tangled character analysis

This moment indicates that the floating lanterns have been a childhood comfort for Rapunzel in the way a child may find security in a cherished blanket or toy. Tangled contains many strong story-telling poses that are often held completely still for several frames. To which Flynn responds by telling her she will get to find a new dream. The character pose is in full extension and the animator has stretched the entire body to emphasise the forces acting upon the body, As Flynn impacts the ground, notice that the body appears flat, and the rib cage and buttocks is noticeably squashed down. As her own life depends on Rapunzel’s magical hair, she plots to return Rapunzel to the tower and have Flynn put to death by the palace guard. Rapunzel is the tale of a girl traded away by her parents in return for their lives; she is trapped in a tower and has extremely long hair which her ‘mother’ uses to climb the tower. Tangled therefore successfully uses holds to allow the audience time to absorb a character pose and to influence the audience’s attention, however, it does little to explain why the characters remain plausibly alive despite the absence of motion. As this sequence demonstrates, Tangled does feature typical cartoon patterns of movement even if their application is very subtle. I drew Varian :D. The subdued motion, held pose and lack of cartoon style is significant in this scene as it demonstrates that cartoon patterns of movement have not been used. There are several concepts that support the use of holds in Tangled. She dreams to one day see the lights. By relaxing his expressions the design is able to remain angular yet fit within the soft rounded world created for Tangled. Chapter 93. (18) The held poses in Tangled therefore conflict with the common practice of 3D CG animation. A prince hears her singing and climbs the tower several times until they decide to run away together. The head is tilted up and to the side to counter the shoulders. Tangled : Character Analysis Of The Disney Movie Tangled. Flynn Rider is very self confident and a skilled thief. At this moment the eyes are a completely different shape to how they appear throughout most of the film. Moving holds are not the only hold used throughout Tangled. There is little to no saccadic eye movement in this moment and for what is there it is hard to pick up through the smaller eye opening as Rapunzel begins to cry. This pose and facial expression is a reference to an earlier shot in the film in which Rapunzel is a young child looking at the lanterns from her tower window. In this shot, Flynn holds for approximately 30 frames yet remains plausibly alive despite the absence of motion. As previously stated, the visual style of Tangled is the result of a deliberate effort to extend the traditional Disney aesthetic to the CG medium. He is also pursued by Maximus. (26) He goes on to describe the feeling of rhythm as a “follow-through” of various contours of the body. The absence of the blink and eye movement in this case punctuates the promise that Rapunzel is making. (27) Rhythm is created when the attitude or direction of one line or force applies itself towards the next. (1) The dominance of 3D CG in animated films (over traditio… Rhythm, tilt and twist work together throughout Tangled to reduce the often-stiff appearance of CG animation and bring forth a more organic feeling closer to that of life drawing. Yet in Tangled there are moments when characters are completely motionless, in the lantern scene for example, Rapunzel holds a static pose for almost 2 seconds.  The lantern scene begins with Rapunzel and Flynn in a boat placing flowers in the water. (20) Williams adds that it is important that not everything comes to stop at once and that it can be helpful to have the character blink as they stop. Rapunzel longs to see the floating lights unaware that they are actually floating lanterns released by her family and the community in memory of the lost princess. In her grief, Rapunzel sheds a single tear, which unknown to Rapunzel carries the magical properties of the original flower. Senses of Cinema was founded on stolen lands. This quiz will tell you what character from Tangled: the Series you are most like! Gothel raised her and the shock of seeing her ‘mother’ falling to her death has an emotional impact on Rapunzel. In fact there are multiple moments in which Flynn is completely still in this sequence.  Moments of subdued character action allow for nuances in the character motion, in particular the character eyes are critical to conveying their inner thoughts and emotion to the audience. Mother Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her in a tower deep in the forest. Eighteen years before the events of Tangled, Rapunzel's parents, King Frederic and Queen Arianna of Corona, were anticipating their firstborn. Rapunzel slowly blinks, relaxes her shoulders and brings her head down to rest on the ship’s figurehead. Realising Gothel has just died, Rapunzel pauses as she come to terms with the loss of who she has thought to be her mother all of her life. Note the complete change in eye shape.  When pure holds are used, it is the pose design that maintains the illusion of life. Rapunzel pleads with Gothel to let her heal Flynn, promising to go with her if she does. Rapunzel reflects on her childhood dream of seeing the floating lights. While in motion the head is stretched out of shape. Before Rapunzel can heal him, Flynn cuts the hair from Rapunzel’s head and breaks the magical bond between Rapunzel and Mother Gothel’s life.  Without the magic of the golden flower, Mother Gothel ages rapidly turning to dust while Flynn, unable to be healed, dies from his wound. In the short time since PIXAR Animation created the first 3D computer animated feature film, Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995), 3D computer graphics (CG) have replaced the classical 2D realist styling of Disney Animation to become the dominant aesthetic form of mainstream animation. Second Pose: He anticipates turning around by moving in a downward motion. The character motion is often very subdued with actions that are relevant to the context of the story and the character’s intent. There is some subtle squashing of the head. The eyes and her blinking show her inner thought process as she realises she is still there with Flynn. Flynn Rider dies and Rapunzel is grief stricken. In response to this requirement, Keane called a meeting with both 2D and 3D Disney animators to discuss the pros and cons of the two mediums. Characters page for the Tangled franchise. 19 notes. In this scene, Flynn is trying to escape from Maximus with the crown he has stolen. If you are an Australian resident, any donations over $2 are tax deductible. This is the first time we see a clear shot of Flynn after he has made his way across the roof tops, the use of a hold gives the audience a chance to absorb the attitude of his pose. Gothel is a greedy woman obsessed with youth, staying young through the use of a magical flower (Grimm 33-34; Greno and Howard, Tangled). (24) As elements of pose design, rhythm, tilt and twist work together to create appealing story-telling poses that help support the illusion of life. Both fairy tales compare and contrast with the more modern versions. The focus on strong story telling poses and a reduction of gestures results in subdued motion that prevents characters in Tangled from being “over animated”. In this image the green lines indicate tilt applied to the hips, shoulders and eyes. The lyrics struck me as full of meaning. She blinks slowly, taking as many as 5 frames to close her eyes, which remain almost shut, opening only slightly before blinking again. (17) Holds are therefore a technique typical of 2D animation where an animator may slow a character into a pose and hold that pose for several frames. After adjusting her position by moving from one side of the figurehead to the other, in 20 frames, Rapunzel holds almost perfectly still for another 20 frames before the shot cuts to another point of view shot. Another significant aesthetic element of Tangled is the overall art direction, which was inspired from previous Disney films such as Pinocchio (Norman Ferguson and T. Hee, 1940) and Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson, 1950) along with the Rococo style art of French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). Earlier in the film she states that she never breaks a promise, so what she is saying to Gothel is the truth. (2) Keane originally wanted the film to be animated using a traditional 2D animation process, however, the Disney studio executives David Stainton and Dick Cook would only approve the film for production if it were created using the 3D CG medium. Leading the action with her eyes, she turns to look at Flynn who has prepared two lanterns for them to release into the night sky.  At this point Rapunzel’s movement changes from slow and deeply thoughtful to an almost childlike excitement as she hurries to sit down with Flynn. The shot below shows Flynn Rider in a close up with two fellow thieves behind him.  Even though we have a close up of Flynn’s face, the animator still holds his pose for as many as 20 frames.  Of note in this situation is that the absence of motion on Flynn allows our attention to be redirected to the background characters. When the film calls for action or comedy there is notably different movement qualities in the character action. Twist in these poses is a simplified approach to the concept of figura serpentinata. Returning again to a mid shot of Rapunzel we see she is gazing up at the lanterns in the same held pose. The concept of a moving hold is relatively simple to grasp. Flynn escapes prison with the help of some thugs that Rapunzel befriended on their journey. This is a term used to describe a serpentine twisting of the figure around a central axis. There are two core problems with the structure of the film, both of which have nothing to do with the tears that magically appear at the end of the film. There are a variety of approaches to explaining the concept of rhythm in pose design. Tangled Characters list. Keane’s traditional animation sensibilities have resulted in the use of strong storytelling poses that use rhythm, tilt and twist to maintain the illusion of life. For example a classic “cartoon take” as described by Richard Williams (14) can be seen when the palace guard turns around to find that the crown he was guarding has just been taken by Flynn Rider. Early Disney animator, Ham Luske, believed that animation was only as good as the poses and that timing, overlapping action and follow through were not enough to create good animation. The action is appropriate for this character at this moment as the lanterns have a deep emotional meaning for Rapunzel; they have been her link to the outside world while locked in a tower for 18 years. Held poses typically are a problem in the 3D CG medium because as Lasseter explains the combination of the realistic look and smooth motion causes the motion to “die” when the character enters a held pose. Follow. As she leans forward and looks into the water, Rapunzel sees the reflection of a single lantern floating up into the night sky.  She looks up at the sky and holds her pose for approximately 40 frames before the film cuts to a point of view shot revealing the single lantern floating in the sky. This. Are you caring and creative like Princess Rapunzel? D&D Beyond One day, while pregnant, the queen of a nearby kingdom falls ill and the flower is used to restore her and her unborn child, Rapunzel, to health. The eye shape, pupil motion, blinking and the eyebrows work together to communicate character emotion, thought process and subtext.  The saccadic motion (eye darts) in particular sustains the illusion of a living being and illustrates internal thought processes. Rapunzel. At times – like the lantern scene discussed earlier – the characters move with very subdued action and minimal cartoon style motion. Tangled has applied the traditional principles of animation to the 3D CG medium with a degree of sophistication that often makes them difficult to identify. Maximus Mother Gothel discovers Rapunzel has left the tower for the city. Oh My Disney Contributor. We acknowledge the sovereignty of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation and support all Aboriginal people on their paths to self-determination. After Gothel stabs and mortally wounds Flynn Rider, Rapunzel pleads with her to let her heal him. Tangled's characters: Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, Flynn Rider and Pascal. According to Bishko (13) these principles of animation are not complete movement concepts and their application can result in formulaic animation that relies upon specific movement patterns. Her magic hair, 20 m long, can not be cut. This moment not only resolves her life long dream of seeing the lights but also shows a transition to her new dream; being with Flynn. At that moment nothing else has her attention while she clings to the boats figurehead. Objects. The hand movement re-directs our attention back to the two in the background. Tangled is filled with seriously important life lessons. Emotional moments are handled with a more subdued motion and character action. The films original director, Glen Keane, played an important part in the film’s visual development. The eye darts and shape of the eyes communicates all of this to the audience in as few as 100 frames before she turns her head toward Flynn. The motion in Tangled therefore reflects the emotional context of the scene helping to progress the story in an engaging manner. Flynn Rider’s death is a scene where the animation of Rapunzel’s eyes were integral to portraying the performance. Cinderella on the other hand achieves a comfortable and intimate world through the use of flowing lines arranged in rhythms that create graceful and appealing compositions. Tangled fulfills the latter--a tale chock full of beautiful and well-observed character animation worthy of the legacy it aspires to. Tangled is one of the few Rapunzel appropriations where the parents of Rapunzel are portrayed as wonderful, completely blameless people. Search by category. And so, Act Three has ended, as well as the story itself. The micro gestures in moments like this are so effective in Tangled that the audience is able to forget that Rapunzel is a digital puppet and truly believe she cares for Flynn. In TANGLED, we move right to Rapunzel meeting her parents, and Eugene being pardoned for his crimes. However, he's dishonest and was entirely willing to turn his back on his seconds, the Stabbington brothers. Michael Mattessi has a more functional explanation, he describes rhythm as a seamless interplay of forces in the body that helps it stay balanced, or creates equilibrium. At times there are clearly identifiable movement patterns appropriated from the 2D medium in Tangled. Rapunzel learns to trust the wanted thief Flynn Rider who guides her to the Kingdom so she may satisfy her curiosity towards the floating lights she sees every day. In addition to sophisticated pose design, there is also a diverse range of motion present throughout the film. Established in Melbourne (Australia) in 1999, Senses of Cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional, high quality film-related content on the Internet. When the animator wants to shift our attention back to Flynn Rider the two characters in the background move only slightly while Flynn moves. Last Updated on December 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Mermaid Varian for MerMay2021! The image below shows the subtle application of rhythm, tilt and twist applied to Rapunzel to create an appealing pose. (3) The “Disney aesthetic” is a reference to the naturalistic animation that conforms to the principles of animation as described by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Figure 1: An example of Rhythm, Tilt and Twist. #mermay #mermay2021 #tangeld the series #tts varian #tangled varian. Rapunzel’s eyes behave differently when Gothel falls from the window to her death. From that meeting it was decided that they would go ahead and create the film using 3D CG animation but do so in such a way as to become an extension of the traditional 2D Disney aesthetic. Tangled characters. This being an unfortunate by-product of the digital encoding for DVD release and subsequent re-encoding and manipulation to allow me to step through the film frame-by-frame. (22). There is some stretching of the head. Third Pose: He moves upward to “accent” the movement. Pose 1: Flynn holds this pose for 20 frames while the characters in the background move. (8), The term ‘shape language’ refers to a design philosophy that “unifies the film by using the same visual vernacular and guiding design principles throughout every scene and setting.” (9) Pinocchio for example avoids the use of right angles and strait lines together with a compacting of shapes. According to Bishko’s criteria for authenticity in character animation, an action such as the one just given would not be authentic because there would be incongruence between the character’s intent and its resulting action. Community Contributor. The character design of Flynn came from the process called the "hot man meeting" by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, during which they set up a meeting with all of the female employees of the studio in one room and asked them for their opinions of what made a man good-looking, in order to create Flynn's character design with features such as eye color, hair color and style and body type. To create a more organic feel in Tangled, artists adopted a shape language that reduces the use of parallel lines by “wedging” straight shapes against curves. When Rapunzel is born, the magical properties of the flower are embodied in her hair. Bound in chains, Rapunzel looks up at Gothel and promises to go with Gothel if she allows her to heal Flynn.  While making the promise, Rapunzel does not blink and there is very little saccadic motion in her eyes. Disney style animation typically adheres to the 12 Principles of Animation as described in The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (12) and is often referred to as ‘cartoon style’ animation. The use of tilt and twist are relatively obvious throughout the character pose. Thomas and Johnston, explain a moving hold as simply two drawings that maintain all the elements of the pose but with one more extreme than the other. Pose 2: Flynn moves into this pose and holds for another 20 frames while the background characters are moving. It is ok if you do not like the character you get- it is just for fun! Characters. Rapunzel’s hair forms an important part of the story and character action, it was therefore ideal for the hair to respond to high levels of art direction. In particular there is a strong presence of squash and stretch and cartoon patterns of motion and timing. Rapunzel as a child sneaks a look at the floating lanterns. The concept of rhythm within the pose results in all body parts working together to express the essence of motion and support the use of longer holds without causing a breakdown in the illusion of life. This is not a major concern for this analysis as the frame count is used to simply highlight the variation in timing for the character movement as it appears on screen and not intended to be an accurate record of the exact frame count used by the animator during production. Shortly after her return to the tower, Rapunzel figures out that she is the lost princess. The scene is pivotal to consolidating who Rapunzel was before meeting Flynn and who she will become in the later part of the film. As an experienced thief, he is skilled in escaping the authorities, hiding out, and stealing right from under people's noses. A signature ‘shape language’ was developed to fuse the thickness of Pinocchio with the lyrical and graceful shapes of Cinderella. Sentence. There is a noticeable lack of cartoon motion such as squash and stretch as Rapunzel propels herself toward the front of the boat. The technique is known as a ‘hold’ and is common practice in 2D animation because a hold allows the audience time to absorb the attitude of a strong pose (16) and as Williams explains, “very often a hold is the strongest statement we can make”. "I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream." Maximus tries to retrieve the crown before Flynn and they wrestle their way forward. In contrast to her frantic scurry toward the bow, she is now almost motionless, moving only to counter the motion of the boat floating in the water. Established in Melbourne (Australia) in 1999, Three Contemporary Spanish Films: Landscape, Recollection, Voice, Dreams of Italy’s Past: Giuseppe Rotunno’s Cinematography in, George Romero’s Zombie Movies: The Fragmentation of America, Baron Lands: Environmental Upheaval and the Texas Oil Movie, “Cinematic Comrades”: Bong Joon-ho’s Auteurism and Song Kang-ho’s Performance, The Truth and the Pleasure: The 55th Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Rediscovering the Forgotten Gems of a Decade: Austrian Auteurs of the 1970s at the Viennale, Some Winners and Then Some: Sundance 2021, Forgotten Wars: The AFI FEST/AFM 2020 (Virtual Events), “Memories Are Made of This”: Juliane Lorenz and Lothar Schirmer’s, “An Artist Always Paints His Own Portrait”: Jean Cocteau’s, http://www.animationmeat.com/pdf/nineoldmen/ELEnt10_Posing.pdf, http://animationpodcast.com/archives/2012/10/31/tangled-animators-audio-commentary/, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/figura-serpentinata, Fan Filmmaker and Star-struck Celebrity: An Interview with Michael Winner, The 2008 Melbourne International Animation Festival, Inside and Out: The 8th AniFest: International Festival of Animated Films. Tangled: The Series: Cassandra, Lance Strongbow / Arnwaldo Schnitz, Varian. Glen Keane’s knowledge of traditional animation and his willingness to work in the 3D CG medium with technicians and CG trained animators such as John Kahrs and Clay Kaytis – amongst many others – has further developed the application of traditional principles to the 3D CG medium.  By focusing on non-formulaic performance centred animation, Tangled demonstrates a sophisticated use of the traditional animation principles to successfully convey the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters. She holds this position for approximately 60 frames, only moving to adjust the grip of her left hand and to move her head closer to the scrolled figurehead. A highly capable yet deeply insecure secret warrior, she longs for recognition, albeit whilst being fiercely protective of Rapunzel. Search by name. The character is also stretched, which maintains the volume of the character during the squash. Tangled is the adaptation of Rapunzel, and tells the story of a lost princess who is being hoarded by a greedy woman named Gothel due to her golden hair possessing youthful properties. Oh My Disney. Rapunzel is a young princess, Kidnapped and barely remembering his family of origin. When the flower is used to save Rapunzel's mother's life, Rapunzel's uncut hair gains magical properties, so Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel (Greno and Howard, Tangled). by emmybeal2. As the tear is absorbed into Flynn’s skin his life is restored and they return to Rapunzel’s kingdom to live happily ever after. Summaries The magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is. This allowed the character animators to control the motion, poses and silhouettes of the hair in response to Keane’s “draw-overs.” (5) This deliberate effort to extend the Disney aesthetic to the CG medium makes Tangled ideally suited to close analysis. The weight and physicality of the characters is portrayed through a sophisticated use of timing and spacing with the moments of physical interaction between characters and objects appearing to plausibly influence each other through various forces acting on the body. We see the single lantern has drifted further into the sky while a large quantity of lanterns slowly floats up above the castle wall. She raises her as her own daughter and uses the magical properties of Rapunzel’s hair to retain her own youth.  Tangled blends subdued character action and realistic motion with moments of broad cartoon motion. Black: When she asked her evil mother to leave the tower on her birthday, everything became dark and when her mother was singing for her, she represents how mysterious and evil she was. An impulsive movement follows this short pause as she pushes herself up and scrambles toward the front of the boat for a better view of the floating lantern. The eyes are another important communication device used throughout Tangled. However, as I have shown in this analysis, the traditional principles of animation have been applied and the result is fluent and organic CG animation that successfully extends the traditional Disney aesthetic into the 3D CG medium. Unfortunately Tangled . The moment after Flynn dies illustrates the eye movement working together with the eye shape and eyebrows. This indicates the movement style can change throughout an animated film so long as it reflects the context of the scene. Lines flowing along a contour of the body follow-through the solid form and are “picked up” by another contour.