Detail View: Graduate Thesis Collection: What About Those Guys in the Back? Techniques and Purpose of Enhancing the Performance and Acting of Background Characters

Title: 
What About Those Guys in the Back? Techniques and Purpose of Enhancing the Performance and Acting of Background Characters
Creator: 
Bishop, Christopher David
Subject: 
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Animation
Subject: 
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Animation
Rights: 
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract: 
Secondary/background characters are often underused in establishing the setting and enhancing the performance of primary characters within animation. These characters may be posed unnaturally, make overly broad motions, or appear as blank slates that fail to enhance the shot in which they appear. This thesis aims to enhance background character performance through the study and application of human nonverbal communication. Successful and poor utilization of background characters will be explored from multiple film sources to rationalize the enhancement of background characters. In Harmony, the visual component of this thesis, nonverbal communication forms including postural echoing, body posture, and gaze behavior, develop an internal thought process for the characters that enhances the performance of the focal character. Successful utilization of secondary characters not only enhance the direction of the narrative, but also support the key characters in film.
Abstract: 
Keywords: background characters, secondary characters, gesture, nonverbal communication, postural echoing
Publisher: 
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date: 
2015-03
Format: 
PDF (43 pages) : illustrations (some color)