McCloud's Visual Styles and Transitions in a Title Sequence

We will discuss two of McCloud's primary ideas from Chapters 2 and 3:

• Visual Styles (52-53)
• Transitions and Editing (70-74)
  
  

I will ask you to work in pairs to analyze of 3 to 4 screen shots from one of the title sequences you provided.

1. Take 3-4 screen shots from a title sequence, selected as examples of the sequence's visual style and of a variety of transitions, and insert the screen shots as visible images in a reply to the original message

To do this:

A. save the screen shots as .jpg of .gif images on your USB in a folder "www/4260/exercises/mccloud3". Try using Photoshop's Help > Resize Image command. Make the screen shots 400 pixels wide.

B. In Moodle, choose to "Reply" to the appropriate forum's introductory message

C. above the message window, choose the "Insert/edit Image" icon (looks like a tiny picture of a tree)

D. from the "Insert/Edit Image" window, click the "Find or Upload an Image" bar

E. from the "File Picker" window, choose the "Browse" button and naviage to your image file, click "Open"

F. click the "Upload this file" button,

G. back in the "Insert/Edit Image" window, choose "Insert"

H. In the message window, space down and then repeat for any other images you want to include.

2. With your partner, discuss how these screen shots use (or maybe fail to use) McCloud's principles/techniques of A. visual styles and
B. transitions/montage.

3. Be sure to include

• your name and that of your partner(s) in the activity, as well as
• a clickable URL to an online video of the title sequence.

 

Be specific about what kinds of transitions your selections are demonstrating: that is, Moment-to-Moment, Action-to-Action. etc. How do theses transitions produce effects in the diachronic and/or synchronic dimensions of meaning?

3. Be prepared to talk the class through your analysis of both visual style and transitions/montage, pointing to examples from McCloud with page numbers.