A Semiotic Study of the Generative Trajectory in Film Animation Character Works

Film animation is one of the cultural industries possessing simple form of art with high add-value. If we consider the digital environment where we live in as the consumer shares more and more the role of maker, the animation industry, based on its strong diffusion system, would have the most competitive structure equipping with this sharing. For instance, after the first edition, few additional expense is needed not only technically for its reproduction but in merchandising for its licensing; printed animation, game, theme park, toy or fancy goods.<BR> But these sorts of communication system can not be guarantee for development of animation industry. As a form of art, the film animation has to possess it`s narrative structure containing the fictional text arranged, from deep strategy of creation to the surface`s animation characters, which would make easily a contact with consumers` potential desire.<BR> The case of Disney shows us one of the successive examples. It has created the animation characters that capture the world public fancy based on the Western fairy tales (simple but strong narrative structure) to get clear results in aesthetics and commerce as well as have educational effect to the children around the world with dream and hope.<BR> Present study, with accent on the narrative structure, aims to show how the animation characters relate to the narrative.<BR> To make clear the characters production problems, two approaches were given: scrutiny on animation character, an essential field, and examination on semiotic formative structure. Ultimately, it aimed to seek for a new sphere of animation character in terms of the semiotic formative structure that had enormous effect on signification; `literary text (meaning) itself creates its symbolic structure (expression).`<BR> I examine, as the theoretical model, Algirdas-Julien Greimas`s Model of Generative Path of Meaning; matching the features of outward appearance and actions through a new praxis to create animation characters, actant that is an abstract character born by the path of signification, performer(actors) who was realized from the actant, besides, the figure that is a rhetoric character and configurative character group who were realized by the action. Three works from Korea, Japan and USA were analysed to draw out character group, a multiple aspect, focusing on their actions.<BR> We notice particularly on the character group which is not the conglomerate gathered by separated characters but the characters with multiple aspects who play a variety of roles with one character. While one character might play many roles like `the Beast`, it may get sub-characters under a hero as in `Pocket Monster`. Therefore, we should have a correct understanding that confugration of characters is not just a copy of human, but the generative expression of the narrative structure. As a result, using the generation model, it is necessary to prove that how the characters as artistic industr