The Hero’s Journey and its Practical Uses in Visual Storytelling

by Angel Mey

 

Human society runs on stories. It always has. From oral myths past down generations, to the paintings marked on the inside of cave walls, to the films we watch, and the books we read today, stories create our reality, they shape the way we as individuals see the world. A good story can change our perception and help us change the biases in our interpretation of the world.

This study sets out to explore ways of meaningful storytelling within the fields of visual art and stop motion.

It is said that mythological narratives frequently follow a fundamental structure. This structure has been observed in mythology and other forms of storytelling all over the world, across religion, race, time, and ancestry. This study investigates this structure as a working framework for story development. It synthesizes both traditional and unconventional ways of art and film making, to explore what it means to create an engaging narrative.

The findings of this study are presented here as a story, told in stop motion, and a collection of the parts involved in its development. This story has been developed in collaboration with Africa Earth Observatory Network and the Africa Alive Corridor project (AAC). The AAC aims to tell the geologic, biologic, and cultural ‘transdisciplinary autobiography’ of Africa. The AAC is part of a global initiative to stem the 6th extinction and deal with global climate change.

This stop motion film forms part of this initiative as it explores how fine art, fiction, and multimodal storytelling can be used as a platform to highlight environmental issues.