Post 14 - Research Tailoring

Second meeting between me, Darren Wall and this time Omar Khan about our Research Practice module. We discussed the idea of the low resolution character in conjunction with videogame cinematics. This went down well and seems to be a good idea (although the next stage is to quickly find some relevant research).

This is the major issue I have with the structure of the module. Task one was concerned with researching the area of interest / study. At the time, mine was modelling, plus animation so I was looking primarily at other people's work, modelling in the industry as well as animation technology. However, as I wish to focus on animation; specifically emotion conveyance and characteristic, I will now need to gain fresh research and a lot of past research will no longer be required or relevant.

This does not make task one's research redundant or useless as it is that research which has led me to where I am now with my project. However, as what I wish to do is a lot more specific, I need to hastily construct a draft report using new resources. However, it is a learning curve and the report will be all the better for it. A couple of interesting resources so far include:

Williams, R. (2008) Richard William's Animation Survival Guide: Animated (DVD)

Williams, R. (2009) Richard William's Animation Survival Guide: Expanded Edition

 Chong, A (2008) Digital Animation

These are very interesting and provide both contextual information about the role of digital animation, as well as fundamental principles/methodologies of animation. I will find more sources later on this evening, as well as several great examples of games which use cut scenes to convey characteristics.

However, I am aware that many recent games use less cinematics and a lot more in game dialogue (Half Life 2, Bioshock series etc)

One example which springs to mind is Halo Reach. This uses cut scenes, featuring characters which for a lot of the time are wearing helmets, so a lot of the emotion must be conveyed elsewhere (body, head motion etc).

The next step up to the hand in (Friday 18th 23:59) is to find more research, (library databases, relevant studies etc) as well as find some key game examples.

I have begun to construct the draft report, but it is very much in its infancy.


Animated Survival Kit - LINK
Animated Survival Kit: Animated - LINK
Digital Animation - LINK