Assingment+02

=__**Assignment 02 - Comic Creation:**__=

Original files: Flash:media type="file" key="Web Comic.swf" Printable: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Eric Liu Professor Mike Jones CCT300H5 5 November 2009 Scorned. When making comics on the web as opposed to on print, a major downfall in web comics is that they lose their crisp appeal on screens due to pixilation (McCloud 2). In order to avoid this problem, I have decided to create my web comic using the vectors in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. The title of my web comic is, “Scorned.”. This web comic starts off outside of a room. In this initial scene, you can see objects moving about inside. Off to the side of the door a sign is labelled, “MEETING OF THE SCORNED.” The initial scene is interrupted as a keystroke enters the room. The camera follows into the room. Caps Lock, begins the meeting saying, “HI EVERYONE! THANKS FOR COMING! THIS IS THE FIRST MEETING FOR KEYSTROKES THAT ARE NOT USED SO MUCH! LET’S ALL START OFF BY INTRODUCING OURSELVES!” The camera then pans around the room as keystrokes introduce themselves. Some of the keystrokes that introduce themselves are Scroll Lock, Insert, and End. After several introductions, Alt and F4 enter the room and tell the group of keystrokes that their time is up. This keystroke narrative is a joke targeted towards codemonkeys. It is a satire on the existence of keystrokes that are not commonly used, and the fact that many people do not know how they function. As I have mentioned earlier, a major flaw in web comics is due to pixelated imagez. By creating my comic in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, I am able to use vectors, reducing the level of pixilation. In addition, because web comics should be easy to read and not require the reader to go back and forth on a page, I thought that by using a flash animation, it would be much easier for the user to read; their eyes will not need to travel across the screen as much as a traditional web comic might require the user to do. The initial scene, or establishing shot of the web comic gives the reader some background information on what is to be happen. “Meeting Of The Scorned” indicates to the reader that a group of people, sharing neglected feelings are to be meeting in this room. In addition, you can see shadows in the background, showing that people are already inside. The text of the sign is written in capitals and sloppy to convey the anger or discontent of the persons that are to be meeting inside the room. The colours used in this scene are dull in order to give the reader a sense that this is an old building, and that this group does not have a very prestigious status. While McCloud suggests that comics should have cartoon characters rendered simply for easy recognition and backgrounds more realistic to be less identified with (McCloud 42), I have chosen to do the opposite. The Internet allows virtually anyone to publish their works. This phenomena introduces many amateurs into the world of web comics who lack experience or skill. As a result, many of the comics we see in the webcomic list (www.thewebcomiclist.com) have no background or very simple backgrounds. In the sense of practicality, making a background is a lot more difficult on the computer than it is by hand. While McCloud’s strategy is effective in its respect to getting the reader to relate with the character in the story, my aim in this reversal is for the reader to see my characters as other beings, because it is more effective to make a satire or joke on someone that the reader is unlikely to be similar to. Otherwise, the reader may feel insulted, vis-à-vis the relation he or she may have with the identifying character. The way I have designed each character is by giving them a specific trait through their appearance. McCloud says that visual iconography is about giving people roles and not goals (McCloud 59). Caps Lock is a loud person that is always shouting, so he has a large mouth. Insert is insecure so she fidgets with the ribbon and bits her lips. End is old, so he’s very passive and Scroll Lock is confused, so he has crazy eyes. Finally, Alt and F4 wear sunglasses in order to convey the fact that they are authority. These roles as characters also function as the role of the actual signified in which these characters represent; the actual keyboard keys. Another technique I have used to give the reader a sense of knowing these characters, are the styles of the text that they use. This is what McCloud refers to as the representation of the essence of sound (McCloud 134). Examples include Cap Lock’s loudness through the use of capital letters, and End’s passiveness with small, grey text. In relation to the representation of sound, visual metaphors are also used. McCloud explains a visual metaphor with the example of smoke or odour. In “Scorned.”, some visual metaphors were used include sweating and knocking of the door. A particular element of visual metaphor that McCloud notes in his work is the principle of motion lines which create movement (McCloud 110). This technique was used several times in “Scorned.” in order to create a panning effect. Since this comic’s joke was targeted to a specific audience, I had to take into account for what closure would be most suitable and comfortable. Most people would agree that codemonkeys are intelligent people, so using an action-to-action style like an action graphic novel would be the best choice. Action-to-action closures are the most popular (McCloud), so an audience who has experience in reading comics would have an easier time figuring out what has happened. The gutters between each panel are different in a flash-type web comic, because it strips away the space from one panel to another through the use of buttons. Instead, the button substitutes as a panel, giving the reader the ability to control what they want to see, when they want to. The only measure of time or space in between frame A and frame B are the actions that occur in between the frames. Given that the web comic is meant for an educated audience, the panels use an action-an-action length, because enough credit has been placed on the audience to figure out what is happening.

Works Cited "Making Comics – Chapter 5 1/2." //Scott McCloud | Journal//. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. . McCloud, Scott. __Understanding Comics The Invisible Art__. New York: HarperPerrennial, 1993. Print. //The Webcomic List - Online Comics//. Web. 30 Oct. 200 .