Episode 597 - Revelations!
Aug 21, 2022
Today we're talking about a technique in storytelling that we're calling the “revelation”. Inspired by Banes doing an article on the weird trope in movies of having a character discover newspaper stories about the villain that suddenly reveal the true stakes of the story and kick things into high gear. There are other types of revelation in stories though and they're used in different ways.
Topics and Show Notes
The revelation technique can be used in the midpoint of a story as a way of showing the true scope of what the protagonist faces, which signals a corresponding urgency in the story, a rise in tension and an increase in pace - when done well! When done badly, as in the recent Marvel movie Eternals, it has the opposite effect- killing tension and diffusing the energy of the story. A revelation can be used towards the end of a story to show a twist which makes you reevaluate the entire story and look at it in a different way as in Unbreakable or The Usual Suspects. A late revelation can also be used to enrich the story by revealing extra details about a character and sweetening the story after the climax. And then there's the typical Marvel movie way of using super late revelations in the form of Easter eggs which give an audience a sense of anticipation and reward, uncovering secret things about where a story will go next!
A good revelation can add a lot of spice to a story and you're usually pretty safe in its use. The Eternals is a weird exception, where they really messed up this easy technique, TWICE, and cut the power to the story. Watch it and you'll see what I mean! Do you know any stories where a revelation ruined things?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme to Hawk and Flo Ice Cream Truck of Doom part 1 - Flicker, flicker, hypervelocity turning and spinning, action and movement. Techno synth keyboard, strings snapping drums moving faster than thought.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Banes' newspaper revelation newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2022/aug/16/the-horror-newspaper-revelation-scene/
Some of the stuff mentioned in the cast:
The Eternals - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9032400/
The usual suspects - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Guest - https://asianwiki.com/The_Guest_(Korean_Drama)
La Mante - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6467482/
Featured comic:
Them There Hills - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2022/aug/16/featured-comic-them-there-hills/
Featured music:
Hawk and Flo Ice - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Hawk_and_Flo_Ice_Cream_Truck_of_Doom_part_1/ - by HawkandFloAdventures, rated E.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
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Episode 596 - Leadership!
Aug 15, 2022
Leaders are not born, they're created… literally in the case of fiction, created by creators of comics, books, movies, and other media! For this Quackcast I was inspired by two things: a video on Leader Characters by the satirical YouTube channel Terrible Writing Advice, and the Disney movie Lightyear, in which the lone wolf classical hero figure learns how to lead.
Episode 595 - Oversold to the Moon!
Aug 8, 2022
How do you describe your work to sell it to people? Writing blurbs is a real skill! You generally have to avoid doing these four things: Underselling, Overselling, Selling the wrong story, or Revealing too much. It's quite a tricky balance to master. I've been writing feature blurbs for comics here on DD for many years now (about 16), so I've developed a technique but even I haven't mastered it!
Episode 594 - Grow up! Or don't...
Jul 31, 2022
The Manchild can be a fun character or they can be pathetic. They're a staple of comedies because they're an adult that gets to act immature and childish, without the restraint and responsibilities imposed by adulthood. This can make a great contrast; “The adult man acting like an immature child”, John C Riley and Will Farrel have always done that extremely well, as did Chris Farley back in the 90s. It can be be portrayed as pathetic and sad when the person can't seem to be able grow up or take on any responsibilities. They're often characterised by people with “childish” interests, like the cast of the Big Bang Theory, or with a childlike love of something like sports like Kevin in Kevin can F Himself.
Episode 592 - Back in MY day!
Jul 18, 2022
History is happening faster now. With the growth of universal high speed communication and cheap world travel, culture and technology move at unprecedented speeds. Because of these factors the rate of change is different to what it was at any time in the past. This is an objective and verifiable truth rather than subjective perception: the current speed and quality of global communication has never been possible before and that has ramifications for how the world changes.
Episode 591 - Superhero types?
Jul 11, 2022
The Superhero movie cast last week was popular, I wanted to chat to Tantz about different types of superheroes. We all know that the same kinds of superheroes seem to popup and reoccur in multiple forms all the time, even within the same worlds, i.e god-like superheros like Superman, Captain Marvel, Omni-man, Homelander, or Magical types like Doctor Strange, Zatana etc. It was a fun chat about all the categories and subcategories we could think about!
Episode 590 - Fave Superhero Movies?
Jul 4, 2022
I wanted to do an easy and fun one this week and just chat about our fave superhero movies, starting with our firsts! For me and Banes it was Superman with Christopher Reeve. It's a real classic, full of positivity, hope, and optimism, all with bright colours and classic iconic imagery… In that way it's a bit like many of the Marvel films and the more popular DC offerings like Aquaman and WonderWoman, but without the overbuilt and over-defined muscles!
Episode 588 - Revisiting Old Ideas
Jun 20, 2022
Sometimes it's worth revisiting old ideas because you can do them better or explore them deeper. This could be in the form of a full reboot, or it could be as simple as reusing a pose in a panel or using the same theme again like Pixar does with 90% of their output i.e. “coming of age”. Like them you don't need to feel obligated to always do something totally original, revisiting old ideas is a great way to refine them, create better work, or explore different aspects of them you hadn't considered before and put new and interesting spins on things. Consider that Pixar's Turning Red, Encanto, Moana, Coco, The Incredibles 2, Ratatouille, Inside Out, Brave, Onward, and Luca all share the same “coming of age/childhood independence” theme and yet all do it in unique and original ways, exploring different aspects of the idea from all sorts of angles.
