Is this A Thing? Then, what's it called? If not, what would you call it?

April 19, 2015 2:07 PM

Are there web comics that add voice clips of the "voiced" parts? If so, what is this called? If not, what would you call it or how would you describe it? (Bonus question: Recommend me an audio file publishing site.)

I am envisioning a comic where there is a small audio player at the bottom (or top) where you can click it and hear the parts voice acted. I am envisioning this as something that could add more nuance for regular readers and could also serve as a meaningful "comic for the blind." I am thinking the comic plus voice clip would be almost like a mini one page "film."

I found one article that talks about a comic of some sort that also has voice work (as well as music). So I don't think this really exists as a category of online comic currently. My sons, who have read bajillions of comics, do not think this currently exists either.

My oldest son suggested "Web Filmics" as a descriptor. What would you call it or how would you describe it, for example in a subtitle space to explain that this comic has an unusual feature?

Bonus question: Talk to me about options in publishing audio files online.

I signed up for three or four different accounts yesterday, some of which did not work at all, others did not work the way I wanted them to. I need a means to put the audio player on the website directly (in other words, without directing you to a new page before you can hear it). I want it to be a small, discreet audio player and not something the size of a YouTube video (Sound Cloud gave me a huge embedded audio player, larger than a YouTube video, and I went "no!").

I have managed to hack something together. This took half a day or more and works okay for now, however I am wondering if there are other options with the functionality I desire. BlogSpot does not offer this as some kind of native function. There are easy ways to add video, photos and location but not audio files.

Thanks!

posted by Michele in California to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Best answer: I'll tackle your second question: Do you have a self-hosted Wordpress site? Do you have a lot of bandwidth and drive space with this hosting account? If so, you can add your teeny tiny MP3 file to your Media area, and get a link to embed within your comic/blog entry. It would appear above or below the comic (depending on where you embed the link) and all they have to do is hit PLAY and you're golden.

As far as a name describing what you've described, Marvel is doing Adaptive Audio. I also remember them doing something with audio and animation. It wasn't a cartoon and it wasn't a still comic, it was some sort of hybrid with less motion and audio, but I can't remember what they called it or if they're still even doing it.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:14 PM on April 19, 2015

Sorry I missed the BlogSpot mention! I think for this sort of functionality you're going to need to upgrade to a self-hosted site. I recommend A Small Orange. $50 a year for their Small Hosting Package. They sometimes have sales where you can get the first year for $35.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:16 PM on April 19, 2015

Best answer: I don't know of anyone doing this as an end product off the top of my head, but the name you're looking for is animatic. It's generally an intermediate stage between storyboarding and shooting, but it doesn't have to be.
posted by rodlymight at 2:22 PM on April 19, 2015

Best answer: There's at least one voiceover artist who does this on his tumblr.
posted by MsMolly at 3:02 PM on April 19, 2015

Response by poster: The link on animatics was an interesting read. But it sort of makes me feel like there isn't really a name for what I am considering doing (since that is typically a development step in animation film and not an end product, so, no, not really the same thing as a completed web comic with voice work).

So I am stopping in to encourage folks to go nuts and be creative and toss out suggestions for how to describe it or what to call it (in addition to the types of answers I am already getting, which are better than I expected, so Thanks!). :-)
posted by Michele in California at 3:30 PM on April 19, 2015

They're called "motion comics".

Here's one DC did for "Watchmen".
posted by inturnaround at 3:54 PM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

There are flash interactive visual novels that would play special effects or voice acting when the next page or panel button is pressed but I'm not sure that's what your looking for. However flash might be a good option. ( Almost anything can be coded into a press play to play noise button though, text or image. Hosting will be a bigger issue. L
posted by Liger at 3:54 PM on April 19, 2015

Best answer: This is kind of a tangent, but I just wanted to add a comment on one aspect of your question:

I am envisioning this as something that could add more nuance for regular readers and could also serve as a meaningful "comic for the blind."

I have a friend who is blind, and I describe some comics for him using techniques borrowed from described movies. Basically, I add a short text description of the action, body language, scenery and appearances, the mood of the strip and so on to each panel. I know of some webcomics that post transcripts of what's being said, but when I've talked to my friend about it, his opinion is that transcripts aren't very useful on their own. For example, take a look at Gaia, which has dialogue transcripts -- it's clear that a sighted reader gets ten times the information a blind one does. (In the most recent comic, is Sandril saying "Wow!" because the secret place turns out to be a pleasant pond, or because the secret place is a high-tech floating fortress?) If accessibility is a priority for you, you might want to consider adding a more fleshed-out description as well.

I'll be honest, describing comics in this way is an extra layer of work that will mostly go unnoticed, as it's not like there's an existing fanbase of people who are blind or low vision waiting for described comics: the comics don't exist, so the audience doesn't even know to look for them. But it's also true that it doesn't take that long, depending on the content: a Broodhollow strip generally takes me 15 minutes. So it's just something to think about!
posted by shirobara at 4:42 PM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: (Sound Cloud gave me a huge embedded audio player, larger than a YouTube video, and I went "no!").

FWIW, there's a smaller version available, 166 pixels high instead of 450. Just click the second option under "Embed."

(It can be shrunk further by changing the height/width values on the iframe code. There's also an even smaller mini player, but that requires a Pro account.)
posted by Shmuel510 at 8:37 PM on April 19, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you everyone who has replied. I have gotten a lot more substantive feedback than I expected. Everyone did great.

shirobara,
I am seriously handicapped, so I would like to make accessibility a priority. But I haven't seen any point in doing the work to add something accessible to a screen reader. It seems to me like, yeah, it loses so much, so why bother? (I started out with intent to add the screen reader accessible coding and it ended quickly falling by the way side and I believe was abandoned when I moved comics to a new host.)

But I happened to be playing around with making some audio clips, just goofing off the other night. I ended up publishing a few clips to a comic -- in place of an update -- giving pronunciation of a couple of made-up words and a sample of how the main character sounds. The main character of this comic is a spunky little girl. I have felt dissatisfied with trying to convey her "voice" via text. I didn't initially intend it as a comic for the blind, but it occurred to me it could potentially give something meaningful to people who are blind.

So no decision has been made, but I like the idea of adding a voice clip to this specific comic and making it a cross between a web comic and a really short radio play. I still don't know how to describe it. I absolutely am not thinking of doing a motion comic. I am not thinking of turning this literally into a film. I am thinking of doing what was on the tumblr linked above, just adding a voice clip to a comic. That's it. Animatic sounds closer to what I am thinking of, but, again, it sounds to me like this isn't really a thing and there isn't really terminology for it per se. So I guess I still need to work on what to call it or how to talk about it if I actually implement it.

Thanks!
posted by Michele in California at 9:52 AM on April 20, 2015