The invisible image: a study on animated representation in the adaptation of the Bible

Abstract

The adaptation of the Bible into visual media has been practiced for centuries. To find out why visual adaptation techniques were used for biblical accounts into animation, this paper compares panel-based image story-telling techniques against those of animation. It does so by providing an in-depth analysis of the representational processes involved for animation to communicate meaning, namely Roland Barthes’s photographic Connotation Procedures in relation to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s principles of animation, and Foucault’s discussion of discourse.