Capstone 461 Cultural Event "BINGO show"

This seemed like a gimme cultural event and I almost wasn't going to do it, but here it is:

The cultural event I attended was Commuter Bingo today at the Student Center.

Commuter Bingo is a cheap little event they have at the student center every so often as part of Shepherd University's "please don't just go home" commuter program.  They have it frequently since throughout the semester because Bingo itself is really just a one time expense.  The prizes usually consist of a few big things, but most of the stuff is just cheap supplies for school.  I'll usually play a round or two and get a free notebook or frisbee out of it.  But this time I didn't play and noticed a strange cultural phenomenon.

Bingo, for the most part, has a large cultural stigma in America.  The image that comes to mind when you say "Bingo player" is one of a much older white woman, usually lower class, spending larges amounts of time going to Bingo halls and adjusting their oversized wigs.  Bingo is considered a game for old retirees to spend their time, and is never really taken seriously by the younger generation (I for one can't imagine what it means to be a "professional" player in a game based on luck).  That's what's strange about commuter Bingo.

Watching the people there I noticed that nobody there was an old woman.  In fact there seemed to be about an equal mix of males and females playing the game.  They were all young students, but that's where the similarities ended.  Not only did the game draw in people across gender and age lines, but people from different cliches (nerds, jocks, sororities, etc.) as well.  If the above bias was true, then young people should have avoided Bingo like the plague, but instead they were running out of Bingo cards!

I tried to ponder the reason behind this.  I mean, I had just watched age, culture, and gender demographics get punched in the throat, there had to be some explanation!

1. Perhaps it was the location.  Lots of people come in and out through the student center and some may have just started playing on impulse.
2. The hours.  It started just before lunch and ended afterwards, though most of the players weren't eating as they were playing.
3. The prizes.  I don't stop playing after I win something though, I'm a bit greedy that way.
4. Advertising.  They usually put up flyers before hand or post something on the Shepherd website, but I don't remember hearing or seeing anything about it.

Out of all these I think #1 has the bigger impact.  There is a high level of human traffic in the Student Center, and Commuter Bingo was set up right in the cafeteria area, not in a separate room, so you have easy visible access to the activity.  Being able to see the activity and access it probably played a big part in collecting people to do an activity that they normally would not seek out and take part in themselves.  While most college students would not actively search for a Bingo parlor, having one right there in a common area would allow them to enjoy the activity without having to go out of their way.  The other listed points probably just aided in the decision to join in.

This presents an interesting idea when incorporating media.  Would you be able to cross demographic and social boundaries if you were to set up in an open and available area?  Could you reach a wider local audience with this method?  On a national or global scale it wouldn't work, but think of smaller activities.    If you were having a business meeting, would it be more effective to hold it in the main entrance then a meeting room?  Would a local film be seen by a more diverse crowd if it was shown outside than inside a theater?  These would be important and unique ways to get a desired result and one that I would keep in mind for future reference.

Capstone 461 "Making a World."

It's admitted that the main use for wikipedia isn't exactly reliable information.  Though the one thing I find it helps with a lot is nomenclature.  When I wanted to look at "different settings for fantasy worlds" (like steampunk, medieval, etc.) I got answers back for "computer settings".  So I used wikipedia to find the specific words that wouldn't send me to IT consulting.

I found an interesting entry called "world building"  that listed several elements that shape a fantasy world. I figured this would be a great way to solidify the world I want to set my comic to and at the same time create a unique work.

The Elements of World Building:

Cosmology:  
This element applies more to a sci-fi world.  How are the solar systems and stars mapped out?  Are there other dimensions?  How do they relate?
I could include a magical plane with this one, but the comic itself is more down to earth and realistic.  I don't see anyone going to the plane, and even though there is magic in the world, the how's and why's are not important.  To the characters in the story it just exists and people can use it.  Explaining magic is fun, but it's mostly pleasurable for the writer.  I imagine that explaining magic to people in a magical world would be like explaining plastic to someone on the street.  As long as it works, who cares?

Geography and Cartography:
Kingdoms are a large part of the world in my comic.  The one focused on in my comic is the largest in that land.  It takes up most of the continent (roughly the size of Europe) and features many cities but one main one where the King resides. (I'm really just making this up as I type).  The Romans conquered in a manner that was unique, in that they'd replace the rulers of a land they captured but leave the citizens alone, so that their village structure was still intact.  I think this would make a fascinating environment for my fantasy comic since I could include wildly different towns, but still give the characters an excuse to visit them.  An example would be "Sure, you're a troll burrow, but now you're a troll burrow under the name of our king.  We're here to collect your taxes."

Names:
Hmmm... It's still a bit early to start with names.  I was hoping something would come to me once I start sketching the characters.
My usual modus operandum is to take current words, usually verbs, and rework them into something that would make a believable first or last name.  For example one of my favorites is Shye Asher Vidaner.  The character is not shy, but the name is simple and easy to remember.  I've noticed some fantasy creators can get a bit carried away with consonants and make the name hard to pronounce.  So as a general rule if I can't say it in my head, then no one's going to remember it.  Though last names are fair game.

Culture and History:
I want to include different races in with the humans in my comic.  Most of them would appear in the background and a majority would be mixed in with humans.  Some would live outside, but most of the races have long achieved harmony with each other.  There will be some outcasts (like driders and trolls) and will be the common enemy of all the races, but that's not really important in my story.
As for the question of what the races would be, I actually prefer the template in this case.  The fantasy tropes are so well known that you don't have to explain what the species are, everyone knows that elves love nature and shoot bows while satyrs rape nymphs and look like Satan.  So if you know the types, you can work against them.  A character that is a bashful satyr would be much more dynamic since it would play against the stereotype and create interest.
On the flipside, a race of creatures that you just made up would be new to the reader and such a twist would have no meaning.

Human Geography:
I was actually thinking about this one earlier.  I wanted magic to have an effect on the social-economic structure.  Mostly I was pondering on rural-urban relations.  Since most anyone intelligent can use magic, I believe most rural areas would be abandoned.  Instead, large cities would be the focus of the population.  Teleportation can make living on the farm unnecessary while weather control can arrange crops just about anywhere.  The only people living far from civilization would be the ones who choose to, and even then the distance would only be ephemeral.
The setting where my story begins actually be set in a sub-urb of sorts, with a smaller population and a bustling marketplace.  As an area just outside a city but not too far out in the wild, I believe it would be a perfect middle ground to start the adventure.

Physics and Magic:
I really hate big magic.  Floating cities, surreal dimensions, time warping, they're all so sloppy and are usually pulled off in ways that are even sloppier.  Why does this castle float in the air?  Oh, magic crystals.  I prefer magic that is a bit more grounded.
So for my story I grounded the magic!
The magic in my comic works on a consistent level.  You cast a spell it happens, you stop casting it stops working.  You can cast magic on objects (one of the main character uses a variety of magic objects) but the magic isn't limitless nor permanent.  If you want a floating city you better have a bunch of high-level magicians taking shifts or that thing is going to fall (an interesting industrial take on it).  Some objects can be switched on or off, or activated by other magics (such as anti-curse pendants) but they are planned to become obsolete.  It's a comic about tax collecting in a fantasy world, of course there's going to be capitalism involved!

These planning elements are from Francois Dominic Laramee's Game Design Perspectives (2002) as found on Wikipedia.

COMM 343 Graphic Novel "Medium DOESN'T Matter"

Reading The Right Number by Scott McCloud, I was reminded of a similar experience: reading graphic novels on the Playstation Portable.  "The Right Number" was set up as a series of illustrations in a single frame.  Each image contained a small version of the next image within the current one, upon clicking (or hitting the up arrow or space bar or wishing real hard) the smaller image will enlarge and fill the frame.

This was a neat little gimmick and it really felt as if it was pulling you further into the story, but I only really see the technique working just this once.  Viewing multiple comics in this format would become trying, not to mention sort of restricting since each image would have to be the same size.  Hence the word "gimmick" up there.

As for whether or not I feel it's a comic, I still believe that it qualifies.  The basic format of frames and  word balloons are there and even though some parts are animated, it hardly qualifies it as a different medium.  I mentioned the PSP up there because the comic reading software is also animated.  They take scans of comics and zoom in on the words in the order of reading and then zoom out to show the whole image of the frame.  Some of the fancier comics will even have sound effects where appropriate.

Does it still count as a comic? Hell yeah.  See, the heart of the comic is still there.  You could print out "The Right Number" and it would unmistakably look like a comic.  The only thing that would've changed   would be the way in which the comic was presented.  The digital comics on the PSP are still comic pages they are only presented in a way that makes sense on a digital medium.

The asian comic, which we will call the Outstanding Horror Story Hiding Incredible Terror, is also a comic that is presented in a different way.

Unlike "The Right Number" OHSHIT, is presented a bit differently from the traditional comics.  Their are no frame edges and little word balloons.  The style is more similar to an anime than a manga comic, so much so that I thought the images were screen shots.  Though it's pretty much set up like a webcomic or one long series of comics, the technology that makes the screen automatically scroll is what gives the comic its bite.  OHSHIT sets its own pace and leaves you feeling helpless.  A neat trick for a digital comic, but sadly, it still feels like a gimmick.


Works Cited:
http://scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/trn/index.html

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=20&weekday=tue

COMM 343 Criticalling Graphic Novels

http://shepherdgraphicnovel.pbworks.com/w/page/33819192/The%20Choice

Mike Lewis' "The Choice" is a hand drawn comic about destiny, survival, and lycanthropes.  It was an interesting that he chose not to make the werewolves savage berserkers but instead gave them a society and monarchical structure.  The werewolves were intelligent and varied in shape, not just wolves but tigers as well.  In the future I would like to see what other kind of lycanthropes (man-animal hybrids) would present themselves.

One of the main problems was the artwork.  Not that the drawings were bad, but there were some clear issues scanning the images.  There was a lot of aliasing with the lines and random marks doting the images.    There was some attempts at shading for the flashbacks so a basic knowledge of Photoshop was demonstrated.  This is just more disappointing since the dots can be cleaned up easily.  The only color is in the words, which is a good tool for separating the speakers.  The problem is since the characters aren't in color you don't know what speech bubble belongs to what character.

"The Choice" is a good story with some interesting twists that could be improved greatly by correcting some minor techniques.
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http://shepherdgraphicnovel.pbworks.com/w/page/11979555/Eternal%20Life

"Eternal Life", by Elizabeth Farnham is a comic about a girl and her wolf.  (Apparently last year people were on a werewolf kick.)  There seems to be a rash of comics made of filtered pictures, but I feel "Eternal Life" uses the technique the best.  Rather than just taking photographs and running them through the Filter ringer, "Eternal Life"s images are selected a cropped artistically.  Some pages had little words but were laid out very well.  The photos of the winged wolf were especially inspiring.

The characters' names were really cheesy (Elif vs. Adeth? ugh...) and worse, gave away the ending with its predictability.  There is also a problem with pacing.  Several pages will talk about her modeling career (unimportant) and in one page they'll skip ahead a few years (why?).  A lot of things can come up that shortens your comic or makes you rush the story, so it's important to be able to know what is crucial to the plot and what is not.  It's interesting that her father is a rich cosmetics mogul, but if the end result is that he's a cult leader, he could be a potato farmer for all it matters.  The back story of the main characters is more important.