Lord Shen: When Character Design Meets Character

Character design is an often-underrated aspect of character development. While personality is, without a doubt, the most crucial factor, design is surprisingly important to the way a character is perceived. This is particularly true of animation, where filmmakers are not limited by real-world biology. In animation, if you want a character to have green skin and bat wings, it can be done. If you want them to be twenty feet tall and have hair made out of octopus tentacles, it can be done. And, if you want them to be a murderous, knife-throwing, albino peacock with the voice of Gary Oldman, that can be done too. Yes, it’s finally time to talk about Lord Shen, from DreamWorks Animation’s 2011 film, Kung Fu Panda 2.

Rasputin: Can Creative License go too Far?

When adapting history into fiction, the use of creative license is expected. Reality doesn’t follow a narrative structure, so it’s natural for elements to be omitted, tweaked or even added for the sake of telling a good story within a limited amount of time. But, when does creative license go too far? When does it cross the line from harmless, to harmful? Well, it just so happens that the perfect film exists to answer this question. This week, we’re talking about 20th Century Fox Animation’s Anastasia.

Pitch: Do all Villains Need a Tragic Backstory?

I feel like we have an obsession with giving villains tragic backstories. From Maleficent to Gaston, it seems that audiences no longer want straight cut bad guys. And, why should they? Backstories give a character depth, and in the case of villains, allow us to delve into their mindset and understand why they do what they do. But is a tragic backstory imperative to a villain’s characterisation? Today, we’re going address this question by taking a look at one of my favourite animated films, DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians.