Case study – staging

This is the new subject I found important to understand. Staging is one of the principles of animation and the definition talks about proper presenting of intentions. That focuses mainly on actions but the same principle can be also used in illustrating. In that case, it’s going to involve not only actions but expressions, personality and mood as well. All those points must be clear and easy to understand. In my project, I will use pictures as a tool for introducing the character and this is why I am going into the deeper research about  staging.

First thing to contemplate were methods of presenting the character. I have looked at some films, which contain an archetype of personalities. Studying on examples it the best method to understand what the differences are.

For better results of my research, I also looked at psychology of body language. This area is one of the biggest informative sources, which actually isn’t well known by people. Some specialist can tell what kind of person you are, only by observing your reactions, gestures and behavior. Even for the experts it is not so easy task, because judgment can not be done by looking at only one aspect. That means, a typical thumb up gesture can be used for many purposes. It may simply mean “everything is alright” but if the sign is followed by unhappy facial expression and proper tone of voice, that will be an irony. Following that example, it is a very complex task to find out what exactly person meant. There might be different responses if such factors like: environment, situation, tone of voice, gestures and body movement are considered. Despite it’s complexity, some poses and gestures are so clear to understand that they don’t need big reflections and even someone, who know nothing about body language, is going to read the message perfectly.

For the research I chose a few female characters with different types of personality. Thanks to analyzing I’m going to learn more about poses and gestures which are typical for particular archetypes. 

My first choice was a strong type of women, who protects her personal space. For this role I picked Lara Croft from Tomb Raider who is well known as an adventure girl. 

For the full understanding of the character we need to look at it’s background story. Lara Croft is a treasure hunter who want to serve the good reasons. In the first Tomb Raider movie she is solving the mystery of the clock which gives the power to rule time and space. This task was her father’s last wish. The plot is strictly connected with Lara’s father’s death. She feels grief because of loss of her parent but she’s trying to hide it. The clock mystery might be the key to see her father again and that explains Lara’s determination. The feeling of loss is present through the whole film and we can see it’s trace in character behavior.  This factor is very important and changes our way of judgement. Now it’s time for analysis.

One of the things I looked at was a style of walking. Each person is different and the way she moves can tell us a lot about herself.  

 

Lara’s walk is a reflection of her personality. It’s quite quick paced, with strong tread. She keeps her back straight and head high, which symbols confidence and power. Seeing person walking like that, usually nobody wants to get in her way. This strong position might also mean aggression or challenge. This is definitely attitude of self- assured character. 

Now a little about facial expressions. In this scene Lara finds the clock and tells about it’s unusual ticking coincidence to her friend. At first he doesn’t take it seriously and Lara’s face expression stays rather harsh. Once she makes her point, her eyebrow rises up and mouth curve into small, victory smile.

This typical expression means “I told you”, which is very often used instead of words. That silent “victory face” is quite popular in films and when accompanied with a longer pause of silence, it makes better impression than saying a sentence itself.  

  

Above facial expressions are supported by “hands crossed on chest” position which emphasize disagreement. At the same time it symbolizes defensive attitude and stubbornness which won’t change unless winning. In this small battle of opinions, Lara’s appearance looks much stronger than her friend’s. She looks confident, calm and ready for confrontation. Beside that, she’s also standing, looking down at her friend, which is a metaphor for Lara’s right. Basing on that example, using poses and facial expressions result in a stronger impact to using those features separately. Very good conclusion from this scene, is use of different levels of placing the characters to show who’s going to win and who’s dominating. 

In another scene Lara meets her former boyfriend. It is not pleasant experience for her, as she feels some allegations towards his person.

We know those characters were close in the past, thanks to the very small distance they stand away from each other. However, something had happened before that cooled their relationship. Her attitude and dissatisfaction is reflected in her actions. While the guy is talking, she is not looking in his direction, focusing on something in the distance. This act has a very strong meaning, and without words, she is letting him know that nothing he is saying is going to bother her. She is listening but ignoring him at the same time.

At the end of conversation she’s telling him to go in his way and waves hand towards him. This gesture means “Go away, I won’t listen to you” and strongly informs that the conversation is over. Any further actions will not affect her person and are pointless.

 

There is a very good scene of confrontation of two different types of characters. The strong and the weak. The guy is an assistant and takes Lara to his boss. They are the “bad guys” and Lara can sense it. While they walk towards the hall, the guy is very nervous and keep squeezing his hands, keeping them low at the front. According to Allan Pease, in his book “ Body Language – How to read others’ thoughts by their gestures” , this gesture is a sign of frustration. I would add that in this situation this has also a meaning of hiding something and squeezed hands are the remainder not to say too much. Lara, on the other hand, presents confidence and keep looking a guy straight in the eyes, which makes him even more nervous. She’s doing it purposely, because the more nervous person gets, the bigger chance is to make a mistake and reveal something unintentionally.  

Another reflection of nervousness is constant movement of the guy. When his talking, his arms and legs change positions and shift weight. This is a big contrast to Lara, who stays calm and doesn’t move at all. Though, she keeps her back straight all the time, which may be a sign of awareness. She’s glancing all over the place, searching for the potential danger. 

Other poses and gestures

According to the book “hands on hips” pose express aggressiveness  or being ready for action. Considering scene on the left this might be the correct answer. Here Lara is saying that she knows how to solve the mystery and her pose emphasize that she’s sure about it. If the bad guys, who she’s talking to, won’t believe her, she is ready for the possible fight.  

 

In this scene two main characters, good and bad one, try to make a deal. Lara knows some important information regarding the clock mystery and the opposite site needs her help. In here, the bad boss declaim a monologue, while Lara plays a game with him. Smoothing the chair is an act which she uses to present her attitude. She’s waiting for the proposition which she will like. Now she’s pretending to be not interested and this is the message  for the other site to come with a better offer.

On this picture Lara pays more attention to the monologue but she’s still not convinced. We know that by looking at her tilted to the side head. Her position seems to say “ Is it all you can offer? It’s not enough”. This may be also understood as a suggestion of not believing in what she hears. 

 

This pose is a statement of confidence. She can not be fooled and if the deal should be done, her conditions have to be included.

  

Studying this character definitely helped me to understand some actions and gestures which are typical for the independent women. This will be useful while setting up the scene on my pictures. The poses, which I’ve seen in here can be used for confident and authoritarian characters. What I’ve learnt as well is that including two opposite personalities in one image, results in a stronger and better effect that can be easily caught by the viewer. Very useful is also dividing the picture into levels and placing stronger characters above the weaker ones by , for instance, drawing them in a standing position. 

Another type of personality, I have researched, was Femme Fatale kind of woman. For my investigation object I picked Catherine Tramell, the main character from the movie “Basic Instinct”. The plot starts when the owner of one of the night clubs in San Francisco  is being killed. The suspect is a female writer – Catherine Tramell, who described the same method of murder in one of her books. This character is the best example of personality that I was looking for my study. As the dvd cover says “ Catherine developed her seduce and manipulation skills to perfection”. Let’s take a closer look at her actions and find out what methods does she use. 

First thing I noted down was a use of the particular voice volume. She speaks pretty slow, letting her voice to float in the air for a while and to make bigger impression on the listener. Her voice is cushy, melodic that sounds very flirty and sexy. Unfortunately, I won’t use voices for creating my pictures, so I found some other, useful factors. She keeps her eyelids slightly lowered, which gives her gaze a coquettish look. Also, the lips stay a little open  and the head is a bit tilted to the side. All those actions result in great impact on men.

During interrogation Catherine doesn’t looked intimidated at all. She behaves provocative and that’s what her body movement indicates. In the image she is exposing her long legs and placing one on top of another is a typical, seductive pose. Her shoulders though, express self assurance and challenge. She creates an awkward atmosphere in the room, by seducing detectives. She keeps an eye contact, which is very powerful, and confuses everyone by calling one of the detectives by name.  

For some people, smoking is considered as sexy. According to the book, exhaling upward means that person is superior and confident. This character smokes a lot and use the cigarettes as an object to play with. It works the same way as it’s mentioned in one of BBC’s articles that “glass hold” in the bar can reveal your personality. Usually, seductive women try to make all actions in a slow motion, that attracts the attention to their movements which is not left without double meaning.

Just as some gestures and expressions, body positions and movement are the main source of information on the pictures. That is a non verbal language, which express intentions without using words. Seductive ways of behavior add more acting into all actions. For instance, here, taking off the coat, changes from the simple activity into very emotional act. It is all about taking the attention away from words and weakening detectives alertness. All that, thanks to slowing down the pace, tilting head to the back and showing female’s neck. 

Another movement, typical for that kind of woman is look to the back above the shoulder. This position, although simple, makes the eyes look bigger and more attractive. If accompanied by lifted shoulder, gives the impression of fake shyness which is considered as very coquettish.

One of the biggest signs of seducing is close contact with another person. Allan Pease’s book describes something like “personal space” which is divided into few parts. The closest one is called “intimate zone” and if interrupted, it can result in different reactions. Femme Fatale women enter that zone, knowing that the outcome is going to be beneficial for themselves, but not necessarily for their victim. 

Researching  this character helped me in finding some principles for presentation of femme fatale women. Their gestures and body positions should emphasize feminine attributes. Very important in creation of that type of characters are facial expressions. Even though, body language plays here the main role, reflecting of particular emotions gives the face a unique look. Typical features are: slightly lowered eyelids, parted lips, coquettish  smiles, head tilted to the side and exposition of neck. 

Next personality for my research was the blunderer. Surprising enough, while searching for my ideal candidate, I have noticed that geek and ninny characters in film, are more often guys than girls. Don’t know the reason for this phenomenon but it’s not my goal to research that. Instead, I found somebody who I can examine, the “Ugly Betty”. It is a tv series about very unfashionable girl working in trendy fashion house. In other words, she is a bad match for the industry. Observing Betty’s everyday fight for survival, I found some principles regarding presentation of people like her. 

First of all, it seems to be the rule, to show character in the most awkward and silly moment. I’ve got a feeling that exaggeration plays here very important part. That happens, because normally people don’t behave that way and to make person look very weird, some coloring is necessary.

I’m going to focus on face now. All emotions find reflection on Betty’s face. She can not hide her feelings and the most popular expression of her is frustration. Usually, she looks as if she was confused or in the pain.

  

Pretty common for her is opening the mouth, which makes her look a bit silly. Her bushy eyebrows, thanks to it’s thickness, add more drama to the whole image. They can also curve into unusual shapes. 

 

Betty’s body language.   

This character has many diffident moments which are expressed through the whole body. On this image she looks very unsecured, she’s pushing her arms tightly to her chest which may reflect fear.

 

 

Position with arms down and hands squeezing fingers is very typical for ashamed expression. Betty’s head is also lowered down, as if awaiting punishment. That pose characterize somebody who can’t defend himself. Holding arms close to the sides indicates lack of freedom and safety in “personal space”. Her comfort zone is probably interrupted by the male person and that’s why she’s trying to use as little space as she can to create bigger gap between them two.

Betty in confrontation with bigheaded women. After short words exchange, Betty starts to feel frustrated, what you can immediately notice on her face. Her shoulders went a bit up, as if she was trying to hide her head in the shoulders. Familiar action can be noticed at some birds who are looking for protection in their feathers. This is what that character is trying to do, because she has nowhere to escape.

In many scenes, Betty is forced to fall to her knees. This is a metaphor of her weak character and she has to go through the shame of crawling on the floor. Such situations are chosen purposely in film to emphasize the clunky character of Betty’s actions.

My conclusion for creating blunderer characters is to put them in awkward situations, which are treated as shameful. There are many characteristic poses and behaviors for diffident characters. Usually their poses are stiff and extremities are held close to the body. Arms are often used as a symbolic “protection” that add more layers and create a barrier between the person and the environment.