How does David Small's "Stitches" succeed as a time-based work in exploring memory?
Describe David Small's "Stitches".
Questions to think about.
What is a graphic novel and how does it differ from a comic book? What is the significance of sequencing images?
I was particularly impressed with David Small's work. He presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. This kind of work is extraordinary specifically because it combines different artist techniques into a single piece. With just a few words, and pictures, Small continues to draw us in to learn about a boys life that you couldn't imagine living, but need to hear about it. He captures body language and important facial expressions that keeps the reader wanting more. From just the beginning, the reader is instantly hooked and craves the rest of the work. His Skills are impeccable and the audience was extremely impressed.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's "Stitches" succeeds as a time-based work in exploring memory through the use of graphic panels to mimic storyboard shots. Real time flows faster in a graphic novel since there is more visual story rather than having to read words, but time also slows down with the reader taking in what is in the panels and how they are relating to one another. Essentially, graphic novels are storyboards, and work as if a film was in front of the reader.
ReplyDeleteSmall was raised in an abusive family, and was treated with radiation for a sickness at an early age. He developed a tumor on his neck and had to have it removed, rendering him mute for ten years. He ran away from home when he was 16.
Graphic novels cover one, whole story, whereas a comic book is an installment of a story in a series.
Just as specialized time based artists focus on capture scenes that accurately convey their idea, David Small succeeds in a "time-based" realms because he too captures scenes to convey his idea, he just does so through illustration. When the images were presented to us at the Lecture, it felt like i was watching a movie, that I'd have to play over and over to take it all in. Stitches is a book Small wrote about a boy from Detroit (Small's home) and battles cancer. Its a realistic point of view that many can relate to.
ReplyDeleteI found David's piece especially interesting because it was basically just an unconventional way of writing an illustrated story book. The images, though, were more sophisticated than normal story books. The images take us through Davids depressing life, but only one image at a time. As the "book" goes on, you feel as though you are going through his life one memory at a time. the fact that the book is black and white and in all black ink give it an eerie feeling. Something that i found especially effective about the use of time in his story books is that there are hardly words--if any very few. this helps us to understand the story without having to pause and read words.
ReplyDeleteStiches is a graphic novel that is a memoir of David Smalls real life. He tells the story (through drawings) about when he was six, eleven, fifteen, and I'm not sure if he went older or not. I think so. He tells about how his family life was really terrible, his mother was unhappy and hated her children. He had cancer at the age of only eleven and it goes through his journeys at home, in school, and visiting psychiatrists. All we saw was the film trailer to the book, but from what we saw it was very intense. It had a tough story and it wasn't like a comic book where it is sort of un-real and about action and adventure. It was very real, and about life and growing up. I think in terms of it being a time-based media it works really well. The images are a sequence that make a story--similar to stop motion, but more like taking stills of a film and placing them all together chronologically. It is a really cool way to think about storytelling. David stated that it was interesting to see just how few words he actually needed to use. I think that is a really important thing to think about because it allows you to see just how far visuals can go. we can tell a whole story without saying a word.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's "Stitches" succeeds as a time-based work in exploring memory in many different ways. His great use of graphic panels to copy story boards are just one way he accomplishes this. The story flow smoothly in a graphic novel because the visual story has more influence than the textual one. The story was about David being raised in a poor family and was treated with radiation for cancer when he was younger. He had a tumor in his neck and needed to have surgery to get it removed. Because of this he couldn't speak for ten years.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's "Stitches" is a graphic novel, a memoir, about his childhood life of having cancer and a not-so-loving family. I think this book really successes with its sense of reality lied in it. His painting style is somewhat sketchy but it work out to be even better than detailed depicted drawings because all the things he wants the audience to feel is there; the gloomy emotions, the sickness, the hopelessness is all there. I think this book stands out from other comic book is that rather than telling a super hero story, this book is telling a real story, a memory of the author. And his style of painting, its composition and sequencing all work out together to build that strong emotion to the audience.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's "Stitches" is a graphic novel memoir that deals with some very intense and mature subject matter-- an abusive childhood and having cancer at a very early age among other things. Using only grayscale, Small describes these memories in panels depicting progressions within each event. He begins each "episode" with a statement about his age, i.e., "I was six." From episode to episode we see the same character looking older and older, and this helps depict time and memory. Small then sequences these episodes in a very successful way by achieving time progression in a fragmented medium. He does this by allowing just enough time to pass between panels so that we see it as a continuous story but the panels aren't repetitive. We naturally stitch together the actions between panels. A specific technique he used was in the episode about falling down the rabbit hole. In the same panel, he showed himself multiple times, at different stages of tumbling down. We see this as time lapse rather than there literally being five of him in the tunnel at once. Another technique he used was depicting an event in one type of composition or distance range and then in the next panel, showing the reaction with a different composition. In this way he kept the narrative moving dynamically rather than predictably or repetitively, like a flip book.
ReplyDeleteDavid small's graphic novel titled "Stitches" was based on his memory since he was six. Each scenes show his memory of family dramas, what he felt about people when he was young, and some stories of his mom. He sketched each scenes which works along with the story of a six or eleven-year old boy. I thought it succeeds as a time-based work since the storyline is based on his memory when he was young. Since it is a blend of fantasy and reality of a boy's sweet and fearful memory of his childhood, it succeeded as a time-based work in exploring memory.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's Stitches is a story in the form of a series of comics he created depicting certain events in his life. In the lecture we saw yesterday, he turns this graphic novel into video. He does this by filming each frame, slowly moving back and forth in the frame, and adding audio relative to the scenes. His piece describes mostly unfortunate aspects of his childhood including his family life growing up, being an outcast amongst kids at school, and the development of his cancer through radiation.
ReplyDeleteHis novel succeeds as a time based piece, because of the combination of visual and audio. The visual is rather slow moving (although camera angels scale the different images) but the audio and narration really brings out the atmosphere of the scenes.
David Small's "Stitches" was rich with personal history. It was interesting when he talked about starting the book and how it was a slow, painful process of remembering for him. His childhood was something he tried to forget, but later he realized that the only way he could be free was to let go of those bottled up thoughts and emotions. I would agree with this statement because thats why I create art sometimes. It is the only way to fuel my frustrations, sadness, or joy in a healthy way. I think all of this played into the movie he showed us. His style of drawing and the way he used the watercolors helped visualize the harsh reality of his childhood. Another aspect of the movie that made it successful was the slightly fragmented pace of one shot transitioning to another. It reminded me of how when you get older, your memories become more fragmented. So David Small's memoir really expressed the harsh reality of his childhood, and how those memories are hazy now because he is much older.
ReplyDeleteWe watched Stitches, a graphic memoir by David Small. It was set in Detroit , where David spent his childhood. He gets cancer at a young age, the novel starts to tell the story of Smalls' journey from illed child to kid with cancer, teenager. The story repletes with themes of loss, anger, pain and hope. It was very interesting because it was completely new way to tell a story. The figures or places were not moving, but it seemed like it was because Small captured scenes very well. It was very different than comics or any other works.
ReplyDeleteDavid Smalls work can be considered time based medium for a couple of reasons. His novel is a riveting and dark psychological bildungsroman, spanning over many years of his life. He is exploring memory through illustration that reads as a movie story board would, establishing shots, graphic matching, etc., are used to help the reader fall into this book as though they would a movie. Time is conveyed both in text preluding each chapter, and also in the aging of his characters. He is pushing the boundaries of illustration by introducing time.
ReplyDeleteliz mccubbrey
"Stiches" was a powerful example of a time-based work that explored memory. It was eerily beautiful. This can be contributed to the speed and music. The speed of the video was slow and the movement of the frames was gradual yet fluid. The music was simple and repetitive, however, rather creepy. Both of these factors allowed the audience to be in a constant state of anticipation. Memory was clearly conveyed through his limited choices of color, as it referenced old black and white photography or TV. I loved how he "stitched" characters and references to Alice in Wonderland throughout his novel. It's fantastical storyline stood as a drastic contrast to the story of David Small, who had a life quite the opposite while growing up.
ReplyDeleteIn David Small's "Stitches", he explore his childhood through the graphic novel. He started when he was six, moved to eleven, then fifteen, describing his painful memories and harsh family life. It was interesting, because even though it is a book, technically, it was able to successfully come across as a film. The timing of the slow pan across the images, paired with the gradual progression in time through different images and eery, driving music, made for a successful film. The grey tones also added a memory like feel. It was clearly different from a comic book because it didn't have separate panels or text. He mentioned the less text, the better. Sort of the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words... I think it was called "Stitches" for a number of reasons. He was stitching together the memories of his childhood. He stitched in the story of Alice in Wonderland. And finally, received stitches as a result of the cancer on his neck. Overall, it was a rather depressing story, but it was hard to look away or stop listening. As a viewer, I wanted to see what image he would have next or what would happen next.
ReplyDeleteDavid small's Stiches is an example of a deeply compelling time based work that uses memory to drive the narrative. David's ability to honestly and openly confide in the viewer creates a sense of openness and understanding between artist and viewer. Strong has taken a traumatic event in his life and used the pain to create art therefore heling himself overcome his past as well as helping others confront their own pasts. Stiches uses extremely powerful black and white drawing in a cartoonish style paired with carefully selected text to drive the narrative forward. The text and the images enhance one another, creating a stronger overall presentation. This book is like a time capsule, bringing the reader into a painful part of David's life. This memory based narrative will live on long after the actual people in the story are gone. Memory is an extremely effective time based tool that can be used to affect large audience.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's book, Stitches, is a time-based work that explores his memory by careful visual organization. The story that Smalls creates slowly unfolds across the pages. He create buildups of suspense which lead to moments of surprise and comprehension for the viewer. He uses very little text in this graphic novel, and instead uses filmic techniques in order to craft his tale visually. His story explores the many aspects of his childhood that were emotionally painful for him, such as his mother's closeted homosexuality, and the cancer that he suffered from in his early teens. Reading his book and watching the video that was made from the book were two very different experiences, but both told his story effectively. The biggest difference to me was the addition of sound in the film piece. I found that the violin music definitely heightened the creepy mood of the story, but got to be distracting and uncomfortable after a while. For me, graphic novels and comic books are essentially different names for the same thing. Any work that uses drawings within panels paired with text can be classified as a graphic novel or a comic book. Just as in film, this medium has many genres, ranging from dark, honest autobiographical works like Stitches, to manga, to lighthearted comic strips found in the newspaper. Both comic books/graphic novels and films use sequences of images. But graphic novels differ from film in that a) they don't use sound, and b) there are often greater time gaps taking place between panels than between frames in a movie. A graphic novel therefore, requires a bit more imagination from the reader in order to fill in these missing links. It requires the artist to really make each image, word, and sequence play an important role in the advancement of the story. It is easy to forget your intention when filming a movie, which requires attention to so many other details. This is why storyboards, which are essentially comics of their own, are often created in order to plan out the shots for films.
ReplyDeleteDavid Small's "Stitches" is the story of his life in graphic novel form. He narrates over creepy orchestra music, which helps set the tone of an unhappy life. Small's voice, nonchalant and sparse, adds a bit of dry humor here and there, giving the graphic novel a unique feel, and as balance to the sad events that take place. It helps us empathize with his character. Small's drawings, monotone shades of blue and grey, give a sense of half-light, as though the entire story happens in the gathering darkness of evening. As the story exists chiefly in graphic novel form, the brief time-based "trailers" illustrate the confident lines and depicted movements in Small's panels. By breaking it up into moments of age, "I was six", the audience is thrown back to their own memories of that time in their own life - in my case, so happy and vastly different from Small's. As a work within time-based medium, Small's novel comes to life through sounds, music, narration, and timing of movement within panels and from one panel to another. In contrast to this, the original graphic novel leaves more to the readers' imagination, leaving timing up to them in an interactive way. A graphic novel like this is different from a comic book in that it is a complete story, just like a regular novel, only illuminated mostly through images and impressions rather than words. A comic book is usually part of a series, an incomplete story within itself, often much thinner and occurring weekly or monthly. By sequencing images in such a way in graphic novel form and in time-based medium, Small's story becomes a dramatic series of events in a young boy's life.
ReplyDeleteZoe Allen-Wickler
David Smalls "stitches" epitomizes the fine line between a graphic novel and a comic book. David uses his person life events as a catalyst to help imagine and create his artwork. The delicate and poetic nature of the book, sets it apart form comic books which typically emphasize action and drama over emotion and poetic beauty, Furthermore, Small's drawings are detailed and join together to create a single, unified story. This differs from comic books which often build on top of one another in a set of series. Still, the application of images, in a sequential order does relate itself well to the format of comic books.
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