First Honours Day!

Honours Day

Today I have had the first series of classes for my Honours module in 4^th at Abertay.

The two modules I have as part of it for semester 1 is a research proposal and a pre-production portfolio.

It is best for me to first get an insight into what the general topic is that I want to base my honours project on. I have been involved in animation for the past four years now (college and University) so it’s pretty clear where the direction for my honours project is going to be. The main conflict right now though is whether I do a narrative based animation or more like a show reel set of animations.

Interests

One of my main areas of interests in animation is the historical side of things. I am naturally interested in history outside of animation so it is natural that that curiosity has seeped into animation itself. I am also interested by certain 'movements' as well though. Below is a list of more specific areas:

Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat

Tex Avery, Looney Tunes – Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck – Chuck Jones

(I find myself more interested by the looney tunes style of animation than the Disney style but that isn’t to say I find Disney boring, I love their early stuff with Mickey Mouse and Co.)

Experimental Animation – Abstract – Avante Garde

Winsor McCay

Technology/styles – Rotoscope, zoetrope, 3D, Stop Motion

Film Theory

Akira Kurosawa

These are just the base of my interests and I could quite easily spend a day reading on the internet and finding more that relate to these ones.

In terms of a research question though, I can’t really see the viability of one based around history. I can use certain bits of history to back up or explain points that I make and to also draw influence from for my project itself.

I need to gain the knowledge and theory to help me with my practical skills. This will involve me researching into the different technologies in 3D animation that will help me to be better adjusted for going into the industry, this will come in the form of a blog post in the coming weeks.

I need to undertake a creative research project in my own specialist field of practice, I basically need to become an expert in my chosen field.

The research aim should be fuelled by my curiosity about the subject.

List of questions – try to work out activities to help address them.

Case Studies – films – animations

Animated related journals

Why would my research question be interesting to someone else?

There needs to be a route of enquiry in the creative process.

Find out what I don’t know and fill those gaps.

Research proposal – make a case for my project

15 citations for research proposal roughly.

Interests for research topic

Exaggeration – potential uses in different aspects.

History of animation – key figures and key technologies as well as companies and    movements.

Two main Ideas

Narrative driven animation:

Cons –

Would need to storyboard – time consuming.

Animatic – would need more sounds to make it a whole animation.

More props would be needed to make it believable.

Need character – no texture though?

Pros -   

More complete final project.

More what I want to do after University.

Alternative: Animation more in form of showreel

Action to animate to reinforce research aims.

Exaggeration in 3D animation – in the rig itself.

Timing in animation/frames.

Pre made rig?

I have arranged a meeting with one of the lecturers (Brian Robinson) to discuss these two options.

Summary:

This post is a bit of a mess but that's just because I have placed a lot of my notes from the lectures themselves in this post. That has thrown most of the order out the window. I have put them here for my reference more than anything. As of now I have two key points I can be looking into, narrative and animation. I don't have an idea for a research question yet though.

To-do list

Meeting with Brian - Thursday - 3
List of potentially useful books
Selection of potentially useful journals/articles