Transitioning

"And now for something completely different..." - Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Transitions

In comics, transitions are vitally important. How an artists goes from one scene to the next, or even from one moment to the next greatly influences how each panel interacts with the other. Scott McCloud identifies six different types of transitions and how they work.

They are:

1. Moment to moment
2. Action to action
3. Subject to subject
4. Scene to scene
5. Aspect to aspect
6. Non sequitur

For a more in-depth analysis of each type of transition, pick up a copy of McCloud's book Understanding Comics. For a brief look into how transitions affect a story, lets apply this model to Maus.

Transitions in Maus

In Maus, Art Spiegelman uses transitions to help create the world of his story. Maus is a story about what Spiegelman's father experienced during the Holocaust; but it is also a story about Spiegelman interviewing his father. This juxtaposition helps reinforce the weight that the story carries.

Action to Action

Spiegelman uses Action to Action transitions for most of the story by panel count. This is because action to action transitions carry the audience through the highlights of the story; from one moment to another. Action to action transitions are fairly informal, and often go unnoticed; however, this is their strength. Action to action transition enable the reader to focus more on the story, and less on the format of the comic; which in helps the reader get immersed in the world of Maus.

Scene to Scene

Scene to Scene transition are used in Maus to help take the reader from one place to another. This is used as Spiegelman's father tells about his experiences and the reader is taken from their New York home back to Poland. This kind of transition requires the reader to piece together where the story is going; creating a larger world in the process.

Subject to Subject

Subject to Subject transitions are often used to show conversations in comics; and in film. Using subject to subject transitions helps create the "air" in-between the two people; in that the reader is able to place the two (or more) people in a room. Subject to subject transitions are used in Maus for almost all of the conversation scenes... in and out of the memory sequences.

Transitions and Traditions

When you create a story, what do your transitions say about your work? We all get caught into pattern of thinking, but perhaps being aware of form and transitions can add new meaning to the stories we tell; what do you think?

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