Storytelling help

[Reilly]

Hey guys, what are some good ways to show a long period of time passing bewtween two panels or three panels? Right now I'm working on a script that has a part where a guy's pretty much just sitting in the same place for about 10 minutes, and I want to make sure that I properly give the feeling that nothing's really happened over that time. I'm going to make sure that there's a clock in the background, but I don't want it to look like the clock just sprung forward all of a sudden.

If anyone has any suggestions, or can recomend any specific scenes in some books that do a good job of that I'd really apreciate it.

Thanks a lot.

--Reilly

[dfbovey]

The clock would help. Ten minutes really isn't all that much time though if you think about it. I think the clock would be enough to get the point across. But you could also have the character performing an action... like playing with a rubics cube or something and at the end he is visibly frustrated and puts it down. Just a simple action to show movement through the panels to make the ten minutes interesting.

When I first started to read your post I was thinking ok, a long time... maybe you should show the weather changing to show the different seasons....

Or to show the time passing during the course of a day, you'd have a shadow from the window gradually move across the wall as the sun goes down.

[Inkthinker]

Check out McCloud's Understanding Comics for some excellent methods of time displacement and control in sequentials.

[Saturn Lad]

Also, Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art pages 25-37.

[Ian Miller]

Maybe make larger panels to show that the action in each panel takes a long time. Or, have the character in a completely different position. Or, if the writer will allow it, have the second panel, which occurs 10 minutes later, on the next page as the first panel (That is, if these would be the last 2 panels on the page).

[Baloodoo Bill]

Off the top of my head I'd do a tier of 5 thin, equal panels with all of them the same or much the same.

Maybe all the same except #3 where he sips coffee.

Maybe check watch, sip coffee, check watch, tap fingers, check watch.

Essentially a metronome effect (which is why they should be of equal size and along the same tier) with time ticking by.

[young-sedat]

if the person is sitting on a chair make him sit straight in the first panel, in the second panel id show the clock, and in the third id make him almost lying on the chair (you know the way you were sitting on schoolcharis).
another tip is to make him smoke:
panel 1 holding a ciggarette i the second panel again the clock and in the third panel try to show that he smoked much ciggaretts.
hope i was helpful

[Bruce Lee]

What is the circumstances of your script? More info, please.

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[NickRocks]

this might not be exactly what you need, but what i do sometimes if i need a moment in time to freeze is, i have no background whatsoever, just the main characters in the scene in mid pose. you can have an all black or white background, both work. i also dont put sound efeects in there. i picked that up from some mangas ive read.