Creating the original graphic novel or comic (U9: P7, M3, D2)

P7 (U9): Integrate the scripted character with the storyline to create the final product  

M3 (U9): Manipulate the visual appeal of the comic to clarify the meaning 

Manipulations

For the final comic, I manipulated some panels to help the narrative flow better and further indicate the regular settings most scenes take place in within the story, better relating to the target audience. 

For my first manipulation, I edited this panel of Aubrey at school. In the before photo, it would prove difficult for the target audience to understand where she was. By adding some new props and background elements I was able to fill out the panel and further convey the school setting in which this scene takes place. 

The second manipulation I carried out was this scene in which Aubrey is given life-changing news and ultimately sets off the remainder of the narrative. This panel also felt a little blank and made it difficult to focus on the story so I added some background drawing to help the panel blend in more.

For my third manipulation, I added both colour and marker outlines for the speech bubble. This allowed the speech to carry more weight and stand out to the readers as an important moment on the page, it also allows the sci-fi genre to be related as the glowing effect implies magical themes. Furthermore, the green and brown background colours used in the panel help set the scene and imply the forest environment.

This manipulation helped indicate the significance of the events transpiring in the panel. Interestingly, this scene depicts what the entire comic has been leading up to and therefore must use brighter and bolder colours to help the panel stand out on the page, the use of marker outlines helps bring the panel to life and show the importance of the scene. Furthermore, the contrast of bright orange to blue colours helps audiences to identify the battle and clearly differentiate between the opposing sides. The blend of orange colours helps give the fireballs a glowing effect and therefore links to the sci-fi genre of the comic.

In the following manipulation you can clearly see the colour and text changes. The blue and brown colours have been used to give the scene more context, indicating to readers that the setting is upon a mountain which appears to be very high due to the sky prominent in the background. Furthermore, the onomatopoeia text has been added to the panel in order to add context and describe the actions taking place in the scene. This helps bring the scene to life as the readers are able to imagine sound effects for the panel.

The manipulation seen above has been adapted to add props and context to the scene. In the 'before' image the characters appear to be floating and their is no colour, making it boring for readers. However, the 'after' manipulated panel allows the scene to appear more realistic as Aubrey now has a chair to sit on and therefore doesn't appear to be floating. Interestingly, her parents' heads cannot be seen in this panel- this was a creative choice to highlight the protagonists age and thus the drastic height difference.

Self-reflection

Overall I feel the manipulations that I've made have improved the comic for my target audience and will therefore help grow the success of my comic. Using bolder colours and filling out backgrounds using these colours and prop drawings have allowed the comic to grow to life and therefore be further understood by my young target audience. Furthermore, the colours allow the target audience to find this comic more appealing as it is likely for them to be enticed by bright colours. 
On the other hand, I could improve this comic even further by editing a more realistic bionic arm onto the main character to ensure the sci-fi genre is better perceived by the audience and will therefore attempt this in the future using software like Photoshop.

Flesch reading ease scale

The Flesch reading scale is used to indicate the ease with which a person is able to read and understand written work. Interestingly, the higher the score, the easier it is to read and therefore suitable for a younger audience. 
The score which my comic script received was 88.6 meaning it is suitable for my young target audience and therefore will likely grow successful within the desired community.

Audience Feedback

Was the story interesting?

1: Yes, I really enjoyed it and found the battle elements very captivating. I would definitely re-read this comic.

2: Yes, the plot was engaging and relatable which allowed me to escape into another world

Did the manipulations improve the final result?

1: I think so, its a lot more brightly coloured which makes the story more exciting and helped me to better engage with the characters. However, I feel like you should maybe use more sci-fi elements such as backgrounds, props and glowing elements.

2: To an extent, it made the comic better appeal to me as a member of the target audience but it didn't affect the overall story. 

Did you understand the panel order/ flow?

1: Yes, it was easy to read and I was able to follow the storyline easily.

2: Sort of, at times I wasn't sure where to look and had to re-read pages.

D2 (U9): Justify how the visual style of the final product follows the conventions of graphic novels or comics within its genre  

 

The comic 'Flames vs Frost' was created with the intention of producing a comic in the sci-fi/action genre for a young target audience of 15-18 year olds. This was stated in the brief and was thus taken into account during production to ensure that the elements used adhered to sci-fi genre conventions. Using genre conventions assisted audiences in identifying the type of comic and, as a result, decide whether or not to read/purchase it.

To begin, the comic uses a bright colour palette to appeal to the young target audience, as this has been shown to be more popular due to the element of fun implied by overly saturated colours. Furthermore, the colours used are bold, which makes the storyline appear more exciting to readers, likely enticing them to buy a copy of the comic. Interestingly, most comics in this genre are likely to use duller colours due to the implication of scary themes portrayed in the comic, but I have used bright colours to broaden the genre's appeal and demonstrate the story element of fun for a younger audience. One example of a comic which uses the typical colour palette of the genre is 'Star Wars' which has the typical dull colours associated with the storylines that occur within the comic. The colour palette used for this comic slightly retracts from the story and makes it appear somewhat boring for audiences which is why I have tried to incorporate more striking colours to ensure audiences are engaged. Furthermore, because the sci-fi genre frequently includes fantasy themes and worlds, using bright/bold colours will help communicate this to readers and aid their understanding of the fantasy element- appealing to our primary target audience. One example of this is demonstrated here where I used a brighter orange and blue colour to further the impact and appeal of the scene so readers were further inclined to read the comic due to the exciting narrative portrayed here. 

Moreover, the fonts used for both the speech bubbles as well as the action words have been carefully selected in order to gain mass appeal from audiences. A script typeface was used within the speech bubbles to create a soft feeling for the story and help it appear more youthful so audiences will recognise themselves as the target audience. Additionally, the action words such as 'BLAZE' have used a much larger and harsher font with bold lettering and sharp edges in order to appear impactful and make the story more exciting for readers. However, using a serif typeface for the speech bubbles and a script typeface for the onomatopoeia might work better for the conventions of the genre as the actions occurring will appear more fun and exciting while the text will appear more drastic, showing the importance. 

Interestingly, the panel layout used helps the story flow nicely and ensures audiences can understand the correct order and thus follow the plot. The breaks in the panels allowed the comic to fit the genre's typical conventions by following a slightly distorted panel layout, using jagged lines instead of the uniform boxes which line up symmetrically to fill each page, allowing the comic to better portray themes of sci-fi to audiences. This element was inspired by another comic within the sci-fi genre, 'The Avengers' which uses diagonal panel splits. The comic is majorly popular within the genre and therefore we used elements from here in attempt to gain some of this success and appeal more to target audiences. However, the comic does follow the common flow of reading from left to right to ensure the reader follows the plot and isn't too confused. 

Furthermore, the text used within the comic book was kept to a low reading level which can be seen using the flesch reading scale, the simplistic language allowed the comic to be accessible and inviting for our young target audience. While our audience would likely understand a higher level of vocabulary, they might not want to engage with it when reading an entertaining and relaxing comic, therefore we made sure this language didn't require additional thinking. The speech bubbles used were the classic oval-shaped bubble to show who was speaking at each moment however one thing to consider might be using a more futuristic speech bubble to better fit the conventions of the genre. Using a slightly obscure shape for the bubble or adding a glow to the border of the bubble might help further communicate the genre and make the comic more exciting for readers overall. In addition, the lettering used for onomatopoeia was large and bold to convey the importance and draw the reader's attention to the word, helping to create a more real experience by informing them of sounds occurring in the moment of the comic. I believe the text used was appropriate for the target audience and therefore fit the brief but it could have included a few more advanced words to help widen our audience appeal and reach a new demographic for the comic.

Overall the comics visual style was good but could be improved in the future to better appeal to the audience by using more typical sci-fi genre conventions for the speech bubbles as well as the colour palette in some areas. For instance, the colour palette used was bright to entice the audience but the conventions of the genre usually have duller colours to convey the themes portrayed in the story, therefore we might try to incorporate more of this colour palette into future comics. Furthermore, the text used was good as it was kept simple for our audiences, we used correct grammar and spelling throughout to ensure the text was able to be followed by readers.

Target audience feedback- questionnaire

Summary of findings: Overall the questionnaire research helped confirm positive responses from the audience as well as the audience we have been targeting was accurate. In addition, it helped to identify new potential audiences which we could explore. Finally, the research helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of the product and therefore will help our team develop these elements to better cater toward audiences.