Hello all!
Here is my final project. I worked really hard on it, I think this is a good blend of diagrammatic and visual narrative.
I’ll link to my Instagram posts and also the full image of my project. I think it presents better on Instagram.
This project is what my week normally looks like. I think it’s so lovely to be able to take a peek into someone else’s life, and the little things that make it extra special.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Sammy
I have much to work on! But, here is what I have so far. First, I’ll post the script (which I still want to change certain days with less action) and then the comic version of it I’ve done so far.
SCRIPT
The days of my life: an episodic story
Monday- An abuse of power
1.Manager writing the schedule, speech bubble “hey are you coming to my birthday party?”
2. Me, working “oh yeah when is it?”
3. Manager, still writing the schedule: “Sunday. You better be there! It’d be a shame if I had to fire you…”
4. Me, silent, turned and staring while she keeps working on the schedule
Tuesday- Class Delinquent
Wednesday- Lazy Day
2 coffee
Thursday- the most “meh” day of the week
Friday-
Saturday- A weekly dilemma
Sunday-
Sammy
My project will take the form of a comic with sound effects. I’m very inspired by 4KOMA, a form of comics which has four panels that generally stack on top of each other, usually comedic in nature. I really like this format because I think it is so special to be able to set a scene, make a joke, and complete a whole story in four pictures, essentially. It includes a few different methods to tell a story- image, words, and the “gutter”. I plan to tell an episodic story of my week, in a light-hearted, funny manner. With each day, a four panel comic. The characters will be myself, my coworkers, my friends, the little devil on my shoulder. With this story, I want to bring the viewer into my world by showing them glimpses of what makes every day a little special. Each day has its own mini plot, setting, and events. The overall theme of this work is what makes our everyday better, delivered in the 4KOMA format. Once complete, I would like to move these into a video format with sound effects for each day that will add to the storytelling.
Recently, I’ve been obsessed with Stardew Valley. If you’re familiar with Harvest Moon, it’s that- but better. In this game you start as a new farmer who was given land in a small town after your grandfather passes. You learn more of the story through getting to know the local townspeople, through interacting with them, giving them gifts, attending town events, even your relationship with one townsperson can shift your relationship with others. Conversely, you have the options to make them hate you depending on how you choose to behave. You can choose a bachelor/ette to marry, you can have children. You can divorce them, you can cheat on them, you can magically turn your children into doves.
Throughout all these in-game relationships progressing or regressing, you make your living farming, raising livestock, mining, etc. You can unlock new areas of the world as you make community upgrades (an island nearby is unlocked faster if you choose to lead your town down a capitalist route rather than a semi-communist society), or create friendships with the townspeople, who will tip you off to how unlock these things.
There are mini-games throughout, fishing, fighting monsters in the mines, arcade games in the bar.
I think this game is what you want to make it. If you don’t care about “advancing” you can live a simple farm life. Or, like me, you can try to get everything you can out of it. I try to befriend every single person, I want to unlock every achievement, I want to get every single item that I can. I want to complete the community requests and all the event scenes. Most of all, I want to humiliate the town mayor, who is hiding his relationship with one of the townspeople because he thinks she’s not good enough to publicly date. Marnie, you deserve better, girl.
Sammy
I think that this introduction to the difference in symbol vs index vs icon is blowing my mind a little bit. I really loved The Forever Club. I think the videos recorded of the characters were an example of an index in this story, as you could see the actual person/thing being referred to. In their messages and emails, icons with their faces were shown to help the viewer/reader understand who was speaking, and symbols were used in the form of text to tell the story. The use of signs in this story helped to create the narrative of a group of friends who willingly go along with one of their antics, who regularly craves chaos in a world that is so often disappointing and boring. While the friends know that, they humor her, as it brings them entertainment as well. Through the use of signs, you learn about the characters, their backgrounds, and their relationship with each other. I loved how many different signs were used, email, text, the front page of a newspaper, flyers, memes, emojis, videos, animations, etc. There was no shortage of methods used to tell this story. It showed me that you really have the whole world at your fingertips when it comes to telling a story, it’s just a matter of using them in harmony. I think this story did that very well
Sammy
Of the three, I enjoyed “How to Rob a Bank” and “With Those We Love Alive”. I felt that the plots were more linear and easier to pick up on than in “My Boyfriend Came Back from the War”. I appreciated the differences in each method of storytelling, particularly in “How to Rob a Bank”, in its use of images, videos, and sound to convey the story. There were so many little details to add to worldbuilding. I didn’t reach the end of “ With Those We Love Alive” but I did appreciate the freedom to customize your experience within the story, though there was only one real path to take. I was definitely engaged throughout what I got through, though I got frustrated at the pacing. “My Boyfriend Came Back From The War” felt more scattered, and it was more difficult to pick up on the plot. I couldn’t tell who was speaking or what was going on. I believe all three are stories, though some make you work harder to understand them, demanding more of the reader’s participation, either physically or mentally.
Sammy
Here is my Visual Narrative!
Hope ya’ll like it!
Sammy
I believe the film adaptation of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge remained fairly true to the original story. The biggest change from story to film that I noticed was the lack of dialogue from Peyton. In the short story, we got a deeper look into the inner world of our main character. We also got a lot more backstory for the entire plot. The film shortens it to a poster in the first few seconds. It serves its purpose for providing context, but it leaves out the scene with the soldier on his horse at Peyton’s house. I think the director choosing to leave out this scene was a fine choice, but I would have liked to know more about the main character. While watching the film, he just seemed like some guy. I didn’t feel any real connection to him as a character, though I did feel sympathetic to his circumstances (that is, until I read more about his beliefs).
I think the ticking of the pocket watch translated well from story to film. It added a feeling of panic, and the speeding up of the ticking while it got louder, while the very slow and steady shot of his wife lingered, felt suffocating.
I also think the little details of what he saw translated very well into film and were supported by the song choice during the river scene.
Overall, I did enjoy both versions of this story! I think I liked the story more though.
In this mini-story of someone going to the bar for a drink, I used subject-to-subject and aspect-to-aspect transitions. I recruited my coworker for help and together we came up with these shots (and many more actually.)
I really loved the discussion of the “gutter” in Understanding Comics. I’ve read a lot of comics since I was a kid and I think one of the most powerful tools is the use of the “gutter”. I’m reminded of the story building conversation we had earlier in the semester, where we talked about how if you just say or show the most important things, the reader will imagine the rest. I think stories that make you think and invite you to fill in the gaps are the most fun! I also think the different sizes of comic strips to emphasize importance is an interesting feature that stories that are just text don’t have. When I read manga, and a whole two-page spread is used for one moment, I know it’s a big deal. Similarly, with “Great Rock n Roll” pauses, the final slides showed only graphs, as opposed to the plethora of competing text on previous slides. I think that choice created a lot of weight to those final slides. I think I would like to play around with those ideas in my visual narrative assignment.
