Sunday, July 3, 2011

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Recently I've had acquaintances ask me about a technical aspect of writing a script for a comic. They wanted to know how it was different than a screenplay. One of the greatest is the amount of detail that goes into the composition. Also format is another (although there are some variations on the layout of how some scripts for comics are presented). For those who are curious, you'll find the first page of one of the early drafts of the prologue posted below. Although there are many similarities, there are also many more differences. With the screenplay, often you want to keep description to the bare minimum, keep from giving too much direction (after all that is the directors job)....and focus on dialog and character. With the comic script, you have to provide enough detail that the artist can create what it is you see in your minds eye (or provide sufficient that they can improve upon your original vision to create something even better than what you imagined). In this medium, you play not only the writer, but the director as well. For me it is another dimension to telling the full story that is going on in my head. The whole process is a lot like learning how to walk again as I attempt to learn the balance of not too much and not enough. In the end the ultimate hope being is that it will not only look and sound like a "duck" but will BE an authentic piece of well crafted work. So for those who'd like to take a read, enjoy the first scripted page of "Sea Wulfe prologue"

Sea Wulfe, Prolouge 1.
Writer:Mark Turner
Penciler: Tanna Tucker
PAGE1 (FOUR PANELS)

PAGE1, Panel 1.
Cinematic panel, extreme close up. A pair of intense weary eyes stare,the brows knit while beads of perspiration dot the forehead.

CAPTION 1:
“Prophet, Shaman, Psychic, Nut Job....Freak.”

CAPTION 2:
“They call me lots of things, because I see stuff sometimes....okay, all the time, really.”

PAGE1, Panel 2.
Cinematic panel. Mid shot. A young sickly boy [ETHAN, 7] sits on a bed with his knees drawn up. A sketch pad rests on his legs as he draws. His tongue sticks out the corner of his mouth as he frowns with fierce concentration.

CAPTION 3:
“I see things and then draw them...”

PAGE1, Panel 3.
Cinematic panel. Close up of sketch pad. Ethan’s hand hovers over a detailed black and white drawing of a fearsome Minotaur, a “bull ring” in it’s nose. It’s arm raised over it’s head with what appears to be a meat cleaver, a trail of gore flies from the blade that reflects light.

CAPTION 4:
“And quite often they are full of blood and terror.”

Sea Wulfe, Prolouge 1.
Writer:Mark Turner
Penciler: Tanna Tucker

PAGE1 (CONTINUED)

PAGE1, Panel 4.
Cinematic panel. Mid shot. The previous panel , in color as if it were real. The Minotaur, meat cleaver high over it’s head, we can now see better what it is doing. The Minotaur dressed in a butchers smock holds a chicken that it is butchering on a cutting block.Various meats hang around it in what appears to be a meat “stand” at an outdoor market.

CAPTION 5:
“I don’t really share the pictures because this place I draw scares people.”