"What factors must be carefully considered to create a successful antagonist, and how important are they in the context of modern media and storytelling?"

How important is the inclusion of a strong antagonist in contemporary media and storytelling methods, and what factors must be carefully considered during their conceptualisation and creation?

Inspiration - Sonata Arctica

My character studies are heavily depended upon the research of archetypes, and one of the pieces of information I first unearthed is the use of a villain in narrative; a villain emphasises the traits of a hero through contrast.

My story idea for the character archetypes of Hunter and Prey originated from this song, which was my inspiration for the story based on the Salem witchhunts.

I feel that this would be a very appropriate story to tackle, as it deals with elements such as rallying, mob and mass hysteria, the desire of self preservation and the use of fear as a weapon. I also feel it's very important for the viewer to not only relate to the protagonist, but also the antagonist. Such a story would allow me to do so; the viewer can easily relate to both characters, understanding the antagonists motives.

I am not sure, however, if making the antagonist more complex, broken character who the viewer can relate to (Think Lotso from Toy Story 3). rather than a very steriotypical evil (Think malicifent, witch in disguise)would be more effective. Personally I believe the more complex characters more rewarding, but time and research will tell.

Without further adu, Sonata Arctica - Deathaura

Robot - Logic

Development of a thumbnail. Playing with the expression of a cold calculating personality through a robot for one of my story ideas.

Possible Villain Archetype Template

Just doodling on photoshop; One of my possible stories revolved around a hunter/prey character conflict, heavily influenced by Arthur Millers Crucible. Whilst sketching, I though perhaps I could take a futuristic twist on the old witch hunt.

If Willy Lomond were an octopus

...Then he'd look something like this.

Some doodles

Just a few doodles I did over the weekend, inspired by re-exploring my favourite cartoonists, and my discovery of Donald Soffritti. I had fun exploring these styles.

I watched Toy Story 3 again; it just reiterated how absolutely perfect it was - a truly rare flawless sequel of a sequel.

Could this be a possible ending? Dun dun dun.


Brian Morrice found a dead pigeon in his fireplace. I feel this picture portrays this joyous moment perfectly.



Also, we had bugs in the flat. Andy Rennie was round when it happened. Oh the peril!

Question

"What factors and elements must be carefully considered to create a successful antagonist, and how important are they in the context of modern media and storytelling?"

Inspiration - Fallout 3

The design of the Fallout universe has always fascinated me, and has been a great influence. It's unique design and take on post apocolyptic America, heavily influenced by the 50's, has got to be the greatest take on a concept that's been done to death; this is definately one of the major aspects that breaths a flame of life into the game.

Here's a bunch of fascinating concepts from Fallout 3

Concept Art - Mass Effect 2

I recently posted about Matt Rhodes, the art director at Bioware. This is a bunch of concept art for Mass Effect 2, which I just find absolutely amazing. The brilliant, vast designs of the Mass Effect universe is incredibly inspiring to me.

More Inspiration!

-Thank the makers for Bloggers autosave function. I just experienced my first computer lockdown of 4th year. A scary experience, might I add.-

I JUST discovered the cartoonist Donald Soffritti, and I've absolutely fallen in love with his work. It bears a strong resemblance to the likes of Mike Krauhik and Bill Waterson, two cartoonist that have heavily inspired me.

I thought these pictures were very fitting to my subject matter; here Soffritti portrays comic book heroes and villains as they have succumbed to the perils of old age.

It's interesting to think that Jack Kirby and Stan Lee probably didn't even think about such a concept; ironicly, such thoughts are trivial, for the majority of their legacy is truly immortal.

Anyway, here they are. Needless to say I've fallen in love with these illustrations.

My personal favourite, Doctor Octopus. He looks so likeable here.

Bizarro

The Vulture

Aquaman

Wolverine

Electra

Daredevil

Iron Man

The Incredible Hulk

Galacticus & Silver Surfer

Spiderman

The Thing

Mr Fantastic

The Penguin

Batman And Robin

Catwoman

Captain America

Wonder Woman

Subject, aims and objectives.

Hopefully I'm getting a bit closer to the real thing here.

Obviously my study is about the importance and effectiveness of Villains and Antagonists in stories, and what elements must be considered in order to forge them into a successful, strong character.

There are lots of routes to explore here. I'm currently looking into the psychology of characters, and the effectiveness of contrast within the antagonist and protagonist. Character archetypes are also a major focus of my study.

As such, i'm developing two possible story ideas so to create a successful antagonist and character relation. I feel the relationship between the antagonist and protagonist is VERY important to the overall effectiveness of a villain. A villain, in a sense, is a device to emphasise the qualities of the protaginist through contrast, hence my reason for exploring Archetypes.

The two archetypes Im currently looking into are

Emotion/Reason *Robot Thumbnails*

Hunter/Prey *Etheral/Beastial Thumbnails*

I've a brief idea of both stories, but I'll post about that once i've finalised what I'm doing.

And so, my aims and objectives are something along the lines of:

SUBJECT

"What factors and elements must be carefully considered to create a successful antagonist, and how important are they in the context of modern media and storytelling?"

AIMS

To find out what my objective is.

OBJECTIVE

To discover what my aims should be.