"MEANWHILE", what are these sort of words called?
May 19, 2007 3:53 PM Subscribe
What is the word for phrases such as "meanwhile", or "in an entirely different place altogether"? The sort of words you would see in the narrative box of a comic strip that contextualises the action. Do you have any rather verbose examples?
Text narration elements in comics are called "captions".
Are you just talking about phrases that indicate a shift of time or place, or any phrase that contextualizes a comics panel?
Are you looking for a description of these phrases that would apply any time they are used, or only in comics?
posted by jjg at 4:55 PM on May 19, 2007
Are you just talking about phrases that indicate a shift of time or place, or any phrase that contextualizes a comics panel?
Are you looking for a description of these phrases that would apply any time they are used, or only in comics?
posted by jjg at 4:55 PM on May 19, 2007
I think a lot of these expressions first came to prominence during the era of silent movies when they were captions - later known as sub-titles. In the early days film makers would shoot their footage and then splice it in with captions taken from a standard library of expressions such as "That night...", "Meanwhile, back at the ranch", "Comes the dawn" and so on. This was in the days when movies were more akin to a fairground show in terms of being brazenly designed to attract the most paying customers through the door with the least production budget.
posted by rongorongo at 5:02 PM on May 19, 2007
posted by rongorongo at 5:02 PM on May 19, 2007
It sounds like you are asking for deliberately verbose phrases for this? Possibly for comical effect?
Like "Meanwhile, in an altogether different part of the country, yet at exactly the same time as the aforementioned events..."
Yes? No?
posted by The Deej at 6:44 PM on May 19, 2007
Like "Meanwhile, in an altogether different part of the country, yet at exactly the same time as the aforementioned events..."
Yes? No?
posted by The Deej at 6:44 PM on May 19, 2007
Technically "meanwhile" is an adverb and a phrase with the same function would be an adverbial phrase.
In movies they were originally called 'cards' because in the era of silent movies, that's what they shot -- a card with the words on it. They're still called cards by lots of people in TV ("Put a card up", "test card") and so on.
In a movie script it's generally referred to as a 'super' (as in 'superimposed'), so you might see...
SUPER ON BLACK: MEANWHILE
or
A CARD: MEANWHILE
or, more likely these days
ON BLACK: MEANWHILE...
In a comic strip I'd probably call them a 'slug', like the slugline in a movie script ("INT. CAFE - EVENING").
posted by unSane at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2007
In movies they were originally called 'cards' because in the era of silent movies, that's what they shot -- a card with the words on it. They're still called cards by lots of people in TV ("Put a card up", "test card") and so on.
In a movie script it's generally referred to as a 'super' (as in 'superimposed'), so you might see...
SUPER ON BLACK: MEANWHILE
or
A CARD: MEANWHILE
or, more likely these days
ON BLACK: MEANWHILE...
In a comic strip I'd probably call them a 'slug', like the slugline in a movie script ("INT. CAFE - EVENING").
posted by unSane at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2007
Even as The Platinum Inferno wrestles with his base desires, vacillating between saving Chicago from The Yodeler and spending a night with the lovely Betty Sue Aaronowsky, we pause to consider events three thousand feet under the sea, where a pale man crouches in the shadows, inspecting a mysterious, pronged device...
posted by grumblebee at 8:22 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by grumblebee at 8:22 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]
I call it an interstitial but I think that's a web word and not a comic word, but it's big and smart sounding.
posted by jessamyn at 8:31 PM on May 19, 2007
posted by jessamyn at 8:31 PM on May 19, 2007
Also occurring at the same moment...[rest of text here]
And in an entirely different comic box, but at the same time...[rest of text here]
During the same exact time that this action was going on in the previous frame...[rest of text here]
(you wanted other verbose examples like "in an entirely different place altogether", right?)
posted by iamkimiam at 8:54 PM on May 19, 2007
And in an entirely different comic box, but at the same time...[rest of text here]
During the same exact time that this action was going on in the previous frame...[rest of text here]
(you wanted other verbose examples like "in an entirely different place altogether", right?)
posted by iamkimiam at 8:54 PM on May 19, 2007
From my experience in comics, verbose examples are used either to convey specific information ("Meanwhile, 2.4 lightyears away, in orbit around the planet, Rann...") or for humorous effect ("One hour later (yes, that's a little confusing when talking about time travel, but you know what we mean)...").
Perhaps it's the influence of television, but captions today appear to be brief. ("Metropolis. Now.") The once ubiquitous "page break" captions ("Continued on 2nd page following.") seem to have disappeared completely.
posted by SPrintF at 10:30 AM on May 20, 2007
Perhaps it's the influence of television, but captions today appear to be brief. ("Metropolis. Now.") The once ubiquitous "page break" captions ("Continued on 2nd page following.") seem to have disappeared completely.
posted by SPrintF at 10:30 AM on May 20, 2007
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AT THE SAME TIME, my comic-nerd roommate says "transitions" is the term he'd use.
posted by piratebowling at 4:08 PM on May 19, 2007