The Art of Storytelling With Animation
Storytelling is akin to painting with words. It’s an ancient form of art with a foothold in each and every country and civilization. Stories inspire creativity, excitement, and passion. They also radiate a sense of togetherness in both audiences and tellers. Simply put, storytelling is just the process of conveying information to an audience via the use of narratives.
Stories can be told about an event, a person, a group of people, a country, etc. Also different methods and techniques can be used. Stories can be told orally, which involves spoken words. Then visually, which involves the use of images, drawings, paintings, and graphs. Stories can also be written.
Animation is one of the modern ways of visual storytelling. It has been termed one of the most effective ways of telling complex and action-based stories.
Art of movements
Norman McLaren a renowned Scottish-Canadian animator explained that “animation is not the art of drawings that moves, rather, it’s the art of movements that are drawn.” This affirms the fact that animation is just much more than drawing figures. Rather, it’s used to tell and illustrate a story or a happening.
Paul Wells in his book “Understanding Animation” published in 1998 explained that “animation is a film made-by-hand, frame by frame providing an illusion of movement which hasn’t been directly recorded in the conventional photographic sense.” However, this wasn’t defined in the context of the modern way of animation which is computer-generated.
These days, computer programs and software are now used to enhance the creation of animation.
Tell stories via animation
A story can be told by anybody, but with animation, stories can now be told on behalf of customers, companies, industries, etc. As a result, animation is now used in practically every business and industry, as opposed to the early days when it was just used in the film industry.
To name a few, in the entertainment industry, animation is being used to tell stories, both real and fictional and it’s a booming part of the industry.
Animation has grown into a clear technique to produce simulations of systems, designs, equipment, processes, and many other engineering operations in the engineering industry. This has aided in the breakdown and comprehension of complex systems by laymen, as well as aiding engineering teams to uncover weaknesses in their systems more quickly.
Patient communication, surgery process explanation, marketing of products and services, student education, and other parts of the medical sector all involve telling stories. Due to the technical and sophisticated nature of these stories and explanations, animation has immensely aided in delivering these stories in a way that the audience can readily understand and connect to.
Legal profession and animation
The legal profession, which prides itself as being a profession of words, has likewise benefited enormously from the use of animation. Contracts are made, legislation are adopted, constitutions are established, and cases are tried beginning with words in the legal sector. These words are spoken which implies that there will always be a story to tell. A defendant tells his/her side of the story in a trial and the plaintiff does exactly the same. Over the years, using legal animations has increased in the legal industry. It is a growing trend across courtrooms around the continent to support the oral testimonies of parties in a case.
In conclusion, storytelling is human, and as humans, we have evolved over the years and gotten better at a lot of things. Telling stories with animation is one of such and its adoption into different facets of life. Business and industries have greatly improved the art of storytelling. With animation, storytelling will continually get better.
