Storytelling
Storytelling in film and animation is used as a form of communication with the audience, whether that being recreating an existing story or sharing personal experiences to evoke emotions. These shared experiences are an element the viewer is put in to evaluate the conflicts individual people or groups experience within society – the experiences bond them together.
For a story to work, it must have structure, the key element to that structure is “motivation”, how conflict depicts an outcome, a conclusion of the story. Taking a look at “The Hero’s Journey” plot structure, it is about a character facing a difficulty and them going on a quest to solve it and learn something along the way. Using this as a base for storytelling, it is possible to change up the characters, their goals, the events they are experiencing, the outcomes represent how the story will end, there are endless possibilities.
Without conflict, a change, a story would be just a series of events. Looking at a short stop motion animated film called “Enough” by Anna Mantzaris as an example, it is about experiencing intrusive thoughts and them actually coming to life: pushing somebody off the stairs, throwing a faulty computer out the window, interrupting a meeting. This story shows multiple short events seemingly without a change in the narrative up until the last scene. The end shot shows a woman missing a bus she was rushing to. Few other people standing at the bus stop witnessing her giving up, the woman lays down on the pavement, a few seconds later one other person from the bus stop joins her. This is a small change within the story that shows meaning in the narrative – that you are not alone in this, making majority of people relating to this aspect without the necessity of a major change point.
One level of storytelling is defined by how it is written, other level is from a visual representation. Setting up a composition for a shot, colouring and lighting it a certain way are used as an “effective emotional tool” (Wellins, 2006, p. 24). The audience follows along how the characters interact by how the plot is structured, it is a separate thing when the artist shows lighting or colouring a specific way in order to pinpoint how the character is feeling or setting the tone for a scene. As Mike Wellins observes: “color schemes and look for a color combination that visually works well but also says something about the character, story or scene.” (Wellins, 2006, p.128) For example, making the scene in the colour blue can show grief, vulnerability, fear. Close-up shots depict intensity, confided feeling in spaces, further shots portray isolation, scale comparison to the rest of the environment the character is in, making them feel small.
In conclusion, what makes a good story is usage of relatability of character to audiences, stable plot structure with motivation and visual tools.
Bibliography
- Wellins, M. (2005) Storytelling Through Animation. United States: Charles River Media