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  • Essay / Review of “Once Upon a Time: Narrative Strategies” by Paul Wells

    This chapter supports the idea that there are two schools of thought on narrative strategies in animation. The first school believes that every animation, no matter how short, should have a story with a sequence of events taking place over a period of time, informed by a chain of cause and effect. The latter believe that animation has the capacity to create new modes of storytelling without using a linear plot but rather using symbolic or metaphorical effects. Considering these two schools of thought, Wells defines terms associated with narrative processes as they relate to animation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay Metamorphosis is the ability to transform an image into a completely new image. Metamorphosis resists logical developments, in other words, it allows the animator to narrate by connecting seemingly unrelated images. In its consequences, the metamorphosis combines “horror and humor, dream and reality, certainty and speculation”. Condensation is one of the primary strategies of storytelling. The animation was always in short form, so the animator had to "compress a high degree of narrative information into a limited period of time through condensation processes". The characteristics of condensation consist of confusing the narrative premise and its result. Synecdoche is a figure of speech or object in which a part is intended to represent its whole or vice versa. This may resemble the use of “metonymy,” which is the substitution of an image for its action. Symbolism and Metaphor: Symbolism is when something is used in the vocabulary of imagery to suggest meaning. It is how the audience interprets the elements of animation and understands the film. In other words, “a symbol gives meaning to an object”. On the other hand, metaphor is similar to symbolism, in that it invites interpretation but "insists on openness." Metaphor essentially arises from symbolism, in metaphor an image is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable, because it aims for the audience to engage with the symbolic beyond the real. Manufacturing is defined as the resuscitation of materiality. That is to say the idea of ​​redefining matter and objects. Three-dimensional animation is directly concerned with the expression of materiality and creates strange images. Given this definition, the meaning of the object is determined by common historical dimensions and creates an environment of association for the viewer. Associative relationships occur when suggestion or allusion is used to bring together seemingly unrelated images. Sound inspires feelings and tells the story with emotion. Sounds not only create the mood and atmosphere of an animation, determine its rhythm and emphasis, but also, and above all, create a vocabulary through which the visual codes of the film can be understood. Audio may consist of voiceover, monologue, dialogue, instrumental or lyrical music, and sound effects. Acting and Performance is another narrative strategy. In an animated film, there is no character but rather the relationship between the animator and the character. The animator must decide on the range of movement, modes of expression and behavior of the character. The character is limited by the conditions and possibilities of the medium in which he is created. At first, the characters were called "performers" rather than "actors", because they were controlled”.