Izzy Brenac

Second year animation student at NUA. [BA2a & BA2b]

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Research Report Proposal

I’ve decided to write my proposal on a topic that I can get very fired up about - whether or not cartoons are just for children. Short answer: no, I don’t think they’re just for children. Sure, there are some shows aimed specifically at kids with the purpose of education and/or entertainment, but many other “kid’s shows and movies” such as Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, even Shrek, aren’t solely for children to enjoy. A lot of shows and films like these can cover complex issues and have underlying themes that mostly go unnoticed by children. Cartoons don’t even have to be explicitly adult for adults to enjoy them, either, since some people think that the only way they can enjoy a cartoon is if it’s something like Family Guy, or Rick and Morty.

While researching this topic, it came to my attention that originally, cartoons were aimed at adults, which I found incredibly interesting. That got me wondering why this perception of animation has changed so much, which is what led me to changing my initial ideas for my research report. Instead of writing an extended essay on whether animation is just for kids, I’ll be including the analysis of the history and evolution of animation and its audience.

I’ll be conducting both primary and secondary research for this - primary being a questionnaire asking people from different age ranges their opinions on the matter, secondary being analysis of video essays and articles regarding the topic. My aim for this research report is to figure out why people personally think cartoons are or aren’t for kids (history aside) and to bring to light different points of view regarding the medium. I may also analyse a few different examples of animation that have different target audiences and cover why they’re appropriate for whichever age range. For example, shows such as My Little Pony [MLP] and Steven Universe [SU] being aimed at children yet still retaining an adult audience (though for different reasons, plus MLP, while teaching some good lessons to kids, is portrayed in a far more child-like manner than SU). Analysing “adult” cartoons and why they’re considered adult cartoons would be interesting also.

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This video essay has some very good insight into why cartoons aren’t only for children. It touches on the history of animation and its audience and also covers

“Many of these shows had one goal in mind - mass-produced toys for children. Companies realised that these cartoons could become glorified commercials for their toys, and we see that trend grow in the 80s. This is when I believe the cartoon stigma was born; adults saw these shows as childish, and thought they were only meant for kids.” This is a great source of secondary research as it portrays somebody’s views on the topic of whether animation is for children that’s backed-up with both opinion and research.

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 I found this video while conducting research for my research proposal. It’s quite long, but very interesting! There’s only a small section that’s relevant to the topic I’ve chosen for my research report, but it’s still a good bit of insight.

(some of this is paraphrasing) “...because of history - the fact that bugs bunny is a kid’s cartoon. Cartoons were made for adults, not kids. They had enough slapstick in them that kids could enjoy them, but they weren’t for kids. It wasn’t until the 50s when television needed kid’s entertainment that they had all these cartoons that kids would sit still for and watch, that they started thinking of it as primarily as a children’s medium. And it isn’t. It just isn’t.”

I found this really interesting! I didn’t know much, if anything, about the history of animation’s target audience. I had no idea they were originally for adults and would play before the main movie, but it makes sense - animation was new and interesting, something many people had never seen before. Of course people would be interested! The fact that people began to think of it as a kid’s medium rather than something for everyone just because kids enjoyed watching them more than most other things amazes me.

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We are an award winning 2D animation studio. Best prices, fast and can do all styles. We offer free consultations and quick quotes. View our portfolio now. We're hiring!

This website for the company “Spiel” is very nice to look at - it clearly has a motif and consistent colour palette. Everything is tucked away in different pages, making it very easy to follow and read what they’re all about. Their contents bar is located at the top - easy to find - and has all the basics that an animation company would need, such as an about page, contact page, examples of their work, etc. There are also links to their blog, services they provide, and available jobs at their studio. It’s simple but effective, not boring to look at, and is concise in the way it portrays its information.

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Dolphin animation studio is a fully fledged 2D animation company in USA offering services like whiteboard animation, 2D explainer videos etc.

This animation company is based in USA, but I chose to analyse the website as it specialises in 2D animation which is where my interest lies (though this appears to be more motion graphics-based).

The intro page simply portrays a welcome message, a link to their showreel, and an arrow at the bottom of the page that links to some more information about their studio. The showreel link takes you to their YouTube channel that features their work. The layout of this website isn’t as exciting as others that I’ve seen - it’s on the more simple (almost boring) side. The way their portfolio is presented is clear and easy to follow, though! Everything is all on one page, which feels too cluttered to me - it might just be personal preference, but I think it’s more professional when sections/pages are separate and neat. At the bottom of the page, there’s text that reads “Hire us! Since we are the best 2D animation company and an animation studio in USA”. This comes across as a bit headstrong, and if it’s supposed to be a joke, it doesn’t read well at all.

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THE LINE | Animation Studio London

We are a BAFTA-nominated animation studio based in London. We specialise in 2D animation, 3D animation, commercials, films, & games.

Personal branding research. Decided to look into the London-based animation company The Line as an example of a successful animation website. The intro page is very attention grabbing!! The screen is taken up by a reel of different examples of work The Line has done/worked on, with their logo in blocky white font right in the middle. There’s an arrow beneath this that, when clicked, scrolls down and into a small paragraph introducing the company - this appears to be the home page. In the introduction paragraph, various words are highlighted with links to different pages on the website; advertising, interactive, music videos, original content, portfolio. Each link takes the viewer to the different examples of the work they have done. There’s also an option in the top-right that takes you to a choice of the different pages on the website - contact, work, who? (about), eye candy (art portfolio), ear candy (link to soundcloud), store. The about page features images of their studio, and they seem to come across as very friendly and casual in the text. It’s a very well put-together website that’s easy to follow and is very hard to get lost in. Plus, the work they feature is very impressive.

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Using the movie Ponyo as reference for the watery fish that are featured near the end of my animation sequence for the visual essay. I tried to capture the fluidity and amorphous movement of the water & fish that are in the movie. My animation isn’t as intricate as these scenes in Ponyo, but I feel that I managed to get the gist of it. 

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Researching sea creatures and how they move - visual references for the group project.

Rays seem easy enough to animate - they just flap their ‘wings’ in a repetitive motion. For the jellyfish, I looked at both real-life examples and clips from the movie Ponyo, just to see how Studio Ghibli animated them. They move slowly in an amorphous way - the jellyfish with tentacles have some interesting secondary motion, as they follow the movement of the main body/bell of the jellyfish in a flowing manner. The giant isopod in my animation stays in the same place throughout, but studying videos of these creatures is helpful as it gave me a decent understanding of how their bodies work. In my animation, I only animated the isopod’s ‘antennae’ moving, as though it’s scanning its surroundings. The shoal of fish in my animation is only small but it’s still helpful looking at clips of fish shoals. They move as though they’re one big mass, twisting and morphing into different shapes as they follow each other.

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Year 3 Research Report Lecture

14-5-19

Attended a lecture about the research report for year 3. It covered the different types of report, research techniques, writing techniques, and other helpful information.

[lecture notes below]

Types of Report

- Extended essay - Industry report - Technical report - Editorial

Break it into steps

Proposal Research & taking notes Collate notes Plan Draft and redraft Review, revise, edit Finalise (making a timetable may be useful for this)

Research & taking notes

Look for patterns in notes, information that may be linked. Make a bullet-point list or mind map. Give/use evidence.

Draft & redraft

Expand points into paragraphs. Set time limits.

Review, revise, edit

Seek feedback. Consider structure, content, and clarity.

Revisit your title

1. Question 2. Statement 3. Two statements, e.g. “Modernism vs. Ornament: Debaiting the Effectiveness...” etc. 4. Statement and question, e.g. “Man and Design: How can human...” etc.

Researching and taking effective notes

Research is a trail - one source can lead to other similar sources.

NUA’s discovery search bar - links to printed books, journals, ebooks, ejournals. Use other libraries. Google Scholar - shows academic articles and books. Primary research - interviews, talks, emails, exhibitions, original artworks, practitioners websites.

Reading and note taking

Be a selective reader. How relevant is the info? Is it reliable? Which parts are necessary to read? Start skim reading. Contents page examination. Scan for specific information.

Make notes memorable:

Highlighting. Symbols. Subheadings. Abbreviations. Boxes or circles for important points.

Be critical

What is critical thinking? Ask questions, don’t just accept information as it is. Use information from different approaches.

Research critical thinking: 1. Understand 2. Apply 3. Analyse 4. Evaluate 5. Creare Bloom’s revised taxonomy...

Form own questions. Describe, analyse, evaluate, conclude. Evidence (visual, text, data).

Plan logical structures

Beginning: introduction Outline aims, define key words, justify research, provide a map of how the topic will be covered.

1. Point 2. Evidence 3. Comment 4. Conclude Avoid 1 sentence paragraphs or merging points.

End / conclusion

Restate and summarise - what were the original aims? Key findings? Conclude - overall stance to the title. Point forward - future research.

Ways of planning Visual and linear.

Linear - outline Outline structure List of paragraph headings Bullet points

Visual - mind maps etc Look for links and themes Use arrows to make connections.

Be prepared and plan time wisely, take organised notes. Be curious, find varies sources, collect multiple pieces of evidence. Think critically in reading and writing, describe, analyse, evaluate. Make a plan.

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Visual essay experimentation reel. It contains: - initial quote & visual concept - thumbnail storyboard - storyboard - inspiration/moodboard images - style frames - animatic - rough animation wip - completed rough animation - animation wip 1 - animation wip 2 - completed animation with sfx and voice over

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Experimentation reel for the animated loops project. There isn’t a whole lot to show - it just contains the storyboards, moodboards, finalised designs, and the final animation for all three animated loops.

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Week 20 Evaluation

16-5-19

Extension week. I spent the entirety of this week catching up on the other projects that had been forced aside due to the visual essay group project.

I managed to complete all three animated loops in one day; once I’d gotten used to animating in After Effects again, it was a nice and quick process. I also created moodboards and storyboards as per the submission requirements in the same day, meaning I finished all of the animated loops requirements early on this week. I enjoyed this project as although I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it (even with the extension), it did push me to work a lot quicker than I usually do.

As for personal branding, I’ve been working on my website on and off all week in the evenings. I finally got round to creating a showreel later on in the week, which I put on my website. This project has been good practise for establishing myself online as an artist - it’s something I’ve been meaning to do again for a long time but never had the confidence to do so, so this was a good form of motivation.

I’ve been doing research for the professional practise project for a few days this week and managed to get the essay done within a few hours. Since it’s a proposal, it didn’t require a huge deal of research as it contains mostly on what I’m intending on writing about in year 3 and the different forms of research I’ll be doing; it’ll definitely be helpful when the year 3 research reports roll around as I’ll already have a solid idea of what I can write about and what to do in terms of research.

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My third and final animated loop. This loop was the easiest one to animate, probably because I actually made all of the layers in Adobe Illustrator and labelled them accordingly so I knew which layer was what and all that. I don’t feel sad when I’m animating - this loop is more indicative of how I felt during last week. It was stressful even though I wasn’t even handing in!! This animated loop can be used in situations of last-minute rushing, work, and stress. All I have left to do for the animated loops project is the experimentation reel, then I’ll be done with it, and onto finishing the other projects.

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This is my second animated loop. It’s my least favourite out of the three, but it could be worse! I like the bounciness of it, at least. The eyes/expression looks kinda dead though, which I’m not a fan of. I don’t really know what emotion is being displayed here; maybe exasperation?? Probably a subconscious representation of me using After Effects.

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First animated loop completed!! I haven’t used After Effects to animate in AGES, probably since the motion graphics project in late 2018, so it was a bit of a challenge to re-learn everything. This loop took me the longest to complete out of the three that I made, but it’s also my favourite! It’s not perfect by any means, but I’m fond of it regardless. The yawn is reflective of me being tired pretty much 24/7 - I’m not a morning person, so getting up early to go into uni in the mornings is a struggle for me (as I’m sure it is for a lot of other people). So, sleepy cowboy cat is born.

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These are the drawings I put together in Adobe Illustrator for my other two animated loops. I’ll be adding the sunflower’s face in After Effects when I get round to animating it.

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Some goofy lil moodboards for my three animated loops. Self-explanatory really... the first one combines two of my favourite things - cats and cowboys, the second is a sunflower (one of my favourite flowers) with a face, and the third is just a sad emoji but an orange instead of a person.