The Art of Storytelling (Part V): Narration and Focalization

This is the fifth and final animation film about the art of story-telling. It explains how stories can be narrated, and how this narration relates to the literal or mental perspective the story provides to the audience -- directly or via characters.

[samanzibar]

I love this video! I laughed at these animation so much and the serious British voice is the perfect foil for them.

[beccafull]

Was not expecting the shlong at 2:09 but it was funny lol and the animation broke down the concepts perfectly. Thank you 😊

[yagmur]

A very useful video for my Language&Literacy class! Thank you! You must continue producing such videos :)

[rosanaferrareto]

Thanks and congratulation for the great job! I was excited waiting for this final film. Perspective is amazing to storytelling!

[rickbiessman]

Hmmm... this may work as a basic introduction into some narratological concepts but I am a bit wary of the mingling of terms that is happening here. Also I find some of the animation distracting or misleading. E.g., the example for an unreliable narrator might be misunderstood in that the character portrayed is unreliable because they are drawing a knife and should not be trusted, which would mean that unreliability refers to a diegetic character rather than the narrator’s narrating.
Also I wish here was a more thorough explanation of how focalization works differently in written and film fiction. I find this especially important because the video essay character of this video resembles the narratological mechanics of film.
Finally, Genette has proven that narrative perspective is more complex than the "objective perspective of the external narrator and the subjective perspective of a character" since mood and voice are not identical.

[fitsumberhangebru]

hi, would you have some notes or pdf file about embedded narrative please?
Thank You

[__callmepluto]

Can you please explain focalisation in cold comfort farm? 🥺

[sorayakhan]

I am puzzled as to why there is a penis in the animation, actually quite disgusted.