Photographic novels or fotonovelas as they are commonly known within the Hispanic community are a form of sequential storytelling akin to comic books but instead of the drawn medium it uses photography. These were very popular in Latin America in the 60's, adapting popular movies and later on taking on original stories. Most of them revolved around melodramatic stories dealing with romance and violence. Quick history lesson aside, fotonovelas have lived on more so in the collective conscience of latino's that grew up with these lying around the house and with the recent explosion of comic book properties across the world it came to our attention that this medium might prove an effective way to educate Hispanics about Health and Health Insurance.
This was another great project in a whole other medium with it's own set of hurdles and obstacles. Nevertheless, it was all welcome to me, being a fan of comic books and graphic novels ever since I can remember. Relevant themes and topics were discussed and selected, scripts were written, storyboards were sketched, actors were cast and locations were once again scouted. Production was a huge team effort. Once we had all the raw footage my work was just beginning. Paneling and laying out the stories, font selection, a lot of fun but essential comic book and old school type fotonovela reading was mandatory.
We set out to create a set of five issues that dealt with topics that ranged from Diabetes prevention to insurance benefits. Each issue was available in both English and Spanish on the reverse side.
