This was a straight forward caption that was made because I wanted to do something for totalditz. She's pretty good about commenting on other peoples work, and she has a fun set of preferences. I also had the idea for Dean Mentia after thinking about Animal House and movies like that. Seems like a nice way to introduce a character patterned off my screen name and have it be a part of the caption. Feels like I'm giving it a personal touch. The sports pub theme played out for Kevin / Ashlee through her appearance, with the baseball shirt and she had that "just turned into a really cute girl" look about her.
But when I was done, it really seemed like the story was incomplete. I mean, what actually happens when she goes to her job. I pretty much thought about how Kevin would be picked on, and the bosses would figure that they could earn much more money if Ashlee was a waitress/hostess making tips. I found a few pictures but nothing that would help move the story forward.
Then I figured, the Dean always gets his comeuppance in those college movies, through pranks and whatever else seems to happen. From there, it didn't take me more than a second to realize that Ms. Rachel was probably going to be behind the entire scheme.
This picture has that same vapid helplessness of the 1st one, but much more sophisticated. It also made the sports pub / restaurant definitely plausible. Once I had that, the rest was really simple to figure out.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: For me, it is a rarity that not only did I see a spot to elaborate on a caption, that I was able to find a picture that made the story come alive. When you make a caption, do you have sequels or continuations in mind beforehand? If not, when and how did the idea come along to flesh things out more? For regular caption readers, how often do you read something and wish there were more stories set in that universe or want to see what happens next?
Sequels are fun but they take too much out of me and take too long to make them. In addition there is always the risk that you'll put them on hold and then lose interest in creating a proper ending which leaves the readers on limbo and the eternal waiting for more feeling.
ReplyDeleteThese days I rather do the quickie ones and move on.
I don't generaly return to a cap to make a sequel, but I do often take what I intend to be a single cap and turn it into a series as the story fleshes itself out while I am writing.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I'm trying to stop doing that, as I want to be better at getting an idea for a cap and then sticking to it.
I do have a few that I thought would be nice to elaborate on. But finding the right picture almost always stops that process flat.
I often end up mentally weaving huge worlds around my caps, but in my experience it's best not to go back.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, isn't a caps' raison d'etre to make the reader wonder 'what happens next?'
I've sometimes ended up coming back to make a sequel. Sometimes it's because someone else will make a comment or a suggestion that triggers an idea of where the caption should go next. However if I haven't specifically planned it to be a series, it's usually unlikely that I end up doing that as I try to wrap my caps up. Sometimes it can be fun to come back to a cap to add a new dimension, but it has to be fairly recent in memory.
ReplyDeleteI like what you did with this one Dee, very nice!
Interesting question and one I've been thinking about a lot recently.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any direct sequels to caps but I have carried on people and concepts and usually I do keep one eye on whether I can continue something. My one continuing concept is the Neighbour Virus but I also have a few other things going. I used a lesbian couple, Sammie and Laura, for one cap and brought them back in another and I expect I will use them again for more lesbian themed caps. I also invente a trainee witch named Wendy Willis. I haven't fleshed out the character really but just brought her back a couple of times. Rather than use another character I figure someone familiar might spark it up a bit.
Finally, I'm working on a cap for Vancouverite featuring a punk band called Death Strike Horse. I haven't done it yet but when I was looking for a punk band to namecheck in a cap for Shinobu I used them although that cap would now be second in my idea of them. I've been wondering whether all this continuation is good or whether I should be more original.
@ Terri
ReplyDeleteIt can be fun to use some stock characters from time to time. As you get more, people might notice that they've appeared more than once. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any I've used, but I've done almost 1k trade captions, so my memory is a bit rusty!