Human beings have been performing theatrics since the dawn of man. Whether the reason was to educate, as a ritual, to entertain or talk about the one that got away; its part of our personalities to convey a subject in a form of a story. It's a better vehicle for people to understand. It was primitive man who used performing as rituals that they believed could bring the sun out or make it rain. Prior to the written language, theatrics educated the young through these rituals and initiations, some still being used today among Australian and African tribes, but also has found a way into our educational institutions.

Whether it's a story performed about a victory, about a hero or for entertainment purposes, this usually required a "stage" and an audience. The original stage was simply a circle surrounded by an spectators, with the earliest official "theatre" being accredited not to Greece, but the Egyptians, who developed a calendar in 4241 B.C. (the earliest date known in history). Thanks to their preoccupation in preparing for an afterlife, there are many records of ritualistic performances, but only one very popular myth that could be construed as real "theatre." This was a story about the death and resurrection of the god Osiris, said to have been the son of Geb (the earth) and Nut (the sky). Osiris succeeded his father as ruler and was married to his sister, Isis. Seth (his brother) didn't like the idea that he's had all the power so he killed him and took over. He buried the parts of his dismembered body all over Egypt, but Isis found them and with the aid of Anubis, the jackal-god, revived Osiris. Unfortunately, Oriris wasn't allowed back on Earth, so he was condemned to the underworld where he becomes the official judge of souls. Isis bore a son, Horus, who fought with Seth and won back his father's kingdom.

The Greeks invented the "tragedy'" in 534 B.C., when a little known performer named Thespis (the thespian) won an award in recognition of his tragic story. The early recorded plays in Greece were influenced by the Egyptians, and centered on the god Dionysus, the son of Zeus, who incidentally was also killed, dismembered and resurrected.

The Theatre of Dionysus was the first stadium like theatre built on a hillside and seated about 15,000 persons. This theatron, which is where the word theatre comes from, means "seeing place," so the stage was now set and the frame began to emerge.

It was Aristotle the philosopher who wrote the first treatises on theatre, and through his analysis proposed six parts to a drama— plot, character, thought, diction (projection), music and spectacle. Beyond that, he discussed the unity of action, the probability in drama, requirements of plot, characteristics of the hero and other topics still in action today.

Dr. Linda Seger (pronounced Say-ger), who calls herself a "script doctor," analyzes and fixes screenplays and scripts, but is best known for her first book, Making a Good Script Great (1984). She believes that all art has an organic shape that struggles to solidify and that in dramatic storytelling, the story demands movement, so the shape needs strength to support the theme, characters and the progress of the story. "One is not imposing a shape; one is looking at the story and simply trying to pull out the shape that the story is trying to take."

Although there are various formulas to the structure of a script, not all scripts are the same, so she focuses on beginnings, middles and ends. "What is the focus of the beginning and what are the focus of the middle and the focus of the end."

There are eight sections within the three-act structure, including the setup, the development of act one, a first turning point, act two, a midpoint (if applicable), a second turning point, a climax and a resolution.

There are eight sections within the three-act structure, including the setup, the development of act one, a first turning point, act two, a midpoint (if applicable), a second turning point, a climax and a resolution.

Dr. Seger has recommended taking many classes with varying approaches to writing and structure. "Eventually every creative person devises their own system. You listen to me, you listen to them, and then you just do what you want."

The theatre itself as a gathering place evolved through the Italian Renaissance and its bout with William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era. The scenic practices grew and grew, with many larger than life sets and theatres. Lighting was introduced, using candles and reflectors during the 1700s, with the old lamp replacing candles in the late 1700s. However, it was the entire theatre that was lit as special lighting effects didn't transpire until the advent of electricity and the electric bulb.

The theatre not only provided a "stage" to present stories, but also created the "frame" (either circular or rectangular), for the visual enhancements from which all future visual storytelling art forms would relate. Yes, there are still stories told at the kitchen table or while on Grandpa's lap, but storytelling became a profession, and dramatic imagery was now added to illuminate.

During the 19th Century, acting evolved into illusionism; creating an interpretation of "real-life." Although there were sporadic attempts at theatrical realism, prior to the middle of the 19th Century, it was limited to picturesque surroundings or visualizing reenactments of historic events. Realistic melodrama was born, first becoming a movement of sorts around 1853 and with it — a new respect for a Director; someone who could coordinate the path of the story, now that it extended beyond a single or handful of actors, with effects, costumes and other elements. The first real directors, who insisted on complete control over production, spawned out of France at this time and became the catalysts for more realism in stage plays. And so, the sordid elements of life were watched in horror on the stage; death throes, adultery, murder, etc. This was a key turning point for drama, as typically most actors were confined to a semi-circle in the front of the stage, and upon completing their lines, moved upstage (to the back) to wait until the story called upon their role to join the action. Most of the acting required more storytelling to the audience, rather than "acting" a part or becoming a character within a setting. Realistic melodrama introduced real rooms and characters that spoke to each other on stage, rather than the audience.

At the turn of the 20th century, the theatre had become much of what we recognize today. Panoramas were added to scenes, painted on large drapes hanging from spools on the ceiling, a method that was later brought to film.

For a decade, Paul Nunn has created characters and animation for such companies as Mattel Media and Disney Interactive. He's animated Mickey Mouse, Dumbo and numerous other characters, including his own at BOXTOPTV.COM, where as President, he's creating the next generation cartoon theatre.

"My first animated character experience in interactive games was Pin Ball Harry," said Nunn. "The animation there involved three pixels and three facial expressions; scared, more scared and really scared. It's very different now."

As a creator, Nunn struggles with the age old question: what's more important, the character or the story? "If you take a character like Superman or Shrek, and if you put that same true character into some new setting and you expound on that character's personality; that's the story."

Nunn believes from experience in episodic features, that the stronger the character, the more interesting or the more capable the story. "I'm sure it goes the other way, but it seems like from an animator's standpoint, I'm character driven anyway; that's probably where all my storytelling comes from."

A well-developed character does provide background that tells a story in itself. By building a character—it's personality, likes dislikes, voices — all those things are elements of a story. Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story are well developed characters that tell a story themselves. It's usually a subliminal message, fixated within the imagery of the character, from the clothes to the colors they wear. Most people can tell what Toy Story is about, and may certainly start quoting lines and incidents that Woody and Buzz got into, not realizing that there's a story unfolding before their eyes.

"That's why I enjoy episodic features, like our animation series and the live action serial— P3," said Nunn.

BOXTOPTV.COM offers several episodic animated features and a black-and-white live action series called P3 (Population: 3 million), reminiscent of the old serials of the 1930s and 1940s. "This is our chance at creating characters and a lengthy series that gives you unlimited time to truly develop the life of all the characters."

Nunn discovered during his tenure at Disney Interactive, that most of the people working there weren't creating a CD-ROM game; they making movies — stories. The CD-ROM game was an excuse to tell a story. That's' the beauty of the new Internet technology like Flash, it provides a stage for anyone to tell an animated story that they could only dream about a decade ago."

Many of the pioneers of film, comics, television and animation brought their unique flair and experience between and from other industries and experimented to transcend the creation of an art form.

In the following chapter, we explore comics and sequential art, which exploded as something revolutionary – visual storytelling with unlimited special effects from the mind of the artist. True, it's a static form of visual storytelling; but that's not a bad thing; just different. There is one core fundamental similarity that all visual storytelling media have and that is the mise-en-scene or scenery; the arrangement of figures, properties, backdrops, shapes, space and light within the "frame" itself.

How the figures move in and out of the frame is as important as what goes inside the frame. By always keeping the framed action moving from left to right (in theatre, film or comics) - it makes the eye move faster across the scene and therefore intensifies the action. To force the eye to slow down or stop, invert and move from right to left. This is also a great way to introduce the antagonist of a story or scene. Keep all action moving from left to right, but have the antagonist enter the scene from stage right. This can cause the entrance to be even more dramatic than it might have been otherwise. Bringing in a character from stage right after a long sequence of left to right motion can be very effective way to add emphasis to the character.

In the Epoch Entertainment film, Bite Me, Fanboy!, contributor Mat Nastos elaborates on the stage entrances. In the first comic shop scene, Nick and Jared begin and end on the left side of the screen, and Ray begins and ends on the right (see Figure 2.9 & 2.10). Almost consistently throughout the movie, Jared and Nick are on the left side of the screen, and every character that represents a problem or conflict (or goes against the forward momentum of the story) appear from the right side – the Pokemon Kids, Rachel, Ray, Price Guide Guy, etc.

"The feeding frenzy was a tough choice." This was where the comic shop was invaded by dozens of hungry fans, which ideally, should be intense action, flowing from left-to-right, but in this case it was flipped, presenting it as something that moves against the natural order of things. It's an antagonistic entity. The characters of Jared and Tony were looking off to the right to reinforce the feeding frenzy's position in the alternate shots.

A second example is the Jared-Rachel (Nick's girlfriend) confrontation. Jared starts out on the right to show his opposition to Rachel, but quickly moves to the left as they come together to solve the Nick problem.

While theatre thrived for more realism, and film was scaring audiences out of movie theatres with the image of on oncoming train, comics introduced surrealistic worlds of talking animals, adventure stories and strange alien planets.

Although there have been many advancements in visual storytelling through technology over the past century, the need to frame the scene into the context of "page" or "screen" is still a necessity in the foretelling of a story with pictures. The future may hold a catalyst for breaking down the barrier of "mock" 3-D, but as of today, the most we can hope for "outside this box" is an adventurous storytelling ride at an amusement park. The theatre beyond the traditional rectangular stage in the form of an "attraction," some that moves the audience through a changing staged landscape rather than change the stage itself. Landmark Entertainment, designers of attractions such as Terminator 3-D and Spiderman 3-D for Universal Studios, continues to break new ground in merging media with reality, in the form of electric theatre or "motion theatre" (under the genus of "interactive" in the taxonomy chart). There are even restaurants that have themes, such as riding a spaceship to the planet Mars for lunch – flight attendants and everything.

Gary Goddard, the President of Landmark Entertainment Group, keeps his eyes open for the big idea. "The big idea is the one that no one else has come up with—the one that when everyone looks at me like I've lost my mind- I know I'm on the right track."

Goddard points out that with a live-action attraction; there is only a matter of minutes to capture the audience's attention, unlike other visual storytelling media, which can be up to a few hours to continue to draw them into the story. Few attractions have achieved the kind of total immersion as the T2/3D and new Star Trek Experience (at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas), but technology is bringing that experience closer. "One of the reasons for these two successes is that there's an "instantaneous connection" to our story, because the public knows these myths and characters, or knows enough about them to feel comfortable within our fantastic environments."

The idea of immersion is attractive. In any media, if there's something which encourages the reader, the user or the player to participate, to have a sense of being a participant rather than merely watching; it empowers the person.

Movies, being a very passive experience, can draw the viewer into a sense of immersion, but without a participatory role. Ultimately, the power is in a future generation of VR (virtual reality). It may be nothing more than a novelty now, but, considering the dramatic unforeseen changes in technology within the past decade alone, it may be a foreboding giant on the horizon of visual storytelling.

We can witness a future in film emerging today in Japan, an innovator of technological achievements, where they've created virtual characters as stars. These new icons have millions of fans and are called pop idols. They're just these young singer entertainer characters created from 3-D software, much like the characters in the Final Fantasy film.They have their own music CDs, merchandising, everything a real celebrity would have for their fans, only they're not real; they don't exist.