make it 13 fundamentals already! Anyway, in a theoretical standpoint, I would consider both the voice-acting and the character animation together to equal that of importance, in conjunction to theatrical and/or live action acting. The voice actors work their well-earned energy into the delivery of their dialogue, the storyboard artists, directors, scene planners, and animators then work out the key-poses for the character animation, using the same exact mindset as any live-action actor would of "how do I convey this emotion" or "how should my body language work in conjunction to this setting" and "does the tone of this voice add or fit in with my actions."

Some animators even use real actors (sometimes the voice actors themselves) to play out a scene so that they know what key poses to draw, like this clip from Alice in Wonderland, where the actors play up the characters rather well in the reference footage, and the audio from that footage was even used for the movie. You can see Walt Disney, presumably, drawing the key poses he's looking at while they are filming.

This is different to rotoscoping, however. When you rotoscope, you draw over the frames, which is different to using footage as reference. Actors will often chew the scenery a little when they are being animated, though. A Scanner Darkly is an example of that happening.

Acting in animation can sometimes work without reference, however. Take the Ren & Stimpy Show for example. There doesn't seem to be much mention of any sort of real-life reference John Kricfalusi used when he was creating the poses for that show. He would normally draw every key pose on a layout sheet, without using a reference, and given the nature of his animation style, it does add a lot to the amount of exaggeration each pose contains. These layout sheets would normally follow a storyboard for the scenes, since they were normally just rough ideas on how the scene would play out. 

This took a lot of work, however, as the layout artists would have to pitch different poses for the layout sheets and they would sometimes go through a tonne of different key poses until they decide which one is funniest, and most unique one. They worked though, and as a result, the acting was always funny and memorable whenever they used this method.

There isn't really anything wrong with either method, since they both convey emotion very well in their own ways. Ren & Stimpy's cartoony style and tone is reflected in the character's acting and is what makes it funny. The acting in Disney films is incredibly exaggerated, in terms of style, but using reference videos prevents them from automatically making something look too silly, which is good for when the films try to be emotional.