Material aesthetics of stop-motion animation as a factor of trust: Narrative and cinematic analysis of the project

Abstract

The growing crisis of media trust and fatigue with a standardised digital aesthetic encourage audiences to seek out an authentic visual experience. Stop-motion animation meets this request because of its fundamental materiality – the ability to turn the physical presence of objects into an aesthetic argument for authenticity. In this context, materiality appears not only as a technical characteristic of time-lapse animation, but also as an independent aesthetic category that affects the development of trust and the reduction of social distance between the message and the viewer. The purpose of the study was to theoretically substantiate stop-motion animation as a factor in the development of audience trust and identify artistic mechanisms of its implementation, in particular, through narrative and cinematic means of organising the audio-visual series. The research material was an author’s social and educational project implemented within the framework of interdisciplinary cooperation between the Department of Visual Design and Art of the National University “Lviv Polytechnic” and the public sector. The methodology combined contextual, structural and system, and comparative analysis with practicebased research, which allowed integrating artistic design into the scientific plane and tracing the relationship between the material organisation of the image, the type of narrative, and the mechanisms of trust development. The results of the study showed that materiality in stop-motion animation functions as an aesthetic mechanism for reducing social distance and increasing the acceptance of media messages. The correlation between the textured organisation of the image, compositional chamber, and causally constructed narrative, implemented through cinematic techniques (editing, framing, rhythmic organisation), which form the effect of authenticity on the visual-plastic and emotional levels, was revealed. It was proved that the material aesthetics of stop-motion appears as an independent artistic factor of trust, expanding the idea of the functioning of this technique beyond its technological definition and actualising its potential in hyper-digital culture. The results obtained can be used by designers, teachers, and developers of social and communication media projects to create visual content aimed at increasing audience confidence in a hyper-digital environment.