Animated Storytelling

by Liz Blazer

Animation is a limitless medium for telling stories. Artists can create worlds, defy gravity, flip from factual to fantasy, and transport audiences to places they never imagined. The challenge is having the discipline to reel it in and be intentional about your storytelling choices. This book shows you how. In Animated Storytelling, learn how to create memorable stories using animation and motion graphics by following 10 simple guidelines that take you through the stages of concept development, pre-production, storyboarding, and design. Explore traditional linear storytelling and learn different processes for creating successful nonlinear animated stories, and also discover the wonders of experimental filmmaking. Award-winning filmmaker, educator, and motivator Liz Blazer uses clear examples and easy-to-follow exercises to provide you with the instruction, encouragement, and tools you need to get your designs moving. Whether your goal is to create exciting shorts for film festivals, effective messaging for broadcast or online, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the medium, Animated Storytelling simplifies the process of creating clear and engaging stories for animation and motion graphics so you can get started easily. Animated Storytelling teaches you how to: - Write a creative brief for your project - Find and communicate your story's Big Idea - Create tight stories with linear and nonlinear structures - Explore experimental filmmaking techniques - Use storyboards to communicate your visual story - Use color to clarify and enrich your story - Define the rules for your animated world - Ease into the challenging task of animation - Make the work you want to be hired to do - Share your work with the world!
"Equal parts inspiring and practical, Animated Storytelling is a step-by-step guide that takes aspiring storytellers from raw idea to final render to distribution. -Justin Cone, Co-founder, Motionographer "This book is the instruction manual for navigating the complex world of animated storytelling. It's informative, inspirational, and extremely entertaining to read. Anyone working (or hoping to work) in the field of animation needs to read this. -Joey Korenman, CEO & Founder, School of Motion

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Art, Art Design

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2015

Reviews

[Daniele Zanini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because, though is brief, is full of practical information about the preproduction process before doing a motiongraphics video. I really enjoyed reading this book and doing the exercises. I'm so happy about this book that I've done some mind map about it to remember it well.
Every motion Graphic Designer must know it deeply.

[Gergana Gergova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect little book explaining the process of creating animated film! Great format, design & references (I read the paperback edition). One star deducted for the assignments at the end of each chapter- I wish they were more like tasks to complete in 1-2 hours rather than a whole project.

[Ashutosh Sahu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic little book that can unlock your creativity. The process for making an animated short can be applied to lots of other things, and the format is clear and very encouraging.

This book unblocked something ticking around in my own mind for years, and gave me the idea for a feature length animated film. I had to return this book to the library, but will be buying it or checking it out again as needed!

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book through the lenses of an eLearning developer who sometimes uses animation in her content and I learned a lot. This became an unexpected resource for me. I recommend this for anyone who uses animation. I walked away very encouraged and have new work processes.

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great book to see the steps of storytelling in short pieces of animation. It doesn't take a deep dive into the process of scriptwriting a short fiction, but it gives you a good tour of the different parts that you must keep in mind in the moment of doing an animation short.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, but in depth, kind of all our need to undestandin the animation process.

[Dawn Gerrity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but full of great information! Helped me a lot in my class.

[Jochy Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelent!

Totally loved it! It just clear the steps for the development of an idea more clear and easy. I'll do my short film now.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly brief and perfectly informative. All the info I needed that I haven’t been getting from tutorials.

[Abby Epplett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quick and easy to read eBook gave excellent advice and suggestions, including a list of films, graphs, and images.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is helpful even if you do not intend to animate your work. There is a lot of great stuff in here that can apply to comics/graphic novels as well as storytelling in general.

[Zikomo Tukula · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Lewistron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taught me how to build my “animated story” as they do not work by script but by storyboards. Amazing art and a look into other animated projects.

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great toolbox for animators (and other storytellers)

A wonderful primer for animation students and block-remover for really anyone interested in telling a story through film. With humor and tons of inspirational references, charts, and frameworks, 'Animated Storytelling" is both a stern summons to get organized and a passionate invitation to open your visual and narrative imagination as widely as possible.

Written with a great sense of humor and beautifully illustrated, this book is a highly accessible way to learn from someone who has clearly gotten her own 10,000 hours of animated storytelling in and is also a a supremely engaging educator - inviting readers on a narrative worldbuilding journey that is both analytical and refreshingly tangible (from pre-production and storyboarding to whipping color, sound, and design into a coherent whole). New to the second edition is a chapter on 'Unlocking your Story' which includes a number of narrative exercises and offers a smorgasboard of experimental forms to tap into - one of many ways this book condenses classic storytelling and design tricks and exciting avant-garde perspectives to help readers unlock their own creative universe.

[Maddison Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Read it for Motion Graphics class and it is my favorite assigned book I've had to read for school! It's small, but is full of some great insight to brainstorming/inspiration, storytelling and visual communication.

Second time reading his book, I still found the information about storytelling and concepting ideas useful. The animation-specific information was not very helpful to me, but still interesting.

[Pilar Bu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorei o livro. Para alguém mais leiga como eu realmente achei didático e cheio de dicas bacanas a respeito do universo da animação e do design. Como gostei muito, queria que o livro fosse maior, abordando outros aspectos.

[Sam Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short little book filled with golden nuggets of information on creating successful animation and motion graphics. It's really well put together and a very enjoyable read. Loved it!

[Blank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant!

If (when) I eventually start an animation company, it will be because of this book. This book starts on the assumption that you know a fair amount about animation, but have difficulty getting started on your plot, themes, tones, sound and coherence - basically thinking like a professional.

It takes you from someone who can tween objects on a screen and giggle about it all day, to someone who can shoot something worth inviting friends over for.

I love it!