An MFADT Thesis

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• An MFADT Thesis
• By Catherine Garnier
• Midterm Review

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The idea

• Table for Two is a visual narrative that
  combines elements of comics, animation, motion
  pictures and interactive media. I call this form
  a self-assembling motion comic. It is my goal
  in creating this hybrid form to construct a
  narrative that engages an audience as readers,
  viewers, and players.

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The Characters
Elizabeth and James Two single professionals in
their 20s who are looking for love
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Locations
Table for Two will feature at least three
different settings. Each setting will contain a
table and two chairs. The backgrounds will be
subtly animated.
Cafe
Park
Dining Car
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The Story

• The story explores scenarios around a First
  Date, or the first romantic interaction between
  the characters.
• Ive put the following constraints on these
  scenarios
• Elizabeth and James are the only characters who
  appear in the scene
• All action takes place in the setting. We never
  follow them In or out.
• The only props are those they bring with them
• Each scenario must have a clearly defined
  traditional narrative structure Inciting
  Incident, Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution
• There will be a soundtrack of background sound,
  music, and sound effects, but no dialouge.
• With these constraints in mind, Ive constructed
  the following story map to work through possible
  scenarios

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The Interface
The story will be presented as a comic strip
with a traditional page and panel framework. Each
panel will contain a short animation. Prototype
Page
Character Animation
Conflict
Inciting Incident
Panel
Background Animation
Crisis
Resolution

• Sound (3 Layers)
• Background music
• Background enviromental noise
• Foreground character sound effects

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How Did I Get Here?
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Precedents

• Potential Literature
• Cent Mille Milliards de poemes by Raymond Queneau
• The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino

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Precedents

• Comics Theory
• Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott
  McCloud
• Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner

• Experimental Comics
• 99 Ways to Tell a Story Exercises in Style by
  Matt Madden

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Precedents

• Silhouette Illustration Art
• Auguste Edouart
• Arthur Rackham

• Silhouette Animation
• The Mysterious Geographical Explorations of
  Jasper Morello
• Prince Achmed,
• Princes et Princesses

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Precedents

• Wordless Narratives
• The Triplets of Belleville (animation)
• Thomas Ott (comics)
• Peter Kuper (comics)
• Stop-motion Studies by David Crawford

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What does it all mean?
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Design Questions

• Can experimenting with cross-media narrative
  forms reveal the changing nature of our
  relationship with storytelling?
• Can dynamic, iterative, and non-linear
  storytelling techniques be used to explore the
  nature of romantic relationships?
• What are the cognitive differences in user
  experience between reading, watching, and
  playing? Can a user be engaged on all these
  levels in a single narrative form?
• How much can I mix-up my narrative elements and
  still maintain a coherent and entertaining user
  experience

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Domains
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Audience

• The target audience is visually and
  technologically literate men and women between
  25-35
• The content will appeal to this group because the
  characters themselves are members of it, and the
  issues and subtext which will be played out are
  familiar and universal to them
• The format will appeal to this group because they
  have come of age during the birth of new media,
  and have witness first-hand the effect of this on
  traditional narrative forms
• Cross-over audiences would include technophiles,
  gamers, and fans of comics and animation

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Prototypes Layouts
How can the page/panel layout be adapted for the
screen?
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Prototypes
Close-up, photographic
Close-up, photographic
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Prototypes Character Animation
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Prototypes Background Animation