Class Exercise 3: Motion VS Printed Comics

During our group discussion in class, we compared the differences between motion and printed comics according to our very general understanding of motion and printed comics. Especially for myself, I wasn't really a fan of comics (in any forms) and thus, the input I provided during the discussion was really based on what we learnt in class and my prior understanding and imagination of how a motion could differ from a printed.

However, I went online to search for ONE comic that has both versions so I could better compare. And I found....

ASTONISHING X-MEN: GIFTED #1

I read through a short part of the comic book (borrowed from a friend) and watched the video of that same part and below would be my response to the discussion questions after experiencing both forms of the same comic.

1. What are the main differences between motion comics and printed comics?
The main differences I found would be the inclusion of sounds, and also, the speed of "reading" through the comic.

Firstly, sounds are able to be included in motion comics. Of course, some might argue that sounds can be included in printed comics as well but it would only be in the form of texts. Therefore, I believe that printed comics rely solely on images and texts to tell their stories while motion comics have wider range of media to tell their stories. For example, the use of sounds, consecutively changing colours, consistently moving images, etc.

Next, the speed of reading a printed comic is definitely slower than "reading" a motion one. One has to read the words one by one and interpret the background slowly when reading a comic book. However, in motion comics, with the sound effects and clear graphics, one can easily recognize the setting of the story, and speed is rather consistent since the texts are being "read" for the audience.  Therefore, I thought that this might be one of the major differences that we can see between printed comic and a motion comic.

2. What are the strengths and limitations in each of them?
- Strengths in Printed
I feel that there is greater reader involvement and control in printed comics as readers would need to constantly interpret and follow through the panels in the correct sequence; and all these require understanding and decoding on the readers side. And this might be the reason why some people are addicted to reading comics, probably because the find the sense of thrill and excitement as they slowly discover the story by themselves and they can control how fast or slow they want the story to progress.

- Limitations in Printed
The impact of the story might not be as strong as the motion comics because without the sound effects and the instantaneous flow of images (for example, from a scene, zooming in to a character's facial expression immediately), the impact might have been greatly reduced. Just like what was mentioned in previous lectures, the gutter between panels convey some sense of time lag, which might result in a drop in impact if instantaneous jump from panel to panel can create a stronger impact.

- Strengths in Motion
Motion, like mentioned above, would be able to create a greater impact on the viewers because of its sound effects and instantaneous movements of the scenes and characters. For instance, while watching the motion comic of X-Men, I realised that it was scarier when Wolverine appeared and started fighting as compared to the book version. Thus I believe that the incorporation of sounds and other effects made motion comics more impactful.

- Limitations in Motion
I don't really see any major limitation of motion comics in terms of conveying the story to audience. However, my concern is that motion might lie in the grey area between a comic and an animation, which might result in it being not here nor there. And since the pleasure of reading a comic is (I assume) derived from the movement from one panel to another, slowly divulging the ending of the story, such motion comics might not be welcomed by hard core comic lovers. I'm not too sure about this but this is what I can imagine. :)

Reflection
Generally, I enjoyed watching motion comic more than reading because well, we have enough readings in school ya? Haha. And also because I do not like to decipher the texts and slowly reading from panel to panel. Living in such a fast-paced society, I feel that reading comic books feels abit too slow for me as the story progression is constantly delayed - by reading the texts, looking at the background and images, flipping of the book, etc. This might be one of the major reasons why I prefer motion comics to printed ones since motions gives me the speed I want and I do not have decipher the images and texts myself. The comic will do it for me in this case. ::)))

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O490WDOoiuM
Book: borrowed from a friend