Graphic Novels:
single-panel cartoons (editorial pages)
comic strips (Scott Adam's Dilbert)
webcomics (Thrillbent.com)
periodical comic book (marvel Comics)
graphic novels (Marjane Satrapi's memoir - Perspolis)
Functionality:
pictures + words react
sequence of images in relation
Four key elements:
panel
sequence
page
narrative
Definition: an area on the page
Unlike film: only display key movements Unlike photography: one image can display elapse of time (conversation dialogue)
Definition: the border of the panels, usually black, rectangular
Lines:
thick, jagged line: unusual settings
scalloped line: memory contents
no-line: communicate freedom
Size: can vary for design, pacing, and emphasis
Distance: (long or short shots) help see details or big picture
Angle:
low angle: fear, awe
high angle: all-knowing, god-like perspective, suggest uneasiness about scene
Composition:
Rule-of-Third: put important, eye-catching stuff at golden points
spotting the blacks: use contracts to fade characters
the place to place characters can suggest relationship between objects
Expressive anatomy: body posture and gesture, emotion. Emanata:
heart on head -> love
zip-ribbons -> motion
drop of sweat -> akward
anger
Subjective motion: blurry environment -> high speed
choose to draw some object, or not.
Words: manipulate and anchor meaning of the images. (Relation with image: sometimes repetition, sometimes complementary. Modern comics use image more.)
dialogue
thoughts
sound effect
captions
Balloon: indicate dialogue
origin from vapor in cold day (start from medieval scroll speech)
jagged shape: shouting, radio, television
Sound (diegetic sound): not necessarily phonetically accurate
gag cartons: political cartoons
gutter: (white) empty space between two panels, serve as transition -> divide to sequence of time
Transition: requires reader to discern connection between transitions (ordering relation -> meaning)
action-to-action: movements
subject-to-subject: switch to different characters
scene-to-scene: transition in time / space
moment-to-moment: (less common, more in manga)
aspect-to-aspect: (less common, more in manga) a scene with different focuses
Compress time: many small panels
Special sequences:
zooming
tracking (movement)
Layout can guide people how to read, but confusing layout is bad. Diptych layout: using two pages
hyperframe: margin of framed area
Hero's journey: protagonist, spark, escalation, climax, denouement.
Symmetry: opening match closing
Framing: Framing is the way events are captured within a limited space on a medium (usually paper). Artists can choose the position of important objects within the frame in relation to other objects, size of the frame, as well as the border style of the frame itself to convey messages. Emanata: emanatas are conventional visual symbols that are used to convey emotion and motion in comics. Some examples are: sweats, hearts, and motion lines. Subjective motion: subjective motion is a visual effect to capture the movements of objects in space in comics. Usually subjective motion can be the blurring of background into lines that parallel to the direction in which the object travels. gutter: The gutter is the empty (usually white) space between the border of multiple panels in graphic novels. It serves as a division between two panels. Conceptually, it can be used to create relationship between panels in sequence where the reader can infer the events between the two panels. Mise-en-scène: in comics, mise-en-scene is an artists' choice to include certain objects into the panel while purposefully leaving off other unimportant objects. This conscious choice allows the artists to manipulate the audience's attention. Balloon: Balloon (or conversation bubbles) is a visual way to represent conversation exchanges, sounds, or thoughts of a person or an object within a graphical context. The shape of the balloon as well as the border of the balloon can sometimes inform the readers the origin or the volume of the sound. dietetic sound: a special type of sound that happens within the story. In contracts to non-dietetic sound that only serves the readers, dietetic sound can be heard by the characters in the story.
Reductive: not all comics show every moment (abstraction, simplification) Blocking: positioning of characters to show relationship
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