Character and genre: Introduction

Initially we were given a character brief that involved establishing how stylistic language and genres are linked. For example, spectacles often signify intelligence, a stetson is usually worn by a cowboy, baddies always wear black and goodies wear white. Therefore, what are our characters expressing by their clothes or physical appearance? How can we show the personality of our characters through visual elements?
The images we were asked to create had to bear this in mind.

As an initial starting point our characters had to be able to fit into a context already established in a variety of texts of which we were to select one to work with. My chosen text was a A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

This involved much research into Dickensian London itself with particular focus on the two sides of Victorian living; poverty and wealth, which Dickens repeatedly noted in his novels. After having previously read Oliver Twist and seen various adaptations of A Christmas Carol I was familiar with the well established Dickens London. However, what I didn't realise was that the severity of poverty, prostitution, disease and the shocking statistics on in fact mortality rate. Dickens addressed this in his books along with the reality of theft and crime in London during Victoria's reign. In reality over 70% of the population lived by plunder. However, Dickens always gave us a happy ending and a good story along the way with great characters that once read are never forgotten. They are very visual characters, this is why I believe they are easily adapted to the screen in such a successful way. However we do see his deep social political concerns in his novels and there is some realistic degree of accuracy in his characters environments. It was understanding this environment that was key to the development of my characters. It is was his sympathy of previously thought 'inhuman' members of society such as prostitutes ('Nancy' in Oliver), and the Jewish leader of a crime ring made up of young boys ('Fagin' in Oliver) that I considered when creating my characters.

After reading of how the poor would pay the local baker to bake their turkeys at Christmas because they could not afford to cook their own I decided instantly on the character of the turkey thief. A thief, a common member of Victorian society, who waits for the poor family to collect their turkey then steals it. He is driven to this purely by poverty, he steals to survive. I also decided to create an anti-Scrooge character with a larger than life personality and a love of Christmas. He was to be a true individual and to show this I had to create an obvious silhouette that would be instantly recognisable as his. To achieve his I gave him a festive, swirling top had as a distinguishable feature as well as making him very fat and jolly with a bright traditional colour scheme. I imagined him to look something like Harry Secombe so drew my character's face from an image of his and made a few alterations until I had my character. All clothes were traditional Victorian attire and a monocle was also added for an extra bit of comedy. With my third character I wanted to bring in a shop owner, typical of Dickensian London and to create a shop that would fit into the shops described in the book. Therefore I came up with the friendly, yet shy toy shop owner who specialised in trains. I wanted him to look like a wise man who is also quite giddy and excitable when it comes to trains. Therefore, I gave him glasses and a thick moustache and a small head on a tall slim body. His stance is also important in this image and by having one leg slightly brought up into his chest I wanted to add to his giddy nature.

I decided that once I had created these characters I wanted to bring them alive in 3-D form so cut them out and made a small setting for them to go in. This gave me an idea for the future of creating a stage for my characters. Therefore, when we were asked to create our own environment for our characters to go in for the second project, I made my stage.




















The character on the bottom right of this image is Scrooge and as you may notice, bears a striking resemblence to Baron Munhchausen. This is because I took the idea from Terry Gilliam's film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) where visual imagery is inexplicable and unique. It is unrealistic, yet, we understand in a visual way the inner changes that are taking over the Baron. In Gilliam's film, Munchausen becomes visually younger as he gets further through his journey; his hair becomes browner, his wrinkles fade, his smile widens. As he finds himself and lives his dreams his youth returns. I used this same principal in my work.

This is the second scene from my stage. The first scene can be seen at the top, where Scrooge looks somewhat different. His greed and selfishness are visible in his wrinkled, toughened face. The green tones show us the colour of his character.

Then enter scene two ( see above)

After Scooge has been greeted by the Ghosts of Christmas Past Present and Future he changes his ways and consequently, his fortune. Here, we can see this positive change by the new appearance of Scrooge. He looks younger, fresher and has light coloured golden hair; a common signifier of innocence and youth. Father Christmas is in the scene and the young boy has his turkey, not the hungry thief.




Father Christmas pays a visit












Spreading Christmas cheer



















the happy boy with his turkey













































Full first scene image. I placed the thief here to match the mood of this environment.











A thief, a common member of Victorian society, who waits for the poor family to collect their turkey then steals it. He is driven to this purely by poverty, he steals to survive.