Architecture – an insight in to the mentality

I have been looking in to the architecture of the Incas to see what sort of buildings I am going to need to create for my scene.

Although there are not many ‘speculative’ images out there as to what the Incas building and settlements really looked like, there is more than enough of it still standing to get a very good idea.

The villages tend to be high on mountain sides and made almost entirely of stone. The stone is likely to be for a couple of reasons.

1) Because they have it in abundance on mountains, more so than timber.

2) Being up so high it needs to be weather proof, which leads me on to the first character trait.

Why build so high up? Well I believe this could be because height gives an incredible defensive and offensive advantage against enemies and unwanted visitors. This would suggest they were both reclusive and hostile to outsiders at the same time, and possibly have many enemies. Secondly, the settlements that remain are all surrounded by strong stone walls, and lets face it walls are only built to keep things in or out. The possible reasons for this include (as well as the reasons mentioned above) that the want to keep their community in and other out so they are quite reclusive unless they have to be.

The second character trait I have is from research. The Incas were known to be strong proud peoples who valued their social status, both in their community and in tribal standings. They would often engage in fights with local tribes over land disputes and power issues, and they usually won. I believe this is reflected in their archaeology, strong tall building built in strong places with heavy fortification. The Inca Hanan was the top of the social chain, he would always be a strong proud warrior, someone who no other would dare challenge.They seem like a bit of a scary bunch, especially when trying to create an animation for children. For this reason I want to try and add some light heartedness to the Hanan but I am going to have the archaeologist to be the guided tour, he will keep the information factual but act as the Hanan’s opposite and keep the animation fun rather than a horror film. As I discussed in an earlier post about there always being two characters who together complete the requirements for a good animation, the archaeologist will be one of these people and the Hana the other, here is their traits:

Hanan
Traits: hero, big, strong, fearless, easily frustrated
Story attributes: Main story line, suspense, peril

Archaeologist
Traits: Small, easily amused, easily side tracked
Story attributes: Humor (unintentional), happy for the Hanan

Well, thats it for that reasearch for the moment, lots more to follow soon.

In case you’re interested the character is going well, I have some really well defined biceps.