Post #14: Digital intervention in Sin City characters

Chapter 5: Pictorial aspects, p. 75


Yet, the level of digital interference is greater in Sin City than it is in Sky Captain because in the former it also affects characters. In several moments, the colors of eyes and of other compositional details of characters are altered. Most of the time, this happens with the purpose of emphasizing certain parts of the image, conferring on them a thematic connotation within the story. 

Digital intervention on characters Kevin and Gail.

Kevin’s opaque white glasses contrast with the rest of the image, which is almost completely dark. The purpose of the dark face and background is to emphasize his villainy whereas the white glasses reinforce the idea of an emotionless character. In the case of Gail, the red color of her lips highlights the character’s strong sex appeal.

Post #13: The green screen in Sin City

Chapter 5: Pictorial aspects, p. 75


As in Sky Captain, in Sin City characters perform in front of a green screen and not photographed landscapes. Later, the CGI is included to compose the final look of the shot. Real locations and sets are replaced by computer designed backgrounds.

Film shooting before the green screen and the later inclusion of digital images.

Post #12: CGI in Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow

Chapter 5: Pictorial aspects, p. 73




This is one example of the use of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), a process in which three-dimensional computer graphics create “virtual” backgrounds to the footage of the live-action. In this process, actors do not perform before real-life landscapes but in front of a completely green screen, which is later filled by digitally-created images. This is the case of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, one of the first films to be entirely produced using CGI.

From storyboard to final product: the steps of production in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Post #11: The interpolated rotoscope process in A Scanner Darkly

Chapter 5: Pictorial aspects, p. 72


A Scanner Darkly is an adaptation from Phillip K. Dick’s novel in which the director Richard Linklater uses interpolated rotoscope, a technique that digitally “draws” the scenery and characters over the original film footage, including new colors and textures in the film. The approximation between the drawn and the photographed image is evident and the final effect of the film resembles animated movies and comics.

The steps of the interpolated rotoscope process.

Post #10: Comics Page = Film Frame

Chapter 3: Layout aspects, p. 56


When a full-page or a double-page composition does not have any incrusted panels, it is observed that this page corresponds exactly to a frame on the film screen. This is the only moment when an extraordinary equivalence between page and screen layouts of these two media is perceived. Maybe the only difference that occurs in specific moments of the adaptation is that, when a completely blank or dark full-page is transposed to the film, more details of the scenery are sometimes visible because of the few shadings of grey used in the film coloring and lighting processes, as opposed to the graphic novel black-and-white high contrast.

Top: A dark double-page composition in “That Yellow Bastard” (88, 89) and its film version.

Bottom: A blank full-page in “That Yellow Bastard” (31) and its transposition to screen, with details from the scenery.

Post #9: Comparing a page to film frames in Sin City

Chapter 3: Layout aspects, p. 56


In cases where multiple panels are arranged on one page or several small embedded panels are found in one larger panel or in a full-page composition, each panel is generally adapted as one frame of the film.

A multiple-panel page. “That Yellow Bastard”, 40.

A shot-by-shot film sequence of the above mentioned page.

Post #8: The double-page compositions in Sin City

Chapter 3: Layout aspects, p. 54


Also common in Sin City are the double-page compositions, although they are not used as frequently as the full-page layout; the double-pages often exceed the page margins and are generally used in the opening of chapters. Another significant aspect is that both full-page and double-page compositions often have to dispute the reader’s attention with other small superimposed panels.

A full-page and a double page composition with superimposed panels.

(“The Big Fat Kill”, 160; 162-63).