Factors affecting color discrepancies of animated film characters

Abstract

Taiwanese fans of animated films have a tendency to distinguish the American style from the Japanese style. However, the factors they use to distinguish these styles are ambiguous. Characters form the soul of an animated film. Color, shape, line, and many other factors affect the appearance and style of these characters. In this study, we analyze the factors affecting color discrepancies in the personal effects of animated film characters. Walt Disney Company (Disney) and Studio Ghibli Inc. (Ghibli) are the most famous animated film companies in America and Japan, respectively. Color samples were gathered from the hair, fur, skin, ornaments, accessories, clothes, and shoes of the characters in both Disney and Ghibli animated films. The results suggest that the national identity and culture of the intended audience affects character designers’ choices regarding a character's color, resulting in a color discrepancy between Disney's and Ghibli's animated films. Shadow, gender, age, and size of the colored area factors also influence the colors chosen for human characters, especially in animated films made after 2000. The hue of a human and nonhuman character's color is always influenced by the character's gender. The size of colored area influences color hue and purity for human characters designed after 2000, and it also influences color hue and brightness for nonhuman characters. A character's age influences color hue for human characters designed after 2000. Therefore, the colors chosen for animated-film characters are influenced by traditional impressions of character's gender and age, and the company that produced the animated film.