These first two weeks we focused on researching about our possible thesis topic and analysing how our thesis proposal development would be structured.
The structure of a thesis would be the following:
- Title page
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- Contents page(s)
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Methodology
- Themed topic chapters (main discussion)
- Results
- Discussion or findings
- Conclusions
- References
- Appendices
Before starting with the actual thesis, we will be doing a thesis or research proposal this term. This research proposal’s goal is the plan a structure for research like books, questionnaires, possible interviews, etc. It needs to explain why that research is necessary for the topic like for filling a gap in the subject, proving already existing researches, adding new knowledge to the topic, etc. Also, a literature review is important in our proposal to see if the material gathered is enough and useful for our thesis. It will let us demonstrate that we understand the key information of our goals. The proposal structure would be the following:
- Introduction
- Background significance (why research is needed and how it relates to field of study)
- Literature review (introduction to sources we plan to use in our research)
- Research design, methods, and schedule (planning)
- Suppositions and implications (what results are we expecting and how are they going to contribute to the field of study)
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
In order to develop a research topic we should be asking questions like the following:
- What motivates me to research and discover?
- How can I connect it with my previous research?
- Can this research impact the current knowledge of that topic and add new one?
- Who is going to be the audience?
- What is the reader going to learn from this research?
- Will my topic meet the assignment’s requirements?
- Will it be connected to my FMP?
Topic research
In the second week we were asked to research our topic, keywords, and potential sources. I initially thought of focusing my research in environment texturing in CGI, but as I continued researching, I came across photorealism in film industry and how many different opinions and techniques there are about this. For example, how can digital photorealism help with safety issues during live action shooting, or how photorealistic animation can be considered a live action movie or an animation movie, or how some people consider photorealism in filmmaking to be ‘too realistic’. I will be refining my main questions and sub-questions over the next week, but at the moment, I have found quite a few interesting sources.
Topic of interest
Photorealism in the film industry
Keywords
Photorealism, CGI, VFX, Filmmaking, Filmmaking safety standards, Uncanny Valley
References that provide context or motivation
Amidi, A. (2018). Don’t Let Disney Gaslight You: ‘The Lion King’ Remake Is An Animated Film. Here’s The First Teaser. (online). Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/dont-let-disney-gaslight-you-the-lion-king-is-an-animated-film-heres-the-teaser-166897.html [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Heckmann, C. (2021). What is Realism in Film? Cinematic Realism Explained (online). Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-realism-in-film-definition/#:~:text=Photorealism%20is%20the%20realistic%20recreation,medium%3B%20in%20this%20case%20film. [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Holliday, C. (2020). “You Are Not Responsible for Their Choices, Elsa”: The Lion King (2019), Frozen II (2019) and the Theatre of Photorealist Achievement (online). Available at: https://blog.animationstudies.org/?p=3466 [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Kench, S. (2022). What is Photorealism — The Art of the Real Explained (online). Available at:
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-photorealism-definition/ [Accessed on 25 April 2023]
Toolbox-admin (2018). Photorealism – An Exciting New Trend in the VFX Industry (online). Available at:https://www.toolbox-studio.com/blog/photorealism-an-exciting-new-trend-in-the-vfx-industry/ [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Academically recognised sources
Agrawal, A., and Auryn (2009). Non-photorealistic Rendering: Unleashing the Artist’s Imagination (online). Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5167490 [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Cooper, D. (1999). Personal Thoughts on Non-Photorealistic Rendering (online). Available at: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/563666.563690 [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Jeng, J. (2023). Sidelining Photorealism: ‘Speed Racer’ and Articulation of Digital Effects Labour (online). Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KLOqEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA153&dq=photorealism+in+film&ots=r8349MlY8s&sig=aEhMvSbwORZ1C0leMCKO8dpnEns&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=photorealism%20in%20film&f=false[Accessed 25 April 2023]
Manovich, Lev (2002). The Language of New Media. First paperback edn. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Meena, K. B., and Tyagi, V. (2019). A Novel Method to Distinguish Photorealistic Computer Generated Images from Photographic Images (online). Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8985711 [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Melki, H. (2019). An Investigation Into The Creative Processes In Generating Believable Photorealistic Film Characters (online). Available at: https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/78290411/Henry_Melki_Thesis.pdf [Accessed 25 April 2023]
Wadmare, S. (2021). Recent Trends Visitation in VFX and SFX in the Animation World (online). Available at: http://ilkogretim-online.org/fulltext/218-1617213160.pdf?1682423818 [Accessed 25 April 2023]