Time Frames: Differentiating Past and Present through Hybrid Animation in Les Abeilles d’eau douce

This paper explores the role of hybrid animation as a storytelling device, with a particular focus on its ability to visually differentiate past and present within narrative structures. Hybrid animation, which blends traditional hand-drawn techniques, computer-generated imagery, and live-action footage, has emerged as a vital tool in modern animation, offering unique aesthetic and narrative flexibility. Existing research highlights hybrid animation’s capacity to overcome the limitations of individual techniques, enhance realism, and support memory representation, especially in non-linear storytelling. However, the specific function of hybrid animation in depicting shifts between past and present remains underexplored. This paper addresses that gap by analyzing the animated film Les Abeilles d’eau douce by Emma Kanouté, in which different visual styles are used to separate present experiences from memories. Through close visual analysis, the paper examines how watercolor backgrounds and soft, blurred footage serve as temporal markers, guiding the viewer through shifts between present and past. The results show that this stylistic hybridity not only clarifies the film’s temporal structure but also heightens its emotional depth. This paper underscores the broader potential of hybrid animation to enrich narrative complexity, particularly in representing memory and the passage of time.