cast Which of these Characters would you Cast?

[Nate North]

This is a casting game. Here's how it works. Simply pick any of the Save Point characters below, and tell their story. Where they come from what they act like, in short who they are. Whoever gets the most likes for nailing what role that character's face is perfect for wins!



You can click on the thumbnails to get a bigger image


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[mlesemann]

Any of them. All of them. Don't care what they look like without knowing something about the character they are intended to portray.

 

[Nate North]

I thought people might have fun just picking out which images they thought had "star quality". The question should have been "which of these characters stand out to you?" or "which of these faces do you find the most memorable?"

I understand your comment completely. I actually knew what you were going to write as soon as I saw the notification of reply, and immediately realized I'd made an error in phrasing.

Our process is a bit different than standard casting

First we create tons of candidate images. The world will need thousands of characters, many incidental. Faces in the crowd, convenience store clerk, bank teller, etc. We create character images constantly, to fill the need for such volume. When we need to cast a primary role, the real casting takes place. A voice actor, body, and movement style is assigned to the face based on the specific role. So from our perspective, the first cut is simply to cultivate a library of faces that have "character" or are memorable. If I need a chef at a large restaurant that is always in a hurry as an example, it could literally be any of 15 of the above characters, just given the correct clothing, voice, motion, and dialogue. Since animated characters don't have built in personalities like people do, it really is a different casting process. At first we simply look at a face, and say, will an audience member remember that face, if we take the time to imbue it with a personality.

Think of Rutger Hauer vs Thomas Jane. Both can play the same kind of roles if needed, but everyone remembers what Rutger looks like, and Thomas Jane kind of blurs in with the other 300k actors that are "handsome and in good shape" JK Simmons is in my opinion is far more memorable than Armie Hammer. Unless you're casting for the role of a mannequin that came to life.

This was really just intended to be a game for people to play, so rather than explain all that in the primary post, I'll keep it simple and just add in a few roles we are looking to fill. I'm interested in seeing how different people perceive various faces.

 

[indietalk]

We've been producing an animated show, and making characters for that show.

Is this Save Point? Because it's the first time I've seen it called a "show" so just curious.

 

[Nate North]

yes, I've been trying to decide exactly what to call it. A show, a film, a game? It's all of those things in a certain light. I'm kind of leaning towards "show" right now, since there will be many episodes making up a continuous plot. There's nothing quite like it out there, so I don't have an easy go to word. If I say CYOA movie, people will always ask what the acronym is for. If I write it out, that could possibly open me up to trademark lawsuits, if they can show that I used their copyrighted phrase to sell my project. I actually looked into buying that property back in 2004, but some guy had just bought it a year earlier, and was relaunching a book line. The above characters are all original character art from Save Point. This is what characters will look like in the final product.

 

[indietalk]

Yes I've seen film, project, interactive, cyoa, endless, animated show and a few more lol. Sorry to derail I wasn't sure if this was like a "show" IN the film. Like your characters in SP were watching this.

 

[indietalk]

I think interactive works for me personally. I immediately understand that I can change what happens.

 

[Nate North]

Yes I've seen film, project, interactive, cyoa, endless, animated show and a few more lol. Sorry to derail I wasn't sure if this was like a "show" IN the film. Like your characters in SP were watching this.

You actually brought up something interesting. I was about to start posting about this. You see, there will actually be TV shows inside the Save Point universe. I was thinking that it could be a fun short film contest for the forum, just let people make short, free form mini shows and commercials that would appear on television sets in the "interactive show". I have a lot of happy memories of this kind of thing being done in video games. They don't really have to be good quality, just animated and amusing. I'll show some fun examples here.

This was a fictional soap opera within the show Futurama

Here's the show from Max Payne

Here's a watch mojo about the whole topic

Finally, Rick and Morty's interdimensional cable episodes

Anyway, I think this would be a fun trope to explore, I always enjoyed these when I see them in other shows

 

[indietalk]

A show within The Tracy Ullman Show was The Simpsons.

A show within The Simpsons is The Itchy & Scratchy Show.

That's already 3 levels I wonder how deep you can go!

OOPS now I have added more complexity to Save Point

 

[Nate North]

Wow, good reference! Now I want to do that. I was already planning to have imaginary commercials interrupt imaginary shows, but going 3 levels deep sounds like even more fun.

In pursuit of really allowing people to make whatever choice they want, I have a chapter planned called "Rainy Day" where you just get stuck inside somewhere on a rainy day, and you can decide to watch tv, flip channels, watch an entire show, or play a fictional video game.

I'll show you an example I made a few months ago.

So just satire of modern media, It's usually funny

 

[indietalk]

Wait I googled and learned (or forgot) Itchy & Scratchy is a segment of Krusty The Clown.

4 levels!

The Tracy Ullman Show >> The Simpsons >> The Krusty The Clown Show >> The Itchy & Scratchy Show wow!

I'll check that video out later.

 

[indietalk]

Now I'm convinced there's an episode of Itchy & Scratchy watching a show lol!

 

[Nate North]

This is perhaps my favorite tv within a tv show

"I refuse to sign into legislation a law that allows more than 8 Jan Michael Vincents per precinct"

 

[CelticRambler]

This was really just intended to be a game for people to play

Would like to play the game, but it's challenging with the descriptions and portraits laid out like that in two long lists. Any chance you could put them in a grid form instead?

 

[Nate North]

There's not an easy way for me to do that in this interface, but what I can do is change how the game works a bit so that it's easier to play. You're right, having 2 long lists on top of each other makes it difficult to read and track, vs a grid. I think a simple way is just to make it freeform and let people try to get a read off of each face, and tell the story behind it. Then the game will be based on how many likes a reply gets.

 

[Nate North]

So I'll give a format example:

No 21

His name is Henry Lancaster, and he lives in Fort Worth Texas. He lives on a ranch and has spent almost 6% of his life posting and maintaining signs threatening random trespassers with murder if they walk on a section of his 300 acre yard. He watches only the news, and only on a single channel. He hires Mexican immigrants to work his land and increase his profits, while simultaneously stockpiling guns to "defend himself" in case he ever encounters a Mexican immigrant, presumably invading Texas for the purpose of stealing jobs from Americans. Using the millions of dollars of profits he garners from his sub minimum wage employees that work the land he inherited, he contributes to election funds to get 85 Iq politicians elected to high office in order to pass laws that attack poverty stricken families such as the ones that produce his wealth. His money and constant brandishing of patriotic symbols have gotten him elected as the mayor of Fort Worth. He exploits his political power by having the local police ignore certain criminal organizations, such as the Klan, and opioid traffickers. Using this lucrative stream of income, he has founded Texas's largest mega church, with a tithe revenue of millions per month. A powerful man with an 7h grade education, whos friends can make you disappear. If you find yourself in his world, watch out, His unshakeable belief that he is on the side of good can be used to rationalize any action, including your murder.

 

[Nate North]

No 7

Her name is Susan Ellison, and she's a field reporter for Los Angelis news station KRLA. She studied biochemical engineering at a Wisconsin university, but decided to become a journalist after a poorly researched news expose resulted in her fathers business being shut down among unfounded accusations of impropriety. She is motivated by the idea of restoring integrity and accountability to journalism. She keeps her distance from collogues, who consider her stuck up and arrogant for her constant insistence on upholding standards.