Deadline: October 7, 2024

The idea of metamorphosis spans across a variety of fields, such as ancient literature, biology, fine art and cinema, just to mention a few. What is common though, is that metamorphosis entails a process of remarkable change. The fascination of the significant change caused by metamorphosis in the context of moving images was brought to attention by Sergei Eisenstein in his study notes Eisenstein on Disney (1986, Jay Leyda e.d.), in Vivian Sobchack’s Meta-Morphing: Visual Transformation and the Culture of Quick-Change from 2000, and 20 years later Martin M. Winkler notes in his book Ovid on Screen: A Montage of Attractions (2020) that:

“Much of the storytelling in moving images is by definition a process of metamorphosis, for the individual static images on a filmstrip appear to be moving and changing in sequential order when they are being projected. The same holds for storytelling on film, video, or computer. To tell about changing forms and appearances – in Ovid’s words: In nova … mutatas dicere formas … corpora (Met.1.1–2) – is the very essence of cinema”.

(Winkler 2020, p. 5 )

When it comes to specific animations, think of Canadian-American Caroline Leaf’s poetic animation The Street (1976), Italien Gianluigi Toccafondo’s humorous work Pinocchio (1999), Swiss Georges Schwizgebel’s rhythmic animations Jeu (2006), and Japanese Kōji Yamamura’s existential short Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor (2007).

We are interested in exploring aesthetic, artistic, technical, historical and theoretical dimensions of visual metamorphosis in animation. We approach visual metamorphosis in the broadest sense possible and topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Any insight into the technical possibility and artistic creation of visual metamorphosis in animation, expanding on the purpose of its use or effects in the viewing experience.
• Analysis of visual metamorphosis as it is used within specific animated works.
• Theoretical debate about how metamorphosis applies to the visual form of the image, to characters and their development, to the adaptation across media etc.
• Historical studies of the idea of metamorphosis across animation and moving images.

We welcome posts that are:

1. Between 600 and 900 words discussing any aspect of the above topics. 
2. Forwarded as a Microsoft Word document. 
3. Include at least one image to visually support their argument/post.
   • a) The images must be less than 2 MB in size per image and sent as individual files. 
   • b) However, please indicate where the images should be placed, including image caption(s) and credits.
   • c) All permissions are the responsibility of the contributor.
4. Include a short bio of 100 words max.
5. Include 3 keywords.

Please contact co-editors Carmen Hannibal and Anastasiia Gushchina via blog@animationstudies.org with submissions and/or questions.