The use of metamorphosis in animated and live-action films towards a visually appealing hybrid

Abstract

The study explores the use of metamorphosis as a narrative technique and spectacle, creating visually appealing hybridity in live-action and animated films. Hybridity refers to the amalgamation of live action and animation characters, resulting in new visual metaphors. The extent to which metamorphosis can be used to depict a change of state from an animated character to a live-action character and vice versa, is explored through surreal aesthetics, subconscious realities and unpredictable and illogical abstract juxtapositions. The study is practice-led and practice-based, and it culminated in an exhibition entitled “Kkobe: My Totem”. The practical component of this research was presented in video installations that encompass comparing the application of metamorphosis and hybridity using Švankmajer’s devices applied in his film Alice. Kkobe is the name of an African indigenous plant with climbing/creeping stems that produces a yam vegetable/or air potatoes. It has been adopted as a totem by the central Ugandan Baganda people and is highly valued for providing food security. This study is set within the Reciprocal theory and explains how the original narrative and the hybridised visual spectacle are enhanced by the process of metamorphosis. It makes use of meta-analysis to identify and analyse trends, patterns and themes across a diverse array of artworks, artists, movements and historical periods. By integrating data from existing studies, the researcher was able to gain insights into prevailing artistic styles, influences and debates regarding the scope of metamorphosis in animated and live-action films. The study positions the emergent artwork in “Kkobe: My Totem”, with European surrealist films towards the preservation of the Baganda's cultural heritage through digital metamorphosis. In this study, metamorphosis is placed as an appropriate storytelling device that erodes creative boundaries and empowers animators with freedom of expression and creative imagination to re-imagine, achieve and appreciate the fluid nature of oral storytelling and cultural values.