Intro to the Making of: Semester 2: Week 3: 13/2/18: Magazine recommendations and essay suggestions:

Description:

Annabeth had many things to cover for today one of which was the deadline for the statement of intent for our video essays which was next week. We'd been given two weeks to consider topics for our essays as she realised this would take some hard consideration. Today she would be giving us guidance to us as some like myself were having issues with ideas for a video essay. This would be very helpful, Annabeth also directed our attention to some websites and Magazine PDF's that we may find useful in our research and possibly later in the module or in the course. One site caught my interest and that was Animation World Network, which was a website with up to date information on animations and materials Annabeth mentioned this would be "material for those leaning towards visual effects."





We all set to work on thinking of ideas for our essays, I had recently thought of an idea for my essay that I wanted to pass by Annabeth before working on my statement of intent. The topic I had in mind was the origins and history of animation to show people where the revolution and entertainment of animation had begun.  I pitched the idea to Annabeth and she suggested looking at zaetropes which was an animation toy using light mirrors and movement, I remembered this from the presentation that one of the students gave in Animation Context back in semester 1. With this advice I began my research on the computer, I would be using books sources as well, but for the moment I looked up what I could on the internet.





I was learning at the same time about how animation began and took some notes whilst looking, I was also considering the documentaries to watch for research. However one element that I was having trouble with was the animation media that I would need to choose for the essay. I had considered perhaps Green screen animation starting in black and white for the past then going into colour for present day, Annabeth mentioned I would need to create my own elements and I wasn't too sure if I should approach 2D animation given my lack of knowledge. I consulted with Annabeth on this matter and she drew my attention to the possible use of motion animation and showed me some work in motion animation and to look at a video channel called Cognitive Media. What I found was very insightful and could be of use in my work.

Feelings:

I was feeling rather relieved for the topic of this session as a guidance session for our ideas in the video essays as I was having a hard time thinking of ideas. Whilst researching the idea of history I did get slightly worried about what information to include in my video essay, and about if some of the information was accurate in the websites that I was looking at.History was a little outside my comfort zone but I was willing to try new things. I felt slightly conflicted about choosing the form of animation that my video essay would take as it needed to be done within a reasonable time frame and be of a reasonable quality. When Annabeth showed me the motion animation done by Cognitive Media, I could feel my mind come up with an idea and this seemed focus towards motion animation that I was trying to learn for motion comic books/stories.

Evaluation:

Looking back on the session I would think that it was good that I got a second opinion on my idea for the video essay, as I was having difficulties deciding on ideas and methods of doing it. However, I did still feel a little uneasy about this task as it would be my first Video Essay of academic learning and I wanted to do a good job in subject and execution, but this was why we were given two weeks for our statement of intent so we could better consider our ideas.

Analysis:

The feedback that I received from my tutor on my idea was very beneficial to helping me understand what it was that I would need to look at for my essay. One element that stuck with me was creating a Zaetrope toy in the maker space with either laser cutting or even other medias that we may learn in our maker space session sin the future. However my own understanding of deep research into a topic was very shaken when I was researching and taking notes on my chosen area of research as I was still trying to wrap my head around the concept of this essay and the new brief.

Conclusion:

In hindsight, I would've done things differently such as doing some research into possible topics for my essay and if any seemed good for an essay topic I would've passed them by Annabeth to see which one would seem the more approachable. I would also look into what I've learned about animation so far in the course and decide which method would be the more approachable for  doing the video essay. Today has helped me to realise the importance of looking into a subject before deciding on what to approach for a topic or media of execution in the essay, and will consider this for future modules including animation context.