Assignment 8b: Hero/Villain Thoughts

I'm going to sound like such a cheerleader, but I mean it when I say that everyone's heroes/villains were great! All were very impressive, especially the animations (which we ALL know were infuriating to create). Yayayay- good job everyone! (Okay, Imma stop now- I'm actually annoying myself now. Sheesh.)


Michael Stephens' Creation:

Michael Stephens’ hero/villain combo was definitely my favorite. The hero (done by Michael) was Minute Man, and he was accompanied by two villains, Hi-Hat (Kramer Lewis) and Silver Spoon (Connor Gartland). Where most of the combinations didn’t really compliment each other, I felt that Michael’s characters all fit well together. For most of the character combos (mine included), it was pretty obvious that there were two people forced to compromise and work together, which caused a lack of affinity. But these three characters clearly came from the same world. (Which is pretty impressive considering this was the only group with three people involved). They did the very interesting contrast of having their villains well lit and their lone hero cast in shadows. It fit very well with this futuristic world they created around the characters, and also added a splash of originality in the mixed symbolism (whereas pretty much everyone else followed the conventional guidelines for creating a hero/villain). It reminded me of the Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York. The audience was meant to champion the underdog who had the balls to stand up to the corrupt public officials (personally a favorite storyline of mine). The size of each character also helped convey the underdog tones, with Minute Man being a much smaller character in comparison to Silver Spoon and Hi-Hat. The mood created between characters was also interesting. Because of the style, the characters seemed less serious and almost playful. Yet, the dramatic lighting changes between the three characters add a sense of maturity. I thought the contrast between the two aspects added rather than subtracted from the overall presentation.

Tanner Simmons' Creation: 

Tanner Simmons’ hero/villain animation was by far one of the best. This prrrrrobably had to the do with the fact that it was a combined animation (showing both characters) and it had sound effects. I know that sound effects weren’t necessary for the finished product (my animation was definitely silent), but going the extra mile really added a special touch to the animations. Caligula (created by Tanner) and Spartacus (Cam Soergel) emphasized overlapping movements. While Spartacus is in the arena, kicking ass, Caligula attempts to barge in and put a stop to him. When Caligula shoots a gun at Spartacus, the bullet is deflected and kills an audience member (FAVORITE part). The audience member lands on the arena floor and begins to bleed; this action showed the “weight” of the character.

Little quirks like the deflected bullet hitting an audience member made the animation funny because it was original and unexpected. When Spartacus kills Caligula, he doesn’t do it in the conventional, stab-and-die way. Spartacus grabs Caligula and hurls him in the air a few times before releasing. The use of parallel movement also helped the animation to feel more complex (or, as complex as pencil will allow). With both Caligula walking toward Spartacus while he’s finishing killing his previous opponent, the tension built. When Spartacus successfully kills Caligula, the release is relieving and also comedic. Both Cam and Tanner did a great job in creating a genuinely interesting animation, which dealt with semi serious actions (three murders in thirty seconds is pretty intense) in quite a hilarious way.