Broken Saints >>
Brooke Burgess
Ian Kirby
Tobias Tobias
Andrew West
"A mature graphic novel in Flash with original artwork, haunting music, and
gripping storylines." -Brooke Burgess, co-creator
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||| HIAFF 3.0 | university of colorado | department of art and art history | digital arts area | in conjunction with alt-x | atlas | blurr
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[Reviews] Part movie, part graphic novel, part slide show, Broken Saints is a
beautifully written narrative presented within a medium that manifests its own
unique characteristics. Working within the limitations of Flash animation
(software developed primarily for commercial web interfaces) and modest
Internet bandwidth, this on-going saga creates its own aesthetic, markedly
different from previous narrative mediums.
The story is divided into twenty-four chapters, fifteen of which have been
completed as of this writing. They can be accessed in any order on demand.
Although they do follow each other, the storyline jumps from place to place so
it is not necessary to view them in any particular order. A well-scored
soundtrack plays throughout this piece as well as many audio effects that
follow the visual action. All of the dialog and narration is written in text
bubbles and fields, similar to reading a comic book. The animation is a series
of hand drawn stills that fade in and out, move relative to each other, and
change size and shape creating the illusion of animated movement. The artwork
is phenomenal and innovatively delivered, greatly contributing to the overall
mood of the story. The pace is measured and deliberate, with a decidedly
Japanese feel and poetic. As other visual media continues to speed up
storylines, never lingering more than a few moments on any given scene, Broken
Saints plays against this formula, yet still is able to hold attention and
fascinate viewers.
The narration and dialog may seem a bit obscure at first, but as the story
moves into scenes of Western culture, the dialog follows suit and becomes more
strait forward and linier, similar to many other forms of popular English
literature. The four main protagonists are starkly different from each other,
each existing in entirely separate worlds. Many odd events and references that
occur in one part of the story remain unexplained until appearing again in
subsequent chapters. This can leave many questions and stir much speculation
but there is no way to pause the story segments like video or DVD. In this
way,
the story is more like a performance, yet it is the readerâs internal voice
that provides the sound and inflection for the dialog and the readerâs
decision
for the viewing order of the segments that controls many aspects of the
experience.
This work is sure to develop a cult following and will surely lead to similar
experimentation of different narrative mediums and formats. The slick, well
thought out presentation of this work, along with its many innovations breaks
new ground not only in story telling, but means of narrative distribution as
well.
By Joe Farbrook
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