Writing Animated
Documentary: A
Theory of Practice
Paul Wells
Animation Academy, School of Arts, English &
Drama, Loughborough University
Abstract
This short discussion provides some introductory remarks on writing for the documentary form
in animation. Taking into account theories of the
place of animation in utilitarian films, avant-garde works and the essay film, the analysis, based
on auto-ethnographic insights, provides some
methods and approaches to developing animated documentary work. These include ‘Making
Animation Choices’, ‘Staging in Space’, ‘Using
Attachment and Detachment’, developing ‘Episodic lists and Micro-Narratives’, and deploying
‘Transition and Associative Relations’. The analysis seeks to show that these approaches to the
animated documentary reveal and evidence a
theory of practice, and a practice of theory.
Keywords: Non-Fiction Essay; AutoEthnography; Public Engagement; Occasion
;Purpose; Addressee; Document; Non-Fictional
Dramaturgy
6
Documentary Stories…
sion or as an application in its own right
the crucial role of the practitioner in
has not been fully considered. In the fol-
choosing and organizing the material;
Though animation theorists and histori-
lowing discussion, then, I wish to identify
a mode of practice in this instance that
ans have long argued about the impor-
specific approaches to writing animated
borrows freely from what are arguably
tance of animation per se in many areas
documentary, using theoretical concepts
the “guru” templates in defining structure
of social and cultural expression over its
as tools of practice, and identifying prac-
in Hollywood narratives, written by Field,
long history, it is only comparatively re-
tical applications, illustrated through the
Vogler, McKee and their like.1 Bernard
cently that animation’s self-evident role
perspectives of practitioners and my
sees such work as plot or character driv-
in public engagement has been proper-
own screenwriting practice in the form
en or question-led, but just as concerned
ly acknowledged. Animation has been
on a film entitled The Oil Kid (Hakim Farai,
with exposition, character arcs (devel-
used in most production cultures world-
Norway, forthcoming). One further, and
opment and transformation), narrative
wide in public information films, pro-
significant addition here, is also the rec-
spine, theme, and resolution as any typi-
paganda, public display, infotainment,
lamation of what are sometimes regard-
cal film story-telling. Bernard essentially
commercials, and to use Heidiger and
ed as “How To” or “technical” manuals as
treats non-fiction as fiction at the struc-
Vonceault’s term, “films that work” (see
formal theories of practice, hugely im-
tural level, and in this way points the doc-
Hediger & Vonderau, 2009), for over one
portant in acknowledging the intellectual
umentary towards an overt declaration
hundred years.
characteristics of creative endeavour;
of its subjectivity, and its affiliation with
so often unrecognised in traditional or
the essayistic. Laura Rascaroli has use-
Animation has also played a constituent
orthodox approaches to understanding
fully addressed and related these tropes
part in many documentaries, in texts with
and using (critical) theory.
in her consideration of “the personal
documentary tendencies, and in its own
camera” (see Rascaroli 2009), while
right as “animated documentary,” though
To take but one immediate example,
Scott Macdonald, extends this further
again the latter’s very existence has only
film-maker, Shelia Curran Bernard, refus-
by looking at intersections of documen-
but recently been accepted as proven
es to deeply problematise documentary,
tary and avant-garde cinema (see Mac-
and valid. (see Skoller, 2011; Kriger 2012;
merely arguing that documentary is an
donald 2015) as a way of thinking about
Honess-Roe, 2013). For those prac-
act of storytelling like any other, but us-
documentary when situated as “art” or
titioners who have always principally
ing “actuality” as its materials. She notes,
as an experimental form, and within the
worked in the documentary-styled form,
parameters of arts culture. This perspec-
animation has always been a ready tool
Story does not have to mean
tive on documentary has been reinforced
of expression, and helped facilitate highly
three-act drama, and it definitely
by Julian Stallabrass’ collection of core
progressive texts, but for the most part,
does not mean artificial tension
papers and essays that define the form
the theorisation of documentary practice
that is imposed from without. Sto-
as a model of contemporary art. (see
has been characterised by the address
ry comes organically from within
Stallabrass 2013). 2Crucially, these three
of its core genres – travelogue, cinema
the material and the ways in which
texts are based upon and include the per-
verité, fly-on-the-wall, screen-journalism,
you, the filmmaker, structure it
spectives of practitioners, and in all cas-
docu-drama, observational actuality, etc.
(Bernard 2007:10)
es may be viewed as auto-ethnographic
– and the place of animation, either used
as an additional component of expres-
reflections on making documentary
This approach immediately foregrounds
without any self-consciousness about
7
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
subjectivity, indexical relativity or the il-
mated documentary, and to articulate
form, and its overt artifice only signifies
lusionist artifice in creating a documen-
some perspectives upon the outset of a
that someone has obviously crafted the
tary text. This lack of self-consciousness
project. It is clear that the animated doc-
film, though this may not lend it “auteur-
serves to authenticate such texts as
umentary cannot be divorced from its
ist” credentials at the level of a unique or
authored works, privileging the creator
conditions of production, since this may
particular vision or style. It is pertinent
of the work as an empirical presence,
relate to a specific context, sponsor, or
to consider though, that whoever has
providing inquiry, discourse and point of
socio-political outlook, but the contexts
constructed the film, must indeed con-
view. Not merely does this facilitate the
of use may vary, for example, becoming
sider occasion, purpose and addressee.
idea that animated documentary has the
a “festival” film, an artwork, a vehicle for
It is this which starts to distinguish the
same authenticity in sharing such terms
information and training, an educational
text from not merely being “art” by an
and conditions, but also points to the
text for knowledge transfer, etc. Indeed,
artist but a text by a publically engaged
way in which such texts reveal in their
this may lend the films to be subject to
animation film-maker creating a socially
necessary need for research, procedural
“aesthetic analysis,” and as such, authen-
directed model of documentary work.
development, signature expression and
ticate themselves more within the orga-
“Occasion” in this instance, should not
implied argument, a direct audio-visual
nizational power or institutional context
only be seen as the inciting moment or
analogue to written non-fiction essays.
of arts culture, which essentially verifies
reason for the film, but as the key point
It is on these premises, and using the
them, rather than sometimes the disci-
in which is it is considered why the film
cited texts and examples, that I wish to
plines or social contexts they represent.
should be made in animation. Animation
discuss animated documentary practice
To play “devil’s advocate,” this sometimes
is a complex and labour intensive form,
as a singular form of public engagement.
diminishes their achievement because
and ultimately, should only be employed
the text is often more interrogated for its
if its distinctive vocabulary is appropri-
form, rather than its content. In recent
ate to representing the topic, subject or
years, this is changing as the animated
idea in a way that significantly differs
As Hediger and Vonderau have pointed
documentary gains increasing credibility
from using “live action.” These may be
Films That Work
out industrial, utility and public informa-
for what the “form” can uniquely achieve
highly pragmatic reasons related to the
tion films “cannot be divorced from the
in relation to “content,” an issue that is at
need to re-construct events that have
conditions of their production and the
the heart of this discussion.
no extant record, or providing visual evidence in support of anecdotal or statis-
contexts of their use. Far from constituting self-sufficient entities for aesthetic
Further, Elsaesser insists that more util-
tical evidence, or simply about preferred
analysis [these] films have to be under-
itarian films have auftrag (an occasion),
aesthetic outcomes, but such consider-
stood in terms of their specific, usually
anlass (a purpose) and adressat (an ad-
ations insist upon deciding what the use
organizational, purpose, and in the very
dressee), and not an auteur (see Hediger
of animation helps to actually achieve in
context of power and organizational
& Vonderau (eds)19-34) It is immediately
the film that cannot be achieved in any
practice in which they appear” (Hediger &
clear that the animated documentary
other way. This in itself may be conten-
Vonderau (eds) 2009:10). This perspec-
benefits from self-reflexively foreground-
tious – especially for those who might
tive provides a useful starting place to
ing its implied authorship. There may be
hold a highly “purist” notion of docu-
both delineate the differences between
a finer distinction to make by suggesting
mentary insisting upon the use of “as
more utilitarian applications and ani-
that animation is an inherently rhetorical
it happens” footage – but as I will seek
8
Writing Animated Documentary: A Theory of Practice Paul Wells
to demonstrate animation does have
Their intention was that the film should
situated, and as part of reclamation and
distinctive tools and applications at its
essentially talk to customers and clients.
critical redress of such work, there is an
disposal that privilege a particular enun-
This was complicated further by the fact
underpinning desire to resist its previ-
ciative documentary register.
that a consultant on the project, and
ously ephemeral status. The role of the
author of the memoir on which the film
“practitioner-historian” becomes vital in
The sense of “purpose” in making an
was partially based, Aslak Sira Myhre,
this work, placing an imperative on the
animated documentary may take on
was both a previously unquestioning “oil
practitioner to become the historian of
a number of guises; first, the simple
kid” brought up during the core period
their own work, evidencing the process,
imperative to complete a specific kind
of the major developments in the oil in-
the research, the technique, the material
of labour-centred aesthetic work; sec-
dustry, only to later become a leftist po-
resource, the creative decisions, the con-
ond, to achieve a particular outcome
litical activist, questioning the oil indus-
text of production, reception etc. These
in foregrounding specific knowledge,
try’s politics and economy. Myhre saw
are the aspects of the work that repre-
arguments, conclusions and opinions;
the addressee as someone like himself;
sent and evidence “record (institutional
and third, to speak directly to a named
previously naïve, now properly informed,
memory), rhetoric (governance) and ratio-
or known addressee beyond the idea of
and socially committed to a political
nalization (optimizing process)” (Hediger
an audience, the general public, or the
agenda. All of this before the impact of
& Vonderau (eds) 2009:11). First, then
public sphere per se. In my own practice
the “creatives” who wanted to make an
the way in which animated documenta-
on The Oil Kid which I will assess later,
animated film in a particular way as an
ry operates as a model of personal, so-
for example, this was made complex
enhancement of their expertise in techni-
cial and institutional memory; second,
in that the co-sponsors wanted slightly
cal animation into more character based
as it reflects aspects of the relationship
different outcomes – the Oil Museum
narrative work., that would both satisfy
between individuals and governing bod-
in Stavanger, Norway, required a film
their artistic aspirations and reach new
ies; and crucially, thirdly, how such texts
that rendered the social history of the
potential markets for their skills. The
evidence their own form as a matter of
oil industry in a fair and balanced way,
scriptwriter – in this case, me ! – has to
record; in this instance prompting the
mediated through a personal story, and
reconcile these influences, therefore, to
idea of identifying just exactly what the
largely working as an educational piece
speak to a number of addressees. and
“document” is in animated documentary,
to show to the general public in a muse-
to satisfy the requirements of import-
and how it informs a particular procedur-
um. The sponsors from the Oil industry
ant collaborative partners. At all points,
al engagement.
itself, though, required an outcome that
then, occasion, purpose and addressee
viewed the oil industry favorably, and
become on-going considerations in the
were fearful that a representation of the
creative process.
tragic disasters that have attended the
Tools as Technique
It is always useful to note what anima-
advance of the industry over the years,
The animated documentary, for all its
tion offers as a distinctive form of ex-
would set too negative a tone, and un-
enunciative aesthetics, though, like any
pression. Much of my own work over the
dermine both what had been achieved
other documentary remains an act of
years, and the work of other colleagues,
socially, culturally and materially through
social record. Like the more utilitarian
has been dedicated to this task, but rath-
oil revenue, and the reputation of the ma-
applications in public information or in-
er than re-state the key principles of such
jor companies in the contemporary era.
dustrial training films, it is still historically
texts, it is worthwhile seeking out a more
9
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
pertinent historical antecedent in this re-
tism, radar and other physical properties
are effectively “tools” that the animation
gard as an example of both the difficulty
characterised by laws not visible to the
scriptwriter or practitioner can adopt as
in bringing animation into social, artistic
eye can be rendered clear and apparent.
ways of creating the documentary text,
and commercial discussions, and the
Halas suggests that animation can also
and fundamentally characterise the
ways it seeks to convince its more igno-
“penetrate” interior workings of the body
ways in which key issues and complex
rant or sceptical attendants of its partic-
or a machine, or other kinds of complex
ideas may be addressed.
ular value. Writing in 1951, John Halas,
inner state (dream, memory, conscious-
of the Halas & Batchelor Studio in the
ness, fantasy) and provide a literal and
John Canemaker, film-maker, histori-
UK, sought to theorise the distinctive-
conceptual interpretation that enables
an, and creator of the autobiographical
ness of the form when he tried to con-
them to be more readily understood.
quasi-documentary, The Moon and the
vince industry, business and education
Further, by “selecting” an aspect of a
Son: An Imagined Conversation (Dir: John
of the value of animation as a specific
scene or scenario to be visualised this
Canemaker, USA, 2005), has engaged
language of expression and communi-
can be accentuated or brought into the
with these ideas intuitively and con-
cation, and crucially, one that could sup-
foreground for effect; thus, it might be
sciously in his own work. He suggests,
port serious messages. In a publication
“exaggerated” or “transformed” to better
– “Management” – dedicated to industri-
reveal its properties or significance. All
I also worked on a film called
al issues, he suggested that animation’s
these elements can be contextualised
Break the Silence, which was
key characteristics were:
within various time-frames – things can
a film about child abuse; it
be represented from the long past and
was a CBS film. Animation is
projected easily into the future, perhaps
something which can personify
on the one hand, depicting extinct fau-
thought, it can become emo-
na and flora, or on the other, re-imagin-
tions. I talked with them about
ing nature in one thousand years time
finding the places where we
as a consequence of current ecological
could do that. They said “Yes, be-
issues and effects. The speed and time
cause we don’t want to show the
in which this is presented can also be
abuse as it happened, we want
varied – a split-second can be extended
to show how it felt to the chil-
while millions of years can be truncated,
dren.” We were able to do that –
• Symbolisation of Objects and Human
Beings
• Picturing the Invisible
• Penetration
• Selection, Exaggeration and Transformation
• Showing the Past and Predicting the
Future
• Controlling Speed and Time (Cited in
Halas & Wells 2006:160)
into a minute or two. The animator can
when a child was being set upon
This is a very helpful “check-list” of quali-
intervene in these timeframes, also, ac-
by his father, being beat up by his
ties specific to the animated form. Sym-
celerating or showing in slow motion
father with a belt – I created an
bolism can work to clarify and simplify
particular details. Halas’ theories rein-
octopus that had many belts on
an idea - a flag can represent a nation;
force the control the animator has in
its “hands” and would chase af-
a moving arrow, the direction of an invis-
constructing an artificial world that can
ter the children and would swing
ible force, like the wind; a single iconic
be determined on its own terms and
these huge belts at the children.
soldier, the military ambitions of a whole
conditions, and with varying degrees
That gave a psychological as-
country. Such devices can “picture the
of “realism” or to the point of complete
pect to it. When a little girl was
invisible,” too. Sound waves, magne-
abstraction.3 These conceptual ideas
sexually abused, I was able to
10
Writing Animated Documentary: A Theory of Practice Paul Wells
do research and found out that
ment” of how it feels to be abused as
of crucial importance in the animated
people who draw their trauma –
a child. This is but one example of the
documentary is the use of sound. All
both children and adults – have
ways in which the core principle of ani-
animation soundtracks are by definition
several motifs. Some are genita-
mation can be adopted to the tenets of
non-diegetic, though animated films are
lia, some are giant eyes because
documentary work.
made to ape live action conditions and
conventions in this regard after the fact.
there’s no privacy, and some are
drawings of hands. From that
Arguably, all documentary is to a certain
The role, function and status of the in-
research, I was able to put to-
extent ideologically charged and poten-
terview is at the heart of much debate
gether this huge blue hand that
tially politically motivated; conditions,
about animated documentary since it of-
comes into the child’s bedroom,
ironically, which are sometimes seem-
ten operates as the key indexical link to
steals the covers off the bed,
ingly anathema to the artist. Canemaker
“reality,” especially when it is the voice of
takes the teddy bear and throws
though, readily articulates the ideologi-
a specific witness, a known expert or crit-
it away, and then covers over the
cal imperatives and outcomes by delin-
ic, an authoritative participant or relevant
child with the giant hand. (Kriger
eating the creative process – thereafter,
observer. Film-maker, Dennis Tupicoff, is
2012:49)
how documentary work reveals itself
especially astute on this aspect of pro-
through animation. Robert Coles insists,
duction, as it informs one of the most no-
Note here Canemaker’s application of
however, that “put differently, what kind
table of recent animated documentaries,
Halas’ animation tools – the octopus as
of moral or psychological accountability
His Mother’s Voice (Dir: Dennis Tupicoff,
a symbol of multiple “beatings” by using
should we demand of ourselves, or who
Australia, 1997), featuring a deeply af-
the visual echo of its tentacles as belts;
lay claim to social idealism, or to a doc-
fecting radio interview of mother Kathy
picturing “child abuse” through the syn-
umentary tradition that (we hope) will
Easdale, as she describes the realisation
ecdoche of the giant blue hand of the
work towards a social good? – expose
and impact of the death of her son in a
abuser; penetrating the psychology of
injustice, shed light on human suffer-
shooting incident. Tupicoff – in the spirit
the abused by drawing upon research
ing or contribute to a growing body of
of both traditional and avant garde doc-
on common visual motifs representing
knowledge stored in libraries, in muse-
umentary, uses the interview twice, the
their pain and anxiety; selecting the ten-
ums, in film studios” (Coles 1997:74).
first time, ostensibly literally illustrating
tacle and the hand to exaggerate and
The answer to this question, in my view,
the mother’s version of events; the sec-
transform into the emblematic actions
is that “moral or psychological account-
ond time, playing out its psychological
of abuse; using animation to reveal and
ability” resides in the ideologically and
and emotional implications by drawing
illustrate a “past” made invisible by the
artistically driven investment in making
scenes in which the boy may once have
perpetrators of abuse, but anticipating a
an animated documentary, since its aes-
been present and is now absent; the
“future” that prevents such behaviour in
theticization is a marker of its authorial
world left behind, now only haunted by
the future; drawing long periods of pain
insight and an acknowledgement of a
his spirit. Tupicoff believed this was pos-
and suffering into the relief of concise,
methodology by which ethical and social
sible to do because of the strong rhythm
momentary, but powerful representa-
responsibility is articulated and made
he detected and believed occurred in the
tional imagery, that directs attention to
clear, and thereafter open to interpreta-
transition between her place as a wit-
unspeakable and unspoken about acts,
tion and evaluation.
ness, and her development into a “sto-
here now a matter of record, a “docu-
One aspect that Halas neglects, but is
ryteller” as she implicitly rehearsed the
11
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
narrative in its telling to others in the ten
Tupicoff identifies in her narrative, and
work, or for any creative process not to
day period between the incident and the
which becomes the essential “subject”
be characterised by problem solving
interview. He notes,
in his creative deployment of the second
and reflective re-engagement with, and
play of the interview, is a marker of the
modification of the work. With my “aca-
We all speak in a kind of rhythm.
transformation from surprise / shock to
demic” head on, I have long years of be-
In her monologue that you hear
grief / loss, and the significant shift from
ing taught and reading about “research
in the film, she speaks for six and
the “particular” to the “universal”; from
methods,” and apply these to conven-
a half minutes without a break
the “record” of events to a “document”
tional models of developing material for
in that rhythm. In fact, you can
that invites common empathy from
books and articles, but with my “screen-
tap it out on your knee, and you’ll
all who have known the death of those
writer / practitioner” head on, I have
see that it’s twenty six frames
who they have deeply loved. It is the very
always sought advice and techniques
per beat, without a break – until
“subjectivity” enabled by the animated
from fellow screenwriters, animators
fairly close to the end, when she
documentary that moves it beyond so-
and documentary film-makers. John
starts getting more upset, and
cial statement into full and literal “public
Canemaker, again, in his preparation for
then it goes up to 28. What is
engagement.”
The Moon and the Son, notes,
song but words in rhythm? She’s
actually “singing” a song of love
and grief to her deceased son. I
Research and Development
I started with research materials – newspaper reports, tran-
think one of the reasons it’s so
In recent years, there has been a shift in
scripts from my father’s court
effective is because the inter-
the Academy, in which practice has been
trial, family photos, a transcript
viewer lets her go on, and she
required to more properly evidence itself
of an interview with my father
strikes that rhythm, and she’s
as research. The animated documenta-
a couple of years before he
told it before, and it’s exactly like
ry’s affiliation with essayistic approach-
died, among other inspirational
a song. It’s unusual for any inter-
es and the necessity for what might be
sources including a few dreams.
viewer to let someone speak for
argued is either conventional primary re-
Based on that material, I began
six and a half minutes. (Kriger
search (ie the interview) or archival prac-
making many concept sketch-
2012:120-121)
tice (ie identifying footage, photographs,
es, idea drawings, paintings and
pertinent documents etc) or more broad-
doodles in different media ie
Tupicoff’s creation of a “subjective” ani-
ly, a relevant literature review, makes it
pencils, inks, pastels, watercol-
mated documentary neatly straddles the
comparatively easy to recognise as a
ors, gouache, etc. By the end of
line between illustration and stylisation,
model of published research. More chal-
my one month residency in Bel-
letting the rhythm of Easdale’s voice
lenging is to prove how an animated doc-
lagio, working every day, I had
dictate the pace and emotional impact
umentary not merely speaks to the pub-
the first draft of a storyboard or
of the film; her second delivery, shorn of
lic sphere as evidenced above, but how
script. (Kriger 2012:66)
the shock of what she reveals and the
in itself it answers research questions. It
immediacy of its impact, becoming fur-
is rare though for any creative practice
This is fundamentally concerned with
ther aestheticised by virtue of the shift
not to start with some core questions
gathering primary materials – testimony,
from revelation to reception. The “song”
the artist wishes to answer through the
photographic and institutionally archived
12
Writing Animated Documentary: A Theory of Practice Paul Wells
evidence, pertinent journalism, personal
merely a personal piece of art-making.
the pertinence of “animating” and the
memories and momentos. These func-
Conforming this, Paul Laverty, ex-lawyer
options available using digital tools. In-
tion both as possible materials to be
and human rights worker in Nicaragua,
evitably, animated documentary, often
included in the film, but crucially in the in-
screenwriter, and long time collaborator
uses a variety of approaches, consistent
stance of animation, as visual inspiration
with left-wing film-maker, Ken Loach, for
with budget, production time, aesthetic
for the film. By processes of “associative
example, suggests “research develops
style and preference, representational
relations” (see Wells 1998:93-97), Cane-
content,” but allied to this it is crucial to
convention and the varied mix of 2D and
maker does not seek to scout physical
remember “good issues don’t make good
2D software. These include:
locations or arrange shooting schedules,
films – good stories do,” necessitating
but visualise material pertinent to his
that a certain perspective is required in
theme, context and narrative intention.
which the “document”- primary or sec-
He develops his own visual text balanc-
ondary - essentially becomes subject to
ing his own concerns with those deter-
what I have termed, an animated non-fic-
mined by his text that require further
tional dramaturgy.4 The final remarks in
verification and validation.
this discussion then, begin to define this
dramaturgy, pertinent to Halas’ taxon-
This is effectively about mobilising perti-
omy above, and five core principles re-
nent secondary materials. Documentary
quired to create animated documentary,
Film-maker, Jon Else provides a useful
“rule of thumb” in this respect:
You need the ten most important and widely respected books
about the subject, and then you
read the two fringe books at
either end of the subject…you
figure out who are the ten important living people and what
are the ten important available
documents or pieces of stock
• Making Animation Choices
• Staging in Space
• Using Attachment and Detachment
• Episodic lists and Micro-Narratives
• Transition and Associative Relations
• These principles will be illustrated
from my own screenplay for The Oil
Kid.
• Full Animation (normally characters
and objects)
• Animating
Layers
(normally
fore-
ground, mid-composition, background
elements)
• Animating Single Elements (normally
simple single movements)
• Animating
Graphic
Symbols
and
Forms (normally, maps, graphs, statistics, diagrams, charts, arrows, shapes,
etc)
• Animating with the Camera (normally
rapid zooms or lateral tracks to link elements in the composition)
• Animating in rapid edits (normally
motion created through fast-paced
montage)
• No Animation (normally, establishing
shots, close-ups, two-shots with key
Five Core Principles
Making Animation Choices
visual information)
Here is a short sequence featuring Knut,
footage. And then you call the
In any discussion with animators, it is
a long time veteran of the oil industry,
experts. (Bernard 2007:118)
always ironic that in any consideration
engaging his eco-warrior grand-daugh-
of the work before them, explained by
ter, Hanna, recalling her father, Morten’s
This may not be always required, of
directors, and implied in the script, sto-
death. It is a purely visual scene, which
course, but what it ensures is that the
ryboard and animatic, that they consider
could be animated in any style, but it
interpellation of the material is always
any way in which they can avoid “ani-
uses the camera to essentially “zoom”
driven by a social subjectivity inform-
mating”!! This is not about any intrinsic
to a flashback, that remains a shared
ing a non-fictional enunciation, and not
laziness or short-cutting, however, but
memory for the two characters triggered
13
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
by the photograph. Little needs to be
of the corridor they initially walked
Once more, the opening scene below,
“animated” in this sequence, so more
down.
shows that a range of animation tech-
dramatic weight might be accorded to
animating the key action of the accident.
Scene
niques can be deployed, here for exam-
Staging in Space – Uniplanar,
Cross-planar, Multi-planar
ple, using some primary photographic
materials, 2D motion graphics, and a
choreographic principle in which the en-
Crafton has identified the importance of
vironment is just as “animated” as the
CUT TO
uniplanar and cross-planar movement in
characters. Equally, the sound affords
Int-day-Office
determining animation space (Crafton
the opportunity to contextualise the visu-
2013:170), the former left to right or right
al material as a changing historical time-
Knut looks at Hanna and smiles. He
to left sequential movement in which the
line, mixing the personal and the social.
picks up a picture on his desk and shows
character does not change scale; the
it fondly to Hanna. It is an image of Knut,
latter background to foreground or fore-
Hanna and Morten standing on a quay-
ground to back- ground movement that
side, all wearing hardhats.
necessitates a change of size, definition
A gush of oil emerges from the bottom of
and scale in the character as it corre-
the screen, splashing across the frame
Both look up quickly and the camera
sponds to changing perspective and
and forming the title “The Oil Kid” [Sub-
speeds out through the window to view
depth of field. Though the former with its
title…The Story of Oil in Norway], which
an incident of Morten in a supply boat,
key poses and in-betweens, and possible
in turn metamorphoses into the silhou-
tossed by high seas. We see Morten hit
multi-limbed gestures and movements,
etted figure of a man in the far distance
by a container on a crane. He falls down
is complex, all the more demanding is
– this is Knut, who slowly advances into
seemingly unconscious.
creating all that while moving the char-
the foreground amidst numerous photo-
acter into the distance, and vice versa.
graphs which appear, creating a virtual
The image speeds back to the hand
More significantly, though, in the digital
passage for him to walk through. On the
holding the photo as it is slowly placed
era, is the ease with which characters
sound track is a radio constantly being
back on the desk. Knut then picks up an
and objects can move through multi-pla-
re-tuned – we hear fragments of music,
envelope.
nar perspectives in implied space. This
news commentary, weather forecasts,
is a very important consideration in
interference etc, which compliments the
CUT TO
script-writing since it encourages the
images looked at. These include images
CU of Knut taking out an invitation to
creation of action, mobility and blocking
from Knut’s career in the oil industry, im-
the EcoFisk Jubilee Celebration, which
in three dimensions rather than in two-di-
ages of a changing Norway, and family
he intends to give to Hanna,
mensional “flat” space, even though this
photographs.
Scene
is always available to the animator, parCUT TO
ticularly when using more specifically
Knut then walks into a space in which
Knut turns towards where she was.
graphic signs. Crucially, it enables con-
the images surround him in a circle, al-
densation in the composition of the mise
most suggesting a “hall of mirrors.” We
CUT TO
en scene, and metamorphosis within the
observe him glancing from one to anoth-
Hanna walking away in the far distance
mise en scene (see Wells 1998:69-79)
er. He looks back and forth between the
14
Writing Animated Documentary: A Theory of Practice Paul Wells
following images as a set of contrasting
they’re driving the wounded and
the gallery. The Nopef logo on the card
“pairs.”
the dead in the armored vehicles
comes into focus; the flame on top of
– these are extremely violent,
the rig in the logo suddenly flares and
graphic shots. Had the audience
Knut drops the card as if reminded of
in live action seen these in live
earlier more incendiary times. He picks
action, they might have turned
up the card, looks at his younger face on
away. (Kriger 2012:11)
it. The image expands from his face out-
CUT TO….
Using Attachment and
Detachment
wards to discover Knut standing holding
Thus far, though the scenes from The Oil
The use of animation in these instances
a “JOIN YOUR UNION NOW” placard, in
Kid clearly demonstrate their “animated
then becomes an interrogation of reality
front of colleagues with other placards.
documentary” credentials in the materi-
as it seeks to document it. The following
The camera moves along a line of men
al used, the decisions about animation
sequence shows the moment when “a
with placards noting “NO THIRD CLASS
technique and the fabrication within a
union card” attaches Knut to his role in
WORKERS,” “PAY THE PRICE, COUNT
multi-planar space are also pertinent to
the unions, but the process of uncoupling
THE COST,” “MORE RESPECT, MORE
fictional animation texts. Crucial in the
enables the image of the oil rig to come
PAY,” and “SAFETY FIRST.” This is ac-
animated documentary, though, is what
to life in the animation of a “flame,” and
companied by crowd noise and discon-
I am calling the process of uncoupling, in
detaches the literal object into some-
tented murmuring.
which the expected indexical validity of a
thing which becomes metaphorically
literal representation, and the anchoring
significant as a commentary on the oil
in material reality this implies, becomes
industry. Equally, here there is attention
subject to the more illusionist applica-
to the use of “screens” as visual contexts
The screen of the mobile phone with
tions of the animated form. Simply, the
for core narrative information – first, the
Hanna’s thumb flicking through a series
animation screenwriter looks to partic-
placards, and second, the use of a mo-
of images of her and Knut – Knut push-
ular “documentary” images and sounds
bile phone photo cache to tell the implied
ing a young Hanna on a swing; Knut and
that attach the narrative to actuality and
story of Hanna’s childhood. This may be
Hanna walking a dog; Knut showing
realism, only to seek out symbolic or
done in metamorphosing animation or
Hanna how to use a fishing rod; Hanna
associative relations in the images and
in shifting stills. Significant, then, is that
proudly holding a trophy observed by a
sounds that detach the narrative into the
the screenwriter must seek out ways
smiling Knut; Knut and Hanna with their
rhetorical illusionism of animation – an
in which attachment / detachment os-
heads through a seaside sideshow prop,
artifice that is not available in live action.
cillates in the imagery to fix the text as
where they both look like clowns; Knut
As animator on Waltz with Bashir (Dir:
“non-fiction” but provoke socio-symbolic
giving Hanna an ice cream at a rig’s fes-
Ari Folman, Israel, 2008), Yori Goodman
and personal-as-political meaning in the
tival-style opening; Knut giving Hanna a
confirms:
narrative.
toy doll.
Scene
Episodic Lists and MicroNarratives
Animation has a kind of “detaching” quality about it, so you can
take the audience further. For ex-
Knut plucks his Norwegian Oil and Pet-
ample, the scene in Bashir where
rochemical Workers Union card from
CUT TO
Whereas fragmentary images in live
15
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
action are normally used for montage
Hanna (VO)
CU: Hanna looking towards the camera
sequences, in animation they are usu-
(Images of masses of falling ice into wa-
ally important place-holders for narra-
ter) The atmosphere, the weather, the en-
tive information. Embedded in singular
vironment, everything is changing. They
images with minimal or no animation
are trying to deny it but global warming
is normally episodic suggestion of ac-
is right here, right now. The glaciers are
tion or a specific kind of pictorial record.
melting, sea levels are rising. There are
I have mentioned associative relations
Thereafter, embedded in short sequenc-
floods destroying crops. There is only di-
earlier – essentially narratives that can
es or “micro-narratives” – effectively the
saster, if we don’t do something.
be developed through visual echoes and
accumulative building blocks of “story” in
animation – are resonant and suggestive images with compressed content
and context that serve to simultaneously
operate literally and symbolically. The
following sequence uses a simple metamorphosis device in the “spinning” of
the placard to use a “screen” that could
be used for animated drawings, photographs or live action footage. These are
the embedded “episodes” here that Hanna commentates on, but the “micro-narrative” is Hanna using the placard as a
vehicle of protest against the oil industry,
directed at her grandfather. The content
and context are condensed in a single
piece of staging – a micro-narrative.
(images of forest fires) Heat waves come
unexpectedly. Fires break out.
(Image of storms) Storms come more
frequently too.
(Image of drought) Yet there is water
shortage, drought, deserts, disease.
(Image of armed figures) And there is
panic, poverty, and people fighting to
survive.
(Image of lone animals) No bio-diversity.
Species extinct. Ecosystems destroyed.
(Image of classic “rig” with burning gas
grandpa. Burning oil and gas. Don’t you
Hanna
understand? This has to stop somehow.
People are dying, Granpa. Dying from
Knut
climate change caused by the bloody oil
industry. It has to stop.
Hanna spins her placard, which arrests
at various images as she speaks about
them.
16
So, a doomsayer now, Hanna. Is that all
you can see when you look at oil ? (Dismissive) You are being childish.
CUT TO
Transition and Associative
Relations
conceptual suggestion – but for the
screenwriter, this is effectively the “content” by which transition writing, suited to
metamorphosis and micro-narrative is
achieved. Below is a sequence in which
Knut describes the development of his
career - and with it a social history of
some aspects of the oil industry - by using a series of transforming doors. Such
doors are historically situated, enabling
movement of the narrative through time,
and the scene at the end of the sequence,
evidences documentary research of the
flame) And why ? Carbon emissions,
Scene
with a sullen anger on her face.
ways in which oil industry practices and
artifacts impacted on domestic scenarios, and an early hint of the presence of
American companies in the first claims
to the oil fields.
Scene
Knut moves out of the frame and brings
a basic door back with him, fitting it in
the space.
Knut (VO)
At first, it was silly things. Some of the
Writing Animated Documentary: A Theory of Practice Paul Wells
rigs did not even have toilet doors. We
Knut now standing in the garden.
objected. We fitted them.
approaches and techniques cited above,
Knut
The door starts to change. It develops a
pane of glass, becoming an office door.
convicted murder suspects, uses all the
to achieve animated visual essays that
characterize the combination of doc-
Don’t you remember the fun you had ?
umentary work and an artist-essayist
With your dad ?.
point of view. Consequently, like many
Knut (VO)
animated documentary film-makers, like
A young Hanna plays in the garden, with
those cited above, and hopefully illus-
The men worked hard. The management
Hanna’s father, Morten. There are some
trated in my own work, Sofian uses the
got better, Less them and us.
oil rig parts – drill-bits and oil drums etc,
opportunity to animate in the documen-
present as ornaments. A tyre is used as
tary mode to offer alternative and less
The door starts to change. It becomes
the flat base for a swing, hanging from a
obvious “truths” by innovative interpella-
Knut’s office door that we saw earlier.
tree. Morten wears a Diver’s helmet and
tion and interpolation, that in turn offers
Knut (VO)
Some of us did quite well.
stands on the tyre. Hanna wears a cow-
insight about the subject, and empower-
boy hat , and throws him a rope. Hanna
ment to the subjects. Her own aesthetic
pulls him towards her. Morten jumps
motifs – flowing shifts of point of view,
from the tyre and pretends he is being
illustrations of action and reaction not
drawn up from the sea.
subject to live action record, and close-
The door starts to change. It becomes
an ornate house door.
Knut (VO)
ups of eyes to stress psychological and
Nothing But the Truth
emotional response – reveal the implied
verité of subjective experience within the
As I have sought to demonstrate here,
context of failing or alien or contested
the animated documentary affords the
social, cultural and legal infrastructures.
On shore, the standard of living got bet-
film-maker, animator and screenwriter
Ultimately, it is this, that characteriz-
ter. We could afford better homes.
the opportunity to combine the “vari-
es the rhetorical function of animation
ousness” that constitutes both forms
when engaged with non-fiction, and
The door starts to change. It changes
in a socially directed vehicle of non-fic-
specifically, ideologically-charged doc-
into a wooden cottage door.
tional expression underpinned by a con-
umentary forms, and which may be un-
sciously authorial voice. To take but one
derstood and applied through the core
outstanding example, the work of Sheila
dramaturgy outlined here as a theory of
Sofian, in films as diverse as Survivors
practice, and a practice of theory.
Knut (VO)
Your father could buy the cottage. Your
(Dir: Sheila Sofian, USA, 1997) about the
home. You are an oil kid, Hanna.
victims of domestic violence; A Conversation with Haris (Dir: Sheila Sofian, USA,
A younger Hanna runs out from the door
2001) about a young Bosnian immigrant
into the cottage garden.Ext-Day-The gar-
talking about his impression of the Ser-
den of the seaside dwelling
bian conflict; and Truth Has Fallen (Dir:
Sheila Sofian, USA, 2013), about wrongly
17
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1
Bibliography
Notes
Bernard, S.C. (2007). Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger and More Dramatic
1 See Field, S. 2003. The Definitive Guide to
Screenwriting. London : Ebury Press; Field,
S. 2005. Screenplay: The Foundations of
Screenwriting. New York: Bantam Dell /
Random House; Mckee.R. 1999. Story. London: Methuen; Vogler, C. 2007. The Writer’s
Journey. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
Nonfiction Films. London & New York: Elsevier / Focal Press.
Coles, R. (1997). Doing Documentary Work. New York & London: OUP.
Crafton, D. (2013). Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief and World-Making in Animation. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press.
Halas, V. and Wells, P. (2006). Halas & Batchelor Cartoons: An Animated History. London: Southbank Books.
Hediger, V. & Vonderau, P. (eds). (2009). Films That Work: Industrial Film and the Productivity of Media. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Honess Roe, A. (2013). Animated Documentary. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Kriger, J. (2012). Animated Realism: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Animated Documentary Genre. London & New York: Elsevier / Focal Press.
Macdonald, S. (2015). Avant Doc: Intersections of Documentary and Avant Garde Cinema. Oxford & New York: OUP.
Rascaroli, L. (2009). The Personal Camera: Subjective Camera and the Essay Film. London & New York: Wallflower Press.
Skoller, J. (ed). (2011). Making It (Un)real: Contemporary Theories and Practices in
Documentary Animation. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 6 (3), pp. 207–214.
Stallabrass, J. (ed). (2013). Documentary. London & Cambridge MA: Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press.
Vogler, C. (2007). The Writer’s Journey. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
2 It should be stressed that these are not new
considerations but were previously marginalized in the discussion of documentary.
Though documentary theories have directly
embraced Vertov, Jennings, Ivens, Herzog,
Morris etc. as film-makers who re-define
documentary on more aesthetic terms, it
was an early as 1971 that Rosenthal acknowledges that ‘optical transformation’ in
Norman McLaren’s Pas de Deux Dir:Norman
McLaren, Can, 1968) was a way of thinking about an interface between animation
and live action that spoke to documentary
tropes. See Rosenthal, A. 1971. The New
Documentary in Action: A Casebook in Film
Making. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London:
University of California Press.
3 For more extended descriptions and critical perspectives on the distinctive language
of animation, see Beckman, K. (ed). 2014.
Animating Film Theory, Durham & London:
Duke University Press; Furniss, M. 1998. Art
in Motion: Animation aesthetics, Eastleigh:
John Libbey Publishing; Furniss, M. 2008.
The Animation Bible. London: Laurence
King Publishing; Gehman, C. & Reinke, S.
2005. The Sharpest Point: Animation at the
End of Cinema, YYZ Books: Ottawa; Pikkov,
U. 2010. Animasophy: Theoretical Writings
on the Animated Film, Talinn : Estonian
Academy of Arts; Wells, P. 1998. Understanding Animation, London & New York:
Routledge; Wells, P. & Hardstaff, J. Re-Imagining Animation: the Changing Face of the
Moving Image., Lausanne : AVA Academia.
4 Personal Interview with the Author, June
2007.
18