Before reading “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud I had no clue how much thought went into every aspect of a comic book. I thought that the layout of all comic books were just the same, especially the spaces between the panels. But McCloud explained these spaces as gutters. In these gutters, the reader is able to make the two pictures or moments and connect them together. They also allow for the reader to fill in the gaps in the story, using context clues and previous knowledge, to infer what happens next. He describes different panel-to-panel transitions where this can be done. I want to try some of these out in my story because I think they make the story a lot more interesting and unique.
Another aspect of the reading that I found very interesting and that I would like to use in my own digital storytelling is the different ways that time can be represented. There are a few different things that can be used to show that time is passing. The first way that is described is the size or amount of panels. Multiple of the same panel can be displayed to show a pause or the length of the panel can be stretched to be larger than the panels around it signifying a larger amount of time. The second way is to use text. This could either be from a conversation or representing sounds. When this text is put in order it will represent different actions and their reactions, therefore, indicating that time is passing during this. I want to use this aspect in my story because representing time is important, especially in a shorter story. I can use this to show that time is passing without needing to explain a lot.