Character Creation Exercise

Assignment:
"Write a one-page character portrait.
Things to think about:
Choose one single theme.
Explore a concern you care about.
Have one main character.
Make the character interesting.
Describe three characteristic actions by this person.
Guess at this person's long-term agenda (that is, what her or she seems to be trying to get, do or accomplish in life.
Suggest experiences that might have implanted these drives.
Predict where this person's agenda might take them in ten years' time.
What is this person's point of view in the immediate, moment-to-moment circumstances.
What are others point of view of this character?"


Okay, so looking at my themes from last class, there are three major possibilities: The Quest, Perseverance Despite Society, or Artifice vs. Organic. I can still incorporate them all, but I have to pick one major one. I think the theme I will go with is the perseverance one, since it would probably make for a more interesting story, and I can relate to it the most. I will probably incorporate the idea of the quest, but whether or not I will incorporate the organic/ artificial thing with it. 


A concern that I would like to explore is the little guy rising up and, despite society's wishes, he reaches his goal. I also like the idea of love, and a guy going on a quest to find love. Love is has a universality to it- as people, we either want it or we have it. Like I said in my goals on Tuesday, I want my audience to walk away from my animation touched, as well as presenting them in a way that is uniquely mine. 


An idea that I'm toying around with in my head is that of a gangly, goofy robot trying to find love in a mechanical city that runs like clockwork. He could look almost like a human wearing a boxy robot suit, and the other robots could all be the same model, following strict protocol. He could be clumsy and faulty, and the other robots don't accept him, as he causes "errors" in the system. He's created by a sweet old man scientist, and the scientist could have made him in spite of the rigid structure of the society, meaning well, giving him human-like emotions. But after the old man dies, the robot is left alone in a cold world that doesn't care for him. He is assigned to work at a power plant, having the simple job of flipping necessary switches on a large circuit but he cant even do that right. As he works and is constantly reprimanded for his work, he one day stumbles and is helped up by a woman who becomes his one and only friend (who could also be clumsy). The robot could develop feelings for the woman. One day, when fawning over the woman, he could really screw up what he was supposed to be doing, and  causes a crash in the plant. Having wrecked the system, the other robots turn on him and surround him, meaning him harm. He cowers a against a wall, but then the woman can stand between him and the oncoming waves. It's all in vain though, as the other robots knock her out of the way. Upon seeing this, something could flip inside of him, and he will rush towards her, and using the stretchy, gangly nature of his limbs, he carries the woman through the oncoming mob, and with a look of determination on his face, he escapes the city carrying the woman with him. Once they escape, she could wake from her sleep to him fussing about her, and she could look around her, revealing a beautiful field, or something like that, which would be in complete contrast with the harsh mechanical nature of the city. The piece could end with them sitting by the forest admiring the scenery and the woman could kiss him on the cheek or something, and he would be really flustered. She would laugh, and the camera would then pan up with the credits.


So three characteristic actions of the robot is 1.) he tries his hardest to please his co-workers, but always messes up in some fashion, like tripping and knocking over important stuff or zoning out. 2.) As far as robots go, he would be very unrobot-like: I imagine his limbs being noodley as opposed to the rigid to the structures of the others, and would move accordingly. I imagine a scene where he is working at his switchboard and he's reaching all over the board to click things on and off. How does this define his personality? By making, in sense, an organic robot, he will act and move like a person, and will make him more emotive. I can show him disappointed, sad, happy much easier this way. 3.) When the day is over and he goes back to where he lives, he could have a picture of his creator, and have an emotive moment where he holds the picture close to him and his lip trembles. This could help push his persona and establish his emotions despite him being a robot.


His whole purpose in life would be to find someone that will accept him for who he is, like his creator. That's why he tries so hard at his thankless job, and why he connects with the woman- she accepts his clumsy nature and is a friend, unlike the personality-less co-worker robots.


The way he takes the day-by-day hardships- he is sad, because being the only one like yourself is lonely, and he just wants someone to acknowledge him. However, he perseveres and keep up with job and his life because he believes, almost to a fault, that the harder he works, eventually the other robots will accept him and thank him for what he's done. The loss of his creator created this desire in him- having lost that one person that loved him for who he was, he feels he needs to step up and become what is accepted by society.


The other robots don't really notice him at all, except whenever he throws off the system. The plants bosses, which are people (explaining the one woman), are frustrated with him, but seeing as he is the only robot they have that can stretch his arms to man the entire circuit board, they keep him around. However, whenever he makes the big mistake, they are the ones that tell the robots to crush him.


All in all, the piece touches on all my themes- it has the robots "quest" for acceptance, the idea of perseverance in life, and touches on the difference between artificial life and organic.