This week’s lecture focused on story structure and how narrative frameworks shape emotional impact in film and animation. The presentation began by explaining that storytelling is part of being human — it helps us understand morality, history, and life experiences. Before exploring different models, we were introduced to the film narrative hierarchy, which breaks a story down into act, sequence, scene, shot, and beat. This reminded me that even small animation decisions, such as timing or camera movement, contribute to the overall narrative meaning.
We then explored several major story structures. The Three-Act Structure divides a story into Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution, creating a clear dramatic arc. The Hero’s Journey focuses on transformation, showing how a character leaves their ordinary world, faces challenges, and returns changed. Dan Harmon’s Story Circle simplifies this idea into eight practical steps, which feels very useful for short film projects.
Finally, we looked at Kishōtenketsu, an Eastern narrative structure that emphasizes contrast and perspective rather than direct conflict. This expanded my understanding of storytelling and showed that tension does not always need to come from fighting or struggle. Overall, the lecture helped me think more clearly about how to structure my own animation projects.
Feedback
This week, Ting gave feedback on our Hunter to Prey previs. Overall, she felt the concept was clear, but the cinematography could be pushed further to increase tension and impact.
Firstly, some shots felt too safe. She suggested using more extreme angles, such as high or low angle shots, and adding subtle camera shake to create a stronger sense of danger and instability. This is especially important because the theme focuses on a power shift, so the camera language should support that dramatic change.
Secondly, the transition between the POV shaky shot and the monster’s sudden appearance needs to be smoother. Right now, it feels like a hard cut. Ting advised making the movement more continuous so the audience feels the monster emerging naturally from the same visual space, rather than appearing abruptly without visual flow.
She also mentioned that the monster’s pose could be improved. Instead of standing in isolation, it could hang from electrical wires or interact more with the environment. This would make the character feel more integrated into the scene and visually threatening.
When the monster dives down, its face should be directed toward the camera to strengthen the confrontation and make the moment more intense.
Finally, the last shot should not feel too continuous. Adding a cut would help create stronger rhythm and emphasis at the ending.
Overall, the feedback helped me understand how important camera design and character staging are in building suspense and narrative clarity.
Heavy Object & Change Mind Planning
For the heavy object and change-of-mind assignment, my initial idea is to have the character swing a weapon to strike a large stone. The stone represents the heavy object, so I plan to emphasise weight through anticipation, slower preparation, and strong follow-through. However, after the impact, the stone unexpectedly explodes and the character is blown backwards. This sudden reaction becomes the “change of mind” moment. Instead of continuing the attack confidently, the character realises the situation is dangerous. The emotional shift moves from aggression to shock and fear, which will be expressed through body recoil and altered posture.