Whats Wrong With This Picture?
in 1988 there was no consumer camcorder that shot in widescreen
Perhaps the film would be more intuitive if it was shot like,
The Blair Witch Project.


Screenshots from The Blair Witch… Sequences were intermixed
from 16mm film and NTSC consumer camcorder video.
In the theater the film was pillar boxed, enhancing the experience of the film.

Currently, I’m in a research and development phase for a future comic project, and I’m having a bit of conflict. I'm torn between the industry standard print format, approximately 6x9 aspect ratio derived from scanned 11x17 art board or A4 art board. Yet, most would assume that Aspect ratio is unimportant because the likelihood of printing comics currently is slim at best. Given the cost and resources prints require, print comics are easily ruled out due to feasibility. Thus, committing to a formal aspect ratio is unnecessary since most comics are delivered via the web or digitally nowadays. On the web there are no such limits for comics other than the user’s display size.

Nevertheless, I'm a firm believer that the experience of comics (and all Media) are evaluated/appreciated though intuitive context. For instance, in videography theatrical cinema is associated with the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, whereas television (before the popularity of HD) is associated with 1.33:1.

Viewers will intuitively evaluate media based on context, in this case aspect ratio. Since the cinema's aspect ratio is considerably more panoramic than television, viewers will analyze the caliber of work and compare the work with it's respective category. Therefore, if I'm going to utilize the aspect ratio of 1:85:1 I'd better darn make sure the feature worthy of this frame, otherwise I'm wasting space. If I make a lackluster video, albeit entertaining, funny, or whatever, effective communication dictates I must use a less grand aspect ratio (Standard TV 1.33:1 or HiDef 1.78:1) and reserve the panoramic frame for finer pictures. Otherwise, the shoe is on the wrong foot, and viewers will also subconsciously draw this conclusion.

The same goes with practically all media. In my situation I'm trying to deliver a comic, for the web and potentially print. While researching other web comics I discovered the most effective comics adhere to the aspect ratio conventions of print media either as a print booklet approximately 6x9, or newspaper print 2x2.

Although, there is something to be said about the rebel comics, the ones that do not adhere to the print conventions. They shuffle where other boys fear to tread. Until there is a new and true formula, like the ones developed for video discussed earlier, I guess I'll stick to what I know…For now anyways.

Tags: Comics, Video, Business