COP3 Practical - considering a story

My initial thoughts on a practical was to make a set of storyboards, each one containing a different theme that would hold different media and perspectives. To link these storyboards together I wanted to use the same story for each of the boards; creating a different atmosphere for the story through the genres, a different perception. I wanted to ensure that I used an original idea, I didn't want to use an existing one as it wouldn't be as beneficial to my work. The main themes I wanted to work with were, Film Noir, Romance and Action. These three themes contrast well against each other with the use of cinematography and style of media, the Film Noir being soaked in black ink, Romance holding soft and pastel tones, and Action full of canted shots and exaggerated perspectives.

Through the original stories that I considered, I felt that the 'Job Interview' idea would be the most suitable through how it could work with each of the themes. It would work with the Film Noir appeal through the use of the office like room, dramatic lighting and use of two characters, could be hiring to get rid of a target etc - work with Romance with the use of the soft light, the use of two characters, love at first sight etc - work with Action through the use of the office room, the use of two characters, could realise that the boss is his arch nemesis and jumps out window to escape etc. Each theme would start with the premise, have the same characters and same dialogue however the only change would be the ending in which each would follow the theme.

My Theme for COP3 - More refinement notes

After my tutorial with Annabeth, I critically went over my proposal for my theme and changed a few parts, giving more influence from storyboards into my essay with more interdisciplinary themes; all about composition.

Instead of beginning with the silent era I will be starting with historical artifacts through interdisciplinary mediums, Camera Obscura, painters within the Renaissance era, Rembrandt, John Martin and John Everett Millais, Photographers within world war 2, Henri Cartier-Bresson with his iconic stairs photograph, Modern painters, Edward Hopper. From this I would then discuss the early stages of film and editing with Pudovkin, Disney being pioneers in storyboarding, Glen Keane, Hitchock storyboards, Psycho and The Birds, Alien storyboards, Spielberg. Theories ranging from, Gestalt, Semiotics, Structuralism, Formalism, Classicism, Realism, Narrative Retardation, 'Screen Mirror', Visual Perception. Also looking into debates from, Mitry, Mitz, Baudry, Eco and MacCabe.
When looking into modern storyboards, talking about industry with influence from the ones that I have visited recently, Arcus and Kilogramme. Look at storyboards as a sequential art leading to the role of a Layout Artist and Previs. This will link well with synthesis chapter. Looking into storyboards that were made into a film/animation - Jodorowsky’s Dune and The Sandman Comic.

My Practical has changed dramatically with the theme, I will still be making storyboards but losing the genre side and focusing on cinematography and editing of the composition. Using my extended practice premise and characters to build from, I will be making a episodic premise and script as the main short plot to the storyboards. There will be two main storyboards:

+ Perspective
+ Flat Perspective

Leading up to these storyboards will be developments using different media, and approaches to perspective, photography of the shots that I want to take using cinematography, creating a model of the exterior and interior of the backgrounds - then taking pictures of this to figure out the best modes of perspective; ultimately how this will influence the audience.

My Theme for COP3 - Proposal form revisited

After researching into my research project in more depth, I realised that my previous premise for my COP3 theme did not leave me much room to talk about composition in storyboards, which was the main part of the module that I wanted to focus on. It was too film based. I focused on restructuring what I would be researching with the knowledge I had gained from researching into film theory I was able to apply a more refined approached to my theme.

For my dissertation I want to expand from my Level 5 essay by narrowing the depth of field down to the persuasion of the shot, how it influences and feeds the viewer an impression of the scene and the characters. This will look into mise en scene, editing and cinematography. I want to start the essay with a very quick summary of how the silent era pioneered film, how without the use of any sound, the manipulation of the shot was undertaken; then looking into the invention of storyboards, pioneered by Walt Disney Studios.

Research into old Disney Storyboards, such as Snow White and The Black Cauldron. Looking into film storyboards, mainly Hitchcock with his iconic work Psycho and possibly The Birds, Indiana Jones and others. I want to apply film theory to storyboards, looking into Formalism, Classicism, Realism and Structuralism, as well as looking into suspense hypothesis. I then want to research into modern animation storyboards, Iron Giant, Over the Garden Wall, Glen Keane's work and Big Hero 6.

With these examples talk about the process, how the boom of technology has aided the development of storyboards, possibly go into animatics and layout artists, talk about the software that is available for storyboard artists. (ToonBoom Storyboard Pro and TV Paint). Also talk about studios that I would have visited for primary sources, looking into the storyboards that they have made, how they persuade the audience with mise en scene, editing, cinematography etc.

For my practical I will be creating 3 sets of storyboards each tainted with a different theme but with the same story. I have narrowed down the themes to, Film Noir, Action and Comedy.

For the storyboards I want to use different media as to effect the composition of the shot, to further emphasise the theme. For example, black ink with a brush and dip pen would work well for the Film Noir theme. I will need to make tests of media before making the storyboards to ensure the media will work with the theme. Rather than use someone else's story for my storyboards, such as Aesop's fables or a nursery rhyme, I want to create something original. I will need to mind map and refine my ideas for a short story further.

Taking the storyboards further, I want to apply these shots to film or an animatic. I am considering an animatic rather than film as it would be more beneficial for my portfolio. For this practical I will need, Character Designs, Beat Boards, Storyboards and an animatic. I would like to use the characters from my Extended Project if possible.

Iron Giant Storyboard example

Over the Garden Wall Storyboard example

My Theme for COP3 - Proposal Form

For my dissertation I want to expand from my Level 5 essay by narrowing the depth of field down to the persuasion of the shot, how it influences and feeds the viewer an impression of the scene and the characters. Looking into cuts, montages the position of the characters, the position of objects in the shot, the angle and perspective. Possibly look further into this with linking some narrative terms like narrative retardation, where information is purposefully kept from the audience ­ how does the use of cuts and perspective of the shot aid this effect?

In order to inform my initial basis for the dissertation, I want to start with the pioneers of both film and animated features, key figures such as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Georges Melies and Winsor Mccay, researching how they made a iconic scene iconic; what techniques they used and how they could be applied to my Practical. Possibly research into the films of Charlie Chaplin as he was quite a pioneer with the use of using the camera for entertainment purposes during the first and second World War.

I not only want to analyse films but animated features as well. This would help me to inform my practice and my knowledge within the dissertation as to how these shots differ from film when applied into animation. Are some of this shots exaggerated with the change of medium? Does the fact that the medium being set in an animated tone change the shot? With researching into animated features as well, I can look into how the advancement of technology has affected this medium as well as film, research into budget ­ how only recently British Animation has been given a bigger budget for production.

For my Practical I want to create a series of storyboards that show the same scene but each with a different genre/theme and shot to change the narration dramatically. In order to inform my practice I will need to use different types of dry and wet media, such as charcoal and ink, or even something tactile to help enhance the narrative visually with the atmosphere of the scene. The main aim is to ensure that the perspective and angle of each frame works with the set genre/theme of the storyboards, using the media to enhance this effect with the use of shadow and lighting will help to emphasise this to the viewer. For example one of the set of storyboards could be themed around Film Noir in which I could use bold lines and fills of black ink to emphasise this effect further. Possibly adding a singular hue, for example red, that would highlight objects in the visuals, drawing the viewers attention. This would link well to some of the sources of Film that I could analyse, for example the film Sin City/The Spirit uses this Film Noir appeal with the use of the colour red being the only hue within the visuals.

Georges Melies A Trip to the Moon 1902

The Spirit

COP3 Schedule

For this module I wanted to ensure that I managed my time efficiently to ensure that I hit all my personal milestones through the dissertation process. To organise my time, I have a yearly, monthly and weekly calendar as well as daily tasks and diaries to keep with milestones and progress. Using Excel, I also created a chart that shows each main task and sub task, with the amount of time that I have given myself to complete. This chart is more of a guideline, in which I'll be adding more primary research tasks as I contact more animation studios and possibly attend more festivals, as well as with some tasks may take less time than expected. Having this as a guideline will help me to manage my time with other projects as well, as I can correlate this with my monthly calendars and milestones to keep up to date.

COP3 Lecture: Methodology and Critical Analysis

I was quite confused with the term methodology through how it worked with the dissertation that I would be writing. Everyone seems to have their own word for the dissertation as well, such as case studies and research project, which is something I wanted to ensure that the lecture helped me to understand. The lecture explained what the methodology actually is, its the research behind the essay, what form of research you would undertake towards your writing. I found that the best form of methodology for my essay would be reading/literature reviews, interviews and keeping a sketchbook full of development towards my practical, sketch studies. For the subject I would be researching the use of statistics would not benefit my findings purely through how the method is more emotive; its all about the spectators perception on the composition. 

After the lecture I asked about synthesis, as I felt it would benefit my essay successfully with the outcomes of my practical. I was confused through how the use of 1st person would flow from 3rd person. I found that as long as the synthesis chapter is before the conclusion and is formal 1st person, so avoiding 'I think...' and 'I believe' will aid the syntax. It is all about my own personal findings.

I also asked about literature reviews, how this would work with my essay, as I knew that I would need to mention this in my introduction. I have read quite a few books already and mentioning them all would just eat up most of my word count. I found that I just need to mention key texts that have influenced me the most throughout the dissertation. To feel more confident about this, I want to scan through a few dissertations, to see how they approached the introduction and also see the structure they used for the text. 

A reflection of key texts towards my practical outcome

Evidence of how your Reading reflects on your practical investigation - 250 words
Reading through the book, Directing a Story has aided my practical outcome substantially through the knowledge of structure, from script to storyboard. Key points towards production of storyboards, and what is needed to portray the story visually, for instance with the use of shading, lighting, the environment and perspective. I have also learnt more about the process of the storyboard, beat boards and some information on Disney’s storyboarding process.

Shot by Shot has helped my practical outcome through both the understanding of each shot, cinematography, and storyboard examples, as well as knowledge on the storyboard process. I enjoyed reading the whole visualisation process with production design leading to storyboards, and how the director interprets storyboarding. The book goes in depth with a range of media, from traditional to digital which has helped me to consider what media to use for my own practical.

I had intended the book, The Art of Movie Storyboards to be more influential towards my essay however it has aided my practical work more.  As well as showing examples from classic films and animated features, the book conveys more information on the storyboard artist, the relation with the director and how the storyboards were influenced by media and context. The examples are amazing inspiration for my own practical work with the use of media and layout. It was interesting to see how uniform the Psycho storyboards were compared to Spellbound both created by the same director; each storyboard artist have their own style.


Key texts:
Glebas, F. (2009) Directing the Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding techniques for Live Action and Animation. USA: Focal Press 
Halligan, F. (2013) The Art of Movie Storyboards: Visualising the Action of the World's Greatest Films. Film Craft, Lewes: Ilex 
Katz, S D. (1991) Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualising from Concept to Screen. Oxford: Focal Press 
Van Sijll, J. (2005) Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know. Seattle: Michael Wiese Productions

COP3 Personal tutorial 14/10/15 notes

The personal tutorial helped me to link more in depth about the interdisciplinary examples that I would include for my essay. I was debating with using the works of Edward Hopper, from the tutorial, Annabeth explained that researching into the renaissance painters, which would then link nicely to camera obscura and work with linking back to Edward Hopper. Annabeth mentioned the works of John Martin who's work is currently in Newcastles Art Gallery. I would be able to attend this on the 23rd as I would be in Newcastle to visit an animation studio, Arcus, for primary research.

John Martin's work contains a range of amazing perspectives, and the composition is beautiful with the placement of the character, the background elements and lighting that draws your eyes to the main message of the painting. With these paintings being over 200 years old, I can still see some painters today using this style of painting and colour. I would be able to connect two film theories to this example, formalist and classicism, showing the storytelling and the fantasy elements to the composition. I also believe I would be able to connect this painting to sequential art, show the movement of the character and the lighting, as well as the textures within the work make it seem like it is moving.

The practical needs to be portfolio worthy, make beautiful storyboards, they need a foreground, middleground and background with consideration of the composition to link with the dissertation. I can use the plot and characters from my extended project - this will help me with time management and a focus on purely storyboards rather than having to create characters and a plot for the practical.

Research into previs - is it worth understanding this within industry? An expected skill for a storyboard artist. When making the previs, make sure you put the background, middleground and foreground on separate layers so that it can be easily transferred to after effects.

Practical = Script/ a refined premise - rough thumbnails - beat boards - digital storyboards - pre vis.

Sticking to 2D animations and storyboards - would be more beneficial for the line of work that I want to enter which is mainly 2D based. However would be worth researching into for PPP.

More key points from tutorial:

+ Consider the role of a layout artist and previs, how these are an expected skill in industry. Decided to stick to 2D examples rather than expand into 3D digital and stop motion, this will aid me with my own practice and portfolio with practical. As linking Storyboards to Disney (pioneers of this medium) research into how they reference other films - what skills do they use for their storyboards with perspective and layout. Consider illusionary drawing, how this is a false perspective, a false reality, a false composition.

+ Link to gestalt theory - all about perception, link further to semiotics - research into this but not in great depth. Both of these points are important towards the perception of the shot.
+ Connotation and denotation - important perspectives to mention in the essay - one being the literal object, the other being what it symbolises.

Consider how are you making someone think? Mise en scene, why is something in the foreground and not in the background? why this structure?

John Martin, Manfred and the Alpine Witch, 1837

COP3 Presentation and Feedback

The feedback from my summer investigation towards the COP3 theme, was extremely informative. I managed to get my structure and research back to what I primarily wanted to investigate into, storyboards. As I researched during the summer, it became more apparent to me that I would have to include information about film to work with the film theory, meaning I would have to write less about storyboard composition. However after gaining feedback from my peers, I found that I could make the audience whom would be reading my dissertation to be film critics that would already know the meaning of the theories that I would be writing and finding evidence for. From this I began thinking of adding the pioneers of storyboards, Disney, into the chapters which will work more smoothly than a transition from film.

Feedback Additions

+ Research into Jodorowsky's Dune, a storyboard that was drawn in such detail that it could be translated straight to film - storyboard was never made into a film
+ Layout Artists - Their job is all about the composition with in animation
+ Camera Obscure - Framing the composition
+ Add interdisciplinary examples into this essay all about composition - paintings, photography
+ Talk about storyboards as a sequential art
+ Using the angles from your storyboards - or even to inform your storyboards, take pictures of the angles. Show them in situation
+ Possibly use Maya to make the previs? Development.

Action Plan

+ Create a new Structure
+ Narrow down theories
+ Find and research into other interdisciplinary works
+ More reading!
+ Start contacting primary sources...

Example of Powerpoint - showing examples of cinematography

Example of Powerpoint - showing examples of modern storyboards to analyse

COP3 Briefing 1st Oct notes and initial milestones

COP3 Dissertation and Practical Outcomes... Deadline: 14th January. 40 Credits.
40% of the module is based on your analysis of Methodology
20% of the module is based on your ability to write critically
20% of the module is based on your practical outcome
20% of the module is based on your time management

A good start to your essay planning is to write your introduction last. Generally you will have about 5 chapters, one of these chapters can be about your practice; synthesis. To start off the synthesis chapter, you may go into first person, don't worry as this is expected. Even though you are in first person for this chapter you still need to ensure that this is kept formal, leave out "I think" and "I believe", it needs to be informative, "I created this to show" "My own personal interpretation", etc.
Be worried if your synthesis chapter is full of "I think" sentences. The synthesis chapter is not for everyone. For my essay the synthesis chapter will help to visually inform my essay through the composition and back up my theories/conclusions.

Your practical will be a significant practical artifact that has been negotiated with tutors. This practical outcome could be a prototype, testing an idea etc. It doesn't have to be finished as it is about the context. Think how this practical can aid you, what it can build up to with in your portfolio. How can your theory inform your practical.

You will need to create an Academic Poster - a condensed presentation of your overall project's synthesis and results. There will be a workshop in December for this.

Milestones to hit:
Refined Draft of Chapter 1: 28th Oct
Finish research: 6th Nove
At least 4,000 words of the essay written: 25th Nove
Full Draft Dissertation: 9th Dec
Completed Practical: 9th Dec
Completed Academic Poster: 9th Dec
Show and Tell Presentation: 10th Dec
Exhibit of Academic Posters and Practical: 11th Dec
Submission of full Dissertation to Turnitin: 11th Dec

COMPLETED DISSERTATION: 7th Jan
Printed and Bound: 8th Jan
HAND IN: 14th Jan

COP3 Lecture: Organising your Research

The first lecture of Level 6 was quite informative, it helped me with considerations of what types of primary research there was and how literature reviews would be tied with the dissertation. I found the key points to leading up to creating an essay title really helpful. I always find making the title difficult, I end up making the title over complicated, adding questions etc. However through the steps in the lecture, I found that writing down the key questions that you want the essay to answer and the purpose for this study, will help me to narrow down my title.

Using my tutorials as mini milestones for getting parts of the dissertation chapters completed by aided with considering how to plan my time. I found Level 5 to be quite difficult with time management between each module, to be honest I think it was down to the amount of work I had given myself for one of the modules which just threw the rest of my time management for the other modules. I want to make sure that I am organised this year, making sure that I document every deadline and milestone in my term diary, weekly calendar and monthly calendar. By the end of the first tutorial session I want to have made a yearly calendar for COP3.