Charateristics of Style

Shapes and creating a style

“Everything film is designed… either by a plan or by default”

The notion of an overarching style guide first occurred to me at Disney when I was trying to familiarize myself with the characters in preparation for layout on the Little Mermaid.  Glen Keane had done the storyboards and his understanding and control of Ariel’s’ expression and design in each drawing was an inspiration, and went beyond the range of the character design sheets and turn arounds.  The standard of the day was for each character there would be a packet for the animators and clean-up artists, which would include drawings with explanations of do’s and don’ts, range of sample expressions and complete rotations of the 2D character so that one could see how shapes would resolve as they disappear around the form.  These character guides were vital for the animators and clean-up artists as a guide to maintain the continuity of each characters design and range of expression.  But we hadn’t developed one of these for the movies overall style?

I ran across this sketch in my journal.  My thought was simply this:  “What if I could design a looking glass which would distort the world into a caricature of itself?  Then if I could give all the artists a looking glass we would all draw the world as we perceive it but it would all look like it came from the same hand”?

Cinderella

As we talked about Cinderella before, it is clear in these images the artistic style is based on the contrast between mostly vertical lean straights and the tightly curved 'S' shapes and curly cue shapes in the baroque furniture accents, moldings,  in the wallpaper, and carpet.  Together these create the tall elegant quality of the castle and interior of Cinderella's home except within her bedroom and the stairs up to it.  The ceiling is low and the room anything but elegant because we do not see long straights in contrast to the curvy bits, but the straights are shorter and not 90 degrees to one another but they still contrast the curved shapes and lines.

Aladdin

Shape and design influences

Jasmines shapes in the columns.  Her theme was a beautiful bird in a cage so I hung oil lamps in the shape of peacock heads in front of the columns to illuminate the curtains in the shape of a peacock.

Mary Poppins Returns

Initial drawing style

Background painting

Mort

The underworld is played out in ambiguous space.

This is showing the distinction between three different styled films to appease executive concerns.

Tangled

Zootopia

Gon

This show was going to merge a low poly house brand style with African art.  Because fractals are so integrated into all aspects of the culture, it was used in the design themes.

Fractal scaling appears to be part of the aesthetic in the sculpture as well as architecture, city/village planning, mathematics etc..

Shrek

Early version of Shrek was going to be live action miniatures with CG animation and designed with the influence of a view master.

Fantasia 2000

Within this image from Open Season all the trees are variations on a triangle.  We can easily say that the Major Key of shape here is triangles, and a moderate Minor key or difference between the hillside plateau and the trees.

This was a concept design exploration for an animated film about planes that would take place in Brazil and other countries in South America.  The shapes are simplified to primitives with intermittent shadow shapes to deliver subtle form in a minor amount of the image.  The capitol city of Brazil was designed by Oscar Neimeyer in the shape of a plane.  Both the city planning as well as the buildings along the main avenue seen here were all designed by him in the 50's and 60's in a modern style, much like an industrial version of midcentury modern and Picasso primitives.

Arrangement and Story Clarity

Composition shots for film

If you are designing a film frame you must consider what the shot is about?  What's the message it needs to convey, first read, second read, and third read?  What is the action, what is the blocking saying, what is the posing saying, what is the subtext, how does it fit into this story and will it need to connect with other shots?  What are you cutting from and what are you cutting to?   What is the literal through line?  What is the design contrast between shots (avoiding a jump cut)?  How is the movement working, are you setting some continuum with action or camera movement?

Set Design

When designing shots for a film you want to consider exactly what needs to be said.  Here are a few preliminary concept sketches for an early version of Bolt.  I am considering the major and minor tonal keys, the shapes of the elements and patterning of the design Matrix all to play out the threat of the impending tornado.

Story drives design

Our compositions have to fit within the context of the overall story, which means they have to land with the appropriate level of visual intensity for the moment.  Within that context we have to be clear about the text, dialog, or action, also the subtext, the emotional drive or disposition of the characters and moment.  We have the opportunity and responsibility to deliver the subtext and emotional tone visually through our compositional choices.

Clarity of Story

Clarity often has to do with the correct order of read and the weight we give to the level of dominance and subordination to corresponding relationships.  If we don't make clear the dominance and order of read, chances are our message will be muddled.  Some things to consider are: 

Dominant and Subordinate

Orientation and Scale

Movement and Rhythm

Collective arrangement

Composition for painting

Let's look at breaking down the active compositional elements working in this image by James Reynolds.  The artist may or may not have been consciously applying these things but we all work somewhere between intellect and emotion, and the most important thing is the net result in the final image.