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An experiment in character design: how psychology and colour theory can be used to develop effective characters for film, graphic novels and animation. What makes Charlie Brown relatable? Why is Mario the protagonist, and his brother Luigi the sidekick? Just why are those twins in The Shining so disturbing? Does a character’s appearance affect an audience’s perception of that character, even before the full story has been revealed? In order to explore some of the theories and techniques used to create complex and meaningful character designs for film, graphic novels and animation, it is necessary to form comparisons to a wider range of visual culture, from ancient sculptures to hyper-realistic robots.
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Ernst Jentsch opens his 1906 essay On the Psychology of the Uncanny by drawing the reader’s attention to the ‘rather fortunate formation’ of the German adjective ‘unheimlich’ the opposite form of ‘heimlich’, which refers to something homely and familiar, ‘unheimlich’ is used to describe the feeling someone may have in a foreign, uneasy situation. Thirteen years later, Sigmund Freud offers a further etymological study of the word ‘unheimlich’ in his 1919 book The Uncanny. According to Freud, it is insufficient to define ‘unheimlich’ as simply the opposite of ‘heimlich’, as what may be new and unfamiliar is not necessarily frightening. Something else is required to trigger this uncanny feeling. A second meaning of ‘heimlich’ is used to describe something private, concealed or hidden; and the opposite of ‘heimlich’ in this sense - that is, something that has been uncovered that ought to have remained a secret - we again use the word ‘unheimlich’. The two meanings are applied to two very different - yet not contradictory - ideas: one one hand, ‘heimlich’ means homely, as in friendly, intimate, familiar, and on the other ‘heimlich’ means home-like, concealed, hidden from others - as one’s private home is concealed from outsiders. Freud adds that ‘unheimlich’ in this sense is not only to reveal the ‘heimlich’ to others, but also to oneself. Thus Jentsch explains the feeling of the uncanny as something that is both familiar and unfamiliar; while Freud proposes that the uncanny is the return of something repressed. Nonetheless, both Freud and Jentsch agree that while little research can be found on the subject in the field of aesthetics, the uncanny has long been used in fiction to create a certain atmosphere or feeling around a particular character. Both papers go into considerable detail into these narrative techniques and the effect they have on the reader, as seen in both writers’ in-depth analysis of E.T.A. Hoffman’s novel The Sandman. Page 1 of 13
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The uncanny sensation, according to Jentsch, can be caused by: a) fear of the unfamiliar - examples include masks which conceal the wearer’s face, a conjuror’s inexplicable tricks, a strange sound in the darkness; b) fear caused by ‘intellectual uncertainty’ as to whether something is animate or not - something which at first seemed lifeless suddenly moving and revealing itself as alive, and on the contrary: when something which at first appears to be living turns out to be inanimate, such as a wax model. This can be referred to as Jentsch’s automation theory. Freud considers Jentsch’s paper ‘fertile but not exhaustive’, and offers alternative theories to the causes of the uncanny sensation. Where Jentsch draws upon his theory of automation to suggest that the robotic Olympia is uncanny, Freud argues that the uncanny character in Hoffman’s novel is instead the Sandman, the mythical creature who tears out children’s eyes, explained by the Freudian theory of the castration complex.
Figure 1: The Uncanny Valley - Masahiro Mori, 1970.
In any case, Jentsch’s theory of automation is certainly not to be dismissed; indeed, it was revisited and expanded upon in an essay originally published in 1970 by Masahiro Mori, a robotics professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Mori introduces a mathematical measure of the seemingly intangible concept of the uncanny: The Uncanny Valley (figure 1). Several examples of uncanny objects are given: Page 2 of 13
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first, an industrial robot, though it has arms, does not resemble a human being and therefore our affinity towards it is low. A toy robot appeals very strongly to children as it is designed to resemble a figure - arms, legs, torso and a face - though stylised to look boxy and mechanical. Something that resembles the human form much more accurately, such as a prosthetic hand, drops sharply into the uncanny valley. Movement makes the slopes of the graph more dramatic: where a corpse is repulsive, a zombie even more so; where we show some affinity towards a doll or a mask, we show a much higher level affinity towards a moving puppet or a real human being. The reader’s attention is brought to the example of the prosthetic hand. In the same way that the wax figures of Jentch’s automation theory initially appear lifelike, Mori describes the design of a prosthetic hand as indistinguishable from a real hand at first glance - ‘with wrinkles, veins, fingernails and even fingerprints’ - comparing its realism to that of a set of false teeth. However, as is the case with the wax figures, the realisation that the hand is artificial brings about an ‘eerie sensation’. As movement amplifies this uncanny sensation, Mori criticises the design of a myoelectric hand which uses electric currents in the arm muscles to move the fingers in response. Mori suggests that a mechanical hand made from wood would be much more suitable, as its smooth curves and natural texture are removed from too close a resemblance to a real hand, and can be admired as beautiful in its own right, like a wooden hand made by the carver of Buddha sculptures. Furthermore, Mori laments that many designers of robotics try to imitate the human form very closely, resulting in terrifying creations. Like the myoelectric hand, their ability to move makes them all the more uncanny. He mentions one robot in particular which has the same number artificial muscles in its face as there are in the face of a human. The designer wanted to replicate a human smile, but instead the slow movement produced a ‘creepy’ expression. Like Jentch’s wax figures, the uncanny sensation in this case comes from something which so familiar that it can be mistaken for another human - yet unfamiliar, as we recoil at the realisation that something’s not quite right - that it’s false, inanimate, artificial. These designs are not intentionally uncanny. ‘We hope to design and build robots and prosthetic hands that will not fall into the uncanny valley’, explains Mori. He advises that designers aim instead for the first peak of the graph. By attempting the accurate replication of a human being - taking on the arduous task of reaching the second peak of the graph the designer risks falling into the uncanny valley. Settling for a moderate degree of human likeness, such as the wooden hand, produces a higher level of affinity towards the object Page 3 of 13
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and cuts out the risk of the design becoming uncanny. What’s more, Mori predicts that these unrealistic and stylish prosthetics could even become fashionable (1970). This advice is aimed at the designers of robotics, however it is interesting to study how the Uncanny Valley can be evidenced in visual culture, both historic and contemporary.
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‘True art’, explains Jentsch, ‘in wise moderation, avoids the absolute and complete imitation of nature and living beings, well knowing that such an imitation can easily produce uneasiness’ (1906). Interestingly, the art world would later see a rising fascination with what fine artist Mike Kelley referred to as ‘mannequin art’ - sculptures created to deliberately induce uneasiness in the viewer. Kelley’s own work, which included collections, sculpture and essays, explored the the correlation between hyper-realism and the uncanny; Kelley noted that Jentsch’s list of uncanny objects corresponded with this sculptural trend (1993). Jentsch uses the example of a fine art sculpture of the human form, and compares it to a wax figure, which would not have been considered ‘true art’ any more than a massproduced mannequin (Kelley, 1993). The former, made from wood or stone, does not induce feelings of the uncanny; Venus de Milo, for example, is larger than life at 6ft 8in tall, made from white marble (figure 2). Though it is recognisable as a human form, just like Mori’s wooden hand, its size, material and stylised features mean that it could never be
Figure 2: Venus De Milo
Figure 3: Wax figure of Romy Schneider Page 4 of 13
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mistaken for a living human, and therefore remains on the first peak of the graph. The latter, such as this wax figure of Romy Schneider (figure 3), has a soft, fleshy texture, natural skin tones, hair, shiny eyes, eyelashes and real clothes. In Jentsch’s words, ‘in semi-darkness it is often difficult to distinguish a life-size wax or similar figure from a human person.’ Like the Venus de Milo, this wax figure is intended to appear beautiful. However it falls into the uncanny valley as its high level of human likeness means that we may be intellectually uncertain at first glance as to whether it is animate or not. The correlation also appears in two-dimensional designs. Another depiction of Venus - this time in Botticelli’s famous painting The Birth of Venus (figure 4: c. 1482-85), can not be considered uncanny: the proportions of Venus’ figure are unrealistic; she is much taller than a real woman, with elongated limbs and neck and masses of flowing hair. The goddess Venus symbolises love and beauty, and in exaggerating certain features the painter has designed a figure that can be considered attractive, but could never be mistaken for a real human being. Botticelli’s Venus would appear on the first peak of the graph, with a moderate likeness to the human form and a high level of affinity.
Figure 4: Venus, Sandro Botticelli
In contemporary culture, characters such as the princesses in the Disney Princess Franchise are intended to be beautiful: like Botticelli’s Venus, they all have exaggerated features and stylised faces. With a high level of affinity and a moderately low resemblance to a real human being, they too can be placed on the first slope of Mori’s graph. On the other hand, animated cartoons Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson are also human, but it goes without saying that they would be impossible to mistake for a real human being. They have a low likeness to a real human being, but a very high level of Page 5 of 13
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affinity. In fact, they appeared in About Entertainment’s 2016 list of the Top 50 Cartoon Characters of All Time as numbers 5 and 2, respectively. Arguably, Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson are more popular than the equally well-known Disney Princesses indeed, the latter do not even appear on the aforementioned list, should that be used as reference. This is where we stray from Mori’s graph: where the Disney Princesses have a higher resemblance to a human being, why are Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson considered more popular?
Figure 5: Disney Princesses, Charlie Brown, Homer Simpson
Our attachment to these cartoons is explained in comic-strip form by Scott McCloud, in his 1993 book Understanding Comics. Compare the face of a Disney Princess to that of Charlie Brown; we can see that the latter is much more simple, with nothing more than dots for eyes and short lines for the nose, mouth and hair. ‘When we abstract an image through cartooning, we are not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details’ he explains. In this case, we focus on Charlie Brown’s eyes, nose and mouth; little more than dots and lines, these are universal. According to McCloud, ‘the more cartoony a face is, the more people it could be said to describe’. Mori’s graph measures affinity: ‘a natural liking for and understanding of someone or something’ (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2010). While the Disney Princesses, or indeed, Botticelli’s Venus and the Venus de Milo, are admired for being beautiful, characters like Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson have a higher level of affinity as they are seen as reflections of the viewer’s own self (McCloud, 1993). One can put themselves in Charlie Brown’s place; he is relatable. His creator, Charles M. Schulz, described him as a ‘caricature of the average person’ (2000). As explained in McCloud’s diagram (figure 6), a detailed portrait of a person can describe only that one person. Take away some details, and the drawing could represent several people with those similar features. Reducing the details further again means the drawing can represent thousands or millions of people with the same hair style or face shape. Page 6 of 13
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Drawing the face in its simplest form - two dots for eyes and a mouth - could represent effectively every human being on Earth. And according to McCloud, our constant awareness of our own face can be likened to that universal cartoon face. We feel affinity towards it because we see ourselves in the simple, universal face.
Figure 6: Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
This is not necessarily contradictory to Mori’s advice to robotics designers, although it does challenge the shape of the graph. The cartoonist reduces the character’s likeness to a real human being to increase the level of affinity and make them relatable, in the same way that a designer of prosthetics, at Mori’s suggestion, should forgo realism in favour of an unrealistic but stylish and fashionable mechanical hand. Since this technique may be used to make a character more attractive or relatable, it follows that the theories of the uncanny can also be used to develop creepy or terrifying villains, as in Hoffman’s novel. It can, according to Jentsch, be attempted to produce the uncanny in ‘true art’ (1906), and as before, it is possible to apply this theory to a range of contemporary media. Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining, for example, famously uses Freud’s theory of the ‘doppelgänger’ (1919), the double: the twins, double elevators and mirrors.
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Figure 9
Figure 8
It is possible to see these ideas in practice by applying theme to this simple illustration of a young girl character (figure 7), for example. Though the drawing is not hyper-realistic, it is a straightforward representation. The viewer knows nothing about the girl’s personality, but from her physical appearance and clothing it can be assumed that the character is female, perhaps between 9 and 12 years old, middle class, in a story set in the late 19th- or early 20th century. As the drawing is not hyper-realistic it would not fall into the Uncanny Valley, but again Freud’s theory of the ‘doppelgänger’ (1919) can explain why placing two or more identical characters alongside each other looks creepy and unnerving, as in figure 8. When character is drawn as a simplified cartoon, there is less information about the character’s appearance and more information about the character’s personality. In figure 9 it is impossible to estimate the girl’s age, but the simple lines amplify her expression and body language. The level of affinity is higher. Finally, simplifying the image yet further, taking away any details which give information about the character through appearance, would result in a stick-figure - genderless, ageless, without any cultural or historical context. This most basic image becomes universal (McCloud, 1993): the viewer sees themselves in the most simplified form of the character - linked with the Freudian theory of the ego - therefore the level of affinity is higher. Another way to alter the appearance of a character is by applying different colours. When a group of volunteers were asked to describe the differences between the characters in
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figure 10, many found the girl in green to be less eerie and more ‘normal’ than the pink or blue, while the girl wearing black appears more so.
Figure 10
King Arthur wears red in figure 11; according to the volunteers, he looks stronger, bolder and wiser than the identical drawing in green. Figure 12 shows that the difference between a witch and the innocent Red Riding Hood is the colour of their cape, while the colour of the knight’s armour in figure 13 sparked an amusing debate as to which would win in a fight. Colour can be used to create a visual hierarchy, as seen in comic book heroes such as Marvel’s Spider-man and DC’s Superman, both coloured in red and blue. Not only are these supposedly the most popular colours, according to colour theorist Faber Birren
Figure 11 Page 9 of 13
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Figure 12
(1978); as primary colours, they appear stronger than the secondary colours taken on by villains such as DC’s the Joker. Birren suggests that a preference for black, grey and white can suggest that the individual is disturbed, frustrated or unhappy (1978). While this point is debatable, it’s true that darker or neutral colours are often used for villain characters such as witches, ghosts, Darth Vader, Venom, and countless other examples. Freud’s ideas about the uncanny are combined with the discussed colour theory in Star Wars: the black and white Stormtroopers are also identical ‘doppelgängers’, maximising
Figure 13 Page 10 of 13
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their unnerving effect on the viewer and resulting in a character which is undeniably a villain. Freddy Krueger, the nightmare-demon from Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is another example of a villain character created from both the Freudian psychology and colour theory discussed in this essay. His disfigured face is uncanny, explained by Freud’s castration theory. Freud believed the ego’s defences are lowered in dreams (1900) - making Krueger’s power to attack people through their dreams all the more threatening. Meanwhile, a visual tension is created using the coloured stripes on Krueger’s jumper Craven’s choice of red and green was influenced by an article in Scientific American that claimed that these two colours form the highest contrast to the human retina (Craven, 2014).
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With an understanding of the theories discussed in this essay, a character designer can use various subtle techniques to tell the viewer more about their character than what is explicitly stated in the story. Jentsch and Freud may disagree on the exact cause of the uncanny feeling, but nevertheless a well-designed villain can be used as an effective way to incite horror and repulsion in the viewer. Meanwhile, the viewer is immersed in the story when they identify with a relatable hero character. Moreover, as stated by the award-winning animation studio Pixar, forming a connection between the character and the audience is the ‘primary goal’ of character design (2013).
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Bibliography Books Birren, F. (1978) Color and Human Response. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Freud, S. (1900) The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by James Strachey (1955). New York: Basic Books. Freud, S. (1919) The Uncanny. Translated by Alix Strachey (1959). In Sigmund Freud, Collected Papers, Vol. 4. New York: Basic Books. Kelley, M. (1993) Playing with Dead Things. In John C Welchman, ed. (2003) Foul Perfection. Massachusetts: MIT Press. McCloud, S. (1993) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Stevenson, A. (2010) Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Journals Jentsch, E. (1906) On the Psychology of the Uncanny. Translated by Roy Sellars (1997). Angelaki, Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 7-16. Mori, M. (1970) The Uncanny Valley. Energy, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 33-35. Translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Norri Kageki (2012). The Uncanny Valley, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Issue 2, pp. 98-100. Web Sites Basile, N. (2016) Top 50 Cartoon Characters of All Time. About Entertainment, http:// animatedtv.about.com/od/showsaz/tp/top50chrctrs.htm (Accessed 29 January 2017). Craven, W. (2014) I chose red & green after reading that they were the two most clashing colors to the eye. Pic via @Horror_Lover247. Twitter, https://twitter.com/wescraven/status/ 471355582289432576 (Accessed 2 May 2017). Craven, W. (2014) I read an article in @sciam that said the two most contrasting colors to the human retina were red and green. #30YearsofNightmare #Freddy. Twitter, https:// twitter.com/wescraven/status/520663229173747712 (Accessed 2 May 2017).
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Pixar (2013) Character Design. http://pixar-animation.weebly.com/character-design.html (Accessed 2 May 2017). Schulz, C. in: Caldwell, C. (2000) Against Snoopy. StrausMedia, http://www.nypress.com/ against-snoopy/ (Accessed 29 January 2017). Films Craven, W., et al. (1984) A Nightmare on Elm Street. Burbank, California: New Line Cinema. Kubrick, S., et al. (1990) The Shining. Burbank, California: Warner Bros. Lucas, G., et al. (1977) Star Wars. Los Angeles, California: 20th Century Fox. Images Botticelli, S. The Birth of Venus. Uffizi.org, http://www.uffizi.org/img/artworks/botticelli-birthvenus.jpg (Accessed 29 January 2017). Groening, M. (2006) Homer Simpson. Simpsons Wiki, http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/ Homer_Simpson?file=Homer_Simpson_2006.png (Accessed 29 January 2017). McCloud, S. (1993) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. pp. 31, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Mori, M. (1970) The Uncanny Valley. Energy, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 33-35. Livioandronico2013 (2016) Front Views of the Venus de Milo, Wikipedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo#/media/File:Front_views_of_the_Venus_de_Milo.jpg (Accessed 29 January 2017). Original Six, The Disney Wiki, http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Original_six.jpg (Accessed 29 January 2017). Schulz, C. Charlie Brown, Peanuts, http://www.peanuts.com/wp-content/themes/desktoptheme-peanuts/images/characters/round/charliebrown.png (Accessed 29 January 2017). Ziebell, D. (2008) Wachsfigur im Panoptikum Hamburg, Romy Schneider als Sissi, Wikimedia, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/ Sissi_im_Panoptikum_Hamburg.jpg (Accessed 29 January 2017).
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