Create a storyboard where the image does not depend on the text and the text adds something new to the narrative.
I&P p.95
This exercise is a light-hearted look at the role of image and text.
● Aim for it to be around 10 frames long.
● Draw the picture storyboard first and then add the text.
Note how the story is affected when the text is added.
[2Mar21] I wrote thus up in an email to myself earlier today but that was lost somewhere in the ether. I will rebuild it.
I can see no benefit in demonstrating my poor draughtsmanship and so will complete this exercise in text [I have noted elsewhere, but cannot find the link, that once I have had the idea for a photograph or a series, I sometimes find it unnecessary to actually create it].
I visualise a series of a character undressing provocatively in front of a mirror. In order to bypass any male gaze issues (see Part 3) this is best done in Chippendale or Full Monty mode. The intended visual impression is that the event is taking place in a stripping booth (I have no idea what the correct term for this is and have no intention of Googling it, but it was depicted in that Liam Neeson film where his daughter was abducted and then displayed to potential buyers (trigger warning and spoiler alert – he rescued her, there was some bloodshed).
Having sought to lead the viewer into thinking that was a commercial sexual transaction, the text will reveal that the character is in a hospital changing room (turn the page and he’s in a hospital gown that does not meet at the back) about to be given an MRI scan that will reveal that his testicular or prostate cancer has spread to other organs and the prognosis is poor.
The mirror was one- not two-way and his provocative clothing removal was for his own amusement, whistling in the wind.
I have another, adapted from I short film I participated in, made in the 1970s or early 80s as part of a film course at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, led by an old and brief acquaintance, Chris Monger. I mention this in case he used the idea elsewhere as much as to name-drop.
There are two contrasting characters (in the original it was an old man, respectably dressed, and a rebelliously-dressed youth), ostensibly sitting facing one another in a moving train. There appears to be an argument between them. They are only pictured singly.
The reveal (in this case made by text relay accompanying still images and confirmed visually when we turn the page) is that they are sitting back-to-back in separate banks of seats and their interactions are with other people.
I&P Exc 4.3 References
Boothroyd, S. and Roberts, K. (2019) Identity and place [I&P]. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.
