The great enemy of clear language is insincerity - George Orwell

When it comes to modern shows and their characters, I find it all too often that some of the characters seem inserted into the movie rather than a being sort of living through his/her/its experience with the combination of well timed plot acts. From how a character acts, we place our level of trust on them accordingly to how act on at most times what they are. I find parts of the regular infrastructure of movies mind boggling that they do not thoroughly challenge our trust and more importantly, don't succeed at fooling us.

I have probably gone through a four digit amount of movies and games and I find it fascinating to reflect on them from time to time. Now, what do I like most in the best of these two worlds? Here are some points that I find somewhat overlooked at times. We all have seen the knight slay the dragon and we all know what is going to happen, so how do we spice up the base structure a bit more?

The culture of the movie - Real life can get a bit generic at times so it is nice to see a refreshing break of either breathtaking monumental cities or the very lowest slums of a despot empire. What you want is something new, and it does not have to be a golden city with the highest reflection level imaginable. Destruction has its own beauty, I don't know about you, but explosions are in my mind some of the most beautiful visual effects imaginable. Both when they are active and when they are old. On textures, small details, stains and such can contribute to something that has a remarkable volume in it. So can a beautiful, spot free monumental building have, but trying to create an own culture is surprisingly fun while making a movie or story idea.

http://www.hokutonoken.it/film/yuria/film/218.jpg

http://tasmania.globat.com/~archibase.net/dl/articles/spider/3.jpg

Design - Now, of course, when it comes to creating a design the culture as I just mentioned plays a key part. Reason I mentioned it is that it is overlooked at times. The design covers the visual aspect of whatever idea you have in mind. This covers the entire volume of the movie. Now, 3d cannot challenge real life on its own terms and I'd be sad if that ever was to happen, because the essence of 3d as it stands now is more than capable of creating its own art that has not been too well pursued. I have not yet seen a really dark 3d animated movie, and what a shame that is, because it offers so many limitless possibilities. In terms of character design I will present two of my all time favorite characters which are not made by me, but are incredibly powerful in the dark essence of 3d. Images picked up from 3dtotal character gallery and tons of credit to whoever made them.




Character plot placement - There are two major kinds of character plot placements that come to mind at this moment as frequently used. The first one is extremely common for a reason. Why did Scar stand above Simba's dad and push him off the cliff? Well, it is because Scar is the arch rival of Simba. It would not necessarily be logical that he, rather than his army of minions stand above Simba's father and push him to his grave. However, it creates an epic turn of events that is suitable for many movies. The second ones are the less important characters that find themselves in no particular highlight whatsoever. The disposables which have no real place in the story.

The problem with this is that you come to expect it. We really have been seeing the same thing over and over again a few hundred times. Some hybrids have been attempted, but most of them ultimately fail. However, do betray our trust and try to do so unexpectedly. If a major protagonist who had been with a hero through thick and thin would suddenly and unexpectedly turn against one of their own, and have an agenda to do so. Then it would be spectacular, it would leave the viewer with so many hundred questions and more importantly only some of them would be answered. The character would need to have an agenda; this is the most important element. A character turning against someone they seem to be allied with for no reason would be a waste. Complex personalities, which do not render their mobility for solving their own problems, would be key to make me really enjoy a movie. I want something new and innovative on the basis of character realism. So, stab my expectations in the back, but be smart about it. The character needs to also not be in the center of attention all the time something important occurs, having pointers towards what might have occured may be a way to reconstruct the way around a direct scene in a way that highlights anticipation. Flashbacks are cheap, we all know this, so pointers are the only way around this. Oh, and make some of the character achievements realistic as well, in the world of character creation, any character can swing a sword killing a legion of enemies. However only a real genius could make a seemingly harmless character become the arch enemy by at the right time committing an act of atrocity. The worst animal 98% of the time is just like you and me.

Unintentional insincerity kills. It really murders any potential feel behind any production. If you are going to make something big that does not border on the concept of our own world, then the worst thing you can do is being insincere about it. Putting dragon heads on top of characters in order to make them look stronger simply is not enough to re-invigorate interest and commercial cowardism can really kill a legendary design. We know what works, but we have not dared to try to recreate much in the last century.