Motion Comics
Love them or hate them motion comics are now more then a trend… halfway between a traditional, standard static panel comicbook layout and slightly less movement then a full featured animation… the “motion comic” is the next industry trend. Pundits would argue that it’s lazy animation but the creatives and suits have managed to both agree that it’s an avenue for a unique form of visual expression, distribution and monetization.
Big names and large movie studios are getting in on the ‘action’. Stephen King’s novella “N” (I’m a sucker for anythings Stephen King) was a recent success as well as Warner Brothers motion comic preview marketing push for Will Smith’s I Am Legend – I believe spin off company or division was created and some of them were written and developed by Jada Pinkett Smith. WB is in line to release several major new motion comics this fall.
Motion comics really take advantage of a small format and mixed media when utilizing off-the-shelf software like Flash and After Effects. The producers are able to quickly place a range of voice overs and sound effects, quick pans and cut scenes, slow fades and blurs as well as a mix of motion parallax and animated tweens.
Here is the latest partnership and contest to start up…
Aniboom’s Marvel Motion Comics Competition.
http://www.aniboom.com/competition/marvel
We’re looking to animators from around the world—pros and students—to show us how they would make a Motion Comic. We’ll start showing submissions this coming Monday, and much of the time the early entries have the tendency to get higher views, more community support, and a better shot at prizes– submitting early (and often) helps animators lead the pack.  To download pages of original Marvel Comics, along with audio and music assets, go to Aniboom.com/Marvel—there are prizes which range from $2K for first stage finalists to a $10,000 Grand Prize.
This post is tagged: Animation, comics, contest, experiment, innovation, software