very interesting :) love to here about it. 10; 25; 28.
10: What are some songs you associate with your characters?
Wow. Uhm, I think of music primarily for scenes, but let's give this a go.
Luke: "Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd; fitting his occasional loss into despair, his history of illness, and how his weight problem is almost like a drug problem... something progressively getting worse that he never deals with. There's a time in the story where this fits him really well.
Amelia: "Nocturne No. 2" - Chopin; since I can see her relaxing to this once she gets home from a very, very long day. She comes up to her room past the dark house on the wrong side of the tracks, finding a perfect haven inside of her own design. A push of a button and this plays from speakers around the room. She changes out of her ballet clothes, gets comfortable, and reads. Once the tune changes, she can't resist putting it on repeat and listening to it for an hour or more.
Elroy: "Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin; this was a strange lullaby that Elroy's father used to do for him before suddenly disappearing when Jax was five. (Jax=Jackson=Elroy's first name, in case that hasn't been made clear yet) He plays it to calm himself. And there's a scene where he uses it as his father did, as a lullaby, to soothe his friends to sleep underneath The Great Tree in their Training Grounds. (alternately, "Dr. Wily Stage 1" - Megaman 2 - which he plays on guitar for the big training montage!)
Evelyn: "The Decisive Battle" - The Black Mages; a lot of Evelyn's time in the story is spent in combat, training for combat, or mastering herself in a very physical way - cue rockin' Black Mages tune. 8) (I'm sure in actuality it's something by Queen)
Bruce: "Icarus - Main Theme" - Michael McCann; hey, actual videogame music! The main theme from Deus Ex Human Revolution fits Bruce for me, given his robotic enhancement on his arm, the elements of growth towards God (hoping to attain Icarus-like status), and how his vampiric abilities caused him to hit the ceiling too fast. That and the music could be used in his own montage.
Nathan: "It's A Sin" - Pet Shop Boys; This seems a weird choice, but Nathan never really knows his right and wrong clearly. No matter what decision he makes, there's a sense he's making the wrong choice. Being of half-evil stock, it causes a conundrum. This becomes particularly bad during his Purified period.
Nick: "Masters of the Universe" - Juno Reactor; although I consider the song positive, he's the kind of arrogant bastard who wants it for himself, who wants to believe himself and his race above and superior to all.
Mark: "Wildfire" - Sonata Arctica; a half-human/half-fire demon? Yeah, this ones makes sense. Wanting revenge on a world that has given him multiple forms of prejudice and never understood the flame that burns in his soul. His dream is to set off a fire that turns an entire planet to ashes.
Deacon: "The Electrician" - The Walker Brothers; a somber tune for a somber man. The song is about the CIA-sent torture experts in South America, Deacon considers himself like that. A necessary evil in the world. Likely would be played when witnessing him enact vigilante justice.
Dear goodness, there's probably more I could come up with, but, there's 2 more questions, so let's carry on. ^_^
25: Are any of your characters inspired by other people, such as celebrities or people you know personally? If you don’t mind explaining, what attributes do your characters have from these people?
Well, easy answer on this one, here's some of the Training Experts in the spiritual Training Realm that guide the heroes:
Hannibal of Carthage (strategy/tactics)
Samuel Fuller (inspiration)
Ma, Sa, Mu, and Ne (blacksmiths)
Joe Strummer (music philosophy/devotion)
Alan Turing (invention, patience)
Glen Keane (animation, movement)
So, fictional and actual people in history, often ones who have passed away, are the people who train the heroes in certain ways. A lot of the reason for that is geekiness, but there's also the fact these teachers need real-world applications for the audience to get the point that this inspiration comes from people these characters know. Just as we are inspired by creators to create art, so too are these. History and educational foundation and the passage of time are all themes that carry in the story throughout.
As for actual characters, Elroy is a lot of my two best male friends. Kevin, my childhood friend from age 2 to age 14. And Phil, who's been my best bro for the past 8 years. He is a Musician like them both, he is often goofy and funny like them, and he is loyal to the end.
Evelyn first started as the shorthand "Eve" in reference to a nickname Vanessa (as in vanessasketch on Tumblr!) used on my old message board in 1998. The character became based on her afterwards and when Vanessa was brought on-board to help with the script, she took great care of it, wrote her own fantastic drafts, and still is one of the only sounding boards for me on it. We're still friends after all these years, just as Evelyn and Luke (formerly Chris, named after myself) always will be. <3
All of the main heroes are based on parts of my friends, myself, and people I admire or know. The villains are often parts of characters I like, but also people I hate. The Pack (the group of four bullies) often take on a variety of traits from the people who picked on me in school, on the internet, and in life. They also have come to embody my own inner hatreds as a way of purging my anger into villains that I can detach from and despise. It helps me cope with my own inner struggles.
There are specifics I can go into, and there's an amazing event between the two main characters that ended up actually happening in real life, completely unbeknownst to the person responsible for it doing so. (I will forever love her for this, as she freed those two characters of their names by letting me know they'd be okay and I didn't have to hold on anymore) But it's more of a general thing overall.
The script reflects me.It is a part of me.And yet it also is the place for me to escape when the world is at its worst and my own life cannot be comprehended clearly.
28: What are the fashion senses of some of your characters?
Oh, thank God, a light one after that heavy load above. ^_^;
Okay, so, this one's a little underdeveloped and I'm glad you bring it up since high school is often covered in vanity as people being creating their identity, so it makes it a really important way in how characters are judged and affected by their surrounding. (which, again, leads to key themes in the story about identity and choice)
Most of them are pretty casual. Though Amelia dresses very nice for school, sort of an old tradition and her coming from a Military family lifestyle, she's often still very conservative. Luke, Elroy, Leanne, and Evelyn are basically shirts and pants. Leanne may wear a skirt occasionally, but she's tired of Nick trying to get a peek.
Palette-wise, Luke is green, Elroy is brown, Evelyn is orange, Amelia is silver, Leanne is blonde, Bruce is blue. Of the villains, Nathan is purple, Mark is black, Nick is teal, and Deacon is crimson.
This is something I think will require more thought after food, or food after thought, or some such business. But generally, the people who are the most "stylish" are either villainous in nature (The Pack are kind of bad-asses in this regard, partly since they're also a punk/new wave band that plays around the area) or are reaching their inner potential (such as the heroes once they undergo personal transformation).
Ya wanna talk about real fashion sense, though, people's armor is pretty cool. But. My brain doesn't want to go into that. :|
Sorry this one became a bit of a wash-out. Just not really my thing, fashion. Though it's something I need to understand at some point. Help with the realism a bit. Visualization. Etc.
Anyway, thanks again for this, you rock! :D
