School Blog: Project: Character development

Because I am mainly focusing on visuals, my character is only going to be an instrument for the viewers to follow through space with. Not to mention the fact that the main character of my film will be doing nothing but sit in a space ship, and they do not talk at all. My character does not have a deep arc, with the meaning of my film not flowing within the character but with the audience.

The best example I can give is the Assassin from Phil Tippet's "Mad God". In this movie the Assassin is just that, a character that has no character depth except being a tool for the audience to follow to explore the desolate world of the movie. There is no plot, but it is driven by its fantastic yet terrifying use of animation and visuals to lead the audience through and through. In an interview by The Illusion Almanac with Phil Tippet, he said himself said that Mad God does not have a traditional narrative like most other movies do, like having plot or character development, but more looking at the world around the characters than the characters themselves. "I wanted to do something without the trappings of story and plot. There’s a narrative, but it’s not a story per se". The narrative is linked by themes, not plot.

My film does have a very simple plot; Astronaut leaves his planet on a rocket ship. I am not totally going to go into my project without a storyboard like how Tippet did with Mad God, but I do want to have my character be a vessel for the audience to use to interpret their own ideas and opinions.

Other examples of characters who are displayed through themes, not plot.

Prince Ashitaka (Princess mononoke)