Friday, January 6, 2012

Deconstructing Characters



SUPERHERO
     Despite being a protagonist, this character is mostly dark. He wears a dark mask to hide his features and has a intimidating silhouette with a dark cape as well. The lighting on his face shows that he is still good, but had tragic events in his past. 

COLOR: Dark with gray accents for contrast
Color: The color of this character is dark like night. The colors can vary, but all lie within the gray scale. His scheme is considered a monochromatic color scheme because his colors are various colors of black, gray, and white. He is a character that is viewed as a villain by the public because of the misinterpreted color scheme of his suit. He is a misunderstood character by many, but has kind hearted intentions to help keep his city free from evil. This character is the representation that dark does not have to be evil. The reason his colors are so mysterious is that he must conceal his identity. Those who know he is merciful value what he does for the city, yet still feel intimated by the aura he portrays. He has a deep internal conflict that is interpreted in his color. He feels responsible for the wrong-doings done to others and has a burden to make up for those wrong doings. Explaining his guilt of death in his color as well. He never quite recovered from the loss of his loved ones at an early age. Leaving him alone and depressed. His colors convey a shadowed figure with a dark past, but he stands for good.



LIGHT: On his face separates him from being a villain

Light: The lighting of this character is mostly dark (imagine that), but his face is lit. My interpretation of why is that though his head is filled with dark and depressing thoughts, but he speaks and does the work of good. His face and features are hidden to give him the look a anonymous man. He may hide behind his mask to save himself from the true villains of the city from knowing his true identity, but he is truly a man who wants to be noticed for something good. I also believe the lighting of his face allows the viewer to see the true intentions of this hero in his expression.




http://www.nightmoth.co.uk/images/st/st_8-BatNight1.jpgShape: So this hint should obviously be a dead giveaway of who I am talking about here. The bat shape gives this character its meaning. When Bruce Wayne was a child, he fell down the well at his house which lead to a underground cavern where bats loved to hang out. Since the boy was about seven or eight, he began to have an irrational fear of bats. Few months later, his father and mother took Bruce to see an opera. In the opera were bat characters running around on stage. Since Bruce's parents knew of his fear of bats, they left the theater early. Where there in the backstreet of the theater, Bruce's parents were mugged and killed. Directly effected by his fear of bats, Bruce never forgave himself for not staying in the theater. He personally wanted to fight crime to avenge his parents death. Since his family came from the largest business company in Gotham, he also felt responsible for keeping Gotham safe. When he became a superhero he decided to embrace his fear of bats to use as a calling card.  

http://jobryantnz.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dark_knight_rises.jpg



VILLAIN 
So there are many villains that Batman has fought but his biggest challenge is the one I am about to describe.

Color: The color of this antagonist's face represents the irony of the story. Seeing that Batman is a very dark figure, the villain takes the role of the light colored character. His colors are erratic. He wears red, purple, and green which are split complimentary colors. The colors do not make a pretty color scheme, but they are there for a purpose. First, the colors show how insane the villains mind is. He destroys for the sake of chaos and no other reason. The colors also give off a psychedelic feeling. I believe that represents the trip that the viewer goes on while trying to figure out the villains motive.

Lighting: Like this mans face, the villain has a lit face and a shadowed body in almost every scene. This shows that he tries to portray a positive and happy look to others,  but deep inside he is truly evil. His face is lit but his head is tilted down to create more of a shadow almost if to hide true thoughts and feelings from others. He hides all motives and it is very uncertain what his true directive is (other than causing mass chaos for the fun of it.) His history is unknown and is a very confusing character to deconstruct.

Shape: So there is no real object that this character represents, but it does represent a type of person. A clown. Again by this one it should be apparent who I am talking about. The joker is crazy. He finds joy in the irony of himself. He never can stop smiling because of the makeup and scars even when he is committing the most heinous of acts. He loves being able to laugh at destruction and chaos. Which is obviously opposite of what clowns try to do. Clowns try to spread laughter and play by their humor. The destruction that the joker causes does not spread joy, but fear to all of Gotham. The joker is the anti-clown in my opinion.


Again, notice the lighting of the face, and the shadow of the body. Notice the neurotic look on his face and the crazy colors he is wearing.