Was looking into using comics as a presentation tool for prezi and courseware.

Came across a Vimeo Video which employs a clever technique, taking old comics, and slicing up the elements in a frame, and adding a bit of movement to them using, in this case, Adobe AfterEffects.

It’s a semi advanced technique, so we are probably not going to be doing it right away, but possible use as arrow in our learning module quiver later. Don’t know until we try it how much we need to learn to be able to do it, and how time intensive it is. Animation generally very time consuming to create.

The point of linking here is that the vimeo “clip” does have clever animation which we might be able to do ourselves. Anything where we can have characters that move at least a little, but don’t have to “draw the animation or backgrounds” ourselves is a useful example.

Please note however, there’s a problem with this content, as both the music and the visuals have a not PG13 quality about them. So viewer discretion is advised for the  sleazy parts. Probably meets “R” standards these days. Maybe someone can find a less risqué example, but this is the one on hand presently.

One can also simply turn off the soundtrack, which I mostly can’t understand, but does have a sexual reference or two (or twenty for all I know). You’ve been warned. Don’t watch if you are easily offended by sexual content. In my opinion it’s more silly than anything, but that’s just me.

http://vimeo.com/18264751

But it brings up an interesting question; Comics are part of the sensationalist tradition in media, such as carny, vaudeville, traveling circuses, and entertainment with some aspect of thrill involved. Certainly that carried over into the early days of film, and through film noir and all the various “exploitation” genres up to and including today.

How many hours of video game playing and TV and film watching is presently accounted for by this “sensationalist” style/ content? Drive In movies used to feature it almost exclusively; is YouTube a descendant of this tradition? Comics on TV are among some of the most edgy content one can find, and supposedly for kids. Comics on paper, also edgy, violent, and “deviant”.

Many or even most “straight news” websites these days have additional links to the sensationalist stuff…which in many cases is what used to be called “Tabloid”. And local TV News is famous for “car accident” porn, among other less lofty items of “news”. This is  a big part of the culture “outside the classroom”.

As learning moves outside of the prim and proper educational establishment, and blends with the more wild and “anything goes” culture of the rest of the web and entertainment world,  will learning take on some of these more sensationalist aspects to “keep up”? 

What would Sesame Street look like if it was done by the Family Guy production company? We may be going to find out. Or maybe it’s already been done.

Soap Operas are often used by ESL “learners” to get quickly up to speed on the language, without using any classes or programs. Why does it seem to work? 

For one thing, narrative and story is an effective way to involve “learners”…and in the case of Soap Operas… it’s all about the story, and usually some sensational aspects such as sexuality, death, greed, revenge, etc. Can we separate out the sensational components and still have an effective ESL experience for many? Or do we need to see it as a package of elements that allows or carries the ESL experience to the “user”?

This is a good question for those who would promote learning in new “locations” by new “means”.. adults roam far beyond the rather staid and circumspect aspects of most classrooms…and DLE may need to find a way to meet them on some safe but not too puritanical locations…or risk being stale, antiseptic, flat and dull in comparison.

Textbooks are often censored, especially for younger learners. What’s okay in a video game, magazine, comic book or “Family Guy” Tv show, or Beavis and Butthead, is not necessarily okay in a text book…or an iBook. Apple censors Apps.

DLE will need to adapt to some idea of what is okay, and what isn’t, for a particular intended learner, or group of learners. Likely will be controversies involved as some push the limits, or try “reality TV” approach to formerly staid material.

In the competition for eyeballs, often it’s the most sensationalist approach that wins, and ultimately, it seems to me, DLE are going to have to compete with ALL the other media choices people have available to them.