9.9.09

Fairytale Adaptation: Snow White

Fairy Tale Adaptation for Writing the Graphic Narrative

Snow White

Page One:

Setting: Inside a cathedral. A wedding has just taken place, the court is assembled and everyone is rejoicing.

Panel A: The court is assembled, it is the end of the ceremony. You can see the King and his new bride at the front of the altar.
Priest: "...May the new Queen live long and be loved by all"

Panel B: King with his hands on a young girl's shoulders. She is in her early teens, about thirteen or fourteen. She is a very beautiful young girl, but with cold eyes and a blank face. The girl is deathly pale, with snowy blonde hair and clear blue eyes.
King: "Darling Snow, we are a family now. Be good to her, because she is now your mother."

Panel C: Close up of the girl. She looks up, her eyes hollow.
Snow White: "You are not my mother."

Page Two:

Setting: Various places around the castle

Panel A: New Queen with Snow White. The Queen is making an effort to talk to the girl, all she does is stare.
Queen Narrating: "And for a time, i tried to be a good mother to her..."

Panel B: Snow looking back, Queen in the foreground walking away, looking slightly frustrated.
Queen NArrating: "...but there was no helping that girl."

Panel C: Queen giving Snow a puppy.

Panel D: Snow staring blankly at the puppy in her hands.

Panel E: Bloody remains of the puppy strewn about the floor.

Page Three:

Setting: Queen's bedchamber.

Panel A: Queen coming her hair, we see her from the front. Something lurks in the doorway behind her.

Panel B: We see the Queen from behind, her reflection in the mirror. She looks up and sees show standing there in the doorway, hands dripping in blood.

Panel C: Queen turns around, panicked. There is no one there.

Panel D: Head in her hands. Walking towards the bed.
Queen: "I need sleep..."

Panel E: pulls back the covers to find a mangled animal corpse.

Panel F: Screams echoing in the hallway.


Page Four:

Setting: Queen's bedchamber again.

Panel A: Snow white in at the vanity in the Queen's room. She is holding a comb, and a bottle in the other hand. Snow is pouring the contents of the bottle carefully onto the teeth of the comb.

Panel B: Snow stops because she can see the Queen from the mirror on the vanity. The Queen watches in horror.

Panel C: Close up of the Queen. She looks horrified.
Queen: "That... That's poison!"

Panel D: The Queen rushes towards Snow.
Queen: "You mean to kill me!"


Page Five:

Setting: Queen's bedchamber

Panel A: Bottle of poison crashed to the ground.

Panel B: Snow is running down the hallway. The Queen runs after her, looking panicked, slightly mad.
Queen: "Don't let her escape! Grab her!"

Panel C: Maids come to the Queen as other watch Snow flee. The servants look terribly confused.
Queen: "She's evil! She means to kill me! We can not let her leave!"

Panel D: Snow riding away from the castle on a black horse, a billowing cloak around her. Screams of the Queen echoing from the castle.
Queen: "Get her! GET HER!"


Page Six

Setting: Forest

Panel A: People riding through the forest.
Queen Narrating: "They searched high and low for that 'poor, scared girl' "

Panel B: King sobbing.
Queen Narrating: "I lost favor with my husband. Rumors swirled that it was I who was trying to poison the girl."

Panel C: Queen donning a riding rood.
Queen Narrating: "So I tried harder than anyone to find her, to redeem myself and bring her back, unharmed."

Panel D: The Queen in the forest with her search party. Seven men are with her.


Page Seven

Setting: Woods

Panel A: Queen on a horse, looking around. Search party behind her.

Panel B: Girl in a shroud approaches the party with a basket of apples.
Girl: "If I may be so bold, I offer these meager refreshments to you, Your Majesty"

Panel C: Queen holding an apple, while the girl passes them out to the men. Some are already eating.
Queen: "We thank you for your kindness, young lady."

Panel D: Queen takes a bite.

Panel E: Queen in the background, with the apple still at her lips, with a single bit out of it. The men in the foreground are starting to hack and cough, some spitting up blood.


Page Eight

Setting: Forest

Panel A: Queen throws apple, while clutching at her throat. The men around have fallen.

Panel B: The horse the Queen is sitting on rears up, the Queen is falling. The girl is seen standing in front of the horse, probably the one who spooked it.

Panel C: From the Queen's point of view, the world looks hazy. The girl is standing over her, pulling back her hood, revealing long blonde hair.

Panel D: World goes black.
Snow White: "You are not my mother."

3 comments:

RNS said...

Nice comic, really good adaptation. As far as Reed and I are concerned, all eight parts are functioning and present.

I like the simplicity of the number of pages and panels, along with minimum dialogue. I think showing us more than telling us what is happening sets up a more creepy and a tense mood.

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in how you switched the traits of the characters. The queen takes on the role of Snow White, I wonder if you could have used the part of the story where the queen wants Snow's heart and the hunt's man gives her a deer or pig heart. I'm glad to see the comb being used too.

Lindsey said...

Hey there! We read your comic in class. We analyzed it according to the story wheel, and decided that it doesn't quite follow the format (but it works anyway). As we interpreted it, it had the first five parts, plus a sort of "Return", but didn't have a "Take" or "Change."

We didn't feel that this took away from the story because the conclusion was still satisfying, if depressing.

Very interesting interpretation :)