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The main character of Wander is Chris. He's a young boy who wanders off and gets lost in the wet market.
It was important to find the perfect design for Chris, and his character went through a couple of evolutions before the final design was decided upon.
LeAnn Schmitt and her team of artists, Ray Yan, Gabby Foreman, and Allyanna Laurel, worked on the earliest designs for Chris. From those, LeAnn was able to further develop Chris's style and eventually lock in his final aesthetic. This final design is what would appear in the film.
Earliest Concepts
Evolutions
About Chris
Age: 5-7
Fears: the dark, spiders, loud noises
Even before Chris’s birth, his father abandoned his mother after hearing of her pregnancy. Due to Chris never having a father, he is close to his mother who cherishes him dearly. He comes from a lower class home, as a result they live in a small apartment above a Sari Sari store. The total number of occupants in the home is Chris and his mother. Their home is not in the best shape. Bugs often wriggle their way into the home and frighten the boy. The thin walls due poor work of drowning out the loud noise of the night life. The lights of the apartment often fail during a storm causing the house to be plunged into darkness frequently during the rainy season. Since he lives with just his mother the role of ‘man of the house’ falls on his shoulder so he is a bit more mature compared to other boys his age. However, this title has not stamped out the natural pull of curiosity that pushes him to explore the world around him.
Despite being a rather mature child for his age he is still attached to his mother and sees her as a dependable support system that he can always come back to when his exploration of the world around gets to be too scary or overwhelming for him. Chris is more “yo-yo” like when it comes to his mother, while he likes going out to experience the world with Ube he will still come back in search of something familiar and comforting with his mother. Ube is the purple toy robot that was gifted to Chris by his mother when he was two. He treats the toy as a friend and likes to bring it everywhere. While he has still managed to misplace the toy once in a while Ube appears to be the only friend Chris has at this point in his life.
Chris is generally aware that his mother is not financially well off but due to his age isn’t fully aware of the sacrifices his mother makes to ensure he has a good life. To help her out in his own special way, Chris tends to not ask for new toys or treats. Instead, Chris finds joy in his own little world his imagination conjures. While this can be a good way to preoccupy his time, it sometimes can lead to things being skewed in his perception and making a situation scarier than it actually is. During the off season for school Chris gets to tag along to work with his mother since he will keep to himself in the lobby and watch tv or sit behind the desk with his mom and color on some of the printer paper.
Since Chris is in kindergarten he spends most of his days in school before being picked up by his mom at the end of the day. He tends to sneak his toy Ube in his backpack so he has a friend to play with during recess at school. Chris is rather shy and has a harder time connecting to the other children who tend to have bigger more aggressive personalities.
Motivations:
At the beginning of the story his motives revolve around exploring the world of the wet market. However, near the middle of the story his motivation shifts to being more of seeking safety and comfort.
Final Design
Mom
Single mother
Age: 28
Chris’s mother works a low salary 9 to 5 job which requires her to wear a constricting suit all day despite the stifling heat of the Philippines. Her day starts bright and early by walking Chris to school by 6:00 am so she can hop a jeepnie to commute to her work as a hotel receptionist. However, when she clocks out, she has to hop the next tricycle back to pick Chris up from school so she can get home to make dinner. However, every Friday after she picks up Chris so they can run to the market to get ingredients for the next week's large batch of adobo or synagogue that will last them till the next paycheck. She sacrifices some of her own comforts such as new suits for work or lunches out to make sure she has enough money to keep Chris fed and happy. All this running around wears on her however she tries to not let that affect the limited time with her son. Sometimes, she can get a bit spread thin between all her many jobs which can cause her to lash or get get frustrated. She may raise her tone with Chris sometimes in these moments but she will always apologize and try and explain what has been happening.
She knows Chris tries not to be a burden on her by asking for things but she will try and treat with little surprises of sweets from the vending machine at work. Her favorite days are Sunday since that is her only full day off work and its half off day at Mr. Freezies down the road. This means she can spend the whole day with her son and split a large cup of halo halo with him as they sit on the steps of their apartment and wave to the vendors that walk by.
Chris’s mother got pregnant at 21 and her boyfriend at the time split upon hearing the news of the pregnancy. She loves Chris and is protective of him, she wants to let him explore and experience the world at a safe distance so she can step in when she needs to.
She has a natural maternal instinct towards Chris but still worries if she is doing this whole “mothering” thing right. She seeks advice from her mother and sister’s when she really starts doubting herself. She tries to refrain from smothering Chris and isolating him from the world so he doesn’t become hyper dependent on her. However, she feels that due to Chris not having a father figure in his life he has had to grow up too fast and that leads to him not being able to connect to his peers. These fears are sometimes actualized when she goes to pick up Chris from school and she sees him sitting alone and playing with Ube while the other children sit in little huddles laughing and playing. However, she is commonly reassured by her sisters that he will grow out of it as he gets older.
Motivations:
To get home and get food on the table/ to spend some quality time with her son
Evolutions
Final Design
The Veteran
Age: 62-80
Son was born when he was 30
Lost his son when he was 55
The Veteran is originally a small country boy from the States who joined the airforce to get out of his small town and see the world. His first assignment had him shipped halfway across the world to the Philippines. On his deployment he met a beautiful Phillipino woman while bumbling around one of the wet markets in Angeles city. He was smitten with her at first glance. After 3 years of dating and exploring the Philippines with her, his orders for his next deployment came through. Not being able to envision the rest of his life without her, the Veteran wasted no time in proposing to her. They got married at the courthouse and the next day they were on a plane to another military base. During their hectic life of moving from base to base they had a bouncing baby boy named Josh. Josh was the Veteran’s pride and joy. He worked hard to carve out time for his family no matter where they were stationed or how rough work was. He and his son often took little walks around the base together so they could chat about their days. The happy family settled down in Florida when the Veteran retired to ensure that his son could attend highschool without worrying about having to relocate every few years.
As Josh grew into a respectable young man he decided to follow his father's footsteps and join the military. While this made his family unbelievably proud, tragedy struck after his son was deployed to Afghanistan where he died in a bus accident at the age of 25. The same military that allowed him to get him out of his deadend town also took away his pride and joy. The repercussions of losing his son not only crushed his heart but also sent his wife into a depression. No more than 5 years later the Veteran’s wife would also pass away.
With nothing holding him to his home in Florida, the Veteran decided to make his way back to the Philippines, the place where his whole story really began. He settles down in a small home on a plot of land just outside of Angeles city, his wife’s home town. He tends to spend most of his retired days wandering around the city. He tends to gravitate to spot he regularly visits with his wife, this includes the wet market.
Long labrous days, stress, and general age have rendered his elderly features rather intimidating. He has retained his rather gangly tall body from when he was young making him tower above most of the populace. This leads to many people that pass him in the streets to stare or avoid him entirely. He sees his own son reflected in the faces of the young children that run about the streets and play. It wounds him to scatter when they see him. Thanks to his wife regularly speaking in her native tongue he has retained enough of the language to make it day to day but he still heavily relies on his english. This also means that unbeknownst to many of the passerby he can understand when they whisper about his scary appearance. The isolation is a bit crushing at times and he wishes he could connect with someone and make a friend.
Motivation- remember the happier days, try to connect with people, appear less threatening
Evolutions
Final Design
Ube
Ube is Chris's beloved purple toy robot that was given to him by his mother when he was two. He treats the toy as a friend and likes to bring it everywhere. While he has managed to misplace the toy once in a while, Ube appears to be the only friend Chris has at this point in his life.
Evolutions
