Purpose -
The aim of this unit is to develop learners’ understanding of the print production techniques and technology used in the print-based media industries, allowing them the opportunity to demonstrate learning through a range of practical activities. The purpose is also to enable learners to develop skills in the production of two-dimensional graphic narratives and apply sequential art effectively through an understanding of the principles of character, dialogue, and plot by means of visual storytelling. Learners will develop transferable skills which could be applied across a vast area of visual communications.Unit 55 Graphic Narrative - Unit Aims
Task 1: Research
Task one aims to create and show off a collection research taken into account before the actual creation and development of idea's for our children's book. What may be included in such research would be different things featuring under a multitude of different categories, for example the topic of existing children's books and how they structure and create their books with different target audiences and narratives in mind.
Other things included are:
Other things included are:
- The Formal Elements
- Captioning of images
- The representation of gender, race, and sexism
- How books for children are published
Target Audience
Definition
of Target Audience –
Target Audience is a particular group at which a product such as a film
or advertisement is aimed.
How
will I approach Target Audience in my own children’s book?
In the brief it is stated that our target audience
for our own children’s book will be between 0-5, because of this, that means
out books will be aimed towards children who have limited or no reading ability
at all. In conjunction with this, this also means that the children’s book I am
going to create will rely and be based more on imagery and the use of
illustrations to convey a story and message rather than the actual story
itself.
As I will be focusing more on the
illustrative and pictorial side of telling a story via images as I show off and
bring fourth focus onto my ability with programs such as Photoshop and
Illustrator but also different artistic techniques done and then scanned in.
Target
Audience and Children’s books formats:
Children’s books are commonly put into
different classifications of which they are most suited towards. For example, a
children’s books target audience isn’t just determined about what the story is
or how the images are presented but also with the format of the book as a
whole.
A small list from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/age-levels-for-childrens-books.html
has been laid out showing the different ages groups and what kinds of books
children’s at those age ranges would read from a publishers standard.
Below I have compiled the list of age
groups which fit into the target audience given in the assignment brief
scenario.
The
list:
- Board books: Newborn to age 3
- Picture books: Ages 3–8
- Colouring and activity (C&A) books: Ages 3–8
- Novelty books: Ages 3 and up, depending on content
Narratives in story telling - Single Strand and Multi-Strand
Narrative strands come along with basic narrative structure, the idea of beginning, middle and end is what writers base their stories upon. Within this, the writer/story teller has an infinite way of telling the story and is seen especially in longer written stories where different narrative strands are weaved together.
There are two different kinds of Narrative Strands within the world of story telling, the two strands are called ‘Single Strand’ and ‘Multi-Strand’ but what exactly does each one entail?
Single Strand –
Single Strand narrative refers to the one central character of a film you’re watching or book you’re reading. The plot revolves around this character and everyone else featured are labelled as minor characters. But Single Strand stories have an antagonist that tries to disrupt and get in the way of the central character, you say.
Well, yes. That is completely true but you’ll notice that throughout the entirety of the book or film you’re watching, the focus is always on the central character, their story and adventure is top priority and shown above everything else going on in the story.
An example of this? Take Superman for instance. The story and development of the Superman story is dominated by a single strand narrative where as Superman is the protagonist and central character and everyone around him is a minor character.
Multi-Strand –
Now that you have an understanding of what a single strand narrative is, the concept and definition can be applied to what a multi-strand narrative is. So using the definition of a single strand narrative, we know that a multi-strand narrative is just the same but with multiple single strand narratives being used in conjunction with one another.
Multi-strand stories contain more than one central character and is possible to have that one group of supporting characters will later on become the central group of characters later on. It also means that the central character is more than one person and becomes a group of characters like seen in the X-Men comic book series.
In X-Men, you can see that the story doesn’t have one single central character but a group of characters that all support each other and take the limelight together or one at a time in a spin off story. This works because the viewer will become interested and wonder how each strand is connected and relates to each other, on top of this the viewer is still able to be concerned and wonder about the outcome of each individual strand as well.
There are two different kinds of Narrative Strands within the world of story telling, the two strands are called ‘Single Strand’ and ‘Multi-Strand’ but what exactly does each one entail?
Single Strand –
Single Strand narrative refers to the one central character of a film you’re watching or book you’re reading. The plot revolves around this character and everyone else featured are labelled as minor characters. But Single Strand stories have an antagonist that tries to disrupt and get in the way of the central character, you say.
Well, yes. That is completely true but you’ll notice that throughout the entirety of the book or film you’re watching, the focus is always on the central character, their story and adventure is top priority and shown above everything else going on in the story.
An example of this? Take Superman for instance. The story and development of the Superman story is dominated by a single strand narrative where as Superman is the protagonist and central character and everyone around him is a minor character.
Multi-Strand –
Now that you have an understanding of what a single strand narrative is, the concept and definition can be applied to what a multi-strand narrative is. So using the definition of a single strand narrative, we know that a multi-strand narrative is just the same but with multiple single strand narratives being used in conjunction with one another.
Multi-strand stories contain more than one central character and is possible to have that one group of supporting characters will later on become the central group of characters later on. It also means that the central character is more than one person and becomes a group of characters like seen in the X-Men comic book series.
In X-Men, you can see that the story doesn’t have one single central character but a group of characters that all support each other and take the limelight together or one at a time in a spin off story. This works because the viewer will become interested and wonder how each strand is connected and relates to each other, on top of this the viewer is still able to be concerned and wonder about the outcome of each individual strand as well.
Narrative in story telling - Linear and Non-Linear
Linear Narrative –
Linear, meaning going in a straight line or almost straight refers to the way and order a story is told. Linear narratives are stories that take this on and are told from beginning to end with a middle included hence being called a linear narrative. The story follows along a straight line/path of which the story is told in order.
The way of story telling using linear narrative almost seems like common sense to a lot but it can a lot more intricate and complex than it first seems. The story has to best suit the narrative as well as generally build with tension and make a progression of interest in the reader.
An example of a linear narrative would be if you told someone about how your days was. You’d want to start with everything in chronological order, opening with a line with first tells your reader what you’re going to talk and then go on to explain and tell how your day was in order.
Non-Linear Narrative –
What we did with single strand and multi-strand narratives can be applied here. Single would imply one whereas multi implies more than once. The same is seen here, linear means the story follows in order so Non-linear must mean that the story doesn’t go in complete order and doesn’t go from start to finish chronologically.
Non-linear narratives are used in stories that usually start at the middle of the story. From the start of the book or film that uses a non-linear narrative, you’re put straight into the action and conflict which will then double-back to the beginning of the film where you’ll start to understand and begin to know what everything was that you saw at the start. These sort of stories often employ the use of flashbacks and their counter part, ‘flashforwards’ in order to keep the reader on their toes and interested as the writer tells their story.
Linear, meaning going in a straight line or almost straight refers to the way and order a story is told. Linear narratives are stories that take this on and are told from beginning to end with a middle included hence being called a linear narrative. The story follows along a straight line/path of which the story is told in order.
The way of story telling using linear narrative almost seems like common sense to a lot but it can a lot more intricate and complex than it first seems. The story has to best suit the narrative as well as generally build with tension and make a progression of interest in the reader.
An example of a linear narrative would be if you told someone about how your days was. You’d want to start with everything in chronological order, opening with a line with first tells your reader what you’re going to talk and then go on to explain and tell how your day was in order.
Non-Linear Narrative –
What we did with single strand and multi-strand narratives can be applied here. Single would imply one whereas multi implies more than once. The same is seen here, linear means the story follows in order so Non-linear must mean that the story doesn’t go in complete order and doesn’t go from start to finish chronologically.
Non-linear narratives are used in stories that usually start at the middle of the story. From the start of the book or film that uses a non-linear narrative, you’re put straight into the action and conflict which will then double-back to the beginning of the film where you’ll start to understand and begin to know what everything was that you saw at the start. These sort of stories often employ the use of flashbacks and their counter part, ‘flashforwards’ in order to keep the reader on their toes and interested as the writer tells their story.
Narrative in story telling - Open and Closed
Open Narratives -
Open narratives are commonly featured and used in television shows and soap opera's. This is seen a lot in shows such as Coronation Street, Eastenders and other programs like these. They are classified as open narratives because of how the show and story as no sense of ending as well as a lot of other reasons also ticked by the examples shown above.
So what are the requirements and what makes something an open narrative?
It's simple, for a story to be an open narrative, the story must have:
Open narratives are commonly featured and used in television shows and soap opera's. This is seen a lot in shows such as Coronation Street, Eastenders and other programs like these. They are classified as open narratives because of how the show and story as no sense of ending as well as a lot of other reasons also ticked by the examples shown above.
So what are the requirements and what makes something an open narrative?
It's simple, for a story to be an open narrative, the story must have:
- No sense of ending
This is explained above as well as is pretty self explanatory
- A lot of different characters
Characters of the shows like Eastenders for example fade in and out of prominence as well as narrative function often because of this, it leads to my next bullet point.
- Have more than one story line
Following up from my last point, because characters fade in and out of being the center attraction each with their own story, shows like named above have multiple different storylines all going on at the same time leaving to one episode not being the same to the next and perhaps featuring a different character.
- Time is chronological and keeps in time with 'World Time'
World time is the idea and concept of a television show or story following the events on a basis close that of how time passes in our actual lives. This means that stories within the show are told and presented in order of how they happen. For example, 'person a' might have an argument with 'person b', the show then cuts to 'person c' who may be affected by something later not relating to the cause of 'person a' and 'person b's' feud.
But why are Television shows such as Coronation Street an open narrative structure?
Let's take Coronation Street as an example, its biggest claim to fame of being an open narrative structured television show is the fact that the show itself has been running since December 9th, 1960 and within that time, multiple different stories have go on, finished and new ones have started. This is a big deal because my one of points about what makes an open narrative structured story is the fact that it has no end and that multiple stories are covered.
Another reason as to why Coronation Street is a good example is because the show keeps in time with the 'Real World'. What is meant by this is that Coronation Street features a Christmas day episode on the actual day of Christmas, as well as references to events which happen in real life.
Closed Narratives -
Whilst open narratives are featured in television shows and soap opera's, a closed narrative is seen more within films and cinema. What makes something a closed narrative structured story is amount of depth and characters within the story and its development. Like open narratives and its criteria, I have composed a list below.
The requirements -
- Interior voice-overs may be featured giving different characters thoughts and hallucinations
Characters can be given a voice over going into the mind and sub-conscious of that particular character in order to explore the thoughts and feelings of said character. This may also be done by the use of hallucinations, the character may experience supernatural happenings, and mirages internally.
- The number of characters is small
Unlike an open narrative, closed narratives feature a small number of central characters with more depth in which the audience will know about the characters thoroughly. On top of this, because there are less main characters involved, it gives a point on which the viewer can focus on instead of being subjected to multiple different stories like how an open narrative does so.
- Characters are arranged in importance
This is called a hierarchy and features the different central characters in an order of least important to most important. An example of how a hierarchy works with order of importance is schools for example. The pupils are below the teachers, the teachers are below the deputy head teachers and the deputy head teachers below the head teacher.
In a film or cinematic piece, my example would come from the original PowerRangers series, in the series we see the Red Ranger as the lead character in which second in command features the Blue Ranger. Evidence of this is the fact that the Blue Ranger was the only ranger featured in every episode (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Cranston) whilst the yellow, pink and black power ranger were lower down on the hierarchy.
- Time is compressed and differentiates with that of 'real time'
This means that instead of everything happening on a day to day basis like it would in real life and how open narrative stories have a christmas episode for instance, the story may feature a time in the past and then skip to a piece in the future, anywhere from a month to a year or hundreds of years in sci-fi pieces.
- Events and time are special to the story and are not linked to real world events
Everything which happens in a closed narrative story is special and unique to that story and real world events like a terror attack or scientific breakthrough do not become relevant nor shine into existence during the story.
Graphic Narratives
What is a Graphic Narrative?
The term “Graphic Narrative is a general term used to identify illustrations with a story being told whether its completely fictional or a true story. Graphic Narrative is a broad terms and as such the following things fall under the term:
1. Comic Books – A comic book is a publication in the art form of comic art and usually consists of panels going along the pages in which the reader follows
2. Graphic Novels – A graphic novel is much like a comic book except the fact that it’s a novel. It does share the same comic-strip format though.
3. Manga – Manga is the Japanese equivalent of what comic books and graphic novels are to us. They are mostly aimed towards adults but some are made with children in mind too.
4. Bandes Dessinées – These are Franco-Belgian comics, Bandes Dessinées means this in French. They are exactly like comics and comic books except in a different language.
5. Novelas Em Quadrinhos – A much simpler name for this is Fotonovela, they’re novels in comics but utilise photographs instead of drawings to show a story. They’re popular in Brazil mostly.
Examples of Graphic Narratives –
1. Comic Books
Typically, comic books are based upon superheroes and their attempts to stop crime or the villain. This is seen throughout all of the big and well know comic books In today's industry with big names like DC and Marvel leading the way.
2. Graphic Novels
Comic books don’t do this usually and feature multiple issues being published weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
3. Manga
Black and white is used for these illustrations are the contents also features the Japanese language. In Japan, anime and manga is hugely successful and some of this has rubbed off to the other countries and places across the world.
4. Bandes Dessinées (Franco-Belgian Comics)
5. Novelas Em Quadrinhos (Fotonovela)
Novelas Em Quadrinhos are also called Fotonovela, and for the sake of simplicity I will be using this term to describe what they are.
In short, a Fotonovela is the same as a novel and comic in Portuguese. In English, comic books are generally illustrated and so are graphic novels. This isn’t exactly true in Fotonovela though. This Portuguese and Brazilian style of story telling is done using photographs to tell and progress a story instead of digital illustrations.
In short, a Fotonovela is the same as a novel and comic in Portuguese. In English, comic books are generally illustrated and so are graphic novels. This isn’t exactly true in Fotonovela though. This Portuguese and Brazilian style of story telling is done using photographs to tell and progress a story instead of digital illustrations.
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