Panel Transition Constraint

Having read more about comics constraints in the past week (thanks to my Oupus spending spree) and having been reading a lot more comics lately, I’ve been thinking about new constraints.

Most of the comics constraints I’ve seen or read about are based on either the words or the pictures in a comics. They isolate these parts of the whole and then constrain them, or they constrain both of these parts and constrain them without utilizing some of the other parts of the comic. What about some of the elements of comics that are at the heart of comics as a medium?

The first thing that came to mind is panel transitions as elucidated in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. Panel transition are part of the chronological rhythm of a comic. I think constraining the use of different transition types could be an interesting experiment.

McCloud posits six transition types(70-72):

1) Moment-to-moment (one subject over a short period of time)

2) Action-to-action (one subject, longer period of time)

3) Subject-to-subject (different subjects, same scene)

4) Scene-to-scene (change of scene)

5) Aspect-to-aspect (”aspects of a place. idea. or mood”)

6) Non sequitur (theoretically, no connection at all)

A comic constrained to only one type of transition would create an interesting challenge depending on the type chosen. This would have to be done over a longer work as shorter works would not have the time to build-up any rhythm based on repetition. A three panel strip that is all moment-to-moment would really not be anything to talk about (and really is a staple of comic strips), but one that goes on for 30 pages would be.

Exclusive use of these transition would probably create a certain style of comic. Moment-to-moment would by necessity take place over a short period of time. A Scene-to-scene comic would jump around a lot, but could just go back and forth between two scenes. An Aspect-to-aspect comic would probably require a lot more work from the reader to glean its narrative.

Alternately, a set pattern of transitions could be utilized. For instance one could (notating with the transition type number): 1,1,2,3,4.

By structuring the panel transition, different rhythms would be created in the movement/narrative of the comic. This could also be enhanced or devalued by the size and spacing of the panels.

Tags: Comics, Constraint, transitions

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