Representation and Ethics in Cartoons

Why does the writer of the article believe Rio 2 is problematic in terms of its representations?

The writer of the article 'Rio 2' has come across some problems due to the choice of the characters. The two main characters are voiced by white americans and the comedy characters are voiced by black actors, this is stereotyping the black accent to be funny. 

Also the human characters in the film are supposed to be Brazilian, but they are lightly coloured which is unusual in brazil. 

What are PEPs and why are they an issue for racial representation?

PEPs are -  

• entertainment contexts.
• performance contexts. 
• problem contexts.

Dr Charles Da Costa studies and writes about racial stereotyping in animation. 

Why does Da Costa believe we end up with stereotypes in animation?

Dr Charles Da Costa believes that animations end up with stereotypes because the creators  care to much about getting the animation finished on time, also the budget might not be able to stretch. 

What does Turbo say about social mobility?

The main character is voiced by a white American, and all the other character who aren't as good are voiced by ethnicities. This shows that the creators maybe thing whites are the best and therefore need to voice the best and the main character. 

Character design

First Idea.

Name: Trips

Product Type: Short Film

Running Time: 2 mins


- Farmer drives into the forest on his tractor.
- Farmer gets out of his tractor a starts to cut down trees.
- while cutting down tress the farmer finds a group of mushrooms.
- 4 brown mushrooms and 1 red one.
- The farmer picks up the red mushrooms and eats it.
- The farmer starts tripping and feels sick.
- starts hallucinating.

Animation Notes.

1) Inspiration 

My animation is about a farmer, cutting down a forest behind his field, while cutting down the trees, the framers notices 5 larger mushrooms. To add humour to my short film the farmer will pick up the only red mushroom and eat it. This red mushroom is poisonous and turns the farmer crazy. 

I plan for my animation to look like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGkseGFQLh4


2) How i am going to do this?

I plan to create my animation on After effects and Photoshop.  

I will be using PhotoShop to create the character, background and objects, i will then use After Effects to create movement. 

I will need my mac laptop as that has the software i need, such as After Effects and Photoshop. All my work will be created in college. 

3) Who with? 

I plan to work with my friend Dayna. I think working with Dayna will make my animation a lot better then it would be if i was on my own, working in pairs helps when stuck on a certain task. Both of our ideas will be put together. 

4) Whats it going to look like? 

My animation is going to be 2D computer animated. Bright colours to apply to children, simply drawing for the main characters and objects although were planing for the background to be more detailed. 

5) Whats the structure? 

Scene 1 

- The farmer driving along in his dark green truck. 
- He gets out of his truck and collects his axe and saw from the back of his truck.
- The farmer walks up to a tree and starts cutting. 
- While cutting he notices a small group of mushrooms. 
- He then picks up the only red mushrooms and eats it. 
- The farmer then turns crazy and starts running around. 

P2. TARGET AUDIENCE

Age: 12 + Gender: All genders. 

Name: Aiden Age: 12 

Average day:  Walks to secondary school everyday which is in his local village. Very popular, funny and young confident boy. Aiden is a very cheeky boy, teachers will always keep an eye on Aiden making sure he's not up to something that would land him in trouble. Aiden will get home from school at 3:20. When home he will change his clothes get something to eat then go out with his friends around his village, playing football or down the skatepark. He will come home at 6 for his dinner, have a shower watch tv then play on his xbox before he goes to sleep. 

Hobbies and interests: Aiden is a very keen footballer, being captain for his school football team. He loves annoying his older brother and sister. Favourite game on xbox is 'Grand theft auto' as he can do what he wants without getting in trouble. 

Spending power: Aiden gets £5 a day to spend for his lunch in the co-op across the school, for his birthday and christmas he will get money. 

Typical media consumption: Aiden could sit and play on his xbox all day, this is normally the case on the weekends especially on sundays. at least 2 hours of tv a day. Aiden also has a iPad which he watches movies in bed to help him get to sleep, also Aiden will listen to music on the way to school and back. 

Why the animation will appeal to them: My animation will appeal to Aiden as he has a good sense of humour. This will make Aiden laugh, and bring him entertainment, Aiden will also tell his friends about the animation at school. 

P2. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT FIT INTO CURRENT TRENDS

2) I started this project by doing research, i looked on the CBBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows.              

I believe there is a current market place for my animation as there isn't many sort tv shows around to today. My animation will be 3 minutes each. The animation will appear on tv in-between shows. Most shows today last roughly 30-45 minutes. Mine will fit in nicely as it only last 3 minutes, this would help it broadcast as it can be played whenever twice or even three times a day. Depending on how succesful my animation is there will be more animated series like this in the future. Also merchandise is a thought i have in mind e.g; 

- Tshirts

- Pencil Case's 

- Dinner plates/cutlery 

- Bags

- Toys

This will all help with advertisement. 

3) My target audience is 12+ to girls and boys. As this is for young children i aiming to play this on CBBC around 6/7 clock on weekdays on weekends 12-1. I think playing the animation at 6/7 is a good time as all the viewers will be home at this time, most of them would be finishing there dinner so they have time to watch a bit of tv. 

P2. STORY AND STORYBOARDS

Story.

My animation is called 'life of Derrick'

The storyline of my sort animation, is about a old man who is the target for the local bullies on his estate. The teenagers knock and run on his door, egg his house just being annoying to the old man. each episode the teenagers cause trouble ending up with the old man scared, worried.

Derrick Hall (old man) pops down the his local post office at the same time every day to stick to his routine, to collect the newspaper 'Daily News'. Derrick is often frighten when he leaves his house as he doesn't know what is going to happen when he is not there.

In this episode it is just a normal day for derrick he gets up, has his daily fry up put his shoes on and goes to his post office for his newspaper. when derrick leaves his house he can see two teenagers standing at the bottom of his round, so he starts to walk faster. When derrick is back he notices his windows are covers in eggs, he has been egg. for derrick this is normal, when he gets in he gets a broom & a bucket filled with water to clean away the eggs.

My animation will last 3 minutes for each episode. There will be 10 episodes, in each episode the youths will do something to wing derrick up as they love the enjoyment of running around and love to see Derrick get angry.


Episode 1 - Eggs thrown at his house.
Episode 2 - Derrick confronts the youths, then eggs thrown at his.
Episode 3 - Derrick has learnt not to confront the youths, and finds his bedroom window has been smashed.
Episode 4 - Derrick speaks to the parents, but ends up arguing with them.
Episode 5 - Derrick gets revenge and secretly takes the youths football while there playing very loudly outside his house.
Episode 6 - The youths break into Derricks house, breaking all his valuables.
Episode 7 - Derrick calls the police but no actions taken as they have no proof thats it was the youths.
Episode 8 - Derrick sets traps around his house to stop the youths.
Episode 9 - The youths, try to mess up his garden diggy holes, picking up the flowers.
Episode 10 - Youths get trapped in derricks evil ideas.

story board.