(In English: Copy pasted from my MIKBook newsletter.)
It has been awhile since we made a post here. Not because we had nothing to share... but perhaps we had a bit too much to share! MIKBook is growing slowly but it's a hard pitch to make in a live event, like markets or comic cons.
It's not a movie. Nor an online comic or an animation...
People really need to experience MIKBook for themselves. Making a trailer, showing them a post just isn't the same.
But one thing that really seemed to work... is getting Saving Maggie on the BIG SCREEN!
Yes, you read that right!
SAVING MAGGIE HIT THE CINEMA!
How that all came together?
Read below and find out!
Since 2024 we have an INTERNATIONAL DRAWING CENTER in Nijmegen. A place for artist to hook up, meet up and share ideas. And thats what I did. I showed Anita MIKBook on a small screen. And the first thing she said was; 'Nice. But this has to be on a BIG screen offcourse." Well, that's a cool dream, but I have no connections with cinema's, programmers or festivals...
Anita: 'Well. I do! ...And we have a festival :) "
Getting Saving Maggie from an ONLINE interactive story to the OFFLINE big screen proved a challenge. Readers have their own pacing. Mouse cursors don't really belong on the big screen. And what about that interactive ending? ...And don't get me started about DCP files...
Time for a TRY-OUT in The International Drawing Center Nijmegen.
1 - LUX Cinema Nijmegen Showtime at the BIG DRAW FESTIVAL
With a nice 30 minutes of playtime, Saving Maggie was a nice little short movie. Well. A reading experience! People in LUX Nijmegen were surprised how strong still images combined with music could tell a story. Someone even mentioned it proved a nice way to indulge into the story without a lot of normal stimuli. In other words, it was a relaxing experience.
2 - ROZET Cinema Arnhem
Saving Maggie ends with a choice made by the reader. Tricky to simulate in cinema. So i had to stop the movie and ask readers to vote. This proved to be a good way to discuss the movie and collect different viewpoints. But, not so much for the story telling experience. That's what the ROZET experience taught me.
3 - LUXOR Cinema Zutphen
Playing for a third time, I was surprised some people came to see Maggie for a second time! Unfortunately the attendance was low due to very sunny weather, a chocolate market and a carnaval in front of the entrance... So I invited some folks from the cinema too. Not knowing what to expect, they were excited to see, read and experience a graphic novel this way.
A new way to bring stories towards an audience.
And give story artists a new stage.
4 - Stripmakersdagen Helmond
Having learned a lot by these 3 experiences I was ready for the next step. Showing this Cinematic Graphic Novel to other story artists! Hooking up with the Stripmakersdagen was only an email away, since I would be there anyway because of MIKBook.nl ...And organiser Jan Vriends immediately agreed Saving Maggie had to be seen on the big screen.
If only I could send him a DCP file...
A DCP what?
A Digital Cinema Package!
A file format used in the film industry to get the best results for your movie being shown worldwide. You need software to write these files. You need film knowledge about compression, audio, plugins etc. ...ow also, these files tend to be big. Like 50 GB's big!
Jan luckily had connections to make such a file.
But that didn't stop me to call Martijn Schinkel and let him explain me everything about DCP files. And make one in the meantime!
Showtime!
And for the most critical audience there was.
Content creators themselves. Other Comic Creators. Story artists! Saving Maggie played three times that day. Next to much praised animation movies like Dirkjan Heerst by Studio Mooves, I'm Perfectly Fine by Maaike Hartjes and Aurora by Aimee de Jongh.
Nothing to be nervous about right.
...
Off course thanks to all the great organisors of this event, everything went fine. And I didn't poop my pants! Saving Maggie played three times that day. And people came to me, inspired, moved and touched. There was even a person who told me they had shed a tear, reading, experiencing Maggie.
I don't know if there is a bigger compliment to receive.
At the market people were all curious and interested about this aproach to comics. Giving me all sorts of tips, recommendations and places to hook up with. Awesome!
Touched by all the people i've met, spoke to and all this positive feedback, I went home late that night.
Cinematic Graphic Novels.
I really believe it could be a real nice touch to the broad array of the cinematic medium we allready have. We have an audience. Even an audience that is here to experience something new. We have the cinema's. We have a whole network that makes this possible. We only need a new approach to making comics and create content.
We only need to believe.
And after all this, I can only tell you.
I'm off to make more Cinematic Graphic Novels.
MIK