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On Directing Film, by David Mamet (1991)
It makes sense for cartoonists to read On Directing Film; at its core it's about visual storytelling, conveying meaning through juxtaposition, and interpreting a text that was written to be performed or illustrated rather than read as-is. Many comics, like most plays and movies, start with a script which is then interpreted by an artist or artists; the artist is in effect directing, and also acting. I say "many" and "most" because a comic, play, or movie can be a solo effort and/or unscripted; but even if the writer and illustrator/director/performer are the same person, visual storytelling can still be broken down as a collaborative process between the story-generating point of view and the story-rendering point of view. Mamet's main concern is how to communicate with an audience on an intuitive level.
I want to say right away that the book is often annoying and badly reasoned, ( Read more... )
It makes sense for cartoonists to read On Directing Film; at its core it's about visual storytelling, conveying meaning through juxtaposition, and interpreting a text that was written to be performed or illustrated rather than read as-is. Many comics, like most plays and movies, start with a script which is then interpreted by an artist or artists; the artist is in effect directing, and also acting. I say "many" and "most" because a comic, play, or movie can be a solo effort and/or unscripted; but even if the writer and illustrator/director/performer are the same person, visual storytelling can still be broken down as a collaborative process between the story-generating point of view and the story-rendering point of view. Mamet's main concern is how to communicate with an audience on an intuitive level.
I want to say right away that the book is often annoying and badly reasoned, ( Read more... )
