Ultra-Sound September 08 Newsletter

September ‘08

The Night Owls

Ultra-Sound, along with The Untitled Project, Inc, is currently working with Peter and Robert Timony (of the award-winning comedy team, The Mook Brothers), to create ‘motion comics’ of The Night Owls, a popular serial comic on Zudacomics.com. After completing their first successful season, and earning a new contract with Zuda, Peter and Robert Timony are taking The Night Owls to the next level by creating motion comics to release as web-episodes, and more.

A motion comic is like a comic book with a soundtrack. The story is driven by the artwork, using limited animation including panning and zooming, and a fully produced soundtrack, with narrators, character voices, music and sound effects. “Even though a motion comic isn’t fully animated, the soundtrack really helps to fill in the cracks. Visually, it is similar to an animatic, but the audio makes it feel like an animated feature,” said Ron.

Motion comics are not a new concept. They are often used by the film, game, and advertising industries to pitch or test creative ideas, or as part of viral marketing campaigns to stimulate interest and awareness of a new movie or product. For example, Dead Space, a motion comic series created by Electronic Arts, was designed to create interest in, and tell the story line, of the video game set for release in October of 2008.

Not just limited to marketing, this style of animation brings comic books into the digital realm. For example, motion comic episodes of the Batman and Joker series, Mad Love, are available for download to watch on certain cellphones. Also, the classic graphic novel, Watchmen, is being released by Warner Brothers as motion comic episodes, available for download from iTunes (just as a popular television series would be). “There are so many more outlets available for media than just television. Digital media allows big ideas to come to life on a smaller budget. The Night Owls already has a solid storyline and interesting artwork. From the first record session to the final mix, we’re very excited to create the soundtrack that we believe will take their story from 2D to reality,” Ron said.