Time to get Cracking - Dissertation Research

Luckily at the end of second year I had managed to get myself into a position that allowed me to have quite a clear view on my practical side of my dissertation. My area of focus is based on (surprise surprise!) Character Design, and the way in which the use of 2D and 3D animation has an effect on the performance of a character.

As soon as we started back up, I got the opportunity to present my development so far to my piers. 

I began by showing the samples of concept sketches I had produced over the summer break. The concept work that has been produced so far is quite broad and random, purely because I decided at the time just to develop at least three characters that all looked different to one another. 

I began playing about with colour and decided to produce some turn-around sheets. This was useful because it enabled me to get in some practise, but also it meant that my character development work was already underway, and even though I know my title may change over the next few weeks, my practical side seems to be more set in stone. 

These examples of concept work are not necessarily final, they are simply developments I have made from doodles in my sketchbook, however I hope to pursue them further.

In terms of other research before before presenting, I had gathered information from a number of books, all of which proved to offer very useful information, weather it was in the form of quotes or just information that would be useful for me to know through out this module:

Books

• "Animation" by Andrew Selby 
• "Re-imagining Animation - The Changing Face of The Moving Image" by Paul Wells and Johnny Hardstaff
• "Ideas For the Animated Short - Finding and Building Stories" by Karen Sullivan, Kate Alexander, Aubry Mintz and Ellen Besen
• "Animation - From Pencils To Pixels, Classical Techniques For Digital Animators" by Tony White
• "Drawing For Animation" by Paul Wells

Animations

I had also put some thought into specific animations that would be worth analysing, such as the old and new version of "Paddington" as well as the modern day 3D Winnie The Pooh, in comparison to the original. 

Primary Research

Before this point, I knew I wanted to use the practical side as an opportunity to create both 2D and 3D concept art and animation tests for at least two or three characters, which could then be incorporated into a questionare. 

Feedback From My Presentation 

After presenting, although I felt slightly more worried about the whole thing than I was before, I knew exactly what I needed to do. The problem seemed to be that my areas of research were a bit too broad, and soon after beginning my presentation I realized how wishy-washy I sounded! I also realised that the actual wording of my title needed to be established. After presenting, and gaining a lot of helpful feedback from my tutor and other fellow animators, I knew what I needed to do:

What Now?

• Re-consider my area of focus (narrow it down)

I realised that before hand, I was gradually getting pulled towards the technology side, so much that it was pulling me away from the aesthetic and performance side of things. However, don't get me wrong, I will still be addressing the technological side, just not quite so in depth. I wanted to focus more so on how 2D and 3D animation, has an effect on how the audience can connect with a character. 

• Establish Sub questions 

The thing that was worrying me, was knowing exactly what to focus on in my writing, however after having a discussion with my tutor, we deiced that it would be a good idea to not have too many questions to cover, in order to stay on track. These two questions being "How does the Medium Effect the Character's Performance?" and "How does the Technique Effect The Character's Readability?" At this point, I felt happy because I knew that my idea for my practical side would still work well! After presenting, and having another conversation with my tutor, I felt ready to head back to the library and look for more relevant sources.