Class Exercise 4 a & b

With exercise 4a, I don't really agree with how contradictory is a form, After all, it is still a way of saying complementary or expositional text.

Redundant:
Ugghh... That's tight.

Contrasting:
At least I found a spot.

Complementary:
This is why I should have strung for business class.


Unrelated:
Where was the farm again?



I really liked how our story came out for exercise 4b, because of how unexpected and wildly different it would be to the other groups, the ending scene and text just worked so well together in context.

I had known about the components of using text individually, but I had never thought to categories and examine them in isolation. And because of it we were able to come up with such a swell story - as only parallel text would allow for a different story as expected from the images presented.

And because parallel text could be unrelated, coupled with the inspiration of Alan Moore's watchmen that used parallel text to tell related yet unrelated stories, we were able to come up with the story of the planning of a murder.

The core was using parallel text to say the phrase "Revenge was a dish best served cold", which worked wonderfully with the last panel of the girl eating the ice cream. I also loved how Moore-ish the combination felt, in terms of atmosphere.

Assignment 1 Draft

When I came into the brainstorming, I was wondering if I should follow the three beat planning (Setting - Buildup - Punchline) or perhaps try a different route. After looking at the drafts of my fellow classmates, I felt that the structure was somewhat lacking. Perhaps it was because they were trying to fit a three-panel methodology into a 5 panel structure. Hence, I decided to look for a more suitable story structure.

As punchlines tend to be a last panel affair, it felt that the denouement was lacking, or rather, the stories felt somewhat incomplete. Because of my natural inclination to try add some sort of relatable emotional content to stories I tell, I wanted to have an emotional climax, while still angling for some comedic value. Being greedy, I felt that a double three beat structure would work here, with the first S-B-P arc contained within the over-arcing S-B-P arc. In other words, the Setup and Buildup for the comedic arc would serve as the set-up for the over-arcing emotional arc, the comedic punchline and a continuing build up would serve as the build up, with the last panel being the emotional punchline (perhaps climax would be a more appropriate description) of the over-arcing story.


The original draft was as follows:

Panel 1: Two characters are looking at a locked gate of a fenced compound. One of them is holding some flowers

Panel 2: Both characters appear to look through the fence, visibly upset at their inability to enter.

Panel 3: The character attempts to toss the flowers over the fence, only to hit the top of the fence and hand on his head.

Panel 4: The character attempts a second try, this time clearing the fence.

Panel 5: The shot is viewed from the other side of the fence, as we see the flower land on a grave, at which the two characters are looking at through the fence.

The story was meant for an emotional impact as I imagined the two characters visiting



Initially, I wanted to go with the traditional horizontal panel sequence, but I realized that the title would bleed focus from the middle panels, and perhaps give away the ending. The vertical sequence which I ended up with would be better for conveying the fence as a tall obstacle, as well as allow for a greater variety of shots, rather than using side shot for the first four panels.

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After a multitude of fumbling attempts to realize the images that I had conceived in my head, I had to concede to the fact it was simply not happening. The conditions and props that I required were simply too precise: a fence that were the exact height of the actors with spikes, scenery with said fence and a grassy terrain, a miniature gate that would go with the fence that could be locked, and so forth.

It was heartbreaking, especially after the hours I had spent time rigging together styrofoam and toothpicks to form the fence, and tried ways and meaens to get some form of gate. Even worse, the fence looked hideous with the out of place toothpick spikes. I now understand how video directors feel when they have to make do with scenes that they are clearly unhappy about putting on air. At the same time, I realize that my ability to transform the ideas in my head to reality is almost nil when it comes to visual storytelling. My original instinct as a wanna-be writer pushes me to think up of interesting and emotional scenes for my submissions, but my inexperience with the visual field when I've been used to dealing with words is simply jarring. A scene that can be easily expressed in words is so difficult to pull into reality with images.

Resigned to a necessary plot change, I've changed the scenes into a character (toy bear) trying to climb a fence while holding a flower, fails and falls on his back, then tosses the flower into, on to a grave. Inspired from the ideas of Professor Chiang, I thought to use the other character (female bear) as support, which will be revealed as a ghost/imagination in the last panel, as  the grave would have the picture of her.

Class Exercise 3

The photos are definitely not a visual story because it is simply a moment to moment transition of a deer, failing the expectation set up by its title - "Curiosity makes for a magical few minutes". The pictures are presented as such:

Perhaps the title was an indication of a "magical moment" felt by the photographer as a wild deer came much closer that expected, but the pictures itself do not convey an from for thrill or excitement - only the shortening of distance of the subject (the deer) and the photographer.

Class Exercise 2

Moment to Moment Transition
 

An almost second to second transition requiring little closer 

 Action to Action

Progressions of the actions of the subject 

Subject to Subject

Staying within a subject or context to render panels meaningful

Scene to Scene

Transitions that transport the reader across significant distances in space and/or time

Aspect to Aspect

Scenes that (usually) bypasses time to show different aspects of a place, idea or mood 

Non-sequitor

Series of panels which offer no logical relationships

Class exercise 01

Regarding Sequential Art

I feel that sequential art has to fulfill several criteria:

1. The work must have multiple frames or views in which a different image is told.

Sequential implies a movement from one image to the next, to express a message.

This

Not this

2. The work must have some sort of underlying narrative, purpose or message.

Several random pictures arranged with no purpose or forethought does not constitute as sequential art.

Phases of fruit life

Art, but non-sequential without context

3. The work must have a visual component that aids in its purpose.

After all, scanned pages in the book do tell a stories using multiple frames, but are not sequential art because of its complete lack of a visual or pictorial component.

The visuals are simply filler 

Words enhance the clarity of the pictorial narrative