This week we were asked to try and summarise and explain our research question to others in the class. Although I didn’t have a question in mind, I put pen to paper to try and construct a research aim that my project might fit into. I initially came up with:
“Exploring visual appeal of stop motion animation, why it might be preferred over CGI?”
And I’d answer this by looking at the feeling of physicality in the animation medium, how stop motion is being pushed to achieve new visual effects and how the applications of stop motion might be applied elsewhere such as in other animation mediums or platforms such as games and other interactive media.
I also gave a little thought into the final outcome of my project. I might want to “dumpster dive” for materials, where I could try animating with lots of different random materials and explore their effect on the quality of the animation. For exercises I could make animate something in 3D and stop motion and compare and contrast the two.
During the practical session I came up with a few other research question/aims to better reflect and refine what I wanted to do this year:
“What is the appeal of stop motion and how can it be applied to other media?”
“What are the visual qualities of stop motion and why are they appealing?”
“Explore and apply the unique visual qualities of stop motion within a digital project.”
These were the questions I used to explain what I wanted to do with the project to my classmates. The feedback I got from this exercise were:
- Mess about with stuff, make media tests, indulge, things happen through the making.
- Look at Quay Brothers for stop motion inspiration.
- Make stuff – find the question through making.
- Find out why was stop motion the “go-to” for visual effects back in the day?
- Identify more of my inspirations.