Thursday Daily Entertainment

[needsmoreresearch]

Wheee, it's being a lousy week here, I don't mind admitting. Grabbing today's DE from a list of character-buildy stuff Pilferingapples found:

Let's talk body language. What parts of your character's body are the most expressive? Do they shuffle and stomp their feet a lot when agitated or excited? Are they a hand talker? Do they have an impressive range of motion with their eyebrows?

Comments

[likeroaringlions]

I've definitely got some eyebrow-talkers. Bossuet in particular is a master of the eyebrow, and Helen Ramirez is an eyebrow pro.

Hal can get pretty far in that department himself. He's used to projecting a lot of full-body language, though: how he's sitting or lounging or standing. He's very conscious of his own image.

Feuilly is more of a hand-talker. His body-language tends to be very contained, buttoned-down, a lot of cut-off gestures to go with his speech, until you get him going on a subject and he loses the self-consciousness.

Djehuty, when he's his usual ibis-headed self, has of course a lot of avian facial language, but that's not necessarily something that people read well if they don't spend much time with birds. He does gesture with his hands a bit, but he's very careful with that, rather restrained, so he often comes across as kind of wooden. Statue-like.

[just_cant_lose]

Gene - uses his whole body to express...everything. He gets up in people's faces, puffs his chest out, pulls his head back and looks down his nose, punches people a lot, gesticulates - he's basically the epitome of extrovert, and it shows in everything.

Jim - his whole face is most telling, but particularly his eyes. Mark Gatiss described them in DVD commentary them as 'like there's something sitting behind them, watching you' /paraphrase - they can be truly cold and dead, or full of mischief, or rage, or glee, or whatever. The eyebrows help with that, and he also has an impressive range of grins, smirks, slow-smile-of-evil/childish glee/nihilistic despair. He's expressive with his body too, though. He's not adverse to swirling about with his arms in the air, dancing around with a fire extinguisher, or even just standing perfectly, coldly still - he rarely moves all through his trial. He uses stillness as much as motion. Basically: consummate actor, uses whatever he needs to to project an image.

Will come back and do the rest when I have a moment!

[crabbycustomer]

Karkat is overblown and theatrical--he waves his hands, tugs his hair, even beats his head against things. He's pretty durable so he can really COMMIT to stuff like punching himself in the back of head in frustration.

He isn't human, and he is pretty fucked up, so his more tender emotions can come off looking kind of scary; he bares his fangs and gnaws on his lips and glares a lot when he is Feeling a lot. He also has a pretty decent short-term poker face, but this is ironically a tell because it's obvious he's trying to keep his motions under control. His eye twitches anyway.

He also hunches like a mother; the one thing that *does* hide his feelings is that he *always* comes off as kind of upset and manic, so when he is actually really troubled it's more a matter of degree. It's very clear when he's relaxed and happy; much less straightforward to tell if he's upset because someone died vs he didn't like how a movie ended.

[student_of_impossibility]

Only going with four of mine today.

Lois is hilariously expressive and definitely uses her whole body. There are raised eyebrows, there are smiles, there are gestures (only some of them rude), there are words, there are stances and headtilts and all sorts of things. It's more like "what isn't expressive?"

R2-D2 is surprisingly expressive, all told. While most of this is in his bleeps and boops and beeps and whrrrs, sometimes the way he moves or rocks or waves around a tool is actually surprisingly communicative!

Anakin is really interesting. There's quite a lot of expressiveness in his face, in that he has a great deal of difficulty keeping what he feels off the surface. And, of course, his eyes are telling, in more ways than one. That said, while his face conveys the most detail and nuance of his thoughts, his body language is actually quite distinct. Especially with Clone Wars and Rebels, they managed to cross it with the live action for Vader such that despite the many differences, and the total lack of facial expression, there are many gestures, positions, crossed arms, and shifts of weight that are eerily exactly the same across StupidFace McWhinyPants and FaceMask. Even more interesting is that with Clone Wars and Rebels, you can see similarities in his fighting style. While he's had to change it up fairly radically to go for sheer power and economy of movement, due to not being light and athletic, there are certain movements which are identifiable as the same fighting style. His duel with Ahsoka highlights this quite tragically.

Tavi is, as expected, nuanced, because he always has to be acutely aware of what he's expressing. Probably his eyes are the most telling, when they're telling anything at all, though he is easily the one of mine most versed in The Dialect Of The Eyebrow. When he's relaxed and open--or projecting it--there are certain hand gestures, though he's not a Hand Talker as such. There are a few consistent gestures with meaning. Posture is really important: due to dealing with the Canim, for whom body language is a crucial communication tool, he's way more aware of what minute adjustments can convey. Even when he's at ease he is always aware and never terribly wild with gestures. When angry enough he does sometimes stalk out of a room and slam a door, just as stress relief. But he usually chooses what he shows.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee uses his entire face and body in a range of subtle to overt. He is fond of the smirk and the leer and the impish grin. His eyes glitter and dance with mischief or grow dark with desire and lust. His eyebrows are...works of expressive art, I'll just say that. His hand gestures have a little graceful flourish to them, whether a point or a touch or a beckon. He has several different handshakes: masculine, feminine, neutral, and gallant, in which he'll bow and kiss your hand whether you're male or female.

The way he sits is telling, as he usually flops or perches with a foot up. If he's sitting properly it means he's uncomfortable with either his surroundings, the situation, or with whoever he's speaking to; or he might just be acting proper. Which he is not.

But he is an actor, but what he projects is not to deceive others, but to protect himself. At the same time, though, what he does project is his true personality, just amplified, depending on his mood. For example, the lousier his mood, the more cheerful he'll appear to be. Because everything is marvelous. (I am reminded of Queen's "The Show Must Go On." I kind of want to have him sing that someday.)

Pam...has barely any expression. She has, like, one main expression? Which is pissed off. In canon she says that her happy face is the same as her mad face. So you really cannot tell what she's thinking, other than the high probability that she wants to eat you. She does smile from time to time, but it's usually forced, or if she's genuinely moved to amusement. Or if she wants to eat you. Her eyebrows often do the talking. She doesn't use her hands or her body either, and her posture is always perfect.

Speaking of posture, Floki has somewhat bad posture, and that, I think, contributes to the expressiveness of his entire body. He has strange tics that make him move like something between a whooping crane and a velociraptor. He uses his arms and hands quite elaborately, especially if he's agitated. His hands often have a flourish to them as well, oddly graceful, shamanistic gestures. His face reminds me of a clown's, harmless and silly one moment, but fucking terrifying the next.

[miss_yt]

Floki is tall enough that his bad posture doesn't make him seem smaller - it just makes him kind of, you know, ominously loomy.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Loomy! Yes, exactly! He does loom over people a lot, and I think he knows how to use it to his advantage. Like he totally gets a kick out of looming over Athelstan. Poor Athelstan.

[miss_yt]

Look at me being all fancy and using a mun account since I have more than one active pup now! :)

Seimei naturally has a very expressive face. While he does not exactly talk with his hands a lot, he will sometimes use them to underscore an important point, indicate the size/shape of something, or convey a sentiment for which words aren't really adequate. He can be much more restrained when he has to, and maintain a neutral mask or a polite smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes. But he rarely does this in Milliways because by now he feels free to be himself, or as free as he can be anyway.

In fox form, Seimei's ears and tail are very expressive, if you know how to read them.

YT maintains her "game face" most of the time (not, of course, when flawlessly executing a dramatic eye-roll), and has surprisingly good control of her body language. She's hard to read based on visual cues alone. Her tone of voice is a much better indicator of her feelings, such as that particular chirpy voice she uses when she's lying and wants you to know it.

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka is very expressive, using her face, her hands/arms, and even her body to emote. She will lean in to make a point or lean back to show censure and the like. She is very deliberate with these gestures.

Sabine is uses her voice and hands to communicate. Eye rolls and scowls are common as well. Hand gestures tend to be smooth and elegant, though decisive when needed.

Eliot uses words more than anything else. He does express with facial expressions and hand gestures, but the are so well practiced that I doubt he could make an unintentional expression. He comes across as ultra refined and his fingers are very dexterous.

Izana is subdued as far as body language goes. This is a mix of cultural influence (Japanese culture seems to think expansive gestures as being vulgar) and a slight case of insecurity. I've noticed they're growing as a person since joining in a conspiracy with Yuhata. The anmie does show them using the upperbody to express a lot; shoulders shrugging or closing in, head tilts, and crossed arms.

Touji uses head tilts and his shoulders to express.

[mjolnir_retriever]

Enjolras has expressive (...ly intense) eyes. Beyond that, he tends to have very contained, spare body language, but it's eloquent, especially his hands; his gestures are relatively spare, but they're expressively so. He's a tactile guy with men and especially male friends, too -- prone to touching someone's arm or shoulder, either out of emotional connection or to emphasize something. (His society's rules mean he doesn't do it with people he reads as women, because that would be read as extremely forward and flirtatious with anyone who wasn't basically a family member.)

Cosette talks with her hands somewhat, but the most expressive part of her body is her face, which is very mobile when she's talking or listening, or even when she's just thinking.

Thor is another with a mobile face. He doesn't tend to gesture a whole lot -- though he's another tactile guy with friends, and doesn't have Enjolras's gender restrictions about it -- but really it's his face that does the talking. He has pretty expressive eyebrows, but a more expressive mouth; he has a wide variety of dubious and/or judgy and/or thinky faces! He tends to make eyebrow-y expressions when he's being controlled and relatively diplomatic, and whole-face expressions when he's relaxed and not bothering with that.

Kazul has a very expressive tail, especially when not in confined spaces full of breakables. Also, a wide range of snorts, fiery and non.

[chanter1944]

Sariel is fairly restrained as far as gestures or vehement reactions go; her tells tend to be subtle ones, but they're more and more obvious the better you get to know her. Her face isn't as mobile as some, but her emotions do definitely show there. Oh, and she's a curious or interested headtilt person, if not dramatically so.

[clayforthedevil]

Joly is a fidgety little bird; lots of nervous tics and twitches, and most of his gesturing is with his head and hands. Partly it's because of his class, and partly it's because of the restraints of his wardrobe, but mostly it's just him. He does have a very expressive face, though, and he's not at all aware of it most of the time; he only tries for a poker face occasionally, and mostly then he looks like he's trying to do a complicated math problem in his head.

Bahorel is ...theatrical, in gestures and expressions. And not in the restrained, formalized style of proper Classical French theater, but more in line with what people now think of as melodramatic. He's always very aware of the image he's presenting--school did somewhat literally beat that consciousness into him-- and wants other people to be aware of it too.:P But it's a sincere projection of the kind of state he's in (when he's not intentionally messing with people for amusement or intel reasons) and it's not like he ever wasn't a very demonstrative person; the more theatrical gestures are just taking the place of his less studied flailing and stomping.


...And answering this has made me realize I actually have a headcanon for how Gringoire moves, and it is, essentially, Shaggy in Scooby-Doo. Zoinks.