LO3 - Task 4: Planning a Graphic Novel - Character and Plot

Writing Plot

The title of my comic is Little Red in Hollywood, which would be part of a comic series called Fairy Fails. 

Plot synopsis: When George McLooney holds a party to celebrate the premiere of his new film, but invites everyone in Hollywood except his ex-wife, she casts a curse of him to get revenge. The curse causes all of King George McLooney future films to be a failure and a flop in the box office. The King, out of embarrassment, goes into hiding. Meanwhile, the King's daughter, Princess Annabelle, goes on to be a famous child actress under the stage name Ruby Red (Annabelle changed her name to avoid being associated with her father and his bad films. For this to work, she also had to pretend that she was one of the commoners of Hollywood, and so gave up her royal title). For her successful movie roles, Ruby won several acting awards.

One day, Queen Hellinor, who has now named herself the ruler of Hollywood (as no one knew what became of the King or the Princess) decides to ask her crystal ball if she is the greatest actress in Hollywood. She is shocked to discover that she isn't, as she can't be recognised as a great actress unless she has an acting award. Queen Hellinor plans to steal an acting award from Ruby Red, but worries that she may be recognised. She goes to a Hollywood costume department and dresses up in one of their wolf costumes to disguise herself.

One day, Ruby Red, hidden from paparazzi in a red cloak, goes deep into the dark woods of Hollywood. In the deep dark woods of Hollywood is where her father is hiding, who she is going to meet. On her way, she bumps into Queen Hellinor who is disguised as a wolf. Queen Hellinor tries to grab an award from Ruby's basket; Ruby recognises Hellinor from her bad acting, but runs off, pretending to be scared to humour her. Hellinor, missing her chance, tries again by breaking into King George's house and locking him in the cupboard. When Ruby arrives at the house, Hellinor is hidden under the bed sheets and pretending to be the King. Again, Ruby isn't convinced, but chooses to go along with it. When Hellinor reveals that it was her the whole time, Ruby acts as if she's shocked; Ruby then goes onto compliment Hellinor's great acting skills as a wolf. "We need a wolf for the film I'm working on..." Ruby continues, and offers the job to Hellinor. Hellinor, complimented and unable to turn down an acting opportunity, agrees to be in the film. Ruby takes Hellinor (still in wolf costume) to the study and tells her that for this scene she needs to stick her head through a hole in a wall (explains that it's the logo - similar style to MGM Lion logo). Hellinor, believing that there's a camera on the other side of the wall, sticks her head through the hole. However, the only thing on the other side of the wall is a guillotine with Ruby pulling the rope. The next action is unseen. The story concludes with Ruby returning to the palace and naming herself the new Queen of Hollywood. It is also stated that Queen Hellinor, who wanted to steal one of Ruby's trophy, has instead become a hunting trophy.

The narrative for my comic is told through captions, which follows comic book conventions by often appearing in the top left corner of most panels. The captions are accompanied by visuals in the form of cartoon illustrations.

Format

Little Red in Hollywood is more of a comic than a graphic novel due to the more 'cartoony' art style used; Although, it could be classed as graphic novel due to their being a flowing story line throughout.
Whilst I imagined it being a print comic, I think it could also work as an online comic series as well to reach a broader audience. However, I would have to put it under consideration whether it should free to view on a website or should be subscribable download so that I could make profit from the comics.

Genre

My comic is a fantasy adventure with a sub-genre of comedy. It fits the genre by including tropes from classic fairy tale stories, magical elements as well as parody and satire. It shares a similar style with some of the Disney products as it follows the same type of genre. My comic series is a modern twist on classic fairy tales such as Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.  

Character Profiles

Queen Hellinor – Queen Hellinor is the antagonist of the story and stereotypical villain. She is a vain and self-obsessed evil queen who is prone to jealousy. She is probably in her 40’s. She is the ex-wife of King George McLooney, who she divorced after becoming jealous of his success and still bares a grudge over him.

King George McLooney – George is the king of Hollywood and was given the title after his over-night Hollywood success. He is in his 50’s. He was a huge Hollywood actor until his ex-wife, who divorced him out of jealousy, placed a bad-acting curse on him. After his cinematic failures, George went into hiding.

Princess Annabelle/ Ruby Red – Annabelle, who adopts the stage name of Ruby Red, is the daughter of celebrity of couple Hellinor and George McLooney. She is eleven years old. She left the castle and lived amongst commoners after her father’s cinematic failure. She succeeded in Hollywood on her own merit as a child actress and received many awards for acting talents, much to the jealousy of her wicked mother.

Target Audience

I believe that my comic can be suited to both genders as the comedy can appeal to males as the fairy tale style would be more welcoming to females. I think this comic would mostly appeal to those between the ages of eight and twelve years old due to they child-friendly cartoon art style, fairy tale setting and easy to understand humour.

Jessica and James are both eleven years old. They enjoy watching Disney and Dreamworks films and cartoons like The Simpsons.

Potential Publisher

I could easily see this type of comic being incorporated into an already established comic series such as The Beano, appearing as one of their weekly comic series/strips. Although, I also believe that it could be published as its own comic series independently as well. Therefore, this may product maybe better suited as an independent publishing.

Legal and ethical

My comic could cause some copyright issues as many of the visuals were inspired by other sources, such as the images that mock scenes from Dirty Dancing, Titanic, and Ghost.

Another legal and ethical issue is the designs for King George McLooney and Queen Hellinor, as these characters were partly inspired by real people;  George Clooney and Helena Bohnem Carter. This could cause issues as the legal representatives for these celebs could see my portrayals as slander and challenge me in court about the use of their name(s) and image. I also reference other celebrities (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kristen Stewart, William Shatner, Adam Sandler, Matt Damond, Nicholas Cage) in section about ‘bad actors’, so this could also be classed as slander. To avoid any legal issue I would have to include a disclaimer in my comic that clarifies the inspiration points and how these were meant to honour the actors/actresses/movies as a form of tribute and any negative connotations made about them in the comic are not the actual views, beliefs and/or opinions of the writer(s) and artist(s). However, this only avoids the issue but does not fully protect me from it, and there is still chance that the legal representatives would expect me to pay royalties for referencing these actors/actresses/movies without receiving any copyright permission. Although, I personally think this would only be necessary legal action if the comic was to be published and received great financial success without promoting the inspiration sources at all.