Lotus's art + writing sideblog! (Main blog: gareg-universe); Usually draw/write cartoon and Undertale content. I reblog things that serve as inspiration as well. DeviantART: LotusTheKat | Archive of Our Own: TheRegularWriter
Can I talk for a moment about visual storytelling, cause, I feel like it’s something that a lot of adaptations forget about in lieu of trying to replicate their source material.
It’s a problem you see most often in anime derived from manga or light novels, but it’s also present in movies based on YA novels, and you gotta know what I’m talking about, start on black, opening narration, fade in as the main character explains the world and environment. This works in a book since the reader can’t see anything, they need the specifics of the world explained, but it feels like the movies are just like “well it worked for the book, it’ll work for us right?
I’d say it’s worse in anime, where characters will go on long internal soliloquies trying to explain their thought processes and complex emotions, which again, works for the manga, in a manga movement is very expensive, every single motion requires it’s own panel, which takes up the artist’s time, printed space, and a moment in the narrative, so it’s important to only show what absolutely needs to be shown. But animation is different, it’s all movement and the details are what sells it more than the dialogue.
The reason I wanted to make this post is because of one scene in One Punch Man that perfectly exemplifies how to translate a written thought process into visual storytelling. After getting punched to the moon (err, spoilers), Saitama has this thought process
and it’d be easy to translate that entirely literally in the anime, Saitama crouches, has an internal monologue as he tries to figure out how much force he needs to put into his jump, and then he launches. Instead though, the scene is done completely silently, to sell the fact that he’s in space, but the thought process isn’t removed, it’s just show visually.
He throws a bit of moon rock to gauge the moon’s gravity, then launches, it’s a much more thoughtful approach to the scene and the audience’s ability to interpret visual information.
I just, really wish more adaptations realized the inherent strength of the visual medium instead of relying entirely on the source material’s structure and reliance on its own medium.
Characters: Lars, Steven, Off Colors; other characters are only mentioned
Summary: Steven visits Lars and the Off Colors after discovering the truth.
A/N: Howdy! This is my first SU fanfic in a while… I’ve had this idea hanging around for more than a month - since “A Single Pale Rose” premiered, actually - but I didn’t have time to post it sooner due to school and some sort of art block I went through. I’m pretty aware that other people had this idea already, so I want to make it clear that I don’t mean to steal anything from anyone.
As always, I’m sorry for any writing mistakes and I hope the characters aren’t, well, /too/ OOC or anything… this is my first time writing them at all, especially Lars.
Still, I hope you enjoy it!
WARNING: The following is NOT compliant with the Heart of the Crystal Gems special (AKA the episodes that premiere on July 2nd).
“Captain’s
Log: uhhh… Monday? Honestly, who cares anymore…”
"So
we invaded one of Yellow Diamond’s asteroid mines to extract the flotanium we
needed. Several Agates were guarding it, but we defeated them and escaped
succesfully… that is, before Homeworld ships started chasing us. We lost
them, but it might not take long for them to find us; so we’re all alert.
“Meanwhile,
Fluorite is working to fix the engines down here, but it’s taking a while…
for now, we can only wait - and watch out for any suspicious ships out there.
Hopefully, she will have repaired the nova thrusters before anything happens.
“If
everything goes well, then we’ll finally reach our destination: the
Earth.”
Lars let
out a deep sigh, as his eyes met the stars.
“…
home,” He whispered, effectively.
Once he
finished, he threw himself on the captain seat. Weirdly enough, he actually
felt drained - and it hadn’t even been the most dangerous battle the Off Colors
had faced. Well, Lars would rarely feel any exhaustion, really.
Though…
it was sure becoming very… tiresome.
Well,
anyone would be excited to go on a space adventure – where you could ride a
fast spaceship with your friends, wear a cool cape and commit crimes against a
tyrannical system. Not that it wasn’t a remarkable experience anymore, clearly
not- it was just…
Space
was wide. Huge. The concept of time no longer mattered there. He couldn’t tell
anything anymore.
In spite
of all the thrilling adventures, space was still that endless black pit, were
it not for the countless stars that painted it. Astronauts would definitely
envy him due to finding several solar systems, all sorts of planets and
whatever. However, it was just… not like the Earth – no matter how
breathtaking it was.
On
Earth, you could actually… be yourself. It certainly was no bed of roses,
considering how judgemental people could be; but there was so much beauty to
that planet, so much… life. Homeworld would only turn a blind eye
to it all. Then, they would eradicate anyone and anything that didn’t fit their
twisted concepts of a successful empire.
The Off
Colors had been forced to hide- for eons, because they would have been shattered.
Lars tried not to think too much about it at this point, but it was awfully
hard. The thought of his friends excluded from society and further
getting killed simply for looking “wrong” to the eyes of
horrible dictators was frightening, painful. It was still as messed up as when
he had realized upon meeting the Off Colors.
Luckily,
though… the journey to Earth would come to an end… eventually. There
wouldn’t be a specific time of arrival; again, time was useless in the middle
of outer space. Though, the captain had only started making all those log dates
thanks to Steven’s occasional visits and his own intuition… and also because
he had always wanted to do that, for some reason. Perhaps it was part of his
wishes as a little kid. Yeah.
Lars
relaxed on the seat while the Off Colors piloted, concentrated. Fluorite hadn’t
given any further reports on the engines. It would take time for any results.
The captain was still hopeful, in spite of his homesickness and certain
impatience; yet he knew he couldn’t blame Fluorite. Emerald sure had done some
damage…
He gazed
at the big, starry dimness outside, his mind transcending to… nowhere.
Well, literally nowhere. Still.
He could
not wait to get home. One day, they would all be on Earth and would be in
peace. They would all be free.
A smile
formed on his face.
…
Then his
hair glowed and the unfortunate feeling of a whole thing coming out of it lead
him to scream.
Characters: Lars, Steven, Off Colors; other characters are only mentioned
Summary: Steven visits Lars and the Off Colors after discovering the truth.
A/N: Howdy! This is my first SU fanfic in a while… I’ve had this idea hanging around for more than a month - since “A Single Pale Rose” premiered, actually - but I didn’t have time to post it sooner due to school and some sort of art block I went through. I’m pretty aware that other people had this idea already, so I want to make it clear that I don’t mean to steal anything from anyone.
As always, I’m sorry for any writing mistakes and I hope the characters aren’t, well, /too/ OOC or anything… this is my first time writing them at all, especially Lars.
Still, I hope you enjoy it!
WARNING: The following is NOT compliant with the Heart of the Crystal Gems special (AKA the episodes that premiere on July 2nd).
“Captain’s
Log: uhhh… Monday? Honestly, who cares anymore…”
"So
we invaded one of Yellow Diamond’s asteroid mines to extract the flotanium we
needed. Several Agates were guarding it, but we defeated them and escaped
succesfully… that is, before Homeworld ships started chasing us. We lost
them, but it might not take long for them to find us; so we’re all alert.
“Meanwhile,
Fluorite is working to fix the engines down here, but it’s taking a while…
for now, we can only wait - and watch out for any suspicious ships out there.
Hopefully, she will have repaired the nova thrusters before anything happens.
"If
everything goes well, then we’ll finally reach our destination: the
Earth.”
Lars let
out a deep sigh, as his eyes met the stars.
“…
home,” He whispered, effectively.
Once he
finished, he threw himself on the captain seat. Weirdly enough, he actually
felt drained - and it hadn’t even been the most dangerous battle the Off Colors
had faced. Well, Lars would rarely feel any exhaustion, really.
Though…
it was sure becoming very… tiresome.
Well,
anyone would be excited to go on a space adventure – where you could ride a
fast spaceship with your friends, wear a cool cape and commit crimes against a
tyrannical system. Not that it wasn’t a remarkable experience anymore, clearly
not- it was just…
Space
was wide. Huge. The concept of time no longer mattered there. He couldn’t tell
anything anymore.
In spite
of all the thrilling adventures, space was still that endless black pit, were
it not for the countless stars that painted it. Astronauts would definitely
envy him due to finding several solar systems, all sorts of planets and
whatever. However, it was just… not like the Earth – no matter how
breathtaking it was.
On
Earth, you could actually… be yourself. It certainly was no bed of roses,
considering how judgemental people could be; but there was so much beauty to
that planet, so much… life. Homeworld would only turn a blind eye
to it all. Then, they would eradicate anyone and anything that didn’t fit their
twisted concepts of a successful empire.
The Off
Colors had been forced to hide- for eons, because they would have been shattered.
Lars tried not to think too much about it at this point, but it was awfully
hard. The thought of his friends excluded from society and further
getting killed simply for looking “wrong” to the eyes of
horrible dictators was frightening, painful. It was still as messed up as when
he had realized upon meeting the Off Colors.
Luckily,
though… the journey to Earth would come to an end… eventually. There
wouldn’t be a specific time of arrival; again, time was useless in the middle
of outer space. Though, the captain had only started making all those log dates
thanks to Steven’s occasional visits and his own intuition… and also because
he had always wanted to do that, for some reason. Perhaps it was part of his
wishes as a little kid. Yeah.
Lars
relaxed on the seat while the Off Colors piloted, concentrated. Fluorite hadn’t
given any further reports on the engines. It would take time for any results.
The captain was still hopeful, in spite of his homesickness and certain
impatience; yet he knew he couldn’t blame Fluorite. Emerald sure had done some
damage…
He gazed
at the big, starry dimness outside, his mind transcending to… nowhere.
Well, literally nowhere. Still.
He could
not wait to get home. One day, they would all be on Earth and would be in
peace. They would all be free.
A smile
formed on his face.
…
Then his
hair glowed and the unfortunate feeling of a whole thing coming out of it lead
him to scream.
