Poetics of Animation: Medium, Context and Aesthetics

doi:10.3167/9781836955856

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Poetics of Animation

Medium, Context and Aesthetics

Paul Taberham

362 pages, 2 tables, 134 figs, bibliog., index

ISBN 978-1-83695-585-6 $150.00/£115.00 / Hb / Not Yet Published (August 2026)

eISBN 978-1-83695-586-3 eBook Not Yet Published

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Reviews

“By broadening the theoretical conversation around animation through poetics, the author positions it not as an isolated form but as an integral part of wider moving image practice and history.” • Dr Calum Main, University of Edinburgh

“a highly ambitious book that offers readers a set of interpretive tools and areas of intense focus, which enhance aesthetic and experiential encounters with commercial animation and its diverse production techniques.” • Dr Christopher Holliday, King’s College London

Description

This is the first account of studio animation written from an historical-poetic perspective. Focusing on how animated films are created and experienced, Poetics of Animation brings together the study of visual style, performance, storytelling, and sound situating them within their industrial and technological contexts. It traces how animators work within and against convention, and how constraints become sources of invention and style. It also explores the ways in which animation overlaps with, but remains distinct from, live-action filmmaking, revealing how the medium’s unique properties shape its poetic structures. Combining critical depth with accessibility, Poetics of Animation offers an original contribution to animation studies and serves as a valuable teaching resource for students, scholars, and practitioners interested in understanding the art and craft of animation.

Paul Taberham is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Arts University Bournemouth. He is the author of Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist and co-editor of Cognitive Media Theory, Experimental Animation: From Analogue to Digital, and Introduction to Screen Narrative: Perspectives on Story Production and Comprehension. He is also co-editor of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Animation Studies. A Fellow of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image and a member of the editorial board for Animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal. His research approaches film and animation through the analytic tradition, with particular attention to cognition, narratology, and poetics.

Subject: Film and Television Studies

Subject Codes

BISAC:
PER004080 PERFORMING ARTS/Film/Genres/Animated;
PER017000 PERFORMING ARTS/Animation;
PER004030 PERFORMING ARTS/Film & Video/History & Criticism;
SOC052000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Media Studies

THEMA: ATFV; ATFA; ATFX; JBCT

Chapter 1. Motion
Chapter 2. The Twelve Principles and Beyond
Chapter 3. Performance: Key Concepts and Developments
Chapter 4. Performance: A New Taxonomy
Chapter 5. Character Design: Key Developments
Chapter 6. Character Design: Realism, Coding, Appeal
Chapter 7. Mise-en-scène
Chapter 8. Cinematography
Chapter 9. Storytelling
Chapter 10. Sound

Conclusion

References
Index

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