composition of sad characters in films

scenes of animated characters sad  in films:

From this shot of stitch from Lio and stitch, you can see there is pathetic-fallacy in use, the rain represents his remorse. The bright colours have been taken over by a grainy grey tint.

The character has big wide eyes,  frowning lips and full eyebrows; suggesting he's shocked and upset. His body language his tight and inwards, as if he is trying to protect himself and feels vulnerable.

There is a lot of negative space around him, empathising him feeling small, and alone. With the use of fundamental nature, nothing exciting the shot is focused on him, allowing the viewer to connect and feels his emotions.

In my short film, I really want the audience to empathise with my character and understand her feelings of desperation.


Relationships portrayed between characters in shots:

In this shot from Toy story, we are shown Jessy being vulnerable, opening up about her painful past to Woody. The shot shows Jessy closest to us, once again connecting us with her emotions. Both in the rule of thirds, Woody's reaction is noticeable. But there is a significance in this positioning, we are shown the distance between them, and Jessy facing away. It shows their relationship and characteristic and emotions. Woody is clearly concerned. While Jessy is shutting herself off and trying to protect self with her body language.

Despite her avoiding to face Woody, she is, in fact, opening up about her past, this can be seen with her legs being open. Its a mix between being shut off, and trying to open up. 

In my short film I want to show the two characters on the boat, this angle of the camera and positioning of the characters may work, however the main character doesn't open up and keeps things bottled so I would have to refigure body language, same with the second character who doesn't notice. 

Similar to the above shot, we are given depth and distance between the characters. Tommy is in a mid-close up, whilst his parents are in mid-shot. Not only does it focus on his emotions, it shows the great distance between his parents, with him being behind a door, a physical barrier and his parents walking away it further expressing how he feels unnoticed and left behind, as they are seen walking away without him.