Jonathan Lyons

A great resource: TV tropes and Idioms

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Here is a useful word to know: “Trope”

I learned the use of the word from visiting this web site: TV tropes and idioms It is a terrific wiki on common knowledge in the world of entertainment.  It is also a great research tool for writing things like blog posts.

From the first page of the site:

What is this about? This wiki is a catalog of the tricks of the trade for writing fiction.
Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means “stereotyped and trite.” In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them.
The wiki is called “TV Tropes” because TV is where we started. Over the course of a few years, our scope has crept out to include other media. Tropes transcend television. They reflect life. Since a lot of art, especially the popular arts, do their best to reflect life, tropes are likely to show up everywhere.

These are things you have seen, maybe dozens of times, but didn’t know there was a name for it.  It’s sort of amazing that people have cataloged this stuff.  It is a resource for explanations and descriptions of their use.    But it also includes some history of entertainment that you might not have known about.

The website homepage doesn’t give much direction on where to go.  If you are wondering about something, you can put it into the search function.  Here are a few links to get you started exploring.

ANIMATION TROPES:  On the animation page, there are a several sub categories, such as “voice acting tropes” or “stock visual metaphors” as well as a lengthy list of individual entries.

ANIMATION CREATORS A list of entries about famous animators and animation directors.

AMUSING INJURIES:   a list of cartoon and slapstick injuries a character could endure.  Each item on the list has it’s own page.  This one is a lot fun.

CHARACTERS Each entry on this page is a category, and leads to further lists of entries.

SLAPSTICK  a topic near and dear to me.

ENJOY!

Ping Pong

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Ping pong is an attractive subject for physical comedians. It has a peculiar rhythm and high speed. However, the use of special effects is often required. Here are several variations.




Here are some real ping pong champs going for laughs.

Amazing World of Gumball test footage

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I am a huge fan of the TV show The Amazing World of Gumball. I think it is the best show since Ren & Stimpy. Here is Ben Bocquelet’s test to pitch the show. Gumball has a huge cast of characters, done in a variety of techniques. This quick film finds a way to introduce a bunch of them in a high energy style.

Animated Characters as Actors

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christmasCarolMickey
The title of this post might make it sound like this is another “animators are actors with pencils” speech, but it’s about casting characters into roles other than who they were to begin with.

Recently I was reading an essay by Peter Kramer on Buster Keaton’s The Blacksmith. Part of his approach was through the idea of “Comedian Comedy”. This is any show where the comedian’s personal style is more important than the character he is playing. Mr. Kramer paraphrases Frank Krutnik:

Comedian comedy is characterized precisely by a fundamental mismatch between the identity of the performer…and the role he assumes within the fiction.

Actors like Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, and Jack Black bring their own distinct personalities to every comic part they play. Audiences come to see the actor do his special thing, rather than understand the nature of the character he’s cast to play. It is a special place in performance. Krutnik writes:

The comedian is marked within the text as having a privileged status compared to the other characters/actors: he is less fictionally integrated and has a relatively disruptive function in relation to the fictional world.

While this is rare in animation, it does happen. I am thinking of Mickey Mouse in a few of his classic shorts, like Gulliver Mickey or The Brave Little Tailor. He played Bob Cratchit in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, along with Scrooge McDuck an the rest of the Disney gang.  Mickey’s casting as Bob Cratchit seems a natural direction for him, rather than a mismatch.  A more disruptive example would be Daffy Duck playing Robin Hood.  He’s clearly not heroic figure to begin with, but that’s part of parody.  Cartoon characters are great for parody of classic work. At this point, Star Wars is a classic work, and hats of to Seth MacFarlane for putting his Family Guy cast into it.  Please comment if you can recall any other examples.

To be able to do move beyond their origins, characters cannot be too extreme, too specialized. A toy spaceman, a talking car, a one eyed monster, or a superhero are made to fit into unique contexts. It’s easier to create a “Teenage mutant ninja turtle” than a “funny mouse.”

The World of Commedia Dell’arte

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Here is an excellent set of youtube videos to educate you on commedia dell’arte. In this first video, she refers to the British TV show, Fawlty Towers, which helps to understand the characters.

This next video describes how the commedia traditions carry on to Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. She also mentions The Lion King.

This “character shape” video is great for animators, who often need ideas for creating specific characters walks. The “rich old man” is a character in Commedia, and the instructor mentions Mr. Burns, the Simpson character.

What I like about this next video is the approach to scenes. Have the character enter with a strong emotion already in place. And have them leave changed. When teaching animation, I get students describing their character as “just standing there, then something happens.” That doesn’t grab the viewer and bring them in at all.

This next video was included in my sub-verbal characters post.