#DE4401

[rjtempest9900]

Looking at different animation styles really gives me an idea of how I’d like my project to look.

These images are from a video game called GYLT developed by tequila works and released originally in 2019 for google stadia but that platform caused issues with the release by shutting down in 2023 causing the game temporarily unavailable to sell, it was later released in 2023 to our most well known platforms such as PS4, PS5, Xbox one, PC and the Xbox one S series and most recently in 2024 it has been announced that it’ll be released to the nintendo switch.

As you can see it’s a 3D generated game which when theres cut scenes turn in to a 2D digital format which makes the game look more personal to the artists, this is what I’m looking to add in to my stop motion with scenes that are 2D digitally drawn for a more personal feel and hopefully will engage viewers to continue watching.

This also works alongside my theme of mental health as the game is based around bullying and figuring out what’s going on behind the scenes.

[echo-ichigo05]

Lecture-3, S- Part-1

SEMIOTICS (from the Greek semeiotikos)

The study of human communication using signs and symbols

Semiotics is a study of signs, and how they work to produce meanings, or the study of how things come to have significance.

Semantics

the study of meaning;

the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form.

the meaning, or an interpretation of   the meaning, of a word, sign,   sentence, etc. (i,e)‘Let's not argue about semantics

Ferdinand De Saussure (1857-1913)

French linguist who pioneered the semiotic study of language as a system of signs, organised in  a study of signs, organised in ‘codes’ and ‘structures’.

Structuralism:

‘An approach to critical analysis which emphasis universal structures underlying the surface differences and apparent randomness of cultures, stories, media texts, etc.’  (Branston and Stafford, 2010).

  Structuralism has evolved since the mid-nineteenth century and its development is informed by key thinkers such as Freud, Marx and Claude Levi-Strauss.

Key social structures that define, shape and influence our lives:

Religion

Family

Politics

Media

For me it looks like serpent dragon

Mountain on a Rolling ball

Mountain on a rolling ball racing...

[emilydaisymasters]

Pre-Production Overview & Thoughts on Year 1 MA PT

It feels odd to conclude this part of the blog for now, but as the deadline for pre-production is looming, I thought it best to cover (in words) all that I have managed to achieve thus far, what I missed out on, and what I will continue with into second year.

Pre Production Overview

Character Designs -

I managed to complete all of my character designs to a degree that I am very happy with, concepts and turnarounds included. Of course, there will be wiggle room as some assets may end up changing in the animation progress, but as it stands the character designs are all finished.

Backgrounds -

I wasn't able to complete all of my backgrounds (including blurs and filler shot backgrounds) in time for the pre-production deadline, which is grating on me a little to be honest. In fairness, I haven't had very much time to do so and my mitigating circumstances are reflective of this, but this is something I will be working on heavily in the gap between this academic year and the next.

Script -

I reached a draft of the script that I was very happy with in the end, after 4 complete rendition changes, and so I would class this portion as completed. Again, the script is subject to change in the animating process, and I did go through the motions of thinking about rewriting and changing up the animatic, but time restrictions made this an unlikely achievement. I still think it holds up very well as is though.

Animatic -

The animatic is fully completed, minus sound of course, though this is something I learned that animatics don't normally include anyway, which gave me some relief. The timings are almost final with some wiggle room, but I am very pleased with the base I have created for myself going into the animating process.

Learning Agreements & Blog -

This isn't just pre-production of course and will be upkept throughout the next year also, but as it stands, I am pretty well happy with both of these things. My blog is a contentious one, as I tend to draft all of these posts over time and then upload them in one fell swoop so they don't appear as often as they should, but I'm aiming to break this habit. Come next year, I want to draft even more frequent learning agreements and to do a lot more inspiration delving on my blog.

Thoughts on the Year

This part is one I was considering skipping entirely, as I'm not sure how personal I actually want to get with this, but in all honesty, my thoughts on the academic year and my personal experiences meld into one at this point. Incase I hadn't stated previously at any point on this blog, in December of 2023, my stepdad was diagnosed with an agressive and rare form of cancer, and in May 2024 he passed away. Everything that occured in this time frame has honestly become a sharp blur to me, if that makes sense. University work wasn't on the forefront of my mind, though I tried to maintain normality as best as I could. This project began as a way to express my childhood experiences and to describe the feeling that is difficult to portray through words, though it has become more than that since. It now serves as a way to keep me grounded, to bring back the joy I used to feel when doing the things I love, though now without some of the people I love, and that's a hard balance to strike.

Given all of my circumstances, I am still proud of the things I have achieved this year, and I am even more proud at how much I managed to get done despite my personal life. I didn't feel a dip in quality, which I partially expected from my lack of focus, and that's something I intend to retain moving forwards into the animation process.

My stepdad was one of my biggest supporters, he loved to see my work and his reactions of shock and pride always felt so genuine. He's the person I would go to when I needed a pep up, or needed to be reminded that I am capable, and that I am a creative, and missing that, missing him, is going to be something that simply heals in time.

As such, I am going to dedicate this film to him, to his nurture, and to his words that helped to shape who I am today.

My film will be for you Antony, thank you for everything.

[echo-ichigoreflectivepractice]

Finished Retopoing

[izzybubs24]

Representing Ecological Crises in Children’s Media: An Analysis of The Lorax and Wall-E - Page Bookmarks

'In children’s media, anthropomorphism is commonly used to engender a sense of sympathy with animal characters.' - pg 691

'The Lorax does this by ascribing human facial expressions and emotions to the animals living in the Truffala tree forest – the Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans, and Hum- ming-Fish. When these forest dwelling creatures are forced to flee their homes, the audience is encouraged to identify with their plight.' - pg 691

'In contrast, the 2012 adaptation of The Lorax frames the classic Dr. Seuss story as an individualised narrative of personal agency, rather than as a critique of the system that condemned the citizens of Thneedville to live in a barren wasteland.' - pg 692

'The book effectively conveyed the deleterious impacts of economic activity on the natural world through an innovative use of color'. (Wolfe, 2008). - pg 692

'The Truffala forest is full of vibrant color, but as the Once-ler scales up his industrial operations, the pages of the book change to more muted colors. In this way, the landscape is malleable, allowing Dr. Seuss to represent ecological impacts that might otherwise be too slow to observe in the physical world. And though the film adaptation acknowledges the impacts of the Once-ler’s operations on the surrounding environment, it does not deliver a full and reasonable depiction of the implications of unrestrained economic activity on the landscape.' - pg 692

'Anthropomorphism is likewise a fundamental element of Wall-E, but in this case, it is technology rather than nature that is personified.' - pg 691

'In truth, the technology of Wall-E exhibits more humanity than the actual humans, creating an emotional tie between audiences and technology. Wall-E’s anthropocentrism is also evidenced by the film’s failure to represent humanity’s impact on other species, focusing instead on the relationship between humans and technology.' - pg 691

'Ultimately, Wall-E fails to contend with the larger implications of technological development under capitalism.' - pg 691

While Wall-E deserves credit for its provocative illustration of ecological crisis resulting from unrestrained economic activity, the film nevertheless falls flat in its representation of the relationship between humans, economic activity, technological development and the natural world. - pg 692

'In this sense, The Lorax and Wall-E are essentially the same story – unrestrained economic activity resulting in the ruination of the natural world, resolved through a technologically mediated replenishment and renewal of natural resources.' - pg 694

[emilydeananimates]

Images For Presentation

After our course introduction, we were tasked with creating two presentations, one of our favourite designs, and the other our favourite things. This was so we could provide an insight into our likes and to generate ideas for potential research projects (DE4401) and our body of work (DE4403), which this relfective blog is part of.

My Favourite Designs:

As you can probably see from my favourite designs, I love fantasy and escaping into magical worlds far from our own. Naturally i included Disney because it's my love for Disney films that sparked my interest in animation.

My Favourite Things:

A little insight into me; my dog, my family and my partner are the most important aspect of my life. I don't know what i would have done without them. My dog and family kept me sane through lockdown when i was at my lowest with my mental health. Without my partner, i wouldn't be here studying an MA in animation. I also included more fantasy elements, including Dungeons and Dragons (featuring my own original art), which was the main reason i started learning to draw as i wanted to create my own character designs/art. I'm also wearing that exact oodie as i write this blog!

Doing these presentations has helped get the creative cogs turning for what i'd potentially like to do for my research, with a potential research question being along the lines of:

"How does the use of fantasy settings and characters in animation impact the audiences desire for escapism and it's potential effects on mental well-being?"

As an Bsc Psychology student, i've always had an interest in mental health and helping people. At one point, i was interested in becoming a counsellor but decided against this as i can sometimes feel other peoples pain as my own and it can get very overwhelming (probably why i use entertainment for escapism). Any project i make, i'd like to address mental health but have that uplifting and hopeful quality to it that Disney do so well. Obviously, this could all change as i go along my MA journey, but this has given me a starting point at least.

[joshartblog]

Current learning agreement

Name 

 Joshua Hoole

MA Course 

 DE4401- Research Methodologies

Date 

 9/11/2022

Version Number 

 03

Brief Explanation / Outline of Project/what?  

My project explores various aspects of a person’s depression, namely my own. Furthermore, I will also explore various concepts of healing mental illnesses via the outlet of video games and social interaction.

Context / Rationale/why? 

For the past few years of my life, I have experienced different forms of mental illness, namely anxiety and depression. I would then avoid these issues by helping others with their problems and to slowly heal via playing games. Once I had finished my BA course last year, I then went on face my mental illness with the help of one of my closest friends and family.

By choosing this project I intend to explore various methods of expression of mental illness, and it turn self-healing, as well as expressing my own mental health issues.

Key Areas of Research/How 

 I will create an animation that depicts a character struggling with their mental health whilst being inside a game. He will be in a pixelated “Sonic-esc” side scroller in which he faces multiple levels to leave the game and escape his mental health.

Following this side-scroller theme, this project animation will be drawn via the pixel-art software, “Aseprite”. By doing this I will be able to authentically provide visuals that will not only convey the message clearly; but also provide a sense of nostalgia to the viewer via said visuals.

Whilst pondering the question, “How can Gaming with Friends affect the healing of mental health?”. I researched numerous academic sources that describe the pros and cons to video games and its ties with metal illness.

Referring back to the academic source “Journal of Health Psychology: Volume 9, issues 3” includes an article titled, “Can Videogames be Good for Your Health?” (Griffiths, 2004). In said article, the writer reviews, and debates both sides of the argument on whether gaming is beneficial or a detriment to an individual’s health, both mental and physical. After going through the negative effects of videogames, Griffiths then went on to elaborate on the positive effects, namely how videogames can and have been used for a range of psychotherapeutic and medical contexts. In this article, Griffith states, “Gardner (1991) claimed that the use of videogames in his psychotherapy sessions provided common ground between himself and his child clients and provided excellent behavioural observation opportunities.” (Griffiths, 2004). Gardner then mentions four case studies where videogames were used in therapy, along with story-telling-drawing and other games. This then resulted in Gardner finding that videogames proved to be the most effective.

Despite the fact that Griffith never comes to a final conclusion for his paper, he does state that “It is clear that in the right context, videogames can have a positive health benefit to a large range of different sub-groups.” (Griffiths, 2004). But how does this relate to the topic of this paper? This source goes on to explain how effective videogames are as a form of pain relief towards physical and mental illnesses and injuries.

Through further exploration, another academic source, “Defeating dragons and demons: consumer’s perspectives on mental health recovery in role-playing games” (Francesco Causo, 2021). The objective of this paper was to investigate what themes can emerge, in role playing games like dungeons and dragons, from the stories of players present in recovery from mental health. This was performed via interviews with 13 players on their experience with the game in terms of how they recovered from mental health questions. The results were as follows:

Hanz stated:

“I’ve found I can overcome a lot of my anxiety and put aside my difficulties with my mental health issues.” He added “I might have had a day where I’m particularly down, or particularly low on energy to deal with the world. But I will still have energy to put into a game, and it means that even at my lowest ebb, I can get something out of having social contact, and having mental activity. And being engaged with something constructive. That ability to put myself aside and take on a different persona for a while really kind of lets me put aside a lot of the effects of my mental health problems for a while” (Francesco Causo, 2021).

Another player, Brian, also stated:

“it’s very much an idyllic world” and “You don’t have to have all those elements of racism and homophobia and transphobia in your games, you can just be in this fantasy world where everything’s

perfect, and you can have conflicts with your character that’s not.

related to those kinds of key points.” (Francesco Causo, 2021).

By exploring these and other academic sources, I was able to find a common denominator between each source. Though video games are effective in terms of affecting a person’s mental health, the concept acts more as a catalyst to provide an effective method of social interaction between people suffering from mental illness and their friends.

Intended Outcomes of Project/Results 

In regard to the outcome of this project, I have considered various means of disseminating this film. In terms of my primary method of sharing my work, I will mainly distribute to film festivals and social media. I will also contribute to mental health awareness months and other mediums to promote mental health awareness, by screening my film where I can.

Communicate the research through social media with a view to promote conversation with like minded people who might find this promotes awareness of this.     

Student signature 

 J.Hoole

[maanimationblog]

List of Films Starring a T.Rex!

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918) The Lost World (1925) King Kong (1933) Fantasia (1940) Dinosaurus (1960) Valley of Gwangi (1969) Planet of Dinosaurs (1978) Prehistoric Beast (1984) Land Before Time (Sharptooth) (1988) Jurassic Park (1993) Back To The Cretaceous (1998) Walking With Dinosaurs (1999) When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2000) King Kong (2005) Prehistoric Park (2006) Grumpy Land of The Lost (2009) Momma Ice Age 3 (2009) Tiny The T-Rex Meet the Robinsons (2009) Clash of The Dinosaurs (2009) Jurassic Fight Club (2009) Primeval (2011) One-Eye Dino-King (2012) Stumpy (Dinotasia) (2012) Jurassic World (2015) Fang Primal (2018) Prehistoric Planet (2022)

This is a list of the majority of films starring a hand-drawn, stop-motion puppet or CGI Tyrannosaurus Rex. I am hoping to finish half of these models by the middle of January, but if I am stumped for time, I will be taking a few of them off of it.

[maanimationemma]

Our Common Future bookmark1

‘Already, environmental stresses are encouraging co-operation among nations, giving some indication of ways to proceed.’ -  pg 301

‘In most developing countries between one-fourth and one-half of the economically active urban population cannot find adequate, stable livelihoods’ - pg 248

In the Earth’s wheel of life, the oceans provide the balance. Covering over 70 per cent of the planet’s surface, they maintain a critical role in maintaining it’s life-support systems, in moderating it’s climate and in sustaining animals and plants, including minute, oxygen-producing plankton.’ - pg 262

‘Preparing an NCS involves government agencies, non-governmental organizations, private interests and the community at large in analysis of natural resource issues and assessment of priority actions. In this way, it is hoped that sectoral interests will better perceive their interrelationships with other sectors and new potentials for conservation and development will be revealed.’ - pg 157 (NCS = National Conservation Strategies).

‘Thus the goals of economic and social development must be defined in terms of sustainability in all countries - developed or developing, market-oriented or centrally planned.’ pg 43

[asreaserch2022]

Feedback and reflection - 18/01/2023

Following semester 1 I have received feedback for the two major modules DE4401 and DE4403. Here is my reflection on the feedback I have received and how I will adapt and modify my future work in response to it.

DE4401

My research methodology was effective for this essay, utilising a range of sources from academic papers to museums to articles. I feel this was useful to further research I do as I have more experience in how to locate sources as well as how I can utilise practical experience visiting and requesting primary sources.

The next time I undertake research of this form I intend to attempt to arrange more formalised interviews with experts in the relative fields as well as expanding the range in which I compare practical examples of contemporary subjects, not just localised to the north of England. It would also be useful for me to undertake more quantative research for the museums, comparing aspects such as the budget of the museum, annual footfall, and visitor profile to further elaborate on the practicalities of using animation in this field.

DE4403

My research and development of Horace has so far proven effective, however I intend to take this further. During this semester I will try to contact the Harris Museum regarding my project and ascertain their interest in the work as well as get more information regarding the locations of Horace’s injuries. Furthermore I intend to refine his textures more and add the missing components, namely his antlers and the inside of his mouth. However before that stage I intend to get his present rig fully operational. Achieving true photorealism is extremely tricky and time consuming, so I am prioritising making Horace feel like a believable animal to the audience, a key factor of which is how he moves. I have recently corrected several flaws in his rig that my first motion test brought to light, but this will be elaborated on in a later post.

I additionally need to research several factors in animating the attack on Horace, namely how is best to break an antler from the rig and lodge spears in Horace’s side and have them then stay there after being formerly disconnected from the rig.

My reflective diary remains on track and I intend to continue posting regular updates.

The major mistake I have made for this module was with the hand in. I handed in 23+ iterations of Horace showing his development but I failed to hand in the work I had done before I changed my focus to Horace. I do not intend to make this mistake again.

Additionally it would be useful for me to add more detail into my learning agreements, however I find this tricky and will discuss with Sarah on how best to approach this.

[rjtempest9900]

Little bit of a mess around with an armature after nearly a year out of doing any sort of animation ! Definitely needs bulking up and to be more stable but for a test it'll do.

[rjtempest9900]

[rjtempest9900]

[rjtempest9900]

[rjtempest9900]

[rjtempest9900]