This week was mainly focused around TVPaint animations for our characters, and finetuning details of the essay.
MONDAY
Monday was when we started the animated turnaround of our chosen character. There were a few ways to go about it, including using the previously drawn turnaround. I decided to go from scratch for the turnaround itself, but using my sketchbook and digitally converted cast model as my references.
There was a group session held to catch up with our lecturer on our essays, seeing how we're getting on and as an opportunity to ask questions. This was quite helpful for me; while I had my plan and ideas in place, saying them out loud to the person most knowledgeable about what we're meant to be doing helped to validate everything. I was a lot more confident in what I was doing from that point onwards, and knew I was on the right track. I'm going to email her my draft as soon as it's 100% complete, and hopefully get some feedback to improve it and call it "finished".
THURSDAY Thursday was when people moved onto the walk cycle for their character, also done in TVPaint. I went straight ahead with trial and error methodologies, trying out a couple of ways to achieve the feel I wanted. The walk had to show the weight of the character, and it was quite tricky to do so. Eventually, after some guidance from lecturers and tutors, I managed to get a walk cycle I was happy with! For more on this session, see this post.
SUMMARY In short, this week was a lot more difficult than the others I've had so far. The TVPaint turnaround and walkcycles were more fidgety and tricky to work with than I originally thought they'd be. I put some of that onto TVPaint, but mostly inexperience with it was my downfall here. I've been so used to Adobe Animate and it's more forgiving nature, but TVPaint is more for the people who make more art-heavy animations, as opposed to my preferred cartoony, fun styles. I'm probably just going to have to learn to get used to it over time. Either that or I can try and work in Animate in future? We'll see. The essay is starting to reach the end, and this week put my confidence and drive for it up by a significant amount. I have my sources gathered up and put into a separate bibliography (unalphabetised and unlinked to the essay at this point; will append when essay is 100% ready to go). I might try and find a few more sources though, just to make sure everything I'm trying to say is right and can't be contradicted by anything. I'm using the basic skeleton of my plan from this post, but maybe with a few more sources thrown in? All I know is, this time next week the essay will be done.
Just a quick post to show my initial plan for my essay's question, structure and points, with sources to pair with them where I can add them. QUESTION DOES EMMET FROM THE LEGO MOVIE REPRESENT THE LEGO BRAND AND PRODUCT FAITHFULLY? I feel quite confident in my chosen question, in that I feel familiar enough with the source material, and what it's based on, very well. This will involve looking at the history of the LEGO Group, their beliefs, and also looking at Emmet and how he acts throughout the film. Do the two meet in some kind of middle ground? Is there overlap? Does Emmet take some matters differently? All things worthy to think about. INTRO Introducing the movie, character and question. Just to give a bit of context to the film, so that the reader and I are on the same page as soon as the essay starts. PARAGRAPH 1 - METAPHORICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE BRAND'S BELIEFS This is mainly going to be driven by the characters personalities and actions in the film. Mostly going to discuss how Emmet goes from a regular construction worker who follows the instructions, doesn't disobey commands, etc., to becoming the prophesised hero. The person he becomes is representative of LEGO's belief of not having just one way to go with what you make or imagine, being able to build whatever you want. Sources to use - "The LEGO Story", an official abridged telling of the LEGO Group and product's history. PARAGRAPH 2 - ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF THE PRODUCT Talking about how Emmet's movement don't exceed any of the actual limitations of the actual LEGO Minifigure; arms can only swivel around at the shoulder but can't go out, no bending knees, no tilting head, etc. Sources to use - "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu", an animated LEGO TV show which features LEGO Minifigure characters flexing and moving in ways actual minifigures can't. PARAGRAPH 3 - CHARACTER DESIGN Talking about how Emmet actually looks. He's a construction worker dressed in orange and blue, with a yellow face and brown hair. His looks is almost like a blueprint for other construction workers with very little variation, so it could be worth talking about how his visual design fits into the storytelling. The fact that he looks like everyone else is a big part of his journey. Sources to use - the film itself PARAGRAPH 4 - REALISM VS REALISTIC Talking about something looking "real enough" vs "photo-realistic". Almost like the two main points bordering the uncanny valley. The LEGO Movie is photorealistic, going as far as to scan in real LEGO elements and create new software for adding smudges and scratches. Sources to use - "The LEGO Movie - Creating the Bricks", and online featurette published by Warner Bros., showcasing interviews with the directors and other crew members as to how the film was made and animated. PARAGRAPH 5 - ON THE OTHER HAND (COMPARISON / ANTITHESIS) Making sure I can display both sides of the argument. Comparing it to a somewhat similar film, LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers. Both are LEGO feature length films, starring a minifigure living in a large LEGO City, who at some point showcase skills in building pseudo-professionally. Both use different animation styles, and even handle the source material differently. Sources to use - "LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers", LEGO's first attempt at a film starring minifigure characters, and the theme of building & imagination. PARAGRAPH 6 - WHO CHARACTERS REPRESENT Emmet embodies the ideals of the kid imagining the entire plot of The LEGO Movie, Finn. Meanwhile the antagonist, Lord Business, represents Finn's dad who demands rule following and perfection. Emmet, and by extension Finn, demonstrate core beliefs of imagination overcoming everything else when it comes to LEGO, instead of just sitting on a table not doing anything. Sources to use - The LEGO Group's official list of values, specifically relating to imagination. CONCLUSION The end point, where I wrap it all up. Don't introduce new arguments or points, just summarise what I thought about the case presented, and then give my final thought. Initial plan right now, things can change though. Paragraph subjects, sources, ordering is all game for editing.
This week was focused on our casts that we designed, and translating them from pencil & paper to the digital space. We also had a lecture on Harvard Referencing (didn't get a post of it's own, but I'll sum it up here.)
MONDAY
On Monday, we made a sheet consisting of four panels relating to our cast:
In place of a regular lecture, we were looking at how to correctly utilise Harvard Referencing for our character essay. In this session, we learnt how to properly cite and reference the following formats:
Books
E-Books
Films
Commentaries
Reissued Films
Webpages
YouTube Videos
Newspaper Articles
Aside from those, we also learnt the proper rules and regulations when it comes to quoting & paraphrasing. There was a talk on plagiarism, and how to avoid doing it, by accident or not. Punctuation, common knowledge and different source types (primary & secondary) were also brought up.
THURSDAY
This session was the start of our Photoshop conversion of the physical sketches. For Photoshop, we had to remake:
CAST MODEL SHEET
CHARACTER MODEL SHEET
CHARACTER DESIGN SHEET
For the full writeup of this session, see this post.
SUMMARY
In general, I feel this week went very well! I was glad to be entering the digital art scene for my work, since that's the medium I generally feel most confident drawing in. Nothing really acted up or went wrong, but I definitely areas where I changed things as I went along, both for necessity's sake and because my mind changed on certain design choices. I would only change things that I could do with a little more time, and only if I wanted to, not because I had to. Adding shading to the design sheet, and colour to the entire turnaround would've been preferential, but ultimately it didn't need to be there. Still, I would've liked it.
The lecture on Harvard referencing was very helpful, since most of my sources for The LEGO Movie I could find weren't in books, the only source type we'd been over before. Learning how to properly cite and reference movies, YouTube videos, websites, etc, will all essential to correctly documenting my sources for my essay. The essay is really getting there, I think I have a plan set out at this point. I just need to find relevant and usable sources / evidence to back up each point and I'll be set.
In this session, we looked at the uncanny, the uncanny valley, and what animation is good for regarding ways to present things. The uncanny is the line between something looking 100% real and looking believable enough. It's commonly attributed to things that look slightly off, but gives off a largely uncomfortable feeling. It's especially common when something that isn't supposed to do something... does that thing, in a strange way. The term was coined in 1835, by Friedrich Shcelling. It's defined as something "strange & unusual".
"The uncanny is apprehension rather than experience, dread rather than terror... the uncanny is built on uncertainty" ~ Reagan
In German, the word for uncanny is unheimlich, a word which when broken down into it's core words, means un-homely (heimlich directly translates to homely). Therefore, the uncanny is something we don't feel "at home" with. It can also mean unconcealed or unsecretive; even Schelling wrote that unheimlich is the name for things that "ought to have stayed secret and hidden". The uncanny reminds us of what we're not conciously aware of. For example, when an uncanny thing breathes or blinks, we're suddenly made more aware of it, and somewhat more conscious of it.
(Street of Crocodiles - dir. Quay Brothers)
The Uncanny Valley is linked to the uncanny concept. The term comes from a line graph, demonstrating how much a thing looks like a person, vs how familiar we are with them.
(credit: Psychologenie)
As the anthropomorphism / resemblance to humans grows, the familiarity does too. However, between the point just beyond humanoid robot and healthy human, there's a sudden drop; the uncanny valley. This is when human-resembling entities don't look exactly right, and become uncomfortable to look at. Characters coming from video games (designed to look hyper-realistic) and mocap animated films fall into the valley the most often.
(The Polar Express - dir. Robert Zemeckis)
(Mass Effect: Andromeda - developed by BioWare)
It's reached a point where the uncanny valley has transcended the screen, and has entered reality; robots are being made which fall directly into the uncanny valley. An example of this is Hiroshi Ishiguro's "robot twin", dubbed a Geminoid, which he created to understand "what is a human". There are five categories of realism: visual, aural, motion, narrative and social. In terms of the uncanny, it relates to realism of motion. Sometimes, you don't need realism in your animated motion; the 20's / 30's rubberhose style shows that unrealistic movement that breaks the laws of physics can still be appealing. Cartoons involving Ub Iwerks utilied this style, including his work with Walt Disney and his own projects. The style has recently made a comeback, with the 2017 game Cuphead spearheading.
(Balloon Land - dir. Ub Iwerks)
(Cuphead - developed by Studio MDHR)
However, Disney's hunger for realism in the 1930's lead to the industry straying away from the rubberhose style.
(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - dir. Walt Disney)
However, there are some examples of cartoons that fail to integrate more cartoony designs & movements with more realistic ones. An example is Gulliver's Travels from 1939.
(Gulliver's Travels - dir. Dave Fleischer)
The animation mixes the more cartoony Lilliputs with a rotoscoped Gulliver. The two styles don't really meld together very well, and look too different to belong together. Gulliver could be considered as being on the border of the uncanny valley, where the Lilliputs aren't close to it. Overall, animation tries avoiding the uncanny, by ensuring their animation has verisimilitude. Verisimilitude is giving something the quality of seeming to be true or real. But that doesn't always mean exactly so; it can mean it looks "real enough". Walt Disney wanted verisimilitude in his animations, so since Snow White's release, up until the company's final physical animation, they used a machine of their own design, known as the multi-plane camera. Designed for animations with multiple layers which would move at different speeds in reality, each layer can be moved individually to give a more realistic camera movement.
(credit: Walt Disney Studios)
After this session, I considered whether Emmet, my character for the character essay applies to anything to do with the uncanny. In response, I'd say that no, he doesn't. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Emmet figuratively jumps over the uncanny valley, to the point where people thought he was an actual Lego minifigure.
In an interview with one of the animation directors on The LEGO Movie, it was brought up that many people online were confused as to whether the film was stop motion or computer animation. Where the answer is simple (it's CGI), the fact that so many people thought it was real speaks volumes. The film successfully achieves a realistic look better than other films, and even reaches the point where people thought actual cameras and minifigures were used. Could this be applied to the essay? Possibly. When talking about visuals, it could link back to my question in the form of "the film accurately portrays the product", or something along those lines.
Today's session involved looking at broader genres of characters; namely, the character archetypes we see in stories.
"We are unique and universal" ~ Christopher Vogler
That quote from the author of "The Writer's Journey" applies to not just real people, but to fictional characters as well. Being unique is one thing, but the universal aspect is important. It essentially means that characters have to fit into a somewhat broader mould to be identifiable to the audience. They need relatable qualities, characteristics, personalities... They need to fit an archetype.
Archetype - In Greek, it's roughly translated to "First Moulded of a Copy"; the blueprints for more like it. In computer science terms, it's like a class.
It's been suggested that every story has the same handful of archetypes in them, along with the same essential core for the story. Joseph Campbell, and American professor of literature, wrote the book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", after studying myths and legends from across the world. While they all varied in terms of specific events and characters, Campbell found that they all shared the same skeleton for plot structure and characters. This would later go on to be known by The Hero's Journey (or The Mono-Myth, depending on who you ask.)
(credit: TED-Ed and Matthew Winkler on YouTube)
(credit: Glove and Boots on YouTube)
Vogler built more upon this theory, claiming that to make a well rounded character, they should "manifest a touch of every archetype".
There are 8 archetypes according to both the Mono-Myth and Vogler. Presented with their Vogler assigned titles, here are the 8 archetypes. For my examples, I'll be using Toy Story 3, Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
HERO
The hero is typically the protagonist of the story. They're courageous, resilient, selfless, as well as other personal traits. But they're also the characters that ultimately come face to face with death, and receive the most change and growth. They're also the most active part of the story, in the sense of they're the ones doing most of the things.
They're our window into the story, and are usually a mix of both universal and unique traits. They can enter the story either willingly or unwillingly, but either way, end up in the same end point regardless of their entrance.
Heroes who are active and contribute to the plot are more engaging than those who simply react to what happens around them.
But most importantly, they need a motivation. Why are they leaving their cruel home for wizard school? Why are they hopping in a spaceship to blow up the Death Star? They need drive.
There are different types of heroes that fit into this mould. To give examples, there's the unlikely hero: a nobody who, through heroic means, becomes a successful somebody (for example, Emmet of The LEGO Movie or Shrek from Shrek). The anti-hero; a deeply flawed protagonist, who often toes the line between hero and villian (e.g. Venom from Venom, Red Hood from Batman comics).
Catalyst heroes are also important in the scale of it all; they're heroes who appear multiple times in different points in a franchise or series, and so overall have to remain somewhat the same. They're going to change every so often, but most of the time they change their surroundings, but not themselves.
Toy Story 3 has a hero in Sheriff Woody. He's seen as the leader of the group of Andy's toys, and is said to be "kind, smart and brave". He thinks of others before himself, and is willing to sacrifice himself where he can. When the group are threatened by the shadow of the film and his henchmen, Woody confronts him when no-one else would.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Avengers: Infinity War has Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, as it's hero. Tony would identify as a catalyst hero; this is his 8th appearance in the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe, yet the bulk of his change came from his 1st and 6th appearances, in Iron Man and Captain America: Civil War, respectively. While his self proclamation of being a "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" remains true, over the course of the MCU, he's gone from a selfish recluse who profited off of death, to a selfless guardian who protects life at all costs. Even in Infinity War, he's one of the last lines of defence against the most powerful being in the universe.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
Star Wars: A New Hope's hero is Luke Skywalker. Luke follows the hero's journey to a tee, and we can read him incredibly clearly. Going from frustrated farmboy to galactic hero, he can be seen as an impatient, practical, somewhat untrusting boy at the beginning. However, the events of the film show his development into a more trusting character, who's more open to try new solutions to problems.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
SHADOW
The Shadow, or "Villain", is the embodiment of the dark side. It's been said that a hero is only as good as their villain, but sometimes it doesn't even need to be another being entirely; it could reside inside the hero themselves. The shadow threatens the hero, and forces them to rise to the challenge. They create conflict, and bring out the best of the hero. Sometimes, it can be revealed that the shadow is just the hero who made bad choices.
"What is your character good at and comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them." ~ Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling, Rule #6
The antagonists need motivation as much as the hero does, and depending on the narrative, the motivation could be more justified or morally greater than the hero's. Even finding out a character's backstory can help the audience back them up in what they're doing, or start doubting another character's actions. This can lead to many different scenarios... even one where the audience is rooting for the shadow to win. Toy Story 3's shadow is Lotso, a teddy bear who's in charge of the daycare center Andy's toys are mistakenly sent to. Where the first two Toy Story films show the positive outcome of when the characters are thrown into a fish out of water situation, Lotso embodies the negative. He was lost by his owner, and upon finding Sunnyside, he took his anger out by morphing a hierarchy with himself at the top.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Avengers: Infinity War has Thanos as it's villain. Thanos isn't designed as an anti-thesis to any particular superhero; he's his own character, with his own goals. Believing the universe can't sustain life at the rate it's increasing, he plans on assembling six Infinity Stones (each stone controlling a vital aspect of existence) in a gauntlet, and wiping out half of all life. The audience, once presented with his beliefs, backstory, and willingness to achieve his goal, are left with the question of whether Thanos is right or not. He's even been considered by some to be the hero of the film, supported by how much we discover about him, and how he's the essential driving force of the film.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
Darth Vader serves as the shadow for A New Hope. Vader is revealed to be the type of shadow where he had the same start as Luke did, but ended up making bad choices, leading him to the Dark Side of the Force, and becoming the very thing he swore to destroy. He's got an almost monotone, robotic voice, which asserts his dominance over the people he talks to. Vader, one of the higher ups of the Empire, seeks more power than he already has.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
SHAPESHIFTER
The shapeshifter is a character who can change appearance / mood throughout the course of the story. They can also switch between archetypes as well; an ally could become a shadow, a threshold guardian to a mentor, etc. They're often unpredictable, so the audience is given reason to not trust them, creating an air of doubt and suspense. Shapeshifters are usually aware of their status, and may use it to confuse or seduce the hero. Toy Story 3 has Ken as it's primary shapeshifter. When we're first introduced to him, he's a suave, somewhat campy doll and Lotso's right hand man. But when Sunnyside's dark side is revealed, Ken also shows his true colours as a more menacing, untrustworthy toy. He changes once more, after being captured by Barbie and seeing the errors of his ways, and becomes an ally to Andy's toys.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
The shapeshifter of Infinity War is Loki. While his time in the film is short, he manages to get a full shapeshifter arc. Starting off, he seems to support Thanos is trying to get the Infinity Stone the Asgardians have. However, after Thanos harmed Thor, Loki switched sides, and tried to kill Thanos, trying to trick him by pretending to be on his side. This doesn't work, and Loki's left with a broken neck.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
A New Hope has Han Solo as it's shapeshifter. Han is first presented to be a business kind of guy; he does the job he was paid for, and then moves on. And he even goes that far; as soon as he gets Luke to and from the Death Star, he decides to leave the heroes when they go back to attack the station. However, he seems to have a change of heart, helping Luke out when it comes to the attack on the Death Star.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
MENTOR
The mentor is a teacher or trainer to the hero, and represents either humanity's better self, or the hero's. They're seen as the moral compass of the film, and determines what's good and what's bad. A nickname this archetype has is the "wise old man", due to the frequency of mentors fitting that physical description (Dumbledore, Gandalf, Obi-Wan, etc.) A New Hope is the only one of the three films which really has a mentor figure, in the aforementioned Obi-Wan Kenobi. Initially known as an old crazy man on the outskirts of Tatooine, Luke learns the true fate of his father through Obi-Wan. And after Luke's aunt and uncle are murdered, it's Obi-Wan who convinces him to come defeat the Empire, and teaches Luke the ways of the Force. In that sense, Obi-Wan Kenobi is both a mentor and a herald, given that he takes on aspects of both.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
HERALD
The herald is the call to adventure for the protagonist. This is an example of an archetype that doesn't necessarily have to be a being. It can be an event too. The herald represents the inner understanding of the need for change, and gives the hero motivation to set out on their quest. The herald may issue a warning, and the hero may be afraid of the challenges presented. But ultimately, they accept and start on their journey. Toy Story 3's herald is an event, when Andy's toys get donated to Sunnyside accidentally. This event leads to two different journeys, through how characters see the event. Woody sees the accidental donation as the start of his quest to get back home, since he believes that they all belong with Andy. However, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys decide that they should stay at Sunnyside, and live the life they've missed for years.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Avengers: Infinity War's herald is both a person and an event. Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk, crashes into Doctor Strange's sanctum after witnessing Thanos with an Infinity Stone, and learning of his plan to get more. When reunited with Tony Stark, he presents the quest Thanos is on, and how they need to counter that by stopping him. The event itself is, simply enough, Thanos retrieving the six Infinity Stones.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
A New Hope is another example where the herald is both an event and a person. After meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke realises he's made a mistake by purchasing two droids the Empire was after, tracing them back to his aunt's and uncle's house. Luke gets back, but by that time, it's too late. The Empire burned down the house, leaving his aunt and uncle as charred skeletons. Luke realises that the Empire just made things personal. Obi-Wan Kenobi walks up to him, and offers Luke the opportunity to go and get some revenge.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
THRESHOLD GUARDIAN(S)
The threshold guardians are essentially mini-bosses. They're smaller threats than the main shadow, yet still present some form of threat to the hero. The hero has to prove their worth by vanquishing them, or redeeming them in some cases. They're usually henchmen, guards or thugs, but they're meant to represent the ordinary obstacles in life. In Toy Story 3, there are a range of threshold guardians in the form of Lotso's gang. The gang starts off with a range of different toys who are found in the same room as Lotso, but eventually they manage to turn Buzz to their side, who then takes on the role of a threshold guardian. By the end of the film, Lotso's original henchmen are redeemed, and Buzz is returned back to normal.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Avengers: Infinity War presents four different threshold guardians, with Thanos' Black Order. The Order is comprised of four of Thanos' adoptive children: Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive and Cull Obsidian. They're usually seen in pairs, and get picked off one by one. Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian appear in the first act, trying to retrieve the Time Stone from Doctor Strange, where Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive try and get the Mind Stone from Vision. They're all eventually outsmarted and killed, through various means.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
A New Hope's threshold guardians are, arguably, the most recongisable henchmen of all time... Stormtroopers. Stormtroopers are the soldiers of the Empire, who are sent to do menial tasks that Darth Vader and the Grand Moffs wouldn't do themselves. Luke and his band of allies run into them often over the course of the story; as a checkup when driving to Mos Eisley, when the Millenium Falcon gets a check on the Death Star, etc. Stormtroopers are infamous for being incompetent as soldiers, to the point where only once in the original trilogy did a Stormtrooper actually hit their target.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
TRICKSTER
The trickster is the type of character who revels in the fun side of the plot. This can be through being a comic relief, or continually breaking the rules of what should be done. They can be a catalyst character, and not have very much development over the film. They keep the hero's ego in check, and brings them down to Earth when necessary. Most of the time, they're a sidekick of some kind, and end up being one of, if not the most popular part of the film. In Toy Story 3, we have Spanish Buzz Lightyear as the trickster. This is a character who falls more into "comic relief" than "rule breaker". Trying to reset evil Buzz back to normal, Woody and co. accidentally turn him Spanish. He has no memory of anything, acting very much like he did in the first Toy Story. His naivety and cluelessness makes for some funny dialogue, which get the bigger laughs out of an audience.
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Infinity War has quite a few comic relief tricksters; most notably, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man. The Guardians had two films prior to this one, both of which were fairly comedy centric. Spider-Man has always been written as a comedic character, delivering quips and one-liners where he can. Both parties meeting manages to get some great jokes delivered, and in my experience seeing the film in the cinema, the delivery of "Why is Gamora?" got the biggest laugh of the whole film.
(Avengers: Infinty War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
A New Hope has Han Solo as it's trickster. While also playing the shapeshifter, Han revels in joking around with anyone within his vicinity, and even cracks jokes when he's in tense situations. Whether someone's trying to shoot him, or he's confronted by the mob boss of the Star Wars universe, he's always trying to keep the mood light.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
ALLY
Finally, there's the Ally. An ally is another character who joins the hero on their journey. Often, there'll be multiple allies accompanying the hero, and they're able to temporarily play other roles. In Toy Story 3, the rest of Andy's toys are the allies to Woody. When Woody leaves Sunnyside, they change allegiance to be allies to their second-in-command, Buzz Lightyear. The toys help out where they can, often serving as separate cogs to make one big machine turn. Buzz Lightyear is Woody's main ally, a Space Ranger action figure who takes rational courses of action, and isn't afraid to get into a scrap. Jessie the cowgirl is a nervous, yet outgoing ragdoll who often jumps into things headfirst. Rex and Slinky Dog are both friendly souls, who look to Woody for guidance in most things. There's also Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, who both exist in a state of "always kind of irritated".
(Toy Story 3 - dir. Lee Unkrich)
Avengers: Infinity War has a LOT of allies. Considering the main three characters are Iron Man, Thor and Thanos, that leaves us with over 30 allies. By the end, both Tony and Thor have a team of allies. On Titan, Tony has Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Star-Lord, Drax and Mantis. Thor on Nidavellir has Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Eitri, but later when he enters Wakanda, he gets Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow, and War Machine, amongst others. Due to all the allies having different abilites and powers, they're able to contribute to the plot and fights in a major way.
(Avengers: Infinity War - dir. Joe and Anthony Russo)
Finally, A New Hope has a handful of allies joining Luke on his journey. While there's the aforementioned Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi, there's 4 other allies too. Princess Leia is one of them, the princess of Alderaan, who's headstrong, independent, and a natural born leader. She's rescued from the Imperial prison by Luke when they storm the Death Star, and later on she helps co-ordinate the attack on the Death Star. Chewbacca is Han's co-pilot and best friend, who's from the species known as Wookies. He's best described as a gentle giant, who only gets violent when absolutely necessary. The final two characters are C-3PO and R2-D2, two droids Luke buys from the Jawas. C-3PO is a nervous, cautious protocol droid, where R2-D2 is a more confident, selfish astromech droid.
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - dir. George Lucas)
So those are all the different archetypes that Campbell outlines in the mono-myth theory, with the titles given to them by Vogler. Once we looked at all the archetypes, we were advised to try and find what archetype our chosen character fits into. For Emmet (The LEGO Movie), I feel like he'd fit into Hero. More specifically, the Unlikely Hero. Given his life seen at the beginning of the film, he shows absolutely no qualities of being a hero. However, through lessons and teachings from his mentor (Vitruvius) and herald (Wyldstyle), he becomes the hero he never thought he'd be.
