Grade 9 Applied Macbeth Unit

 Today, the graphic novel is the fastest growing literary genre in North America.

A Graphic Novel is...  A narrative (story) presented through text and pictures.  Like a literary novel, the graphic novel may deal with a complex plot, diverse characters and settings, and a variety of subject matters (themes).  Like text-only novels, graphic novels come in various genres, from superhero to romance, fantasy to science fiction, historical fiction and more.  83H0nQvIbeA 83H0nQvIbeA Let’s watch a video to learn more about graphic novels...

Graphic Novels are...  usually published in hardcover or as quality paperbacks.  typically a higher quality than comic books in terms of the publication process.  longer than comic books, sometimes running to hundreds of pages. Comic Books are...  usually bound by staples.  serialized on a monthly basis (or specified time period) with an episode of an ongoing story.  usually not of book length.

Barack and Spider-Man  As a child, Barack Obama collected Marvel Comics.  His favourite character was Spider- Man.  Marvel Comics has decided to provide a commemorative comic book that has Spiderman saving Barak Obama, and the day.

PANEL  A box that contains the pictures showing what is happening in the story, and the dialogue of the characters.  Panels literally frame the information in the story.  Panels are arranged to flow in sequential order and help the reader quickly understand the gist of the story.  Panels are arranged from left to right and then top to bottom.  A graphic novel page is usually made up of multiple panels.  Panels are the paragraphs we read in regular texts.

WORD BALLOON  The bubble-shaped spaces within a panel that contain dialogue or a character’s thoughts in textual format.  The balloons may be singles or multiples, based on the length of the dialogue.  Balloons come in a number of different shapes, each of which indicates a different sound level or mood. A fluffy cloud-shaped word balloon contains the thoughts of a character. Instead of a tail, a thought balloon usually has bubbles leading to the character who is thinking. The most common shape of the word balloon is oval. A balloon of this shape contains dialogue. A word balloon with a jagged outline represents surprise or outrage.

CAPTION  A caption box contains the narrative that fills in the details of the story being told.  Captions add to the speech and artwork.  They do not repeat what the artist has drawn.  Their purpose is to fill in the gaps with the time and place of the action  Usually a caption appears in a rectangular box at the top or bottom of a panel.

GUTTER  The space between panels on a page is called the gutter. PANEL BORDER  A panel border is the box that encloses the actions of the scenes.  Panel borders are not always the same shape; sometimes they are not used at all.

FOCUS  In depicting space or settings where the story unfolds in a panel, artists use methods similar to the ones used by movie directors.  Zooming in...makes the subject bigger and more detailed (for example: close- up of a face)  Zooming out...drawing the picture relatively smaller and placing it in the background by means of a long shot.

BODY LANGUAGE  A character’s gestures and postures become powerful ways for communicating nonverbally with others and for telling stories. FACIAL EXPRESSION  A character’s facial expression often reveals their feelings and sometimes their thoughts.

MOVEMENT  Movement is generated either while reading the dialogue in various types of balloons, or while following gestures, postures, actions, placement of various shapes, and picture elements.

LIGHTING  Lighting creates a crucial role in creating mood and feeling within the panels.  For example, darkness creates a mysterious atmosphere in a panel.  Lighting also communicates the time of day in which the action is taking place, for example, a moonlit night, or a sunrise, or midday in the desert. SOUND  Sound is usually established through written words.

Do you have any questions?

Instructions:  Each group of two will receive a page from a graphic novel that is missing word balloons.  Envelopes with the missing word balloons will be provided.  Together, you will place the captions and speech balloons in the panels, in an order that makes sense.  Share your interpretations with another group.

Calvin and Hobbes Task:  Analyze the comic provided. You will notice the dialogue is missing.  Look closely at the characters’ facial expressions and body language, as well as the setting and possible conflict  Brainstorm a storyline that suits the images in each panel.  Add text in the word balloons to make the comic complete.

Tomorrow...  Pre-reading activity  Read Act 1

 Balloons can express thoughts, dreams, speeches, loud voices, whisperings, wishes, sound effects, etc.  Each student will be provided a handout with the same four panels from a graphic novel.  The dialogue is already created, but the task is to incorporate different kinds of punctuation or different lettering styles and balloon shapes for effect. Experiment with the following:  Capitalization  Upper and lower case  Jagged lettering  All caps  Emphasis on different words (e.g., bold, colour)  Exclamation marks  Dashes

BUT I WAS HUNGRY. BURP. YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE EATEN THE WHOLE TOWN! YOU shouldn’t have eaten the whole town. But I was hungry.