Abigail Warwick
Creating Motifs for
Characters in Animated Films
​My final project is "Creating Motifs for Characters in Animated Films." A big portion of the workshop was creating character themes and working with emotions, so I wanted to continue that in order to show what I learned for my project. Many films we observed were Disney movies, so I was familiar with the process of creating motifs for those characters. For each character I chose, I chose a general emotion that each of them emulated and built a motif. The prompt for the final project was to incorporate emotion, so I was able to use that through motif composing. I chose characters that I was relatively familiar with from childhood so that I could make an accurate theme for each. The final project overall represents a big part of what was taught in the workshop.
Toy Story
​For Toy Story, I wanted to create a motif for the protagonist, Woody. Woody is a cowboy so his energy is upbeat and Western. Nonetheless, he is also a toy. From both of these observations, I wanted to make something cowboy-ish yet playful. To accomplish the mood, I used a fast tempo which could be attributed to either cowboys or children. I also used lots of guitar because of the Western aspect I wanted to achieve. I was sure to add a bass for foundation and a fast-paced piano and a shaker in the background to accent the guitars. In class, we did a lot of activities that had to do with emotion and characters. From watching examples of what a motif looks like, I was able to really figure out what Woody was like and what a motif for him may sound like. I started with a strong guitar that fit Woody's vibe and built off of that. I made sure to use something acoustic and fast in order to fully match the energy I was trying to portray. I really enjoyed editing the video together for this. I started with a Toy Story montage of the first three movies and edited it to only feature clips of Woody, and then put the audio on top.
Toy Story. Directed by John Lasseter, performances by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, Disney Pixar, 1995.
Roz's Theme
​For Roz from Monster's, Inc., we did a group project and we wanted to create a motif that was more angry and nasty sounding. Her character is impatient and rude, and since she is quite literally some sort of slug, she moves slowly. The first thing we thought of was to incorporate brass instruments. Brass instruments are deep sounding like Roz. We also thought to keep a slow tempo to emulate the pace she moves at. This was for a group assignment in which each team was assigned an animated character to create a motif for. We started with brass because it gave the same vibe as Roz. We kept a slow tempo to keep the same energy as the character. We also used very few instruments to keep it minimal since Roz is not a very complex character. I liked being able to work with a team. I feel like we made a very successful piece that really emulated Roz as a character. Usually I like working alone, but this time I think it was very beneficial.
Monsters, Inc. Directed by Pete Docter, performances by John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, Disney Pixar, 2001.
Ratatouille
I created a very calm yet satisfied composition to make a motif for Remy from Ratatouille. It captures the character traits of Remy, who comes off as very cool in comparison to his counterpart, Linguini. I used loops that had a slower tempo to keep the calm vibe. I chose guitars and bass because those are usually considered suave and cool instruments. I made a more jazzy sounding audio than what the original Ratatouille soundtrack has in order to match Remy. In class, we did a lot of activities that had to do with emotion and characters. From watching examples of what a motif looks like, I was able to really figure out what Remy was like and what a motif for him may sound like. I started with the bass to create a foundation for the music, and then added guitars and more accenting instruments on top to create an audio that flowed well together. Ratatouille is one of my favorite Pixar films, so it was definitely fun creating something for it. I feel like I have a good understanding on what his character was like, and I had fun making a motif for him. The original soundtrack is very French sounding, so it was interesting to make something very different yet fitting.
Ratatouille. Directed by Brad Bird, performances by Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Peter O'Toole, and Janeane Garofalo, Disney Pixar, 2007.