Planning the original graphic novel or comic (U9: M1, D1)

M1 (U9): Produce a storyboard to illustrate the flow of the story 

Storyboard

Storyboard narrative flow:

No1: Aubrey waits outside the lab, ready to burst in
No2: Aubrey bursts through the doors to the lab
No3: Aubrey gently grabs a snake from its confined tank (prop: tank)
No4: Aubrey runs out of the lab with the snake
No5: Indicating to readers a time gap in the story
No6: Aubrey sits in class looking bored (props: pencil, clock, tables)
No7: Aubrey is seen walking home from school
No8: At her house, she appears bothered and tired (props: lights, photo frames)
No9: In her bedroom, Aubrey notices Sebastian trying to escape
No10: Aubrey picks up her snake to put back in the terrarium
No11: Aubrey's shocked expression is shown here as her snake has just spoken
No12: Sebastian looks serious and calm as he explains himself
No13: Aubrey paces round the room
No14: Aubrey lies awake at night, a distressed look on her face (prop: pillow)
No15: Indicating to readers a time gap in the story
No16: Aubrey sits in her kitchen looking tired, while her parents appear over her shoulder (prop: food)
No17: Aubrey walks to school
No18: A revealing shot of a monster's foot
No19: A revealing shot of a monster's lower body
No20: A revealing shot of a monster's face
No21: A monster and Aubrey appear face to face
No22: Aubrey is frozen in shock
No23: Sebastian appears, saving the day with his fire breath
No24: Blitzar, the monster appears hurt
No25: Aubrey appears relieved and grateful to Sebastian
No26: Aubrey is lifting weights (prop: weight)
No27: Aubrey runs alongside a river
No28: Aubrey practices her fire stream aim (prop: target) 
No29: Aubrey lays on the ground, exhausted
No30: Aubrey and Sebastian appear on a hill jumping toward Blitzar
No31: Aubrey and Blitzar battle with fire and ice
No32: Aubrey emerges victorious and appears to beam with delight

Narrative structure

The comic I designed for the MegaMovie company incorporates micro and macro structures throughout to help the narrative flow and engage the audience. Microstructures are interestingly demonstrated within the comic through the use of flashforwards, which helps the story progress and remain entertaining throughout. However, because the brief specifies that it must be a multimedia product accessible on a variety of interactive devices, I have decided to primarily use macro structures in this story. As a result, using this structure aids later development into films, games, and so on. Todorov's theory can be seen in this comic as it begins in a state of equilibrium that is quickly disrupted and later resolved when Aubrey and Sebastian battle the villain. Interestingly, the settings seen throughout the comic depict fairly regular settings and therefore allow audiences to further relate and engage with the story. Furthermore, Propp's theory is depicted through the characters; while not all character types play a role in my comic, the most important ones for progressing the narrative, such as villain, hero, and helper, appear throughout. Furthermore, the characters will use a variety of props to help emphasise the sci-fi theme as well as make the comic more entertaining to read.

D1 (U9): Evaluate the feasibility of further development of the main character in future stories across different media formats 

Game

Levels

The comic I've created could be developed into a game for online or console use, one benefit of developing it in this way is the incorporation of levels. Interestingly, the levels can allow new developments to progress in the story and add additional plot points for the narrative- users of this game can experience a variety of challenges and play a role in how the story progresses. Furthermore, the target audience is likely to be enticed by this as they will feel that they are playing an integral role in the lives of their favourite characters come to life. Overall, the likely popularity of this game will help achieve maximum profit for the game and the wider company through game sales and indirect promotion of the franchise. However, the independent company may not possess the necessary resources or finance for the creation of this game due to the size of the company and therefore the idea for the game is void.  

Customisation

One significant advantage of audiences having access to a game adaptation of their favourite comic might be the ability to customise a variety of elements. This could include character clothing, settings, and possibly even the ability to create a new character for the fictional universe of Flames vs Frost. Interestingly, the audience will feel more thoroughly included and therefore improve the reputation of the game and this will be extended to the original comic.  Significantly, the ability to change clothing will give audiences a small sense of responsibility and creativity so they are able to feel as though they've contributed to the story, subsequently allowing them to enjoy it further. Although this could be difficult to code and if it fails the company will receive a poor reputation consequently impacting the level of success achieved.

Different characters

An additional feature a game would allow you to incorporate might be the ability to create new characters which could contribute to the narrative in a different way than if it had originally appeared in the comic. The creativity required for this task will allow the narrative to progress in an alternative way and therefore allows each game user to have a different experience with the game, making it more interesting and enjoyable for all involved. The addition of new characters might introduce new narratives for the game and therefore entice more customers and overall increase profit for the franchise. On the other hand, this could be too much responsibility for users and therefore cause them to stress and be unsatisfied with the outcome of their choices. The game could ultimately fail and lead users to cancel their subscriptions. The addition of a game to the franchise could increase audience engagement by satisfying additional user needs such as entertainment and personal identity. The needs of active audiences who seek out media products to fulfil requirements such as personal relationships, allowing them to explore and nurture relationships online within the media product are referred to as uses and gratifications. A game could provide this by allowing users to interact with each other. Additionally, a new game might provide a sense of escapism for audiences by allowing them to experience an alternative reality online, disconnecting from the real world. Significantly, online and video games are vastly popular with young males and therefore will help access a new target audience for the overall franchise. The genre and activities of the game might include different levels or 'game worlds' to appeal to a wider audience including female audiences to ensure we gain a mass audience. One way to ensure these audiences are reached would be considering cross-promotion options such as collaborating with a TV channel who attracts the same target audience we wish to entice, such as 'Disney XD', and create advertisements to premiere on here. The wider our audience grows, the more revenue the media product will attain and therefore help increase success and fund future projects. 

Different locations

In the comic version of this multimedia project, the settings appearing throughout are fairly 'regular' due to helping the target audience gain a sense of familiarity and recognition through the scenes depicted. However, the game could be an opportunity to introduce new settings which might be more sci-fi/ fantasy based to ensure the genre is further represented in the game. Significantly, the change of settings could allow for a more interesting narrative and therefore appeal to the target audience further by including more 'out of this world' scenes which is likely to attract a younger audience. Furthermore, the users might enjoy certain settings more and therefore return to those locations/ levels which will allow the company to understand what is popular within the game.

Film

Develop backstory

Significantly, I am creating a comic for the MegaMovie independent film company, which gives me an advantage in adapting my comic because the company is likely to assist and obtain the resources needed to develop a film. Furthermore, a film adaptation will allow for the development of Aubrey's (the main character) and Sebastian's (the deuteragonist) backstory, allowing audiences to better understand how and why they ended up in the situations depicted later. Adding a backstory, for example, can allow for a deeper meaning of future events and small details, such as an explanation of why Aubrey likes snakes and how she got to the point we see in the beginning. This can occur in scenes preceding the start of the comic, or it can explain the situation through the use of flashbacks. Finally, the overall project is likely to be successful and therefore popular for our target audience who would ultimately enjoy a film adaptation of their favourite comic and consequently help achieve a greater level of profit for all involved.

Bring characters to life

The film adaptation of my comic book 'Flames vs Frost' will allow characters to come to life and appear more real to all audiences. Interestingly, within the comic, the protagonist appears with a bionic arm but until the film project is released, audiences might not fully grasp the magnitude of this abnormal feature. Furthermore, seeing these characters come to life will help audiences to further relate and therefore increase the popularity of the overall franchise due to impressionable audiences feeling influenced to purchase merchandise to solidify their support for the comic and film. Media audiences often seek out entertainment and escapism from media products such as film, this is a short break from the realities and stresses of everyday life. The film adaptation of my comic will provide this audience requirement by ensuring elements of the story are captured and engaging, thus captivating audiences. Bringing characters and storylines to the screen helps audiences better relate to the media product as they are able to see it in 'real time' and will boost the success of the overall franchise. Films are more mainstream and will appeal to a wider audience than the other elements of the franchise, this can act as an introduction to the franchise for audiences as they enjoy the film and want to further engage with it through other mediums. Finally, the brand might collaborate with another media company such as Marvel to help promote and distribute the product to the already established company's loyal audience. This will help with funding as well as appealing to the target demographic of males 15-35 who are likely to enjoy the film adaptation of this comic and trust the Marvel franchise, thus increasing our success by extension.

Create new storylines

Remarkably, a film version of anything will always add additional storylines as well as exaggerating certain scenes for dramatic effect- keeping audiences further engaged, therefore, I would be able to develop alternative narratives to make the overall film more entertaining for viewers. Interestingly, the comic heavily follows a sci-fi genre- including a variety of conventions such as fictional universes- I could ensure to further exaggerate this in the film to better appeal to the correct target audience. Ultimately, creating additional or slightly exaggerated storylines will allow the project to grow successful and gain maximum profit. However, the exaggeration can only be carried out to a certain extent to ensure younger audiences are able to watch the film with their parent's permission and aren't negatively impacted by the storylines or any graphic images depicted in the film.