Don't Answer Me

By | Tuesday, May 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
The S.O. pointed me to this video for Alan Parsons Project's "Don't Answer Me"
It's obviously inspired by comic books. You can even see the likes of Wonder Woman and the Sub-Mariner when they show the cover to The Adventures of Nick and Sugar.

While the video itself is not that different, stylistically, from the old Grantray-Lawrence Marvel cartoons of the 1960s, the addition of word balloons throughout is a departure. More interestingly, they're used in the video as a counter-point to the actual song lyrics. We don't see precisely what is being sung (with one minor exception) but rather they help to tell a story only thematically related to the song. Every other "motion comic" (to use the current naming) that I've seen either omits them altogether or simply uses them to reinforce the spoken dialogue. While I'm sure there must be other examples, I can't recall any instances where a motion comic displays word balloons that help to tell a different story than what's being told with the audio component.

(Because someone will inevitably think of it in response to this post, I'll make note that A-ha's more famous "Take on Me" video doesn't actually use dialogue balloons anywhere, and only a couple of instances of onomatopoeic sound effects.)

Also of note, the illustrations and animations for the Parsons video were by none other than Mike Kaluta. Which might explain why it's so different from everything else!
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