Rocket Raccoon & Groot - Film Theory - Brian Manton

Ref:
http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/kuleshov-effect.html



1.
Wide shot. Inside the Guardians' space ship.
Rocket addresses the reader, looking out of the panel, and gestures towards Groot, who stands to the right of the panel.
The other members of the crew are playing poker in the background and paying no attention.

Rocket:     My sesquipedalian friend here is going to help me demonstrate the Kuleshov Effect.

2.
Rocket holds up a pizza box with one slice of pizza left.

3.
Medium shot of Groot with an inscrutable expression.

Groot:     I am Groot.

4.
Rocket holds up the centerfold of an alien porn mag, all purple skin and tentacles. The page is torn, the more provocative section of the image gone.

5.
Medium shot of Groot with an inscrutable expression.

Groot:     I am Groot.

6.
Rocket holds up a chainsaw.

7.
Medium shot of Groot with an inscrutable expression.

Groot:     I am Groot.

8.
Wide.
Rocket starts the chainsaw and brandishes it at Groot. Groot steps backwards, but smiles.
The other crew members stand up from their poker game, startled.

Rocket:     This clearly demonstrates that someone has been going through my locker again!

Why Thought Balloons? - Brian Manton

Before joining Thought Balloons I wasn't writing every week, let alone every day. That weekly deadline might seem like a small thing but it brought about big changes. It was a starting point to build from. The benefits of having like-minded writers to learn from and with cannot be understated. I've learned a lot since that time so I thought I'd use this post to pass on some second hand advice that I've picked up over the years.

- The best way to improve at anything is regular deliberate practice. Write every day and focus on what you want to get better at. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/

- If you are not good at creating self-imposed deadlines, try joining a writing group (like Thought Balloons!) so that you have someone to be accountable to.

- Read widely from all mediums and genres. You can learn from everything - even bad writing.

- If you think you don't have time to write, watch this video:

- Don't spend too long reading about writing. It's easy to get caught up in process stuff. Allow yourself to indulge in it only on days when you've already put in your writing time.

- If you do spend more time thinking about writing than actually writing, read this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026

- If the process of writing comes easy to you, be thankful that you are one of the lucky few Ray Bradbury-types who sit down everyday and enjoy writing every word.

- If, on the other hand, writing feels like a constant process of frustration and humiliation... don't worry. You are not alone. “When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

- It's never going to get easier, and you need to be ok with that. You need to want to do it anyway.

This is all advice that I still struggle with at times - but I have improved, bit by bit, and Thought Balloons was instrumental in starting that process.

- Brian Manton

Moose Kid Comics – Curses – Brian Manton

6 panel grid. Bottom two panels knocked together.

1.

A Giant-ised Moose Kid bounds down the street like a happy Godzilla. Wizards flee from his stomping feet.

CAP: The Blow him Up spell backfired.

2.

Moose Kid sits behind a table loaded with plates of Full English Breakfasts. He stuffs his face with sausages, rashers and eggs. Malph steals a slice of toast from the corner of the panel.

CAP: The Fry him Up runes, a failure.

3.

Kid, Hodge and Malph strut through the streets with beaming smiles. They all brandish impressive dreadlocks. Everyone they pass looks on in admiration.

CAP: The Invocation of Dread was not at all what we expected.

4.

Kid, Hodge and Malph’s heads have all been inflated like helium balloons. They float in the sky, continuing their badminton game unimpeded.

CAP: The Helium Hex, not as horrible as we’d hoped.

5.

A mini wizard (Pocket Wizard to his friends) stands before all the other wizards in their stony castle lair. He waves his wand about to cast a spell. The other wizards are across the room from him. Some run to stop him, some shout in anger, some are frozen in fear.

Pocket Wizard: Hows about we try the Curse of Flatulence?

All the other Wizards (shouting): NO!

Why Moose Kid Comics?

Moose Kid Comics is a new free digital kids comic. Founded by Jamie Smart, issue one features 36 pages of comics by over 40 top comic book artists.

Moose Kid himself was an unsuspecting kid who happened to get on the wrong side of some wizards, get himself turned into a moose and transported directly into a comic. This didn't seem like the punishment it was meant to be to Moose Kid, so the Wizards have entered the comic to hunt him down and drag him back out!

Moose Kid Comics Mission Statement:

We created Moose Kids Comics for three main reasons:

1. To entertain comic readers and win new audiences.
2. To show how fantastic a children’s comic can be when artists create it themselves.
3. To open up the discussion about how we can make children’s comics great again.

Here in the U.K, mainstream children’s comics have been dying out, especially ones featuring original content. The Phoenix and The Beano are the only commercially available weekly titles still producing entirely original characters, but they are competing against big-name licensed titles based on TV shows or merchandising.
We want to help change things. We want to be creating the next generation of loveable characters for the world to embrace, all created by artists who retain their copyrights and put all their heart into their creations.
We want to remind both children and adults alike how fantastical and imaginative comics can be, and to help bring children’s comics back into the public consciousness.

What are you waiting for? Go download and share Moose Kid Comics #1 now!

http://www.moosekidcomics.com/

Prophet - Lore - Brian Manton

1.
A John Prophet sits on a throne, surrounded by small, somewhat humanoid (but not at all human-like) aliens. He wears a crown and jewellery fashioned from alien bones.

CAP: The Pretender reigned as God for untold years.

2.
A large space ship crashes into the alien palace.

CAP: Until the Saviour smote the palace down.

3.
Inside the wreckage of the throne room, another John Prophet (dressed for space travel) emerges from a hatch in the space ship. The Pretender stands from his throne, furious.

CAP: And emerged the perfect likeness of he we had worshipped for so long.

4.
The Pretender raises an axe and charges the new John, but new John simply shoots him with a laser pistol.

CAP: The Pretender thought to destroy him but the Saviour revealed his divine power

5.
New John carrying out repairs to his space ship. Aliens gather around him in awe but he pays them no attention.

CAP: He adorned his skyhammer with trophies from our lands.

CAP: When it began to growl again we knew the Saviour would return to the heavens.

6.
A small swarm of the aliens sexually pleasure John in the way only a swarm of small aliens can.

CAP: Not interested in worship, we feared he would leave us.

CAP: But the shemales reached out to the divine within him and he looked favourably upon us.

7.
Inside a starship. A huge window reveals a space-scape in the background.
An adult alien sits with a group of alien children, telling the story of their ascent to the heavens.

Alien: We have lived amongst the stars of the Gods from that day.
 

Why Prophet?

Giannis Milonogiannis

I've never read Rob Liefeld's original Prophet series but that doesn't matter for Brandon Grapham's epic sci fi reboot of the comic.

Simon Roy

Set ten thousand years in the future, there are countless clones of John Prophet throughout space, allowing for infinite variations of sci fi stories to be told with the character.

Farel Dalrymple

With such wide scope, there is room for much more than sci fi stories, with Graham noting one of the main aims of the series was to "out 'Conan' the current run of 'Conan'"

Simon Roy

The series seems to be greatly influenced by the European scifi found in Metal Hurlant by Moebius and Phillipe Druillet. 

Moebius

Phillipe Druillet

Prophet features an amazing lineup of talented artists including: Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, Giannis Milonogiannis, Farel Dalrymple, James Stokoe and even 2000AD's Dave Taylor.

James Stokoe

Space has no boundaries and there are innumerous John Prophets to be discovered. Stay tuned to Thought-Balloons this week to meet a few of them.

Simon Roy

Headspace - Resonance - Brian Manton

1.
Shot from behind Max, as he stands on the main street of Carpenter Cove, the town stretching out before him.
Max centre frame, the panel is split vertically showing the headspace version of Carpenter Cove on the left and IRL Carpenter Cove on the right.
Headspace Cove is in night and the strange creatures that populate it crawl the buildings.
IRL Cove is daytime, a busy town with happy people.

Max: They built a town in my head.

Max: I've come to the real town... for some perspective I guess.

2.
IRL Carpenter Cove.
Low shot looking up at Max. His feet are rooted on the ground but from his waist, multiple versions of his torso spring out, flailing in different directions.

Max: Everything vibrates into place and I hear something click.

3.
Headspace Carpenters Cove.
The dark town is empty.

Max: My mind is a ghost town.

4.
IRL Carpenter Cove.
A car crashes into a shopfront. Everyone who was walking around the town has fallen to the ground asleep. The sleepers look distressed.
Max stands in the middle of all of this, dumbfounded.

Max: And everyone out here has one of my personal demons to wrestle with in their dreams.
 

The Falcon - High Flight - Brian Manton

1.
Sam Wilson with his friend Sammy St. Clair, both about 10 years old. They are at Sam's pigeon coop. Sam holds a pigeon in his hands.  Sammy looks fascinated.

CAP: Boy I knew in Harlem, Sam too - Sammy St. Clair, the only person I've met more obsessed with flying than me.

2.
Sammy's dad, in military uniform, kneeling in front of him saying goodbye. Sammy smiles, his eyes wide with pride.

CAP: His dad was a pilot in Nam. Died there in the end.

3.
Sammy, older, in a similar uniform to his dad. He is shaking hands with Sam Wilson before he ships out.

CAP: Didn't put Sammy off though. Signed up himself in time.

4.
Full page bleed. (Panels 1-3 inset)

Bright blue sky mottled with whispy white clouds.

Small in the panel, Falcon ascends in an upward arc.

CAP: He told me this poem. An aviators favourite, his dad had told him.

CAP:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Text Box:
High Flight
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

The Darkness - Little Beasts - Brian Manton

1.
Wide narrow panel. Cruella De Vil's eyes, piercing.

Cruella: In a moment I'll have what I came for.

2.
Cruella's POV, downward angle. Jackie Estacado, beaten and bloody on the ground. Two adult dalmatians cower beside him.

Cruella: While all of you will end up as sausage meat, alone on some sad, plastic plate.

3.
Cruella stepping out from the darkness. Darkness 'armour' begins to envelop her. Her hands, clawlike and raised.

Cruella: Dead and meaty and red. No friends, no family, no pulse. Just slapped between two buns, smothered in onions, with fries on the side.

4.
Emerging from the darkness behind Cruella, Darklings. These Darklings are perversions of the dalmatian puppies they have corrupted.

Cruella: To me my Dah'klings.

Godland - Deify - Brian Manton

1.
A man in a Goofy costume stands on an atoll, before a massed crowd of other Goofys.
He gives a riling speech.
The Goofys raise their arms and cheer. Some hold spears. One holds a six shooter.

2.
Same scene watched from a distance. A silhouette of Mickey Mouse ears clue us to the viewer, though it sports some irregular piercings.

3.
The Goofy congregation are attacked from all sides by an strike force of people in Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes. The mouse heads are adorned with warpaint. Some hold savage Pluto attack dogs on leashes. The Plutos wear black spiked collars. These are all people in costume too. One of the Pluto’s costume heads is missing and we can see he is feral - foaming at the mouth.

4.
Wide.
Disneyland, in a post apocalyptic future. We see the entrance sign - the letters of Disney have been knocked away… the sign now reads GODLAND. Some iconic Disneyland rides can be seen in the background, with intimidating modifications. It’s all gone a bit Mad Max.

The mascots have formed into tribes and a fierce battle rages.

A dangerous looking Minnie Mouse stands in the foreground, sword held by her side. She holds up the decapitated head of a Donald Duck in triumph (it’s just the costume head. The guy is unconscious on the ground beside her.)

Lego - Every Time! - Brian Manton

1.
High angle looking down at 3 Lego men.

A Lego Nicholas Hawksmoor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Hawksmoor

To his right (panel left) is a blue suited Lego Spaceman (series 1)
/__cb20110617152229/lego/images/5/58/Sp004.webp

To his left (panel right) is a ginger-bearded Lego Robin Hood
http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mgi0t-Cgk0F6uZirpI9N0WQ.jpg

They look upward in pride and awe.

Robin Hood: You’ve only gone and done it again, Hawksmoor. Bloody good work.

2.
Opposite angle, looking up at Lego Westminster Abbey’s West Towers, constructed by Lego Hawksmoor. An impressive feat in Lego architecture.
/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Westminster-Abbey.webp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Abbey

3.
On the three figures - panic & confusion! Some small Lego bricks fall into frame.

SFX: RRRRUMBLLLLE

4.
A gargantuan 4 year old child, dirty blonde hair and missing a front tooth, pounds into view behind the towers. We can see now that we are in his bedroom. His bedroom wallpaper provides a cityscape background. He posture is Godzilla-like.

5.
The child-monster cracks off the right tower.

6.
Close on the three as they look on in horror.

Hawksmoor: Noooooooo!

7.
The child flies the tower section like a spaceship.

Child: FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Child (linked): Spacesipp.

8.
The three again. The Spaceman is cheering, arms raised. Robin draws his bow in fear, teeth gritted. Hawsmoor crumples to his knees and cries.

Spaceman: YEAHHH!

Lex Luthor - All Fall Down - Brian Manton

WARNING: This script contains MAJOR SPOILERS for House of Cards Season 2.

1.

Wide. The White House

2.

Wide.

Inside the oval office, Lex Luthor stands before the desk of President Frank Underwood.

President Underwood sits relaxed, legs crossed. One hand at his chin, he looks bemused as he watches an iPad.

3.

OTS view on the iPad. On the screen we see security camera footage that clearly shows the moment when Underwood pushed Zoe Barnes under a subway car.

4.

OTS of Underwood, on Luthor.

Luthor:  

I, of course, run my own personal CCTV networks in all major cities.

5.

Underwood, looking at Luthor (OP). He smiles, not at all disturbed by this development.

Underwood:  

Why Mr. Luthor, I do believe you must have a little bit of kryptonite for everyone.

6.

Same shot as 5 but Frank has turned toward the camera and speaks to the viewer/reader. He looks more serious now. Determined.

Underwood:  

There are times when it behooves you to let the other players think they have the upper hand.

Donkey Kong - Dissent in the Ranks - Brian Manton

Full page splash

Wide cityscape.

Towering above the highest skyscrapers stands a titanic PS4, gleaming in the light.

Atop this monolith - Donkey Kong.

He holds a Nintendo 3DS in one hand. With his other arm he flings a Wii remote at:

The Mario Bros. circle in biplanes, firing mushrooms from twin cannons.

CAP: Donkey Kong stages a protest against Nintendo's refusal to develop games for other platforms.

CAP: Ever the company men, the Mario Bros. are on P.R. damage control.

Dinosaur Comics - Time for an Upgrade - Brian Manton

Why Dinosaur Comics?

Dinosaur Comics is a comic about talking dinosaurs. Do you really need any further reason?

Ok, it is written by Ryan North, writer of the Eisner Award winning kids comic Adventure Time.

Dinosaur Comics uses the same artwork every strip with only dialogue changing and yet has managed to post original scripts every weekday since February 2003!

Dinosaur Comics uses a monospaced font.

This week the thought-ballooners are going to be playing fill-in-the-blanks with one of the longest running and most popular constrained webcomics.

Also, Dinosaur Comics is a comic about talking dinosaurs. Did I mention that already?

Injustice - Displacement - Brian Manton

P1

Splash Page

A Lexcorp laboratory - completely automated and unmanned. Vital signs are displayed across rows of incubators - a baby lies sleeping in each one.

In the centre of the room Zatanna lies restrained to a hospital trolley. She looks drugged and emaciated.

CAP: And then, two heartbeats coming from one person - stop beating.

Zatana: --vasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihevasmihe--

Red Hulk - Through discipline... - Brian Manton

P1
Wide. A site of devastation - A small city in the aftermath of the Hulk. The National Guard head the emergency relief.

 CAP: We knew the world would not be the same.

 P2
Thunderbolt Ross standing by a makeshift hospital tent. His back to us, he looks out over the smouldering city.
CAP: A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent.

 P3
Doc Samson’s laboratory. Ross and Doc Samson having a heated argument.

 CAP: I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says,

 P4
Thin wide panel. The Red Hulk’s eyes - full of rage.

 CAP:  'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'

 P5
Wide. Nevada desert flatlands. Ross in the tattered remnants of his uniform, on his knees, exhausted.

 CAP: I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.



- Robert Oppenheimer

D4VE - The Matrix of Binary Delights - Brian Manton

1.

D4VE is dragged by his partner-bot, S4LLY, through the corridors of a high class hotel.

D4VE: It’s just not my format.

S4LLY: Our sex life is BSOD. We’re doing this, D4VE.

2.

They stop outside an ornate double-door. A large jar, filled with USB keys of various size and colour, rests on a side-table by the door. S4LLY drops her USB key, complete with Atari keychain, into the jar.

D4VE: I don’t think I’m the render farm type.

S4LLY: Well there’s no rebooting now.

3.

S4LLY and D4VE enter to a scene that neither of them were prepared for.

It is a full on Robot Orgy - far more intricate and depraved than either of them could have expected. Like a technological version of Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”.

A sea of extension cables, adaptor sockets and patch bays. Jump leads and car batteries. Voltmeters. Electromagnets. A-batteries being forced where only AAA’s should fit.

Cans of WD40 litter the floor.

D4VE: [Windows Hourglass]

S4LLY: [Mac Spinning Wheel]

Samurai Jack - Sabishii Desu - Brian Manton

1.
Wide panel.
Jack is emerging from an alien looking forest, black tree bark and leaves with cracks and veins of bright pink.
His guide, a cyborg-baboon, points to an ominous mountain in the distance (panel right).

CAP (JACK):  Even in a world so strange

2.
View from behind Jack as he treks up the arduous mountain path.

CAP (JACK):  Perhaps a few days will pass

3.
Side view. You can tell from Jack's stubbled face that days have passed. The pathway has long since given up on its ascent but Jack, though weary, struggles on up the rocky incline, using his sheathed sword for balance.

CAP (JACK):  a week

4.
As Jack hauls himself to the summit we see a bustling trading town at the top of the mountain, seemingly run by bird-creatures. Aliens, monsters, robots and mutants buy and sell their wares.

CAP (JACK):  a month

5.
Close on Jack's face - he has noticed something.

CAP (JACK):  but eventually

6.
A human face in the crowd. A beautiful young woman.

CAP (JACK):  I think I see her face

7.
Wide.
Jack, small in the panel, looks defeated. The alien landscape of this future stretches in the distance behind him.

CAP (JACK):  and then I remember she's a million years away.

Penny Arcade - Lesser Evils - Brian Manton

1.
Gabe & Tycho sit on the couch. Gabe is fixated on his phone - playing Candy Crush Saga. Tycho watches the game with interest.
Gabe's grandmother stands behind the couch holding a mug of coffee. She looks at them with distasteful confusion.

Gabe: Y'see gran, I use real money to buy Credits which I then use to purchase Boosters which help me beat the level. You used to be able to buy Charms which were more expensive but could be used more than once. They were really good. I miss charms.

Tycho: Lozenge. Orange Lozenge.

2.
Same shot. Tycho points.

Tycho: Lemon Drop.

3.
Same shot.

Gran:  Maybe go back to the hooker killing game?

Tycho: Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean.