On Comics and Film: visual storytelling
COMICS AND FILM LANGUAGE It has occurred to me, while watching David Lean’s GREAT EXPECTATIONS as I write this, that cinematic language and how it relates to comics storytelling—that being the progressive sequential images of comics—has evolved in ways we don’t acknowledge or respect. Take for instance simplicity in staging and cutting—bare economics in relatable film language—in Lean’s GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Simple by today’s standards (2011). Progressive cutting from establishing shots to medium to close-ups and back out. This language of visual dynamics is economic and easy to follow and translates readily to a still-image format like comics. By today’s standards, however, the cutting dynamics of Jack Harris and his crew in GREAT EXPECTATIONS might be viewed as light and elementary by the average viewer. However, there is historic and elementary KNOWLEDGE at play here. And shockingly enough, this is the type of cutting most directly related to the strongest of dynamic comics storytelli