Get ready for a fantastic evening this Friday as we start off the new year with free pizza, mingling, and a rad jam comic session!
Continue below the cut for more info, local events, and art credits!
Showing posts with label emily kay jolkovski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emily kay jolkovski. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Storytelling Lessons to Learn from Southland Tales
As cartoonists, we're responsible for creating entire worlds, whole casts of characters, designing everything, and, quite often, writing the plot, narration, and dialogue in a comic as well. That's a lot to do, and there's a long list of very basic do's and don't's to remember.
Now, I'm still only a sophomore, and I don't claim to be an expert in any way. But I do know that a really good way to learn the ropes of storytelling is to watch really bad movies. And for me, few films are better for this purpose than Southland Tales.
Southland Tales was written and directed by Richard Kelley, the creator of Donnie Darko. I'm sure most of you have seen Donnie Darko, or at least heard of it. It's a brilliant movie, and one of the best things about it is that nothing is over-explained. The whole film is ambiguous. I remember being captivated by it because I didn't know if the whole movie was Donnie's dream, or if he was hallucinating, or if it really was real. That was the best part of it.
When I was in middle school, several years after Donnie Darko had been released, my friend Graham and I obsessed over it, reciting our favorite lines and discussing our favorite scenes. Then, one day, he found a website that had the made-up book Philosophy of Time Travel that served as a major plot point in Donnie Darko. Graham was fascinated by it, but I flat-out refused to read it. Whoever wrote that book completely ruined the whole point of the movie. The book explains the whole plot away, assigning even the minor characters roles in the time travel equation, making into one big boring mess instead of the intricate, entrancing work of art it had been before.
And that's the major problem with Southland Tales. Kelley introduces us to a huge cast of bland, two-dimensional characters with ridiculous names, most of which have no real role in the plot to speak of, and a long confusing plot about some post-apocalyptic near-future with political nonsense no one cares about. And to make it all even better, he includes a character who over-explains the plot every time someone else isn't speaking and spouts out-of-context Bible quotes, and even with all that narration, no one knows who wants what and why. That is the entire movie.
This is the fastest way to lose your audience. First of all, make the plot absolutely clear. Don't start putting in side stories until the main goals of the major protagonists and antagonists have been established. Second, if you're going to have a large cast, make them each unique and make sure, make absolutely certain, that they are actually important and that the story wouldn't be the same or wouldn't move forward without them. And third, do not over-explain anything! Give the reader only the information they absolutely need to know. Your reader is not an idiot; give them a little credit. You don't need to say in the narration how a character reacted to a certain event, they should be able to figure out the emotions of the characters by your art. Over-explaining the plot takes out the mystery, the ambiguity, and the fun. If the reader's brain isn't doing any work while they're reading the comic, then the comic doesn't need the reader, and it might as well sit on a shelf and collect dust.
Emily "Skippy" Kay Jolkovski, a sophomore cartooning major from a small DC suburb in Northern Virginia, was born the year Punk broke and became a werewolf shortly afterwards. She enjoys 80's-90's alt rock and grunge, early swing and jazz, Klezmer music, Mexican Indian and Chinese cuisine, Coen Bros films, magical realism, sharks, controlling peoples' minds, and long walks on the beach after driving a stake into a vampire's heart.
Now, I'm still only a sophomore, and I don't claim to be an expert in any way. But I do know that a really good way to learn the ropes of storytelling is to watch really bad movies. And for me, few films are better for this purpose than Southland Tales.
Southland Tales was written and directed by Richard Kelley, the creator of Donnie Darko. I'm sure most of you have seen Donnie Darko, or at least heard of it. It's a brilliant movie, and one of the best things about it is that nothing is over-explained. The whole film is ambiguous. I remember being captivated by it because I didn't know if the whole movie was Donnie's dream, or if he was hallucinating, or if it really was real. That was the best part of it.
When I was in middle school, several years after Donnie Darko had been released, my friend Graham and I obsessed over it, reciting our favorite lines and discussing our favorite scenes. Then, one day, he found a website that had the made-up book Philosophy of Time Travel that served as a major plot point in Donnie Darko. Graham was fascinated by it, but I flat-out refused to read it. Whoever wrote that book completely ruined the whole point of the movie. The book explains the whole plot away, assigning even the minor characters roles in the time travel equation, making into one big boring mess instead of the intricate, entrancing work of art it had been before.
And that's the major problem with Southland Tales. Kelley introduces us to a huge cast of bland, two-dimensional characters with ridiculous names, most of which have no real role in the plot to speak of, and a long confusing plot about some post-apocalyptic near-future with political nonsense no one cares about. And to make it all even better, he includes a character who over-explains the plot every time someone else isn't speaking and spouts out-of-context Bible quotes, and even with all that narration, no one knows who wants what and why. That is the entire movie.
This is the fastest way to lose your audience. First of all, make the plot absolutely clear. Don't start putting in side stories until the main goals of the major protagonists and antagonists have been established. Second, if you're going to have a large cast, make them each unique and make sure, make absolutely certain, that they are actually important and that the story wouldn't be the same or wouldn't move forward without them. And third, do not over-explain anything! Give the reader only the information they absolutely need to know. Your reader is not an idiot; give them a little credit. You don't need to say in the narration how a character reacted to a certain event, they should be able to figure out the emotions of the characters by your art. Over-explaining the plot takes out the mystery, the ambiguity, and the fun. If the reader's brain isn't doing any work while they're reading the comic, then the comic doesn't need the reader, and it might as well sit on a shelf and collect dust.
Emily "Skippy" Kay Jolkovski, a sophomore cartooning major from a small DC suburb in Northern Virginia, was born the year Punk broke and became a werewolf shortly afterwards. She enjoys 80's-90's alt rock and grunge, early swing and jazz, Klezmer music, Mexican Indian and Chinese cuisine, Coen Bros films, magical realism, sharks, controlling peoples' minds, and long walks on the beach after driving a stake into a vampire's heart.Friday, September 30, 2011
Meet the Officers
Hilary AllisonThe President
Hilary is a senior comic-stripper and fourth-year Cartoon Ally... a hyperactive social pollinator with a big mouth and an addiction to projects that induce a sense of purpose. Born on a Friday, five blocks from SVA, she has since bounced through a sundry of addresses and is happy to call Brooklyn Navy Yard her current home.
"It is our mission to foster a spirit of camaraderie between cartoonists of all majors while strengthening ties to the larger cartoonisphere. We promote our art beyond individual capability. And we have a fun time."
The Admiral (Treasurer &
Table Manager)
Table Manager)
Adrian is a queer cartooning senior on the lam from reality.
"I want Allies to be a safe space for all realms of cartooning, for it to be a conduit that allows people to meet like-minded individuals and expound, collaborate, and extend the means of comics-making as well as give each other helpful advice so we can grow and advance. CA should provide an alternative to that sometimes awkward experience of being thrown into classes, not knowing your peers, and being held in the binds of quiet academia. I want CA to be a Salon des Comics, where we will entertain ideas, share history, and move forward in our thinking!"
"I want Allies to be a safe space for all realms of cartooning, for it to be a conduit that allows people to meet like-minded individuals and expound, collaborate, and extend the means of comics-making as well as give each other helpful advice so we can grow and advance. CA should provide an alternative to that sometimes awkward experience of being thrown into classes, not knowing your peers, and being held in the binds of quiet academia. I want CA to be a Salon des Comics, where we will entertain ideas, share history, and move forward in our thinking!"
The Major (Email & Blog Commander)
Eric Alexander Arroyo (accept no substitutes) is a hot-blooded junior who wears a fedora, digs giant robots, and obsesses over flowing scarves. He's spent his life wandering Florida and Las Vegas, and hopes to find an apartment in the bowels of a volcano. Although he's training to be a cartoonist, he'd rather be a crime-fighting cyborg when he grows up.
"Above all, I want Cartoon Allies to be a valuable resource for everyone who loves comics. CA should be a community through which we can share our knowledge, collaborate, and form bonds that extend beyond this school. Using multimedia tools to help push this organization and our department's amazing artists into the greater comicsphere is integral to that."
Lieutenant (Email Officer & Blogger)
Hayley is a junior cartooning major who hails from the most boring part of New Jersey. To distract herself from this sad fate, she reads and draws girly comic books, watches weird British TV shows, and stalks her favorite bands.
"I want Cartoon Allies to be a place where everyone feels comfortable speaking up and participating, no matter their year or style, so that it becomes a tight-knit community."
Agent
Kou is a sophomore cartooning major who comes from Taiwan. He enjoys movies like The Fall, books like The Book Thief and comics like Black Jack. His life goal is to overhear someone talking about something he created, because "by all means if my stories are interesting enough to share, I've done my job". He loves tea and fluffy things... like alpacas.
"I want there to be something interesting in the club for everyone, that Cartoon Allies becomes a destination for cool facts about the comics world and quenches the thirst of curious minds."
Matt Clark
Matt is a cartooning sophomore. He is a golden retriever, woof, woof (...though he would rather not be). He has weird obsessions.
"Cartoon Allies' mission should be to advance the skills of artists while giving them a place of community to expand their networks."
Sergeant-in-Arms
Emily "Skippy" Kay Jolkovski, a sophomore cartooning major from a small DC suburb in Northern Virginia, was born the year Punk broke and became a werewolf shortly afterwards. She enjoys 80's-90's alt rock and grunge, early swing and jazz, Klezmer music, Mexican Indian and Chinese cuisine, Coen Bros films, magical realism, sharks, controlling peoples' minds, and long walks on the beach after driving a stake into a Vampire's heart.
"I love Cartoon Allies because of the wonderful community it builds between comic artists and comic lovers, and the opportunities it brings to young artists like myself. Cartoon Allies is a great opportunity and I hope to see you there. If you see me, say hi!"
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