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Thoughts on Motion Comics

ShawnBoothShawnBooth Posts: 465
edited December 1969 in The Commons

So, what are your thoughts on motion comics?

Do you prefer to interact with the comic by tapping to advance the story or just watch it like a movie?

With sound as a part of the MC, do you feel there is ANY need for ANY text on screen?

I ask because a few colleagues of mine have suggested I make "GODS & MONSTERS" into a MC rather than anything else. They want to see my panels "move". Considering my background in film/tv (and VFX), this makes sense. I find this exciting as it allows me to utilize all of my skill sets. Plus, it's a brave new medium :)

Comments

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,647
    edited December 1969

    I would look at the "Invincible" motion comic trailer, you should be able to find it on Youtube fairly easily (I'd find it for you but I'm struggling to type this while an Iray render test is going). I watched a number of motion comics before learning the techniques and making a test one, and that one was the most entertaining and appealing in my opinion (although it does move a little too fast being a trailer).

    If you can learn to make word balloons pop up during dialogue, I think it improves the overall experience because motion comics don't usually have enough animation to keep things interesting when there's any lengthy dialogue. I watched an X-Men motion comic that had this problem; it felt more like an audio book with still pictures. There's a very good Batman motion comic that has no dialogue but nice pop-up word balloons that I'd also recommend learning from.

    I'll try to get you links to these as soon as this render is done. :)

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,647
    edited December 1969

    OK, here's the Invincible one. It was much harder to find than it used to be for some reason.

    http://www.comicbookresources.com/media/video/invincible/trailer/TRAILER_PHOTOJPEG_NTSC.html


    The Batman one is called "Shadow of the Demon", but the only version of that I can find now has no music and bad voice acting added (also for reasons unknown).

    The Watchmen motion comics are easy to find on Youtube, and they're done well except for all of the characters - including a woman - being voiced by the same guy. I'd recommend watching as many different motion comics as you can and be inspired by the ones that keep you watching. The whole point of motion comics is to provide something that reading a regular comic can't, so voice acting and animation are going to likely to be most important. :)

  • ShawnBoothShawnBooth Posts: 465
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for your replies!!

    The plan, as of right now, will have some type of animation and sound FX/voice/music/etc without a doubt. And of course VFX for powers and what not. These things are easy (for me), what I'm more concerned with is the style and presentation of the MC.

    I personally feel speech balloons aren't necessary in this medium. Being that they're motion comics, I can create more panels to "edit" during those moments of intense dialogue that occur in one panel and lose the viewers' attention.

    Again, thank you for the responses.

  • ShawnBoothShawnBooth Posts: 465
    edited December 1969

    SnowSultan said:
    OK, here's the Invincible one. It was much harder to find than it used to be for some reason.

    http://www.comicbookresources.com/media/video/invincible/trailer/TRAILER_PHOTOJPEG_NTSC.html


    The Batman one is called "Shadow of the Demon", but the only version of that I can find now has no music and bad voice acting added (also for reasons unknown).

    The Watchmen motion comics are easy to find on Youtube, and they're done well except for all of the characters - including a woman - being voiced by the same guy. I'd recommend watching as many different motion comics as you can and be inspired by the ones that keep you watching. The whole point of motion comics is to provide something that reading a regular comic can't, so voice acting and animation are going to likely to be most important. :)

    I checked out the "Invincible" link. I'm def leaning in another direction -

    Like you said though, need to check out a bunch first.

  • ShawnBoothShawnBooth Posts: 465
    edited December 1969

    There is this if anyone is interested: http://www.madefire.com/motion-book-tool/

    I've spent the day downloading and checking out various MCs. I'm basically not satisfied with what I see. I did like the Joss Wheden X-Men on YouTube but feel it could've been so much more.

    I'm gonna stick to using After Effects and make more of a "movie" without speech balloons (it helps having friends who are actors).

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