Main content
Course: Storytelling > Unit 2
Lesson 2: Character- Introduction to character
- Warm up activity
- Internal vs. external features
- Activity 1: Internal & external features
- Wants vs. needs
- Activity 2: Wants vs. needs
- Obstacles
- Activity 3: Obstacles
- Character arc
- Activity 4: Character arc
- Stakes
- Activity 5: Stakes
- Advice on characters
- Glossary: Character
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Internal vs. external features
Whats on the inside vs. outside of a character? Pixar artists discuss character development through the lenses of external features like design or appearance and internal features like emotions or beliefs. Artists create authentic, relatable characters by drawing from personal experiences and real-life people. Fully developed characters have clear desires and face obstacles, which drive their journey and create engaging stories.
Video transcript
- Hi, I'm Christian Roman and
I'm a story artist at Pixar. (bell dings) I'm your host for this second
lesson on storytelling, which is on character development and I have a few friends joining me. - I'm Austin Madison, I am a story artist. - My name is Aphton Corbin,
and I'm a storyboard artist. - My name is Louise Smythe,
and I am a storyboard artist. - My name Ronnie del
Carmen, I am a story person, director, designer, and
all around troublemaker around here at Pixar. - The goal of this lesson is to explore our character development
process by which we go from simple character
concepts such as a robot or a fish or a girl to complex characters people can actually care about. Take Wall-E, he's not just
a robot, he's a lonely, curious robot who fears,
thinks, and ultimately loves. Or Nemo, he's not just a
fish, he's a young fish who craves independence from his father, but endangers himself
in trying to achieve it. Or Merida, she's a young
princess who wishes to pursue her own hopes and dreams
rather than conform to her parents' expectations. We can call these
characters fully developed. This means we've gotten
to know them so well that we can imagine them
in almost any situation. Creating a fully developed
character isn't easy. You're basically creating
a new life from scratch, but it's really special
when you get there. So, how do we begin character
development at Pixar? - We can talk about
characters in two ways. They have their external
features, which is their design, their clothes, what they look like. Then much more interesting
is the internal features. Are they insecure, are they
brave, are they jealous? - I will pretend like
I'm having a conversation and getting to know a
friend and think okay, well what do they like to do? What are their beliefs,
what do they enjoy? What do they not enjoy? - I think actually I work
more externally first now that I think about it. You know, what they're wearing,
how they style their hair, and that kind of informs internally what's going on. - One of my favorite Pixar
characters is Syndrome. You look on the outside and
he actually kind of looks like a superhero. He's got the superhero
costume on, he's got a cape. He's got this dazzling hair. But inside he's totally a
villain and he wants to actually do away with all the supers. So you kind of have that
great little contrast there with that character that
makes him feel really rich and really real. - Characters have to come from authentic human emotions and experiences. - And it doesn't necessarily have to mean make every character you, it could also be draw
from people you know, things from real life. - Listen to that little voice
saying. "Oh, that's just like "what my mom used to do." Or, "Oh that's just like this
friend I had in high school." Or, "My little brother was like that "when we were growing up." - Because it's much easier to
go from your family members or a friend when you're trying
to search for a character. The specificity that people
bring that you can't make up on your own is something
that I look forward to and I enjoy when I'm trying
to pinpoint down a character. - I was working on Up. I was the story supervisor. Now I'm a little invested
in Carl's journey because back then my father was not well. He also had a full head of white hair. When he gets to the tepui, Carl actually has to be alone in his house essentially looking back at the life that he had lead with Ellie. He does this silently. At that point when I was
storyboarding that sequence my father was already in the hospital and he was unable to speak. And when I actually talked
to my father he can only communicate to me through
his eyes, and with smiles and facial movements. That actually helped me accurately
storyboard those moments when Carl silently thinks
about his life with Ellie. And without dialog we
understand the emotions that he's going through. Without my experience
with my father I wouldn't have been able to actually
tackle that moment in the movie and storyboards credibly. And I told him that Dad,
I'm drawing you as Carl. - Understanding a character,
both inside and out will help you figure out
what the character really desires, which is what drives
them through their journey. In this first exercise
you'll have a chance to think about the difference between internal and external character traits. Remember, the more you
know about your character, the more real that character will feel.