Monday, 12 October 2015

COP research report

COP Research Report

I have been pondering my title for a while now and haven’t yet set on a polished version, but my initial working title is: How has CGI affected stop motion animation?
The reasoning behind this title was due to the impending module ‘Extended Practice’. In anticipation I wanted to use COP as another method of realising which road to go down for extended practice, whether it be stop motion based i.e.: making sets or characters and animating them or going completely digital and creating an animation using Maya. I’m hoping that if I explore how both of the mediums have effected each other over the history of animation I can better understand which direction I want to go. But also to delve deep into how both methods have synergised or competed with one another to import that into my practice after acknowledging some of the issues or even benefits that I might stumble across through primary and secondary research.
After creating two different animations, one being a physical set and a character and the other being a 3D printed character which I will create the set through CGI to see if I can create a convincing animation. Then to do more research into how other companies have accomplished this or take some courses on digital tutors and Lynda to then revise my animations to get them to a better quality by hopefully learning some valuable techniques.
I also plan to create a simple survey to upload to social media where I can gather some information about people’s opinions towards both animation techniques. This will assist wi8th my dissertation as I will have secondary sources which will inform me of other opinions increasing my reasoning towards my investigation.
I will also be researching into how 3D printing is effecting animation. Whether it be using the prints as stop motion characters for example, Or how CGI is used to inform the printer what to print.
There are several secondary sources ranging from books to behind the scenes documentaries, these include:
Lipson, H. Kurman, M (2013). Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing. Canada: John Wiley & sons, Inc.
O'Hailey (2010). Hybrid Animation: Integrating 2D and 3D Assets. Oxford: Elsevier, Inc.
Brotherton, P (2014). The Art of the Boxtrolls. San Francisco: Chronical Books LLC.
Sito, T (2013). Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation. Cambridge: MIT Press Books.
Gasek, T (2011). Frame by Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques. Waltham: Focal Press
Ternan, M (2013). Stop-Motion Animation: How to Make and Share Creative Videos. London: Apple Press Limited
Priebe, K (2011). The Advanced art of Stop-Motion. Bolton: Cengage Learning
Beck, J (2004). Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, The History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. New York: Collins Design
Hoskins, S (2013). 3D Printing for Artist, Designers and Makers. New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Cavalier, S (2011). The World History of Animation. London: Aurum Press
forum. (2015). Stop Motion's charm and its impact on CGI - Dissertation Idea, Would like opinions and advice from Stop-Motion fans!. Available: http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/forum/topics/stop-motion-s-charm-and-its-impact-on-cgi-dissertation-idea-would. Last accessed 12th October 2015.
Connelly, B. (2013). How Ray Harryhausen's animation has the edge on CGI. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/08/ray-harryhausen-stop-motion-animation. Last accessed 12th October 2015.
Cox, D. (2012). Stop admiring Frankenweenie! Why stop-motion doesn't move me. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/oct/15/frankenweenie-stop-motion-animation. Last accessed 12th October 2015.
Harryhausen, R (2010) Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life. London: Aurum Press
Coraline (2009) Film/video USA: Focus Features
The Boxtrolls (2014) Film/video USA: Focus Features
Jurassic World (2015) Film/video USA: Universal Pictures

I couldn’t find a lot of books that investigate hybrid animation techniques or the effect they have on each other, so instead of rummaging round the dead end I have reached out to books and other sources that explore one route of animation and hopefully find some over laps or issues that I could fill, this would increase the amount of helpful primary research but also define individual issues or questions that I could use in my dissertation.
With all this in mind the next steps are for my to continue reading all my sources and to define my question into a more resolved title so I can start formulating my chapters in the most effective way. I will probably change my title to something more along the lines of:
CGI and stop motion animation: discovering the synergy or conflict between.
This allows me to not be restricted to just ‘how CGI has effected stop motion’ because already I have found evidence that stop motion has effected CGI. But I need to be careful not to make it too vague.


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