Categories
FMP Thesis

Weeks 10-12: Final Thesis Proposal

In these last 3 weeks, I have been writing my draft introduction, methodology, and draft chapter, and I also polished my literature review.

Final thesis proposal

During my second 1-to-1 session with Nigel, I asked Nigel about the length of my literature review and the issues I was having trying to reduce it, as if I don’t, I will not have much space for my draft chapter. He then advised that if the literature review already shows my voice and how I am going to approach my topic, it is not strictly necessary to write a big draft chapter either. Therefore, I could reduce just a bit my literature review and only write about 100 words or a paragraph for my draft chapter. He also mentioned that thesis proposals were not supposed to be that strict with word count like the final thesis, as the proposal is only an explanation on how I am to develop my final thesis.

Below is how I finished my thesis proposal:

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FMP Thesis

Weeks 8 & 9: Final Thesis Chapters Structure & Draft Literature Review

In these two weeks I finished the final thesis structure so I could focus on researching further sources that were more specific to answer the questions and sub-questions of my topic. I also started writing and structuring my draft literature review with the sources I currently have.

Final thesis chapters structure with sources to be used to answer questions/sub-questions

I did some digging through my sources to take the parts that I could potentially use to answer my topic’s questions. Then, I also created an Excel spreadsheet to make notes of the most important points of my sources and to start structuring my literature review too.

Main question – Will photorealism continue to be the leader in the film industry in the future despite its controversy around the uncanny valley?

  1. What is photorealism? Photorealism is an art movement that started on 1960s in America, that shows artworks that look photographic. This form of art is defined by being complex, extremely clear, and emotionally neutral. Since this type of art was considered unoriginal and boring, this led to the pop art movement. However, in the beginnings of 1990s, the interest in photorealism resurged again as effect of the development of digital cameras which could offer a more precise image. (Kench, 2022; Tate, 2023; Wainwright, 2019)
  1. What are the origins of photorealism in filmmaking and what were its initial uses? (Manovich, 2002, pg. 198)
  1. How is photorealism used in filmmaking nowadays and how important is it?
    • Importance of photorealistic VFX to replace dangerous live action scenes. (Maio, 2021 – Matrix scene Neo dodging bullets; Wadmare, 2021) 
    • Importance of VFX to replace impossible to shot environments such as outer space scenes or fictional environments. – (Dinur, 2022 – The Reality of the Unreal, pg. 18)
    • Importance of VFX for health and safety issues like the use of virtual production when the global pandemic hit and travel to different locations was not a possibility.
    • Does photorealism quality depend purely on the new digital technologies’ high definition? (Dinur, 2022 – Image Quality and Photorealism, pg. 19)
  1. Why is photorealism not accepted by all audiences?
    • Uncanny valley. (Dinur, 2022; Manovich, 2002, pg. 199)
    • Has the audience become more used to photorealism, therefore, more exigent about it? (Failes, 2021 – interview to Eran Dinur)
    • Is photorealism considered emotionless?
    • At what point photorealism starts to become excessive? (Dinur, 2017, pg. 14)
    • Non-photorealism in filmmaking to foreground the work of digital effects artists. (Jeng, 2023; Agrawal and Auryn, 2009; and Cooper, 1999)
    • Photorealism costs and workload. (Agrawal and Auryn 2009; Cooper 1999)
    • Photorealism used for malicious intentions, issues caused, and solutions in place to help avoid this. (Meena and Tyagi, 2019)
  1. Industry professionals case studies. (Melki, 2019)
  1. What could be the future of photorealism in filmmaking? (Dinur, 2022)
    • AI as a tool to help with photorealism demands in film industry. Would AI replace human labour as digital VFX has shadowed handmade VFX artists and animators’ jobs?
    • Virtual production – high resolution screens installed in life action shooting. Helping with green screen spill issues? Problems when shooting outdoors or moiré issues? Once shot, can background not be replaced?
    • Is Unreal Engine helping filmmaking industry to speed up their work process and to reach a more photorealistic look? (Failes, 2020)

Draft Literature Review

According to Studio Binder (Kench, 2022), Britannica (Wainwright, 2019), and Tate (2023) official websites, Photorealism is an art movement that started on 1960s in America, that shows artworks that look photographic. This form of art is defined by being complex, extremely clear, and emotionally neutral. Since this type of art was considered unoriginal and boring, this led to the pop art movement. However, in the beginnings of 1990s, the interest in photorealism resurged again as effect of the development of digital cameras which could offer a more precise image. These sources will contribute to explain the concept of Photorealism before diving into a more specific analysis of this movement into film making.

Photorealism can be used in filmmaking in many scenarios. For example, to add CG elements (characters, objects, environments) or visual effects that would be impossible or dangerous to shot during live action. Wadmare examines in his essay the importance of photorealistic VFX in filmmaking industry as a tool to avoid shooting dangerous or impossible live action scenes, which techniques are being currently followed to achieve this, and which new trends are arising to make the process easier. In addition to this, Maio (2021), also reflects in her article What is VFX? Defining the Term and Creating Impossible Worlds about how VFX industries use photorealistic digital assets to create impossible and dangerous scenes such as the scene in The Matrix when the main character dodges bullets shot against him.

Eran Dinur, visual effects supervisor, believes that Photorealism is an aspect that is important across all disciplines as it helps simulating a real character, object, environment, or phenomenon that would have been impossible, dangerous, or highly costly to be filmed or photographed in live action. Delving into Eran Dinur’s bibliography, and more specifically in his book The Complete guide to Photorealism for Visual Effects, Visualization and Games, he analyses how to implement the physics that apply to the world around us to the visual effects in filmmaking and make them look as photorealistic as possible. Since most of the scenery in filmmaking are not even real like alien planets, fantastic creatures, or impossible environments for our understanding of physics, visual effects artists important job is to observe and study the world around us and try to implement it to these fictional shots. These imaginary worlds have also some Earth like aspects that are kept so the audience can empathise with them. Sometimes these familiar aspects can help make the shots more ‘believable’ and, therefore, more photorealistic for the viewer. It is important to keep a balance between what is real and unreal, otherwise, the shot could end being an overly fantastic scene that could throw the audience out of the story. 

Dinur also mentions that the quality of photorealism does not depend entirely on the quality digital capturer and display. While high dynamic range and bit depth are important for a successful photorealistic recreation, there are independent aspects such as light and surface, the sense of depth, richness of textures, characteristics of optical lenses, and many other characteristics that make a shot look as photorealistic in high definition as well as in low definition. These characteristics are more linked to the physics of the world around us and the interaction of surfaces, materials, lights, and other aspects with it.

In the beginning of the 21st century, Manovich (2002) explains in his book The Language of New Media, the origins of photorealism and how it has been developing throughout the years. He also analyses how it is a common opinion that CGI will never be as realistic as images gathered by camera lenses. However, he also counter argues that these opinions are mistaken, explaining why he thinks this and how these CGI is in fact becoming more realistic than traditional photographs (hyperrealism). He also mentions that photorealism is often mistaken with realism, as people has the tendency that this movement depicts the reality as we see it through our eyes, when what photorealism has always tried to achieve is the look of the reality seen through a camera lens.

Going back to Erin Dinur, in an interview he had with the journalist Ian Failes (2021), he defends that if a digital asset does not look like it was shot live in front of a camera and like it is part of the rest of the composition, it will look fake and will not work. This is why, in his opinion, photorealism is so important for visual effects artists and why there is also a lot of pressure on the visual effects artists’ shoulders regarding the so called ‘uncanny valley’ where the audience’s opinion will be stuck in feedbacks such as ‘this looks fake’ or ‘it looks too CG’. Also, he affirms that it is difficult to point out which part of the CG shot needs to be improved to make it look more photoreal, since the work pipeline when creating a CG shot is made by a chain of people, in most of the cases, like a modeler, a texture artist, a shading/lighting artist, a compositor, and a matte painter. Moreover, when we are talking about photoreal, we do not say ‘real’, as we are referring to the way we see through the lens of a camera not through our eyes. Therefore, so many things such as defocus, dynamic range, or exposure are processed differently through our eyes and brain than through a lens and a camera sensor. If we show CG shots as we would see it through our eyes, we will find it strange.

Dinur also has a previous book, The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects: The Arts and Techniques of VFX for Directors, Producers, Editors, and Cinematographers, where he speaks about the fact that a convincing photorealistic work is possible as soon as there is a ‘respect for the real-world physics and optics’. However, it is also very easy for VFX artists to fall for the desire to use every single VFX available and overload the film with an excess of digital effects that takes off the audience from the story.

Taking in consideration the amount of work, focus, and knowledge a good photorealistic shot requires, Jeng (2023) explain in their research paper, Sidelining Photorealism: ‘Speed Racer’ and Articulation of Digital Effects Labour, how photorealism has always been the leader in the film industry and how some movies like ‘Speed Racer’ have opted to sideline this style to help foreground the work of digital visual effects artists.

Furthermore, Agrawal and Auryn (2009), and Cooper (1999) also explain the challenges and techniques that artists have faced with photorealism (and its issues with the so called ‘uncanny valley’). They also explain how some artists have opted for NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) instead, to create a simpler and cartoony style (animation) that gives more creative freedom and more room to use the artist’s imagination.

Nowadays, photorealism’s quality has become so high and polished that it is difficult to differentiate it from real photographs or live action scenes. This could be beneficial and useful when used with good intentions, but it could also be used with malicious intentions. Meena and Tyagi (2019) argue in their paper, A Novel Method to Distinguish Photorealistic Computer Generated Images from Photographic Images, how photorealism, despite revolutionising the filmmake and game industry, how it has also been used with malicious intentions and how important it is to learn how to distinguish real assets from computer generated ones.

To understand photorealism practices amongst practitioners in the industry, Melki (2019), in his dissertation called An Investigation Into The Creative Processes In Generating Believable Photorealistic Film Characters, focuses on the process to create photorealistic film characters that are credible, as well as its benefits and challenges. The research also extends to interviews made with several industry expert practitioners with the purpose of comparing of all the statements acquired from the participants.

Indicative bibliography

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]

Dinur, E (2017). The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects: The Arts and Techniques of VFX for Directors, Producers, Editors, and Cinematograrphers. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Dinur, E. (2022). The Complete Guide to Photorealism for Visual Effects, Visualization and Games. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Failes, I. (2020). EPIC’S GOAL WITH NEXT-GEN UNREAL ENGINE IS PHOTOREALISM (online). Available at: https://beforesandafters.com/2020/05/14/epics-goal-with-next-gen-unreal-engine-is-photorealism/ [Accessed 4 June 2023]

Failes, I. (2021). WHAT IS PHOTOREALISM? WELL, SOMEONE LITERALLY JUST WROTE THE BOOK ON IT (online). Available at: https://beforesandafters.com/2021/11/30/what-is-photorealism-well-someone-literally-just-wrote-the-book-on-it/ [Accessed 4 June 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]

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 23 April 2023]

Maio, A. (2021). What is VFX? Defining the Term and Creating Impossible Worlds (online). Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-vfx/ [Accessed 30 May 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 Generatd 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]

Tate (2023). Photorealism (online). Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/photorealism [Accessed 30 May 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]

Wainwright, L. S. (2019). Photo-realism. Encyclopedia Britannica (online). Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/Photo-realism[Accessed 30 May 2023]

Categories
FMP Thesis

Week 6 & 7: Further Research, & 1-to-1 Session

In these two weeks I have focused on structuring my thesis points and doing further research to find the answer to the questions and sub-questions about my topic. I also had my 1-to-1 tutorial with Nigel.

1-to-1 session

Before this session, I prepared the below form with some questions about my thesis proposal to discuss it with the professor.

The feedback I received from Nigel was that I had to extend my bibliography and to find more contemporary sources. Also, he said that I should focus more in the peer reviewed papers or case studies already made by other authors, and do not make a survey myself (considering that it would be time consuming, and its would be hard to acquire opinions from professionals of the industry). He also said that I could focus on the ‘uncanny valley’ that exist around photorealism instead of trying to cover every aspect of this topic. I could also take some movies as references and depart from that.

Further research and thesis proposal structure

Doing some further research to expand my sources, I found a book called The Complete Guide to Photorealism for Visual Effects, Visualization and Games: For Visual Effects, Visualization and Games by Eran Dinur. This book provides detailed explanations of the differences between the view through our eyes and the view through a camera lens, the uncanny valley, and the imperfections of reality. It also talks about the challenges that visual effects have faced with photorealism in filmmaking as well as some more technical aspects of how to achieve a photorealistic look. Lastly, it also mentions briefly how photorealism is likely going to evolute with the emerging of new technologies and new techniques. This book is going to help me understand the technicalities of photorealism and why is so easy to get stuck in the uncanny valley with this style.

I also made a new structure of my thesis taking in consideration the new approach I want to focus on which is the photorealism struggles regarding the uncanny valley and the solutions that the industry has come up to deal with it. I also started to link my sources that could answer those questions and to start with the literature review next week.

Main question – Will photorealism continue to be the leader in the film industry in the future against traditional visual effects and despite its controversy around the uncanny valley?

  1. What is photorealism?

Photorealism is an art movement that started on 1960s in America, that shows artworks that look photographic. This form of art is defined by being complex, extremely clear, and emotionally neutral. Since this type of art was considered unoriginal and boring, this led to the pop art movement. However, in the beginnings of 1990s, the interest in photorealism resurged again as effect of the development of digital cameras which could offer a more precise image. (Kench, 2022; Tate, 2023; Wainwright, 2019)

  1. What are the origins of photorealism in filmmaking and what were its initial uses?
  1. How is photorealism used in filmmaking nowadays and important is it?
    • Importance of photorealistic VFX to replace dangerous live action scenes. (Maio, 2021; Wadmare, 2021) 
    • Importance of VFX to replace impossible to shot environments such as outer space scenes or fictional environments. – (Dinur, 2022 – The Reality of the Unreal, pg. 18)
    • Importance of VFX for health and safety issues like the use of virtual production when the global pandemic hit and travel to different locations was not a possibility.
    • Does photorealism quality depend purely on the new digital technologies’ high definition? (Dinur, 2022 – Image Quality and Photorealism, pg. 19)
  1. Why is photorealism not accepted by all audiences?
    • Uncanny valley. (Dinur, 2022; Manovich 2002)
    • Has the audience become more used to photorealism, therefore, more exigent about it? (Failes, 2021)
    • Is photorealism considered emotionless?
    • At what point photorealism starts to become surrealism?
    • Non-photorealism in filmmaking to foreground the work of digital effects artists. (Jeng, 2023)
    • Photorealism costs and workload. (Agrawal and Auryn 2009; Cooper, 1999)
    • Photorealism used for malicious intentions, issues caused, and solutions in place to help avoid this. (Meena and Tyagi, 2019)
  1. Industry professionals case studies. (Melki, 2019)
  1. What could be the future of photorealism in filmmaking? – (Dinur, 2022)
    • AI as a tool to help with photorealism demands in film industry. Would AI replace human labour as digital VFX has shadowed handmade VFX artists and animators’ jobs?
    • Virtual production – high resolution screens installed in life action shooting. Helping with green screen spill issues? Problems when shooting outdoors or moiré issues? Once shot, can background not be replaced?
    • Is Unreal Engine helping filmmaking industry to speed up their work process and to reach a more photorealistic look? (Failes, 2020)

Bibliography

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]

Dinur, E (2017). The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects: The Arts and Techniques of VFX for Directors, Producers, Editors, and Cinematograrphers. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Dinur, E. (2022). The Complete Guide to Photorealism for Visual Effects, Visualization and Games. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Failes, I. (2020). EPIC’S GOAL WITH NEXT-GEN UNREAL ENGINE IS PHOTOREALISM (online). Available at: https://beforesandafters.com/2020/05/14/epics-goal-with-next-gen-unreal-engine-is-photorealism/ [Accessed 23 May 2023]

Failes, I. (2021). WHAT IS PHOTOREALISM? WELL, SOMEONE LITERALLY JUST WROTE THE BOOK ON IT (online). Available at: https://beforesandafters.com/2021/11/30/what-is-photorealism-well-someone-literally-just-wrote-the-book-on-it/ [Accessed 23 May 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]

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 23 April 2023]

Maio, A. (2021). What is VFX? Defining the Term and Creating Impossible Worlds (online). Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-vfx/ [Accessed 30 May 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 Generatd 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]

Tate (2023). Photorealism (online). Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/photorealism [Accessed 30 May 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]

Wainwright, L. S. (2019). Photo-realism. Encyclopedia Britannica (online). Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/Photo-realism[Accessed 30 May 2023]

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FMP Thesis

Week 5: Research Frameworks

In this week’s lecture, we analysed the types of research framework that can be done in our thesis and the research methodology we are going to follow to develop our topic.

Types of research

There are two types of research that we could use for our thesis such as:

  • Quantitative research. This type of research provides numerical data (analysed using mathematical methods or statistics). It is an empirical research that explains trends so it is more objective.
  • Qualitative research. This type of research produces findings without using quantitative methods and it is more subjective. It explores the perception, feelings, or ideas of people.

Critical thinking process and thesis proposal structure

The process to follow to analyse a topic in a critical manner is the following:

  • Investigate a problem thoroughly
  • Prosecute and defend an idea
  • Cross examine witnesses (literature review)
  • Verdict (conclusion)

This process will help us to structure our thesis topic in a logical way until reaching a conclusion where we will explain our findings.

Our thesis proposal structure will be as follow:

  • Introduction
  • Background significance
  • Literature review
  • Research design, methods, and schedule
  • Suppositions and implications
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography

Methodology

Our research targets will constitute the basis of the methodology used. In order to explain the methodology used, we will need to follow this structure:

  • Describe thesis or research problem
  • Explain chosen approach
  • Clarify any uncommon methodology used
  • Explain how the data used was collected
  • Detail methods used to analyse collected data
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FMP Thesis

Week 4: Literature Review, Thesis Main Body Structure, & Possible Questions and Sub-questions

This week’s lecture focused on explaining the bases of building up a good literature review. I also thought of the possible questions and sub-questions of my thesis and how they would be structured.

Literature review

This will help to orient ourselves and the reader towards what we want to cover in our thesis. A literature review is developed by:

  • Communicating relevant research methodology.
  • Showing theoretical framework we could establish.
  • Detailing where our work fits into the bigger picture.

When structuring a literature review we need to state our research question and explain how we tackled it. Then a body of paragraphs will explain the research in detail. Lastly, a conclusion section will reiterate the research question while summarising the insides. Within our body sources, we will need to identify themes, patterns, and gaps.

Once we have read and understood our sources, we will need to organise a strategy for writing about how we have used them in our research. We can organise them chronologically, by themes, or according to methods used by their author. Once this outline is done, we can start writing our literature review.

Thesis main body structure draft, with possible questions and sub-questions

Based on some of the sources I have already found, I thought of some possible questions and sub-questions, and organised them in a possible structure of my thesis’ main body.

Main question – Will photorealism continue to be the leader in the film industry in the future?

  1. What is photorealism
  1. What are the origins of photorealism in filmmaking and what were its initial uses?
  1. How is photorealism used in filmmaking nowadays?
    • Importance of photorealistic VFX to replace dangerous live action scenes.
    • Importance of VFX to replace impossible to shot environments such as outer space scenes or fictional environments. 
    • Has digital photorealistic VFX better quality than actual handmade scenography? 
    • Has digital photorealistic VFX completely substituted the job of stop motion modellers and animators?
    • Has digital photorealistic VFX completely substituted the job of make-up artists and props artists?
  1. Why is photorealism not accepted by all audiences?
    • Uncanny valley.
    • Non-photorealism in filmmaking to foreground the work of digital effects artists.
    • Photorealism costs and workload.
    • Photorealism used for malicious intentions, issues caused, and solutions in place to help avoid this.
  1. What is the general public’s opinion (audience) about photorealism? (survey)
  1. What could be the future of photorealism in filmmaking?
    • AI as a tool to help with photorealism demands in film industry. Would AI replace human labour as digital VFX has shadowed handmade VFX artists and animators’ jobs?
    • Virtual production – high resolution screens installed in life action shooting. Helping with green screen spill issues? Problems when shooting outdoors or moiré issues? Once shot, can background not be replaced?
Categories
FMP Thesis

Week 3: Thesis Proposal Research, Abstract, & First Sources

This week we analysed the objectives and structure of our thesis, and wrote a short explanation of our topic and sources relevance to our project proposal.

Thesis objectives and structure

Before starting to write a thesis, it is important to set the targets, audience, and structure of it:

  • Determine audience
  • Determine what hit is the audience is going to learn
  • Break down thesis into main questions
  • Put questions in an order that makes sense
  • Develop sub-questions
  • Plan investigation two find answers

In order to build my thesis argument, I will need to use my own voice, meaning to express in a formal way but following my own style of writing. I could build my own views on its but not using my own opinions into it without any evidence to prove it. I should not use ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘mine’, only to be used when citing my own research. Before starting to write the thesis, it is good practice to try and sum the argument in a few words, so I can have it as reference to go back to check if I am still following this initial argument while writing the thesis.

In the chapters, it would be interesting to add counterarguments to our arguments that could at the same time argued again. This would prove that the analysis is not biased and it is taking in consideration all perspectives.

The conclusion should summarise the main points discussed on each chapter and should answer the question asked originally.

The methodology followed to research and gather information could be by researching peer reviewed sources, surveys, interviews, experiments, etc.

Blog task

We were asked to provide an outline of our potential research topic:

1. A short explanation of what I am researching, how I am researching it, and why it is important to research this subject/the relevance to my project proposal.

I am going to focus my research in photorealism in film industry.There are many different opinions and techniques about this, such us how can digital photorealism help with safety issues during live action shooting of ‘impossible to shot’ scenes, or how some people consider photorealism in filmmaking to be ‘too realistic’ therefore it takes you out of the story being difficult to empathise with, or how photorealistic animation can be considered a live action movie or an animation movie. This topic has many directions that can be followed and I would need to structured it in a way that everything looks connected. I am thinking in narrow it down to the controversy that photorealism has always been into the film industry (pros and cons rather than technical aspects) as it could be interesting to analyse the reaction of the audience throughout the years and how it could possibly develop in the future. My research method would be focused on peer reviewed sources found on internet or library, but I will possibly try to conduct a survey amongst students, lecturers at university and some more people outside VFX industry to ask about their feelings towards photorealistic films (I will have to create a selection of the best known photorealistic movies so people taking the survey are familiar with them).

2. Keywords/key phrases used in my searches.

Photorealism, CGI, VFX, Filmmaking, Filmmaking safety standards, Uncanny Valley

3. At least four sources, debates or texts in the subject area and a short explanation of the relevance to my project proposal.

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]

  • These two sources explain the challenges and techniques that artists have faced with photorealism (and its issues with the so called ‘uncanny valley’), and how some artists have opted for NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) to create a more simple and cartoony style (animation).

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]

  • This research paper explains how photorealism has always been the leader in the film industry and how some movies like ‘Speed Racer’ have opted to sideline this style to help foreground the work of digital visual effects artists.

Manovich, Lev (2002). The Language of New Media. First paperback edn. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

  • Manovich’s book explains how it is a common opinion that CGI will never be as realistic as images gathered by camera lenses. He also counter argues that these opinions are mistaken, explaining why he thinks this and how these CGI is in fact becoming more realistic than traditional photographs.

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]

  • This source explains how photorealism has revolutionary the filmmaking and game industry and, in the other hand, it also analyses how these photorealistic techniques have been used with malicious intentions and how important it is to learn how to distinguish real assets from computer generated ones.

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]

  • This dissertation focuses in the process to create believable photorealistic film characters as well as its benefits and challenges. The research was also made through interviews with several expert industry practitioners and the comparison of all the participants statements.

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]

  • This essay examines the importance of photorealistic VFX in filmmaking industry as a tool to avoid shooting dangerous live action scenes.
Categories
FMP Thesis

Week 1 & 2: Thesis Proposal & Research of Topic

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]