Digital Media Concepts/ENA (web series)

ENA
The main character Ena in Season 1, Episode 1, "Auction Day"
GenreSurrealist
DirectorJoel Guerra

Overview edit

ENA is an ongoing surreal web series published primarily through Youtube that is being directed by Joel Guerra. The first ENA video was published on May 26, 2020[1] and Joel Guerra plans to continue production. The series uses a combination of 2d and 3d animation to create the visual storytelling in the Youtube videos. ENA is extremely surreal and follows non-traditional storylines, making it difficult to predict where the story will go next. Despite the small amount of content released for the series thus far, ENA has become popular in some circles of the Internet, with all major installments in the series having at least 5 million views on Youtube[2].

Plot edit

The series follows the misadventures of Ena, a strange being living in a world completely unlike our own. Each episode follows Ena as she interacts with other characters, goes to activities, and explores a variety of settings. Each new episode has differed greatly from previous installments, and the series has started to incorporate more video game elements to the point where Joel Guerra announced that the first episode of Season 2 will be a playable game[3].

Stylistically, the plot structure is confusing and dream-like. Ena often wanders around different settings, interacting with characters that sometimes help her but sometimes do nothing to help her or develop the plot. The world of ENA is a 3d world that is clearly computer generated and not at all lifelike. Bizarre things regularly occur; "rain rocks" fall and crush people[4], "The Great Runas" grants wishes[5], and Ena switches between different faces and personalities. Disturbingly, all the characters treat these occurrences as normal, or in the very least commonplace.

Major Characters edit

Ena edit

The titular character of the series is Ena, a feminine humanoid figure with a visual design that changes to reflect her different emotional states. Her design was inspired by the painting “Girl Before A Mirror" by Pablo Picasso as well as the art of Romero Britto [6]. The left and right sides of Ena’s body are designed differently, with the right side of her body being smooth and made of curves while the left side of her body is composed of geometric solids. Ena’s coloring sometimes changes, but the majority of the time the left side of her body is blue and the right side is yellow. The blue side reflects some of her sadder and anxiety-ridden emotions, while the yellow side reflects her happy emotions. She does have other colorings, but they occur infrequently.

Ena shifts between her different personalities frequently, but most of the time her yellow and happy side is the one in control. Ena has been voiced by Gabe V.[7], Lizzie Freeman[8], Sam Meza[9], and Marc Rafanan[10]. The majority of the time each person voices a different part of her personality. Additionally, her voice is regularly distorted.

Moony edit

Moony is the deuteragonist of the series and Ena’s friend. Moony is a cartoonish moon with one visible eye and a hole on one side of her face that can have different appendages and objects in it. She has a dramatic and somewhat self-centered personality, but given the strangeness of all the other characters, Moony does act the most human. Moony has appeared in every episode of the first season, but none of the trailers teasing the second season have shown signs of featuring Moony. She is voiced by Lizzie Freeman[11].

Installments: edit

Season 1
Episode Name Release Date Summary
Auction Day May 26, 2020 Ena and Moony attend an auction
Extinction Party September 15, 2020 Ena explores a set of hallways to find her friend Moony
Temptation Stairway February 15th, 2021 Ena and Moony race eachother to find the Great Runas so that their wishes can be granted
Season 2
Episode Name Release Date Summary
Dream BBQ Not Released To Be Determined

References edit

  1. ENA - Auction Day, retrieved 2022-03-08
  2. "ENA - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  3. ENA: Dream BBQ Game Announcement, retrieved 2022-03-08
  4. ENA - Auction Day, retrieved 2022-03-08
  5. ENA - Temptation Stairway, retrieved 2022-03-08
  6. ENA, retrieved 2022-03-08
  7. ENA - Temptation Stairway, retrieved 2022-03-08
  8. ENA - Temptation Stairway, retrieved 2022-03-08
  9. ENA - Extinction Party, retrieved 2022-03-08
  10. ENA - Auction Day, retrieved 2022-03-08
  11. ENA - Auction Day, retrieved 2022-03-08