Graphic Novel Creation

Some comic strip rules

           

There are a few different ways to approach writing and drawing a comic. In the end product we have a combination of the written word or text and the visuals or drawings.

You should develop your script along with your characters and backgrounds.

Then put all the action down in the panels.

This is what a comic book script looks like:

It’s divided in to pages then panels.

Under each panel heading there is the Narrative section which is the content for the top of the panel and usually tells the reader the time of day or the location. Often says “Meanwhile”

The Dialogue comes next, each character’s name is in capitals and the actual dialogue is in inverted comas.

The last section is called Scene; this describes what is happening for the artist.

All this stuff is information communicated between the writer and the artist. They have to work closely, it’s a team effort.

This flow chart shows the thinking process and the steps in development from the script to the pencil stage ready for inking or clean up.

Opinions differ, Stan Lee who invented Spiderman never drew the comic and Steve Ditko the artist who drew the original Spiderman claims that he is the creator. It caused a lot of trouble.

I think the artist should own the rights, he has the option to take dialogue or text out of the script if it helps the end product as you can see by this example of omission of text.

Some terminology:

panel- box which contains a given scene.

border- the outline of a panel

gutters- the space in between the panels.

tier- a row of panels (left to right) on a page.

Task 1: Create a storyboard with the following questions on and save it as Comic 1_(Your Name)

Name:

What is your story about?

Where is your story set? (Place, time, circumstances.)

What does the protagonist want?

What lesson does the protagonist learn at the end?

Who are the main characters?

Protagonist: Name, age, gender, type of character.

Antagonist: Name, age, gender, type of character.

What does the antagonist do to cause problems for the protagonist?

What style do you suggest for your comic?

Collage, drawn, photocomic, Manga.

Research the work of Raymond Briggs

Research the work of Dave McKean

Research the photo comic work of Colin Whittlow

http://drawerdrawer.blogspot.co.uk/2005/04/colin-whitlow-new-art-across-bridge.html

In the creation of a successful panel, one of the most important aspects is body language.
Work out the best solution using silhouettes the way Will Eisner did in these examples.

Scripting for comics

Planning for comics

Do we need the text?

Documentary

A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record.

Formatting your script

Presenting your work appropriately suggests a professional approach and an understanding of the medium and format for which you are writing.

Deciding which format to use will be determined by the type of

script you are writing. Formats are dictated by technology, and there are good reasons for using them. A correctly formatted script makes an executive's life easier and a writer's life simpler - especially during the long process of rewriting.

Task 1: Write a premise/logline

The premise of a film or screenplay is the fundamental concept that drives the plot.

Most premises can be expressed very simply, and many films can be identified simply from a short sentence describing the premise. For example: 

A lonely boy is befriended by an alien; 

A small town is terrorized by a shark; 

A small boy sees dead people.

The best loglines generally contain three elements:

• A protagonist
• An antagonist
• A goal

For example:

A headstrong orphan and his Vulcan nemesis must save the Federation (and themselves) from a revenge-seeking Romulan from the future.

Task 2: Write a Treatment: Your First Sketch

Also primarily a marketing document, treatments give executives an idea of whether the story is worth their money. However, like the logline, it also serves as a helpful tool for the writer, a kind of first sketch of the story.

For most of the history of art, paint was prohibitively expensive, and so before Monet or Picasso would attempt a full scale painting, they would do a “study,” a sketch of their subject (artists do this today, too, of course). If a sketch wasn’t coming together, they might save their paint and not make the painting, or else revise the study until it looked worthwhile.

In the same way, a treatment is like a first sketch of a film. Your treatments need to be one page summaries that break the story into three acts. Here are the three main elements of a treatment:

1. Title of your Film
2. Logline
3. Synopsis

Treatments may include snippets of dialogue and description, but the main focus is on the story.

Write in the present tense and write in chronological order. When you start to write your script you can rearrange events, put the end at the beginning to make a circular narrative etc.

Task 3: Script writing.

See my handouts for Formatting.

See this helpful link on formatting.

12 point Courier New 

Scene Headings: Each time your characters move to a different setting, a new scene heading is required.

INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT

 A small dash (hyphen on your keyboard) separates the location of the scene from the time of day.  Leave a two-line space following the scene heading before writing your scene description.

Scene descriptions are typed across the page from left margin to right margin.

Names of characters are displayed in all capital letters the first time they are used in a description, and these names always use all capital letters in a dialogue heading.

Sounds the audience will hear are capitalized (eg, ROAR or WHISTLE).  Dialogue is centered on the page under the character's name, which is always in all capital letters when used as a dialogue heading. Example:                                                                  DOCTOR                                             I'm sorry… If you describe the way a character looks or speaks before the dialogue begins or as it begins, this is typed below the character's name in parentheses. Example:                                                                  DOCTOR                                                         (apologetically)                                             We did everything possible. Note. If you are creating animation for under 16's there are some elements which are not suitable for your target audience.

The Animation Process.

There are lots of different elements that go into the process of making an animated film:

1: A good idea

2: Script

3: Character design

4: Background design

5: Voice recording

6: Storyboarding

7: Animation

8: Composite (putting it all together).

9: Editing

10: Sound effects

11: Music

12: Output to DVD

1. The first and most important part is the idea.

2. Then we write the story down as a script, this includes all the dialogue or speaking parts and what happens.

3. Design, you’re going to make  animation using Pencil software that you will need to learn. You first have to decide what the characters will look like. What backgrounds will look like. This comes from the research you did.

4. When we have a good script written and characters designed the next part is to make a storyboard. This looks a bit like a comic but with directions for all the people involved; animators, editors, sound people.

5. Next we need to record the voices for the characters in our animation. Some people will be really good at doing superhero voices and some will be good at designing characters, some will get involved with writing the script others will enjoy being an animator.

6. When we have the voices recorded and characters designed then we can look at our storyboard and start animating. This is when we use the Pencil software as we move the designs around and make them live.

7. Finally we can add sound effects and music, this is great fun and some of you might want to get involved.

Task 1: In order to develop your idea, you need to first flesh out the story and decide what characters are involved. You need to do this in the form of a mind map or spider gram. work in groups.

Narrative Theory Exercise - Todorov, Propp, Wright

Todorov Five Part Narrative Structure

1. Equilibrium – the setting is established, key character(s) are introduced and

the storyline has begun to be set up

2. This is then followed by a disruption whereby an oppositional character(s)

appear and the story takes a particular direction

3. Then there is recognition of disruption, in that the lives of characters and

events are interwoven. Tension builds throughout this section, which is often

the longest.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption is at the highest point of tension within

the film after which there is a change in the dynamic.

5. Finally, there is a re-reinstatement of equilibrium where matters are sorted

out, problems are solved and questions are answered. The new equilibrium can be

described as new as the story has been resolved but the events have

possibly changed people.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Propp concluded that all characters could be resolved into 8 broad character functions in the 100 folk tales he analyzed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.
4. The princess or prize and her father — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
8. Father of the Princess. Rewards the hero! He is part of the family that the Princess belongs to.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Six Guns and Society, Will Wright Narrative Theory

In Six Guns and Society, Will Wright (1975) sets out to explain the popularity of the Western. The 

popularity might be attributed to interest in a ‘unique and colourful’ era of American history. 

However, the period of history in which Westerns are located only lasted from 1860 to 1890, which was much  shorter than the settling of the Eastern seaboard that lasted 130 years. 

For Wright, the key to understanding the popularity of the Western and for interpreting Westerns is to see it as a contemporary myth. The appeal of the Western is that it encompasses a variety of ways of life with clear-cut conflicts of interest and values that are available as a vehicle for myth. to tell viewers about themselves and they way they live within their society.

Narrative Units in Westerns:

• The villains threaten the society. 
• The hero defeats the villains. 
• The society is safe. 
• The society accepts the hero. 
• The hero loses or gives up his special status. 
• Wright said that myths in stories bind us to a social order

Task 1: Watch Wallace and Gromit and identify the narrative theories you have been introduced to.

Narrative Theory - Todorov

Narrative

There are five stages:

1. Equilibrium – the setting is established, key character(s) are introduced and

the storyline has begun to be set up.

2. This is then followed by a disruption whereby an oppositional character(s)

appear and the story takes a particular direction

3. Then there is recognition of disruption, in that the lives of characters and

events are interwoven. Tension builds throughout this section, which is often

the longest.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption is at the highest point of tension within

the film after which there is a change in the dynamic.

5. Finally, there is a re-instatement of equilibrium where matters are sorted

out, problems are solved and questions are answered. The equilibrium can be

described as new as the story has been resolved but the events have

possibly changed people.

Task 1:

Create a word document Todorov Persil_(name) and apply Todorov's theory to this poster.

Copy and past this to your doc.

1. Equilibrium – 

2. Disruption -

3. Recognition of disruption -

4. Attempt to repair the disruption -

5. New equilibrium -

Task 2:

Create a word document Todorov Taken_(name) and apply Todorov's theory to this clip.

Characters

Propp's Character Functions

Propp concluded that all characters could be resolved into 7 broad character functions in the 100 tales he analyzed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.
4. The princess or prize and her father — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
8. Father of the Princess. Rewards the hero! He is part of the family that the Princess belongs to.

Vladimir Propp's and Tzvetan Todorov’s Narrative Theory 

Task 3:

Create a word document Propp_Shrek(name) and apply Propp's theory to this clip.

Task 4:
Create a word document GCSE_Production(name) and List Proppian characters and or Todorov's equilibrium theory to your own production

This is Homework for the half term.
Non production of this on 2.6.14 will be rewarded with detention. So do it now.

Much of the humour in Shrek comes from the way the film subverts fairytale conventions. 
Yet it can be seen to adhere to the conventions of narrative in order to satisfy the audience, who still love a classic structure within film narratives.

1) The hero is Shrek who needs to solve the crime of why the fairytale creatures are illegally camping outside of his swamp
2)The villain is Lord Farquaad who sent the fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp. He sends Shrek to rescue his princess from the castle and as a reward, he will give Shrek his swamp exactly how it was.
3)The princess is Princess Fiona and she is saved by Shrek from the castle, who she believes is her prince for saving her, but he tells her that Lord Farquaad will be her prince. She finds out that Shrek is an ogre.
4)The helper is Donkey who accompanies Shrek throughout the journey to rescue the princess
5)The donor is a magical dragon who helps stops the wedding of Lord Farquaad and Fiona when Shrek realises he loves her, and finds out that she is an ogre too.
6)The False hero is Lord Farquaad because he earned the princess even though he had to get Shrek to complete the mission to save her from the castle,  however Shrek and Fiona end up in love.