Relationship Between Caption And Dialogue

People get a common miss understanding between captions and dialogues. There is a big difference between them. Choosing between the two can have a drastic impact on the understanding of the graphic novel by the public. Since it can change the perspective of the audience.

While captions and dialogs are similar in appearance, they are designed for two purposes. Dialog includes a text when collaborating on that particular scene with other characters. Captions, on the other hand, not only add to the dialog but also other relevant parts of the soundtrack – describing background noises, ringing phones and other audio signals that need to be described. Captions also contain scene or character information. Dialog is the fictional voice, the dialogue between two or more people. It's the best speech for the story, verbal expression that works with and for the book, not against it. Great dialogue, pulling the reader into an imaginary world, works to keep it there. Like the speech bubble, it includes a character's inner dialog and is usually shaped like a cloud from the head of the character.

The page I was assigned had multiple dialogues since that meant characters were communication giving the audience. There was also captions which told me as and audience what was going to happened in this specific scene. Dialog writing reveals the character traits, desires, and inner motivations while at the same time creating the relationship between people. Dialog-writing also reveals the acts that take place without giving a lot of details to the reader. Dialogue is used by writers for a variety of purposes. The reader may learn about the atmosphere of the story when characters in a novel speak with each other. The time period in which the story is set, the location of the action, the tension that drives the plot can be described and clarified by the character comments. The reader gets an insight into the characters themselves, at the same time. Dialog can also be used as one of the elements contributing to the development of the story telling. An author can put words into the dialog of a character that preshadow an event to come. Tact in a tale of mystery can provide hints as to who did it. Dialog can be used to increase tension, to express humor, or to provide comic relief.

One way the writer chooses to narrate the story is to use the captions in comic books. Captions can also be used to convey the thoughts of a character. Most often they are in a separate rectangular box from the rest of the panel. It's easier to tell this way that it's something else and not what the characters are actually saying out loud. Captions often appear to have a different tone than the other writings in the book it is very different from a character's dialog. An example of a caption on the page I read was above the pannel. The caption gave me a clear understanding on what was going to happen. In graphic novels captions and dialogues play a important role. They both support each other. In graphic novels the caption gives a small description on what is about to happen or a thought about a character. Dialogue then makes it more interactive with the audience. This means the audience already has an idea son whats going on in that scene but by adding dialogue in expands their know on whats happening in the scene. It can help the audience know where the setting is or why the character was thinking about something. For example from the novel Maus page 79 panel 1. The author describes through the caption about people making more money through a secret business. This gave the audience a rough idea. As you continue reading that page you get to know more on how they are making that money and what the business is.

In conclusion, dialogue and captions are not the same but they benefit each other in graphic novels. People may get the common misunderstanding of them being the same but they aren’t.

Bibliography

'Captions'. Comic Book Glossary, 2019, https://comicbookglossary.wordpress.com/captions/.

Wetta, Molly. 'Annual Reminder That Graphic Novels Are “Real” Reading'. BOOK RIOT, 2019, https://bookriot.com/2017/06/12/annual-reminder-that-graphic-novels-are-real-reading/.

Otffeo.On.Ca, 2019, https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/12/OTF-Grapic-Novels-Course.pdf.