STILL ANIMATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF DISSEMINATING ANANSE STORIES IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF AGROYESUM IN THE ASHANTI REGION BY SELA KODJO ADJEI B.A COMMUNICATION DESIGN (HONS) A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (African Art and Culture) Faculty of Fine Art, College of Art and Social Sciences © May 2012, Department of General Art Studies 1 STILL ANIMATION: AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF DISSEMINATING ANANSE STORIES IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF AGROYESUM IN THE ASHANTI REGION BY SELA KODJO ADJEI KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI MAY, 2012 2 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work towards the award of Master of Philosophy in African Art and Culture and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contains neither material previously published by another person nor material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree of the University, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. ADJEI, SELA KODJO PG5162410 ………………………… ….…………………… Student name & ID Signature Date Certified by: DR. STEVE KQUOFI ………………………... .….…………………… (Research Supervisor) Signature Date Certified by: 3 NANA AFIA OWUSU-ASARE ………………………... .….…………………… (Head of Department) Signature Date DEDICATION This research is primarily dedicated to the younger generation of Ghanaians to acquaint them with the rich moral lessons embedded in “forgotten” Ananse Folktales. It is also dedicated to naive children who encounter various Ananse archetypes in their day to day encounters. Finally, this research is dedicated to my family and friends. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMNTS I owe my deepest appreciation to Dr. Mawuli Adjei, Mrs. Rosemary Adjei, Dr. Steve Kquofi, Mrs. Nana Afia Opoku Asare, Dr. Opamshen Osei-Agyemang, Dr. Derrick Oppong, and Dr. Joe Adu-Agyem for their collective motivational messages, constructive criticisms, and unrelenting words of encouragement in hastening my zeal for pursuing higher education and successfully completing my two-year MPhil programme. Finally, I am profoundly indebted once again, to Dr. Steve Kquofi, my supervisor, for his priceless diligence, prudence and intellectual contributions in making this research a resourceful and noteworthy contribution in the study and appreciation of African arts and culture. Special thanks also go to Mr. Kusi Appouh, who contributed thoughtful clues to the creative aspect of the research. Finally, to all the lecturers and colleagues in the Department of General Art who in diverse ways helped me to complete this research successfully. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page DECLARATION............................................................................................................................i DEDICATION...............................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................iv ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................xiii 1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1 1.1 Overview....................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Background to the study............................................................................................................2 1.3 Statement of the problem...........................................................................................................2 1.4 Objectives..................................................................................................................................3 1.5 Research Questions....................................................................................................................3 1.6 Delimitation...............................................................................................................................4 1.6.2 Limitation...............................................................................................................................4 1.7 Importance of the study.............................................................................................................4 1.8 Organisation of text....................................................................................................................5 6 1.9 Abbreviations used.....................................................................................................................6 2.0 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE............................................7 2.1 Overview....................................................................................................................................7 2.1 Oral tradition .............................................................................................................................7 2.2 Folktales......................................................................................................................…….......9 2.2.1 Types of Folktales.................................................................................................................10 2.3. Ananse stories.........................................................................................................................15 2.3.1 References of Ananse in popular culture..............................................................................17 2.3.2 Plays and animations on the theme of Ananse......................................................................19 2.3.3 The role of Ananse stories in indigenous societies in Ghana................................…….......20 2.4 Animation................................................................................................................………...22 2.4.1 2D Animation.........................................................................................................………...25 2.5 Character development for animation.....................................................................................29 2.5.1 Character design for animation.............................................................................................31 2.7 Plot for animation........................................................................................................…........32 2.7.1 Script for animation..............................................................................................................33 2.8. Layout design..........................................................................................................................35 2.8.1 Storyboard and composition.................................................................................................38 2.9 Summary of discussion............................................................................................................40 3.0 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY...........................................................................41 3.1 Overview..................................................................................................................................41 3.2 Research design ........................................................................................................……......41 3.3 Population and Sampling method.............................................................................…….......42 3.4 Data collecting instruments......................................................................................…….…...42 3.4.1 Interviews..............................................................................................................………....43 7 3.4.2 Observation...........................................................................................................………....43 3.5 Sources of Data.......................................................................................................………....43 3.5.1 Library research.......................................................................................................……….44 3.5.2 Pre-testing.............................................................................................................................44 3.5.3 Data analysis plan.................................................................................................................45 3.6 Project execution..........................................................................................................……....45 3.7 Pre-production stage of Still animation...........................................................………..........45 3.7.1 Idea development for animation...............................................................................46 3.7.2 Script for animation.......................................................................................…........47 3.7.3 Screen play.................................................................................................................48 3.8 Anatomy of the story..............................................................................................................49 3.8.1 Shooting Script..........................................................................................................52