The course is aimed at those who wish to embark on a journey to discover the narrative power that lies in the silence of the written word.
In the course proposed by the teacher, illustrator and narrator become a single voice that learns to guide the reader’s gaze, thought and feeling as the narrated story unfolds. Word and image originate from the same magical principle defined by Gianni Rodari as “the fantastic pair”, i.e. the combination of two unusual and totally assonant words capable of triggering a short circuit in the imagination so as to give life to a tale.
This is how images work, becoming the propulsion of stories. These will be the starting point for writing a text that will then be resolved through wordless narration.
The course opens with an introductory lecture on the peculiarities of wordless books and how they work. Through bibliographical examples, the visual mechanisms leading to this particular narration will be analysed, focusing more on the circular structure typical of many silent books.
Pupils are invited to bring in iconographic material (objects, photographs, character studies, discordant in form, meaning, nature and content), which will be used as a starting point for the construction of an idea aimed at developing a short text with a very simple plot. This will be used as a starting point for the construction of an idea aimed at the development of a short text with a very simple plot. On this, a script will be set up to serve as an outline for the design of a storyboard, which will then be developed into a predetermined number of pages where particular attention will be paid to the shots and their rhythmic succession.
Illustration by Alice Barberini, Hamelin, Orecchio Acerbo editore, 2017