4

Situation and Character Driven Stories

“Comedy and fantasy are the two most difficult things in the world to do, because your audience is not educated exactly to what, for example, a rabbit six feet high will do. You have to make him believable to yourself.…That’s the basic business of the whole matter.”

—Chuck Jones

There are two basic types of character animation films: situational film and character-driven film. In a character-driven film, the story works out of the character’s personality. For example, a rabbit innocently occupies a rabbit hole on the exact spot where a prospector wishes to dig for gold. The prospector attacks the rabbit.

If I rename the rabbit hero of this story “Bugs Bunny,” we instantly know how the plot will develop. ...

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