Join Craig Caldwell!

Whether it is animation, VFX or immersive media, character development in storytelling is tough to get right. 

It can seem like an impossible task to create engaging characters that your audience/players can emotionally connect to (identification).

No matter what genre you prefer, fantasy, medieval, comedy, drama, the characters must be complex, knowable and feel real. The characters must be capable of change (i.e. Arc). But where do you start?

To flesh out characters, you begin with their motivations, backstories (influences from their history), psychology and external relationships. Next, it is essential to differentiate their wants, goals and needs.

One must successfully delineate between archetypes versus stereotypes as well as making sure the characters are compelling, not generic.

This session examines character conflict (e.g. internal, external, environmental), causality and how difficult choices define a character. What is at stake? (i.e. survival, safety, love, esteem, etc.) What drives a character? Fear? Determination?

Once you know your characters, you can create character-driven stories/experiences so your audience will care about what your characters are going through.

Booking is required as places are limited. This workshop is not part of the Animex Festival ticket.

Student concessions available but please bring photo ID as proof on entry.