Who is Mr. Tony?

 This week in my media studies class, we were given a new interesting project that I haven't seen before. We were assigned to complete what was essentially a business pitch for a film character which we were individually handed out. Each presentation had to include a summary of the character, a mood board further describing the character, an audio representation (this ranges from music to SFX) of the character, and visual representation of one of the character's main locations. I had just come back from a trip to NYC with the school so I was doing a watered down version of the project since it was originally intended for a group.

The character I was given only had a short description of which I would build upon: "A single father and community librarian who uses storytelling to connect with kids. He’s patient, thoughtful, and always ready to lend a helping hand." From this description I created....

The expanded story of Mr. Tony goes as follows: Anthony Miller, or “Mr. Tony” as the children at the library like to call him, is a 62-year-old, warm-hearted single father who lives in the calm town of Crystal Lake hidden away in the mountain forests of Massachusetts. He loves storytelling and when he’s not hard at work managing the Crystal Lake Public Library, he’s reading books to the kids of the town. 

Immediately, when I read the description of who I was going to create, I though of 2 people. Fred Rogers and Bob Ross. Mr. Rogers is well known for his children's show "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" which taught children morals, everyday adult jobs, and everything else from apples to traffic signs. Bob Ross also had a show that was geared towards giving a relaxing experience to the audience while teaching helpful mindsets and tools to have in times of stress. Both of these people had an immense impact on their audience and communities across the US becoming some of the most beloved television stars of all time. To me, these people represented exactly who Mr. Tony should be. A kind mature soul who cares deeply about the community, always tries to lighten everybody's day and is simply an upstanding citizen. I borrowed elements from both Rogers and Ross directly, including Tony's favorite brown cardigan (Rogers) and a backstory in which he served in the Iran-Iraq War and decided he wanted to spread peace and community wherever he could, similar to Bob Ross' time in the army before his path in calm, soothing painting.

I decided to write my entire character description first (project linked at the bottom) so that I could have a basis of which to find his looks, clothes, living place, and other aesthetics. The whole PowerPoint includes colors and fonts from the 70's, calling back to his youth and how he connects to the youth today (and as an homage to his reference characters). It also gives off the warm, comfortable vibe that Mr. Tony has. For the mood board, I collected a ton of different things that I had written about spanning from his time in the armed forces, to his dogs, to his work in the library, and where he lives. 

I also partially created his character through music. These are just a couple of songs that I love listening to and, comparing it to Mr. Tony's story, its pretty clear to see where some of the similarities lie. Ventura Highway symbolizes his always joyous and warm demeanor, Father & Son details his relationship with his son, where his son can't seem to see eye to eye with his dad and appreciate what he has, Never Going Back Again expresses his feelings towards his old ways and his time in Iraq, and Landslide shows how he is still struggling after the death of his wife even years after. I believe that this playlist fully encapsulates Mr. Tony's typical listening as well.

Probably the most fun part of the project was making this visual representation of Mr. Tony at his job reading stories to kids. I found a quick floor tile image to set my ground plane for the scene, found a giant bookshelf image to use as the background (the wood finish on everything feels very homey and very much like what Mr. Tony would run), and I got a 3D bookshelf model from SketchFab which I could easily place into the image and rotate to give a better sense of depth for the camera and lead your eyes to the middle where Mr. Tony sits in a chair with a book in his hands. The kids were the most difficult part to put in as I had to download various stock images of kids sitting looking inward and delete their backgrounds in Photoshop. Overall, I think this part turned out great and really represents who Mr. Tony is as a person. 

My project could've been a lot better if I spent a little more time tweaking and adding more details to flesh out Mr. Tony's character a little more, but I'm happy with how it came out. I feel like if I gave this project to a movie representative, they would understand my character and give Mr. Tony a shot at being put on the big screen.

Hope you enjoyed! Here's the project as a PDF so you can read the full description and see everything in higher quality:

MR. TONY PROJECT