With this Research stage I am going to just list off all my initial research topics that I have identified from my initial concept and then just work my way through them and any more as needed. For my Reasearch stage I have planned to alow my 2 initial weeks of the project timeline for this stage. I plan to use this time to do the bulk of my reasearch all things relating to the contextual and aesthetic of the project to get a better Idea for the context and direction of art style to help me when it comes to the development particularly when I create the Character models and environments. for the technical aspects that I need to research I think I will do a brief look into the techniques but not a thorough investigation into these techniques because by the time I need to use these techniques a month + time will have passed since the research stage and the new techniques I have learned wont be fresh in my mind and I would need to refresh my knowledge and this wouldnt be an effective use of my time so I plan to do the research on these technical aspects as I arrive at them. this may be quite risky to leave technical research so late into the project as some of these techniques are integral parts of the narrative I am trying to achieve but these techniques that im trying to learn shouldnt impact my Grade at all if I don’t implement them or as to a good a standard as I would like as they are not techniques that are being taught to me as part of the course so I wouldn’t expect to be graded negatively for them only positively if I can pull them off. I have also allowed a lot of time for these techniques so if I can’t implement them I will have a good amount of time to find alternatives.
Proposed Research Topics
Kill Bill
Afro Samuria
Samurai Champloo
Japan
Samuria
Dragons
Kazuto Nakazawa
Partical Effects
Lighting
Cloth modifier
Facial rigging
Kill Bill: Volume 1
released in 2003 it is the first film in a Two part series American martial arts action film directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins and their leader Bill after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Japan, where she battles the Tokyo yakuza.
I Am going to Research kill bill:Volume 1 specifically because it uses an Audio technique that I plan to use with in my own project and the Animated sequence that Features in the film directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, I would like to take inspiration from the animations aesthetic and use it to influence the aesthetic of my own project. I plan to Watch the Film then take Screen shots from the film and write visual/contextual analysis’ for them focusing on the cinematography and composition of shots and the sword play as reference for my own animations. I have Seen Kill bill volume 1 Many times but not in recent years so it will be good to watch it again as there may be more parts from the film I can take reference from and use as inspiration that I havent already mentioned and don’t remember.
I like how the Main antagonist is subtlety introduced With the use of the moniker handkerchief with bills name on it Bills character is never fully introduced in this film we only ever hear his voice or see close-ups of his hands. the handkerchief gives a lot of slight hints to what type of character bill is. the handkerchief suggests that bill is an older man as older people are generally the type of people to carry around handkerchiefs. the embroidery also suggest that he might be rich/upper class. it builds interest and intrigue into the character without giving too much away. also a good use of black and white classic trope of a flash back being in black and white but it doesnt feel played out it works well here because of the way it transitions out it works on two levels first being the trope of black and white flash back and the second being the transition back into colour is when the sheriff takes off his aviator glasses when he realises that the bride is not dead the film turns to full colour this could be in relation to the fact that he is a sheriff a man of the law and law is often described as being black and white, guilty or innocent, and that is a reflection of his point of view. or it could also be the transition of life and death, as black is associated with death and colour represents life.
I like the Use of transition here where the opening credits white text on a black are spliced into the start of the film after the credits is fades out slowly out into a silhouette
This next Scene comprises of three shots it Uses a technique Intend to use in my own project of the opening scene where the samurai is nonchalantly smoking how it starts out by misleading the viewer by focusing on a subject then turning the point of view typically 180 degrees to really show whats going on and this is done in kill bill by showing a shot of a house then the bride slowly driving in looking towards the viewer then you realise the main focus is behind us then next shot turns us around to show us the main subject. it is a good and subtle way to misdirect the viewer and gives a nice change of pace to the viewer because it starts slow and gives the viewer a chance to try to get a sense of what is going on or what is trying to be set up then quickly flips it 180.
interesting story telling device when the bride sees her enemy an extreme close up shot of her eye than overlays the flash back on top of the eye with an orange/red tint to express anger intense music plays the second type of way tarantinohas shown flash backs / interesting also the perspective of the flash back it over lays her eyes you would expect to see a flash back from her own perspective the flash back footage is from a 3rd perspective
interesting camera shot where an object from the foreground becomes interacted with as soon as its center shot its interacted with gives a sense of desperation of the character as she was previously being choked out interesting timing set up so that the audience discovers the objects importance along with the character
interesting god shot as the main character starts a narrative the purple divide of the wall is a interesting choise as it really does give the viewer a gods view that you are looking through the ceiling from above and it divides the screen and they remain on different sides of the divide through out the shot sort of visually showing the truce they have just agreed upon that they are in the same room and have an understanding but till on different sides.
This is a interesting shot Split screen shows 2 sides one shows vulnerability and the other shows cold calm collective calculating explains the leisurely whistling why would u be so calm whistling a tune when your going to kill some one. This vulnerability vs cold calm collective calculating it is also shown in the song choice the calming whistling represents the sleeping bride and the building manic notes underneath represent the assassin. it’s a slow build with a big climax in the same way that you expect an assassin to behave slow and stealthy up untill the kill.
extreme close-ups of the last moments before she went into a coma first thing she remembers when she wakes up super close up to high light how vivid and power full of a memory it is was. high level of detail marks on the bullet the individual particals of the muzzle flash help show how impactful the memory is that you can see/remember the individual scratches on the bullet.
Notes
Due to time constraints I only got about 30-40 mins into the film unfortunately I didn’t get to finish the film I from the shots I did take and analysis were helpful especially the sequence of the 3rd shots I analyse it re-enforces the initial sorta story board shot sequence I put together as it’s the exact type of shot I want to use at the start of my animation and it works well in kill bill and gives the same type of misdirection I wanted to achieve with my animation.
im now just going to Directly focus on the aspect of kill bill film I had identified from my initial research the particularly the audio part of the Bride vs O-ren Climactic battle.
after the bride has killed the crazy 88 she moves in on O-Ren as she approaches the door to outside where O-ren is you can still hear the screams of the surviving 88 which fades as she gets closer and closer to the door then as she puts her hands on the door you can barely hear it at all then a soon as the door opens it goes silent and transitions in to a Calm serene vibe. I want to reverse this for my animation and go from calm to crazy. this transition in audio is like the change in mind-set for the bride where before it was a manic flurry of blades but as she reaches her final destination it’s as if her mind becomes clear and focused on the goal blocking out any unnecessary distractions. visually I get connotations of godliness and heavenly vibes. as the bride steps out of the building into the garden that is covered in white snow its reminiscent of clouds in heaven. as if she is transported into another location entirely
Afro Samurai
serialized from September 1999 to May 2000, is a Japanese seinen dojinshi manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. Inspired by Okazaki’s love of soul and hip hop music and American media it follows the life of Afro Samurai who witnessed his father Rokutaro (owner of the No. 1 headband) being slain by a gunslinger named Justice (owner of the No. 2 headband) while he was a child. As an adult, Afro sets off to kill Justice and avenge his father. My research will foucs on the 2007 anime minisieries adaptation by Animation studio Gonzo.
I Am going to Research Afro Samurai specifically because I would like to take inspiration from the animatons aesthetic and use it to influence the aesthetic of my own project. I plan to Watch the Film then take Screen shots from the film and write visual/contextual analysis’ for them focusing on the cinematography and composition of shots and the sword play as reference for my own animations.
Opening shot, Get a sense for the type of Anime this is going to be with its use of colours Dark rich earthy tones Alot of Block black colours particuarly when shading there is none to little gradeation and this reflects the tone of the anime which is quite dark and blunt. The setting its self is intresting and maby holds contextual clues right from the start about the main protagonist. it is set on top of a Steep mountain with hands carved out of its sides. the Main protagonist is called Justice and is the owner of the No. 1 Headband, its who ever owns the number one headband is akin to a god so the hands could represent the “hands of justice” of a higher being, the hight of the mountain also relates to this religouse god like contations that the story is trying to convey As in many religons tall places such as this are seen as being close to the heaven and so closer to god. the hands may also be a link to the fact that Justice has 3 Arms but knowldge his third one is a secret till the end of the story which. plays a big part in the story because its this secret third arm that kills Afro’s father.
Close Up shot of a Young afro holding his fathers Hand. Alot of contrasting contextual elements in this shot relating to innocence and corruption. A core Character Trait and Story revolves around Afros loss of innocence as He becomes a Cold man Helbent on revenging his father. this is shown by the differenec in size of thier hands the contrast between a child and an adults hands as children are seen as small innocent beings, but adults are generaly not seen as being innocence as by the time your and adult you know some worldly truths. Afro is also wearing a Large metal silver/white bracelet around his wrist. with white/silver colours being associated with innocence. the way the braclet sits on his arm reminds me of a Angels halo as it seems to defey gravity further tieing into the religouse/innocent vibes.this is then contrasted by Afros fathers hand, the armour is damaged from battle and gives some insight into what life is like when you own the No.2 head band where it is a constant battle as every one is after the No.1 headband which is the same path afro eventialy takes to avenge his father.
I like the broad Stance of the character Slightly leaned back shows Confidence, the slight lean suggesting he is relaxed with his head band flowing in the wind to seem to go with the flow and dose not show any worry or angxiety about the battle about to happen. I like the use of a low down shot looking up at the Father it gives you a sense of looking up to the charater as a father and son relation would like. this is the type of sort of careless relaxed clam emotion is would like to emulate with my character in my own animation
I like the use of the silhouette it really makes the characters pop and contrast from the rich earthy tones of the sun setting in the back ground it could also be seen as a change in the mental state of the character as in the previous shot he was quite relaxed and fatherly the black silhouette could be representation of his emotion as his mind-set changes from father to battle life and death situation and the black colour is a good representation of these dark emotions. a good use of foreground and back ground the two grave stones in the foreground frame the scene the back ground is more subtle at first glance is could be mistaken as a pile of rubble or rocks but it is more grave stones piled on top of each other giveing you the feeling that this a place of death. the back ground also acts as a metaphor for the whole story of afro samurai. they way the grave stones pile up looks like a obstacle between afro and his father and this works a good metaphor for the obstacle that afro will have to over come to get the N0.2 headband as he will need to kill a lot of people to achieve it.
a nice Wide shot establishing the environment giving a greater sense of scale from the opening shot. getting a first look at the main protagonist. a variation of a torii looking structure i might use for inspiration as i plan to have a Torri in my own animation
nice close up shot of the character kicking up dirt as he squaring up into a fighting stance helping to build suspense 
interesting composition of foreground and back ground it merges a close up and mid shot together in a single shot. the shot also works well as a combination of one of the animes themes a mix of Japanese and western culture the composition is reminiscent of cowboy stand-off gives hints to what are protagonist is as Justice is a sort of cowboy gunslinger character but that isnt revealed at this point. i also like how justice is placed in front of the dark cave and the way that he is shaded making him appear to fade into the darkness, clear indicators he is an evil character
this shot uses a interesting use of a exaggerated fov that is typical of Takashi Okazaki style on afro samurai particularly when he’s drawing swords. lots of large sweeping motions to wards camera.
this shot is a great Change in pace from the previous scene which was a flurry of attacks in a exaggerated fov. The lighting Changes the characters are in a stand-off moment, both characters have broad hero poses, enhanced by the change in lighting
This is a great heavy impactful scene. a extreme close up of Afros eye makes for a interesting shot as the action unfolds in the Reflection in the eye, His eye is very wide it emphasizes the state of shock and disbelief he must be in also emphasizes the trope of “witnessed with my own eyes” a cliché of many revenge storeys where a character witnesses the murder of their own parents
this shot is a nice Throw back to shot 7 where it carries on the western shoot out trope where he returns the gun to the holster it uses the same perspective but the characters have changed positions. I like the composition of the hand it is sorta crooked /deformed which is associated with being evil, helps to further develop characters traits.
I like the Composition of this shot of the head next to the feet, it is an inverse of the previous shots of afro and his father together as previously all the shots have been looking up to wards the father it’s now looking down. this might now be expressing a new point of view that afro has for his father that he looks down on him for losing and dying. it also plays to the corruption of innocence theme as you see Afros innocent small childs feet next to his fathers bloodied decapitated head
this shot goes back to the sorta Hero pose enhanced lighting as he strikes an evil cackling victory pose.some thing I found interesting is the position of the sun has changed, it is higher up in up in the sky, a continuity error or is it significant to the context of the story? and is a throw back to shot 9 as the sun Was about equal level with the environment and directly in the middle of both character may have been a statement about the stalemate and the are about equal in terms of strength. but in this shot the sun is now higher in the sky and is off centre towards the side that justice was standing.
this scene had Lots of still shots whilst afro is surrounded by a lot of enemiesas they do some exposition. as the shots were still with only the cloth of the characters animated and flowing in the wind it helps give sense of still and anticipation and building tension but in real-time.
this is a great scene which combines a lot of different shot types seamlessly together. afro Slices bullet in a slow motion detailed close up shot where the bullet starts to fragmentate then transitions in to a mid shot of all the expanding fragments that illuminates the dark scene, a good contrast of light and dark
in this scene a Weird looking character introduced we don’t see a full shot of the character just a couple of close up shot but these small shot shots really helped to develop the character by highlighting weird behavior as we see the character scratching his foot we see skin flake off the character meaning the character could have hygiene problems or ailments the act of scratching could be interrelated as boredom/disinterest traits you can associate with being wired this also plays into the fact the character is displaying voyeuristic traits as he is watching afro from a far.
this shot has a good composition. the environment combining the foreground and back ground as the Swords begin to blend in the trees it gives the shot a sense of tranquility that contrasts with the actions that just happened there as it was a fierce battle where many died. it also gives a sense of this being normalised as for afro fighting and being ambushed is a normal way of life for the No.2 head band at how the swords have just blended into the landscape as if they were always there
this shot introduces A important “Character” Afros Alter ego Ninja Ninja is Afros “imaginary friend” it isnt apparent that he is imaginary till towards the end of the story and is the complete opposite personality to afro as he is loud and boisterous in his mannerisms and actions and a coward where as afro is portrayed as quiet, cold, uncaring and fearless. visually they are quite similar looking as well but ninja ninja has a gray/white afro. Ninja Ninja is very important plot device used to tell the story from Afros perspective ninja ninja acts as Afros physical representation of Afros thoughts and emotions as afro rarely shows any emotion or talks this is expressed through ninja ninja who often plays the devils advocate and expresses his doubt about situations which helps develop the story from Afros point of view but he remains this totally cold revenge bent character towards the viewer
interesting composition pov from up on the rafters gives the viewer a voyeuristic sense builds suspense and tension for the viewer as it sets the tone of the environment before the main character afro enters the room
this scene works well as the previous shots have been building suspense using interesting and different compositions of and variation of shots types. afro Walks nonchalantly straight into a tense situation with no care or regard for others. the audio Starts to speed up fast building beat leading up to a drop at moment of the drop a “lame symbol” sound breaks the moment Destroys the tense moment and loses all momentum
This scene helps to develop Afros Character as he rarely talks when he does need to communicate its kept to the bare minimum with just hand gestures or short sentences or one word answers which lends its self to the lends to cold demeanor, man of few words, a man of action.
in this scene is interesting as it shows a contradictory side to afro and all of his character development so far as afro pulls out a custom straw to drink his lemonade where he was mocked for his choice of drink still playing into the careless attitude,Afro for the first and only time i think speaks of his own volition to say that the drink was “delicious” when previously he was just using hand gestures, his level of priority expressing how good some thing is over actually talking to other people. this is probably the most expressive facial expression afro makes in the whole show and for a short glimpse you see a human side of afro as he expresses a small amount of pleasure which is a huge contrast to all the character development so far as he has been shown to be an emotionless cold-blooded killer
I like this scenes use of a extreme Close up forcing the viewer’s attention it uses greater level of detail it used more gradients of colour. it interesting choise of color for the blood as it is illuminated and it stands out and distinguishes from other wounds to imply some thing sinister is happening and that afro has been poisoned the scene also violently shakes on close up to give the sense of what the character is feeling from his own perspective disoriented, woozy from the poison.
Notes
all of the shots So far have only been from the first episode, I watched all 5 episodes of the original mini series for this research of afro samurai and their are a lot of great interesting shots and compositions I did not include in the research as they repeat the same or similar elements I have already analysed. the rest of the shots that are included from this point on are shots that were different or are interesting to analyse because of its impact on the context or story of afro samurai.
I like this shots interesting use of composition. the placement of Ninja-ninja above looking down at Afro gives of a similar feeling of Heaven and hell and that plays into the interesting relationship between afro and ninja ninja where Ninja ninja plays the part of Afros good side conscience and morals with afro being the “evil” side the cold blooded focused killer. also shows more visual elements of how they are similar but opposite as ninja ninjas cigarettes are straight perfect rolls and Afros cigarettes are crumpled.
This scene is very impactful in the story of Afro samurai as “Ninja-ninja dies”. afro is fighting with a close child hood friend. afro doesnt want to fight his friend so he is dodging attacks and parrying trying to avoid conflict, his friend wont give up and it becomes apparent that afro wont be able to get past him and that he will have to fight him. as a sort of subconscious way of self preservation Ninja-Ninja afro imaginary friend sacrifices himself to protect afro because if afro continued to avoid him he would eventually die. Ninja ninjas death is huge in the character development of afro as he was the representation of what is left of Afros consciences and morals. ninja ninjas death was the death of his innocence, and morals and this give him a reason/allows him to kill his freind.Visualy Afro looks warped and disillusioned the way that his neck appears more elongated than normal and has a unnatural curve.
Even after resolving to kill his friend still shows remorse in split second with the tears to Show the viewer that he is still human and has not totally lost all of his emotions when ninja-ninja dies
Samurai Champloo
It was first released on May 20, 2004 and Aired twenty-six episodes until its conclusion on March 19, 2005. Samurai Champloo is a Japanese anime series. It featured a production team led by director Shinichirō Watanabe, Watanabe’s first directorial Project for an anime television series since the critically acclaimed Cowboy Bebop.character designer Kazuto Nakazawa and mechanical designer Mahiro Maeda. Samurai Champloo is set in an alternate version of Edo-era Japan with an anachronistic, predominantly hip hop, setting. It follows Mugen, an impudent and freedom-loving vagrant swordsman; Jin, a composed and stoic rōnin; and Fuu, a brave girl who asks them to accompany her in her quest across Japan to find the “samurai who smells of sunflowers”.
I Am going to Research Samurai champloo specifically because I would like to take inspiration from the animations aesthetic and use it to influence the aesthetic of my own project. I plan to Watch the Series then take Screen shots from the film and write visual/contextual analysis’ for them focusing on the cinematography and composition of shots and the sword play as reference for my own animations.
Due to time constraints I didn’t Get to Research Samurai champloo in the same way I did for afro samurai and Kill bil
Japan
Samuria
Primary research From when I went to the royal armouries museum in Leeds. I will use this to influence the design of my Samurai particularly the weapons as inspiration for the Katana as the I don’t intend to for my samurai to be wearing any armour the picture of the armour are less relevent but it will help influence my choice of color palate, they use a lot of dark colours blacks, dark blues with royal colour highlight or accent pieces Reds and golds.
Dragons
Kazuto Nakazawa
I Decided it might be a good idea to do an Artist analysis on Kazuto Nakazawa as he was previously unknown to me, be but during my preliminary research I found out that he has worked on Alot Stuff I wanted to use as inspiration and research like the Animated sequence in Kill bill: Volume 1 and Samuria Champloo.
Kazuto Nakazawa was born on the 4th of March , 1968. Nakazawa also some times known by the pseudonym Takeshi Tsuji, a Japanese character designer and director of numerous anime series and video games His directorial work includes Parasite Dolls, the anime sequence in Kill Bill: Volume 1, and the animated music video to linkin park’s Breaking the habit. He has designed characters for many anime, such as Ashita no Nadja and Samurai Champloo
Due to Time Constraints I wasnt able do any in-depth Research into Kazuto Nakazawa as during my initial research I found there weren’t many reliable information sources for him or about his work. there were some images of his character designs but I wasnt sure how to interpret them, how analysing work I presume is produced for certain needs of different briefs would be beneficial to me or my project in terms of analysing him as an artist. I would have liked known what his inspirations or influences were behind the designs and how he accomplished that. but due to time constraints I decided not continue my research on him because at a glance it doesnt looks like it would be a suitable research source for the needs of this project. if i had more time im sure I would have been able to find some behind the scenes or interviews that would have shown me what his inspirations or influences were and that would have help give me some perspective to my own project or opened up more research avenues
Partical Effects
as some initial research I watched multiple Tutorials on youtube about Partical effects.
Due to time constraints I was not able to further research, experiment and with partical effects within my project.
Lighting
I obtained a book about lighting, Darren Brooker “Essential CG Lighting techniques with 3ds max. I had an initial flick throught to see if its contents would be a suitable research source for the project and determined that it was. but due to time constraints I was not able to later utilise the book to expand my research on lighting
Cloth modifier
as some initial research I watched multiple Tutorials on youtube about the Cloth modifier
Due to time constraints I have decided not to research the Cloth modifier any further as . I have seen some of my classmates experiment with the modifier with help from my tutor who isnt familiar with the modifier his self with less than ideal results and this was just for still uses not in animation simulation. if this was something I was going to implement It would have to be wholly by my own research and testing and due to the time constraints I decide it would not be the best use of my time as I will not have any time to do any experimentation and testing with the modifier of my own.
Facial rigging
As part of my Contextual Unit for my Course before the Start of the FMP started I Experimented with Facial rigging as I potentially wanted to have a Characters face animate so this was an experiment with facial rigging to see if it is feasible to implement into my Fmp.
as some initial research I watched multiple Tutorials on youtube about Facial rigging
After some initial research I found that there is 2 main methods to rigg the face and that is a bone based rigging and morph Targets. Morph targets Is a longer process to set up but is much faster to animate and gives a greater control than bone bassed rigging because for Morph targets you Create Multiple versions of the head in different positions and it is more accurate than bone base because you have to manually manipulate each vertex for the morph targets as a posed to a single bone the controls multiple vertexes but this also makes it more Hardware intensive as it needs to calculate each vertex, and it is faster to animate because you can create a GUI to animate the face rather than manipulate each bone individually.
I opted for bone based because its much simpler to implement and the facial animations I want to create wont be as intensive to use or justify creating morph targets to animate the face and using a morph targets has a much bigger learning curve then bone based rigging.
The Bone based facial rigg is created by making stretchy bones to mimic the facial muscles relaxing and constricting and this is done by applying a position constrained to a point helper at the bones pivot point then a lookat constraint is applied to the point helper at the bone it then in the bone tools freeze bones is turned of to alow the bones to stretch and squash.
The Character I created and Rigged to test the facial rigg
Character geometry & controllers
character Rig and close up of facial Rigg
When Creating a Facial rig You need to pay particular Attention to the topology of the face So that it can deform properly when animating. the most important part is creating the edge loops that run around the eyes and mouth as it mimics the structure of real facial muscles
test of deformations when the mouth opens
test of deformations when closing the eyes
the eye lids are only assigned to one bone that has a simple open and closing so it deformations are quite bad this as just a test but I didn’t change it if i was to do it again I would create at least a 3 bone chain for each eye lid to get the proper eyelid movements from the right pivot as currently the just move up and down, some thing I will experiment with when i creat the rig for the eyelids when i create the facial rig for my samurai in this project
I then decided to make the phoneme Alphabet to see how well my rig could replicate the mouth shapes if I Decided to make my character talk for lip syncing purposes
W,Q
O
U
M,B,P
L,T,H
F,V
E
C,D,G,K,N,R,S,Y,Z
A,I
I think for a first attempt it didn’t turn out too bad. im still getting the hang of Skinning and weighting, Potential problems to look out for when i create my Facial rig for my Samurai, I couldnt mirror the weights on the face because it was giving me wired results so it’s not equal on both sides the weighting particularly at the side of the mouth on the left side is a bit off. I think I also made the lips too thin on and didn’t pay too much attention to the inside of the mouth when modeling it.
Animation using the same type of rigg I intend to use for my samurai
Research stage Evaluation
I Feel that my Initial Research stage Was extremely successful and was a good foundation for the project. I combined The initial Fmp Task of the project proposal with an introduction/initial research type element as I felt it was a better way to present my Project then to have the Project proposal in a different separate word document as my peers have done. where I break Down and dissect Exactly what it is the brief is asking of me and I describe in great detail what I want to Create and how This will achieve the Briefs objectives my intentions and goals for the project. during this stage I identified Relevent Research topics that I feel I need to Research more or will help influence my Project. I identified problems that might occur at each stage of the project and state possible solutions to fix these problems should they arise. I Created a Realistic Thorough and Detailed Time schedule plan For the Project. to Help me stay on track and give me a perspective of the time allowed for the project.
I feel that My “secondary” research stage Was Effective But was not as successfully as I would have liked in terms of quantity. I had quite a major Set back right at the Start of the Project that I had not accounted for. I underestimated How time consuming The University application proses was Just as the Project began I started to receive University interviews. so a lot of the time I had set out for my Research stage Was now being occupied By University interview preparation and putting together a portfolio and then the actual interviews my choices of university were quite far away so it was a lot of Traveling over wich cumulatively consumed a lot of time over a 3 week period. Currently I am in the 4th week about to enter the 5th Week of the project and I have not yet Started Production on my samurai making me 2 weeks behind schedule which will have already of used my 2 weeks of contingency time I set aside in my plan. I did not expect to encounter any problems during my Research stage and already have projected to use my contingency time so early into the project. my Research at this point is not at a stage that I would say is not completed but is Developed enough to a stage where I can progress on to the next part of the Project. I will have to start the samurai Production then assess where the project stands at the end of that stage in terms of time. but at some point I will have to Return to my research to finish it off As its current state it is effective and relevent for me to continue but not Presentable to others.
In terms of my Research I produced I Feel it was Quite successfully The Sources I used for images and information Were appropriate. I had a mix of Primary and Secondary Research sources. The secondary Research sources were a lot more useful and relevent to me than the Primary sources.this is the opposite from Last Years Fmp where my Primary Research sources were invaluable to my Project. for my Primary Research I used images of Japanese Samurai armour and weapons for inspiration and influence I had Collected from the Leeds Royal armories from the previous years FMP. the opportunity to gather Primary research were much more limited to the nature of the Project. I had also thought about going to a Garden center or a japanese garden to get inspiration for when I create my enviroment it would have been useful if I could have gotten reference images of Cherry blossom trees or types of japanese vegetation I could include into my enviroment. but it couldnt find any suitable places close enough to me for it to be practical. There wasnt any intentional bias in my Choice of sources But it is clear that my Research into Afro samurai was a lot more Extensive and detailed then my other Research topics but this is due to time constraints. as Afro samurai was one of the first topics I decided to research I conducted it before I was hit by the time Delay of the University application process. I would have liked to have Produced the same type of research for Kill Bill and Samurai Champloo but due to time constraints I was not able to. my Research primarly focused on Story telling techniques and Composition of shots as I want to Produce and Animation and tell a story and as I intend to have no speech in my animation it’s very important for me to Research how to do so More so visually then to rely on dialog to tell a story. my Research also incorporates a lot of image Mood boards for the influence of my aesthetic and character design of my project. This research made me more aware of the type of Compositions and types of shots I want to use in my Final Animation particularly the varied use of multiple different types of camera shots, the use of foreground and back ground elements to tell a story.I also watched a lot of video tutorials on the more technical aspects of the project as some initial research to see how achievable it would be for me to implement them as I decided I would only do initial research into these technical aspects to see if they are achievable them do more research on them as required.
Rory Gardner 