P3: Develop an Original story to be told within the graphic novel or comic
Here is a short concept document that I have written for my comic book outlining my rough ideas for plot, audience, publishing, potential issues that I have considered, etc.
Unit 9 – P3 by Beau Beaumont on Scribd
P4: Create a script for the planned story
Below is a script that I have written for my comic book, containing shot descriptions and speech:
Comet Craters Script by Beau Beaumont on Scribd
This will act as guidance for the creation of my comic book product.
P5: Planning the scripted panels
Here I have generated a potential panel layout to be used for my comic based on my written script:
Comic Panel Layout by Beau Beaumont on Scribd
Page 1: The first page will not have panels as this will be the title page for the comic, featuring a large mid shot of the main protagonist and a title at the top.
Page 2: The second page involves four panels around the outside to show close up shots of the band's eyes. The central larger panel will display the band on stage, with Comet centre stage shouting "We are Comet Craters and this is our new single!" and "1!... 2!...." The speech bubbles for these pieces of text are jagged and edgy, which connotes shouting. This will be a wide shot.
Page 3: The third page involves 4 vertical panels, each showing various instruments in close up shots accompanied by the numbers "1!" "2!" "3!" and "4!" these close ups show the instruments in detail and get the reader anticipating the next big panel. The next panel is larger, and will show the crowd at this festival going crazy for the music with sound effects of music being displayed by lightning bolts and music notes. The cheering will be displayed in jagged speech bubbles. This will be another wide shot of the entire audience including lights and bleachers in the back.
Page 4: This page involves two big panels displaying the main characters emotions and facial features displaying his happiness with the situation. The second panel will involve a close up of him closing his eyes, which transitions into blackness on the next page
Page 5: This page will be completely black. This shows what comet is seeing as he closes his eyes, and gives the reader a break to rest. The black page is a technique used in many comic books as a transition and way of letting emotion from previous panels sit with readers for a moment. The page involves a caption which will read "Eyelid vision," as well as a thought bubble that will read "One day... I'm gonna change the world!"
Page 6: This page has a similar layout to page 3 with 4 vertical panels, except now they take up the entire page. These will feature close-ups of a clock ticking away. These close-ups will create a sense of confusion for the reader, mirroring the characters confusion.
Page 7: This page contains 4 panels. The first is a vertical panel of the clock ticking again, and the second shows comet asleep on a desk from almost a birds-eye-view, displaying the clock and his desk. The third panel will again show the clock but this time it will have lines around it to connote it ringing, and a "Rrrrrrrring" sound effect will be placed next to it. The 4th panel will show comet darting awake from the alarm, this shot will be a mid shot from in front of his desk this time.
Page 8: This page features a large panel which will have an over the shoulder shot from comet's back of his friends at the classroom door. The speech bubble will have the friends saying "Hurry up Comet! the store's gonna close before we get their lazy ass!."
The next panel is much smaller in the bottom right corner, and will feature a close up of comet's bag. The speech bubble will feature comet's response: "I'm coming! Wait up!" Having the panel to the bottom right of the main panel both gives the impression of moving forward as it is to the right which is the reading direction of western comics, as well as gives the panels a flow as the bag is physically to the bottom right of comet. The final panel features no text but will show the same shot, except now comet is reaching down for the bag to leave.
Page 9: This page features one panel that stretches across the page vertically on the left side. This panel will feature an old beat up guitar hanging in a shop window. the speech bubbles around it are from the character's perspectives with Dustin saying "You were excited about this old thing? It's a hunk of--" before being cut of by Stella who exclaims "Woahhhh that thing is amazing! You know how to play that?!" Having this large panel on the left allows the readers attention to be drawn fully to this panel, which is good because it mirrors the characters attention which is also on the object in the panel.
The following panel shows a close up high-angle shot of the characters through the shop window. This is a mid shot showing all of their faces, Comet being in the centre, looking in awe. The next panel is a close-up of Comet's face as he gawks at the guitar with starry eyes. I could use a "drooling" sound effect text here to add more to the panel.
Page 10: This page contains 4 panels, the layout is quite a simple one, showing a wider image at the top of comet in then guitar store at the counter.
The following panels show his interactions with the store clerk and display him buying the guitar. The dialogue follows the script for this page. I will use a low angle shot for comet looking up at the man at the counter, displaying how he sees the guitar store worker as wise and "cool."
Page 11: This page also contains 4 panels, and features two of the panels within a bigger panel. This layout is good for showing off a wider scene, and then showing smaller details of the scene in the smaller panels. This page depicts a scene weeks later from the last one of Comet in a music practise room practising his guitar skills. This time skip is established in a caption box saying "A few weeks later..." the caption box is a rectangle as this is a fairly standard and recognised way of depicting a caption in comics.
Page 12: This page has 6 panels. The first of which is a larger panel. This is a wide shot of the whole music room with Comet on one end and Stella on the other. The speech bubbles depict their conversation as seen in the script. Using one panel for this kind of interaction is a good way of showing the bond between the two characters, as their interaction flows across the single panel uninterrupted, and you can see how the two interact with each other in the same shot. The panels following this are next to each other, featuring comet on the left panel looking to the right and saying goodbye, Stella in the middle panel saying goodbye and walking away, and the third panel showing the door closing shut after she leaves. This layout maintains the layout of the room that we saw in the first panel, and is broken up this time to show that the conversation between the two is ending. The next panel is slightly bigger and will feature a mid shot of comet continuing to practise the guitar. The final panel is black as a transition to the next scene.
Page 13: This page features a slightly different layout, which will involve one image broken up into three panels. The panels will depict an image of comet walking home in the snow. Panel 1 at the top will be the clouds, the panel below it will show some snow coming from the clouds and the final panel will depict snow falling from the sky onto the road as comet walks from the left of the scene to the right. This shot will be a wide shot showing the scenery of the area. The caption will read "Walking home."
Page 14: This page features 5 panels, which will depict Comet's confrontation with a group of thugs. the initial panel will feature a wide shot of comet walking past the thugs, with the following panel depicting a close up of the thugs angry eyes. the following panels will feature the thugs on the left panel looking at comet, with comet walking on the right panel. There will be another jagged speech bubble with bold capitals of the thugs shouting "HEY KID!"
The final panel will be the same wide shot as the first, except this time they are on opposite sides and comet will have a speech bubble saying "huh?" Using the same shot ties the scene together so that it's obvious to the reader how the action has moved.
Page 15: This page will feature shots with comet at the bottom of the panels looking up at the thugs, who are at the top of the panels. This low-angle shot will represent how powerless Comet is to the thugs.
Page 16: This page is the climax of the comic, denoting Comet getting punched hard by the thug. I will use sound effects and lines to represent the motion and impact of the punch. The following shots will also be low angle shots just depicting the thug leader holding Comet's guitar.
Page 17: This is the final page of the comic. It will depict the thug smashing the guitar against the wall in an over-the-shoulder style. The next panel will show the guitar being thrown at Comet by the thug leader as he walks off, with a speech bubble saying "Later Loser!"
The final panel will depict Comet crying next to the wall holding his broken guitar.
Overall the panel layout is quite simple, utilising simple techniques such as panels within panels and large panels followed by smaller panels to relay detail and information. I used mainly simple geometric shapes such as rectangles and squares. for panels to keep the reading experience simple and clear. I also want to utilise standard comic book techniques such as jagged speech bubbles to represent anger, fluffy speech bubbles to represent though, rectangles for captions etc. as these are well understood by comic book readers and will not cause any confusion.
Having created this layout and script, I can now get on with producing the illustrations and text to be used in the final product.
Page 2: The second page involves four panels around the outside to show close up shots of the band's eyes. The central larger panel will display the band on stage, with Comet centre stage shouting "We are Comet Craters and this is our new single!" and "1!... 2!...." The speech bubbles for these pieces of text are jagged and edgy, which connotes shouting. This will be a wide shot.
Page 3: The third page involves 4 vertical panels, each showing various instruments in close up shots accompanied by the numbers "1!" "2!" "3!" and "4!" these close ups show the instruments in detail and get the reader anticipating the next big panel. The next panel is larger, and will show the crowd at this festival going crazy for the music with sound effects of music being displayed by lightning bolts and music notes. The cheering will be displayed in jagged speech bubbles. This will be another wide shot of the entire audience including lights and bleachers in the back.
Page 4: This page involves two big panels displaying the main characters emotions and facial features displaying his happiness with the situation. The second panel will involve a close up of him closing his eyes, which transitions into blackness on the next page
Page 5: This page will be completely black. This shows what comet is seeing as he closes his eyes, and gives the reader a break to rest. The black page is a technique used in many comic books as a transition and way of letting emotion from previous panels sit with readers for a moment. The page involves a caption which will read "Eyelid vision," as well as a thought bubble that will read "One day... I'm gonna change the world!"
Page 6: This page has a similar layout to page 3 with 4 vertical panels, except now they take up the entire page. These will feature close-ups of a clock ticking away. These close-ups will create a sense of confusion for the reader, mirroring the characters confusion.
Page 7: This page contains 4 panels. The first is a vertical panel of the clock ticking again, and the second shows comet asleep on a desk from almost a birds-eye-view, displaying the clock and his desk. The third panel will again show the clock but this time it will have lines around it to connote it ringing, and a "Rrrrrrrring" sound effect will be placed next to it. The 4th panel will show comet darting awake from the alarm, this shot will be a mid shot from in front of his desk this time.
Page 8: This page features a large panel which will have an over the shoulder shot from comet's back of his friends at the classroom door. The speech bubble will have the friends saying "Hurry up Comet! the store's gonna close before we get their lazy ass!."
The next panel is much smaller in the bottom right corner, and will feature a close up of comet's bag. The speech bubble will feature comet's response: "I'm coming! Wait up!" Having the panel to the bottom right of the main panel both gives the impression of moving forward as it is to the right which is the reading direction of western comics, as well as gives the panels a flow as the bag is physically to the bottom right of comet. The final panel features no text but will show the same shot, except now comet is reaching down for the bag to leave.
Page 9: This page features one panel that stretches across the page vertically on the left side. This panel will feature an old beat up guitar hanging in a shop window. the speech bubbles around it are from the character's perspectives with Dustin saying "You were excited about this old thing? It's a hunk of--" before being cut of by Stella who exclaims "Woahhhh that thing is amazing! You know how to play that?!" Having this large panel on the left allows the readers attention to be drawn fully to this panel, which is good because it mirrors the characters attention which is also on the object in the panel.
The following panel shows a close up high-angle shot of the characters through the shop window. This is a mid shot showing all of their faces, Comet being in the centre, looking in awe. The next panel is a close-up of Comet's face as he gawks at the guitar with starry eyes. I could use a "drooling" sound effect text here to add more to the panel.
Page 10: This page contains 4 panels, the layout is quite a simple one, showing a wider image at the top of comet in then guitar store at the counter.
The following panels show his interactions with the store clerk and display him buying the guitar. The dialogue follows the script for this page. I will use a low angle shot for comet looking up at the man at the counter, displaying how he sees the guitar store worker as wise and "cool."
Page 11: This page also contains 4 panels, and features two of the panels within a bigger panel. This layout is good for showing off a wider scene, and then showing smaller details of the scene in the smaller panels. This page depicts a scene weeks later from the last one of Comet in a music practise room practising his guitar skills. This time skip is established in a caption box saying "A few weeks later..." the caption box is a rectangle as this is a fairly standard and recognised way of depicting a caption in comics.
Page 12: This page has 6 panels. The first of which is a larger panel. This is a wide shot of the whole music room with Comet on one end and Stella on the other. The speech bubbles depict their conversation as seen in the script. Using one panel for this kind of interaction is a good way of showing the bond between the two characters, as their interaction flows across the single panel uninterrupted, and you can see how the two interact with each other in the same shot. The panels following this are next to each other, featuring comet on the left panel looking to the right and saying goodbye, Stella in the middle panel saying goodbye and walking away, and the third panel showing the door closing shut after she leaves. This layout maintains the layout of the room that we saw in the first panel, and is broken up this time to show that the conversation between the two is ending. The next panel is slightly bigger and will feature a mid shot of comet continuing to practise the guitar. The final panel is black as a transition to the next scene.
Page 13: This page features a slightly different layout, which will involve one image broken up into three panels. The panels will depict an image of comet walking home in the snow. Panel 1 at the top will be the clouds, the panel below it will show some snow coming from the clouds and the final panel will depict snow falling from the sky onto the road as comet walks from the left of the scene to the right. This shot will be a wide shot showing the scenery of the area. The caption will read "Walking home."
Page 14: This page features 5 panels, which will depict Comet's confrontation with a group of thugs. the initial panel will feature a wide shot of comet walking past the thugs, with the following panel depicting a close up of the thugs angry eyes. the following panels will feature the thugs on the left panel looking at comet, with comet walking on the right panel. There will be another jagged speech bubble with bold capitals of the thugs shouting "HEY KID!"
The final panel will be the same wide shot as the first, except this time they are on opposite sides and comet will have a speech bubble saying "huh?" Using the same shot ties the scene together so that it's obvious to the reader how the action has moved.
Page 15: This page will feature shots with comet at the bottom of the panels looking up at the thugs, who are at the top of the panels. This low-angle shot will represent how powerless Comet is to the thugs.
Page 16: This page is the climax of the comic, denoting Comet getting punched hard by the thug. I will use sound effects and lines to represent the motion and impact of the punch. The following shots will also be low angle shots just depicting the thug leader holding Comet's guitar.
Page 17: This is the final page of the comic. It will depict the thug smashing the guitar against the wall in an over-the-shoulder style. The next panel will show the guitar being thrown at Comet by the thug leader as he walks off, with a speech bubble saying "Later Loser!"
The final panel will depict Comet crying next to the wall holding his broken guitar.
Overall the panel layout is quite simple, utilising simple techniques such as panels within panels and large panels followed by smaller panels to relay detail and information. I used mainly simple geometric shapes such as rectangles and squares. for panels to keep the reading experience simple and clear. I also want to utilise standard comic book techniques such as jagged speech bubbles to represent anger, fluffy speech bubbles to represent though, rectangles for captions etc. as these are well understood by comic book readers and will not cause any confusion.
Having created this layout and script, I can now get on with producing the illustrations and text to be used in the final product.