Design and production of selected Akan mythological narratives through animation

Abstract

The study contextually analysed three selected Akan mythological narratives to ascertain their philosophical meanings and the moral lessons embedded in the stories and translated them into digital content for the purpose of promoting art and culture. The researcher employed qualitative research approach. Historical, descriptive and design-based research designs under the qualitative research were used. The accessible population for the study constituted Chiefs, Heads of families, and elderly people of the Akan ethnic groups in Ghana who gave further explanations to the mythical narratives documented in primary schools’ textbooks published in the 1990s. The researcher employed design-based researched approached to translate one of the narratives documented into animation using 2D animation technique. Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro were chiefly used in executing the animation project. The story was x-rayed through textual analyses and the result was converted into a script; outlining the various scenes, camera angle and the visual transitions that best communicate the theme. The animation created was subjected to evaluation by primary school pupils. In all 120 pupils from three schools participated in the evaluation process. The experimental method and the Learning Object Resource Instruments were the evaluation schemes employed. The results indicate that, Akans mythical narratives contain the traditional beliefs, moral and ethical components of the people’s culture and philosophy and these were used as the foundation for imparting some critically examined culturally relevant concepts to pupils. The findings of the study show that the use of culturally relevant visual elements, socially meaningful characters and the use of the animation production technique and sound, help children to easily recollect visual messages, decode and understand abstract or philosophical concept in animated format.