Having completed two weeks work experience at Rushes, a post production company, I now feel confident enough to rework my Character Design project. After receiving valuable advice from Andy Hargreaves, their Lead CG Animator, I've decided to adjust many aspects of my DJ character. I've started with his backstory. I've researched several ways in which blind people are represented in film, in particular those that make use of echolocation to navigate. I've also looked at the ways in which this technique is represented visually on-screen. I would like to use a soundtrack to set the mood for my character, I've selected a remix of the opera piece Prince Igor (1869-1887) by Alexander Borodin. I am looking to get in touch with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to see if I can spend some time there to gain any form of inspiration towards Igor.
BACKSTORY
Stage name: Prince Igor
Sex: Male
Occupation: DJ
Age: 22
Igor's father is a scientist born in Russia, and scouted to London to deliver several lectures to schools and universities, he subsequently met his wife in London and now owns his own laboratory for research. He often provides his son Igor with lab equipment, usually against his mother's will. Igor's Mother is a nurse born in London who is very protective of Igor.
Igor grew up with a genuine fascination in Chemistry. Igor's first experiments began at the age of 5 when he'd find his father's lab equipment and after observing his Dad's own experiments would attempt his own. His parents have continuously had to hide equipment from Igor to prevent accidents when not suporvised by his Dad.
When Igor was 7 he burnt his room down whilst experimenting with his Dad's equipment. His father was able to save Igor but Igor was left blind. Ever since then, Igor's Dad has vowed to train Igor to experiment with chemicals safely despite his blindness. Igor was trained by his Dad to 'see' with the technique of echolocation, recieving reflected sound waves through his ears from the clicking of his tongue.
Igor's particular interest in Chemistry comes from the sounds produced from the chemicals. He grew up with his Dad's taste in Russian opera music and his Mother's taste in Pop. Throughout his studies Igor typically excelled in both Music and Chemistry, going on to study Chemistry at the University of Kent. He was very popular during his time at University, and was a regular at nightclubs. His final year project was a musical set that merged the art of DJing with the art of Chemistry. Based on this, he was asked by Club Chemistry in Canterbury to become a DJ.
RESEARCH
After watching the film Imagine (2012), I noted down similarities between blind people and the ways in which echolocation affect their physical attributes.
After watching Daredevil (2003) and a documentary on Ben Underwood, a famous echolocator, I noted down the effects used to represent echolocation. I also looked at the use of Sonar in the recent Batman films and games.
MUSIC
I would like this piece of music to be what Prince Igor uses in one of his performances.
