ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a key feature of visualization, namely shot scale, a formal feature of the moving image through which animation designers can regulate the apparent distance and size of objects on screen. It reviews the findings of a series of experiments on the effect of various aspects of close-ups on theory-of-mind responding in viewers of animated films. In order to understand the effect of close-ups on viewers' responses to animated narratives, the chapter presents a model of the process of narrative comprehension. The empirical studies of visualization have been lacking a comprehensive framework that integrates formal features, narrative processing, and viewers' responses. Experimental methods are rarely used in film and animation studies, although they can provide scholars with important insights. Seeing the story with a closer visual-spatial proximity to the characters brings the mind and consciousness of the characters into the foreground of the narrative experience.
