Understanding Comics Reading- Rebecca Shalloway

Does each frame represent a single moment in time in a comic? Why or why not? What about in video?


No. An example would be the top right frame on teh third page in this article! Each frame can represent a single second or a long moment! In video it always represents more thana single comic because over time the images change. Video is three dimensional because it has time, where as comics are two-dimensial. The time is implied by the viewer.

 In comics, time and space are “one and the same.” How so?

They are one because in comics time is implied through the movement in a space. 

Contrast these strategies with how artists represent space and time in film and video. How do artists represent space in moving image?

Artists represent space and time in film and video by changing the composition or adjusting the frame. 

How do we know the space is larger?

We know a space is larger because the frame moves to show more and thus more time.

How does an artist elicit claustrophobia on film or video?

Am artist can elicit claustrophobia in a film or video by  tightening the frame, zooming in, and limiting what the audience views.

Provide 2 examples from film or video of how large or small spaces are communicated to the audience.

A large space in is communicated in the sound of music (The Hills are alive scene) because the camera angles shifts and pans the entire scene. It also zooms out and up showing multiple points of view.

A small space is communicated in the Home Alone movies when the camera takes the point of view of being inside the cabinet while the character gets supplies.  It implies that the actor's hand is wiggling through the space to reach something in the back. The composition is framed by teh darkness of the cabinet frame. The light is coming from the direct center.  (where the cabinet door is opened).