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How Photographs Can Be Used To Create Manga/Graphic Novels/Comics

by Neon-Dark.com (Paid Article) (Paid Advertisement),

What if you could have a manga-style story in live-action? No, we don't mean a film or a TV show based on a manga, but an actual comic strip that uses photography, plus ingenious practical and digital effects. That's Neon-Dark, an ingenious series which stretches pictorial storytelling into new territory.

Neon-Dark may offer post-apocalypse action and kick-ass women (we describe the story and characters below), but its use of media is one of its main attractions. Beyond the drawings and paintings of other comics, manga and graphic novels, photography gives Neon-Dark a visceral and realistic kick that's unlike anything else.

Instead of the symbolic language of drawn comics, Neon-Dark showcases unique environments and locations - not to mention costumes, props and engaging central characters - that have a life beyond the page.

There are also the practical benefits of Neon-Dark's approach. The images look spectacularly cinematic, while being realised on much lower production costs than a live-action film. Neon-Dark gives performers and models the opportunity to participate in a project that's less difficult and time-consuming than film or TV. At the same time, Neon-Dark has all the upsides of an indy film. There are no overbearing executives, no studio imposed no-nos. Like the best hardboiled anime, Neon-Dark's content can be taken as far as the story demands.

"I love anime, manga, comics and graphic novels," says Neon-Dark's creator, Matt Knappick. "But being a very visual person, I find the story telling can sometimes be removed from the visceral realities of the physical world. However, I still wanted the silent imaginative medium of pictorial story telling, and the freedom to dive into detail that movies can lose sometimes. I'm an artistic commercial photographer, so putting together a story through stylized photographs like this was something I wanted to take head on."

Knappick created all the images for Neon-Dark inside his studio space, using blue screen and green screen. The monsters in the story were made out of blue and green plastic sheets, before having textures superimposed in post-production.

The story

Neon-Dark depicts the conflict between two terrifyingly tough women, one of whom is starting to break out of a violent form of mind control.

Neon-Dark is set in the near future, after one science experiment too many destroyed the world as we know it. This experiment took place on a chain of man-made Pacific Islands, where a device called the Ultra Large Pacific Collider was built. When the Collider was tested, it opened up an inter-dimensional rift and caused tsunamis and mass extinction. Half the human population was wiped out in the chaos.

The experiment had another effect. One of the Pacific islands, called Mallera-9, has developed a fantastic new alien ecosystem. Its dominant creature is a huge fleshy beast called an Azologoth, rapacious and deadly – anything caught by its appendages is lunch.

But hidden inside the Azologoth is a scientific treasure – a previously unknown element called Neon-Dark, so called because of its dull black glow. It has zero mass and boundless energy… Energy that could rebuild the world and transform civilisation.

A complication: Mallera-9 is, literally, a no-man's land. Every male who's ventured onto it has been killed by the island's radiation, regardless of protective gear. Only women can survive on Mallera-9.

That's where our lead character, Ayla, comes in. She's one of the many hardass, highly-trained women who now operate on Mallera-9, taking on the Azologoth and extracting Neon-Dark from their bodies. Even by the standards of Mallera-9 operatives, Ayla is an exceptional guerrilla-style warrior.

Her ninja-style skimpy clothes are a reaction to the intense heat of the island; at least that's the in-story reason. "From a design perspective, the high leg leotard was something frequently used on super heroines and projects a sense of power", says Knappick. "Ayla stumbles across armor later; I still have to figure out how to make it!"

Ayla starts the story pretty much as a slave. Her ruthless employers are Black Faction Corps, one of several rival companies warring (literally) over the extraction of Neon-Dark. To keep its star fighter working at top efficiency, Black Faction has fitted Ayla with an Over Ride Compliance Implant – that's an obedience device which shuts off Ayla's emotions and her capacity to question orders.

As the action begins, Ayla's four-year contract is nearly up. Her heartless female commander, Jayda, has decided on a cheap alternative to paying her for her service – just get her killed, when she's secured the most valuable piece of Neon-Dark yet. But early in the mission, Alya's implant fails and she starts to think for herself again. Now Jayda really must kill her, before the vengeful Ayla finds her first!

It's woman versus woman and human versus monster, played out on a fantastic alien island!

The first two issues of Neon Dark are available in digital editions - Issue 1, "The Abyss of the Azologoth" and Issue 2, "Black Faction Storm". Both can be purchased at www.neon-dark.com while the website is being updated with free content and lore; the goal is to create a whole universe based around Neon-Dark.

Issue 3 will be released in about a month's time with subsequent issues coming out every one to two months. The first series will consist of about 12 issues.


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