Week 1 – SUSTAINABILITY

For our first class of contextual research, we were asked to find a postcard or image that related to the word sustainability. I chose a postcard that was sent to us by some family over in England:

This postcard relates to the idea of sustainability because it wasn’t manufactured and bought, it was handmade by my uncle’s girlfriend using a piece of cardboard, a photo and a printed and coloured in drawing. It could possibly relate to animation, which is my discipline, as well as the horse drawing on the front half of the postcard could possibly be a character design that was made/created by my uncle’s girlfriend.

Week 2 – IDENTITY

For our second class for contextual research, we were asked to do some research into the theme of identity.

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An identity is how you are seen and recognised by others.  In terms of the vast industry of animation, you’re identity, whether it’s your individual identity or your identity as a company, is created and defined through your art style. You’re recognised and identified by your style and the way you animate. An example of a company that has a well known identity is Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli was established in June 1985, making the company 35 years old. Studio Ghibli’s identity, their art style, was initially developed by Toshio Suzuki, one of the four founders of the company. Suzuki began animating with the intention of creating films that were directed by Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, two other founders of Studio Ghibli. (2)

The reason I chose Studio Ghibli for this task is because, in terms of the animation industry, they’re the first studio that comes to mind as they have a unique style that is automatically recognised as theirs. They fit with the idea of identity as their unique art style and animation style means that they are easily identified by anyone who watches their movies or sees screenshots from any of said movies.

In conclusion, in terms of the animation industry, your identity is something you create yourself through the way you create and present your art to the world.

Week 3 – INNOVATION

For our third class of contextual research, we were asked to do some research into the theme of innovation. A simple way to define innovation is that it is the development, creation and implementation of a new product with the objective of improving efficiency, competitive advantage or effectiveness.(3)

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One of many innovations within the animation industry is AR or augmented reality. Augmented reality is a form of technology that allows people to be able to overlap real life scenes with digital content, i.e. sounds, text or images. AR apps typically rely on the users camera to be turned on in order to augment the world through their screen.(5)

An example of augmented reality is the app Pokémon GO. The photo above is a screenshot from the apps trailer, showing the user augmenting the world in front of them with a pokémon. The app allows you to become a real life pokémon trainer, using the users camera and location to augment the world with all kinds of pokémon and allowing the user to use the apps mechanics to catch said pokémon.

This video challenged my thinking on innovation as it touched on points that I wouldn’t have thought would need to be considered in order to become a successful innovator. It was interesting to listen to and I learnt some new things from it.(6)

Week 4 – COMMUNICATION

For our fourth week of our contextual research class, we were asked to do research around the theme of communication.

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In terms of animation, the characters that are made and used for the animation help communicate the story or message that the animation is trying to convey. As things or situations happen to the characters, it’s usually easy to empathise with the emotions their feeling in the moment which reels people into it.(8)

For my research I decided to use a short animation called “Missing Halloween”. This animation came to mind for the topic of communication for its storytelling. This short animation effectively conveys a sad story around Halloween without any words being said. The story is about a lonely little boy on Halloween who makes a new friend the year before. Further on in the story its revealed that no one else can see the little girl the boy has befriended and his parents think its just an imaginary friend. At the end of the animation, it’s revealed that the little girl had been missing all this time and had actually died out in a forest full of animal traps. The little boy had been led to her body by her ghost and she was finally found by the others. This whole sad story is communicated to the viewers without a single word being said throughout the entire animation.

Logo:

I also created a logo that would communicate what I work as or rather what my business would be. I recreated a logo I had made for myself in tech as I feel it gets across the idea that I animate as a job. I also made an animated version of the logo as well, making it wave.

 

Week 5 – GENDER

For the fifth week of our contextual research class, we were asked to do some research into gender. Gender, in short, refers to the socially constructed characteristics of men and women, girls and boys.(9) Gender also relates to a persons psychological state, whether that’s androgynous, masculine or feminine. This includes a persons attitude and behaviour which are affected by culture and society.

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In terms of animation, I came across this short animation that’s based around gender. It portrays a character trying to work out their gender, not agreeing with the male or female rooms and being rejected by what looks like the LGBT room for not being either. They end up creating their own room instead that others join in time.

The animation portrays, without any sound or speaking, just imagery, that gender is so much more than the binary of male or female, that it’s fully possible to be neither of them and that you can create your own space of acceptance.

Week 6 – PLACE

For the sixth week of our contextual research, we were asked to do some research around the topic of place. In terms of the dictionary definition, place is a particular space or location.(11)

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In terms of animation, however, place could refer to the placement or composition of objects or characters within a scene of an animation. The screenshot above is from a short animation called “Amy”. Within this scene of the animation, Amy’s shadow shrinks to become a mouse as she’s walking down the hallway to her room.

The shot above focuses in on this shadow to show it more clearly and continue to show the sudden size the difference between Amy and her shadow. This shift in size and placement of the shadow silently shows that Amy is trying to be quiet as she walks to her room or, in a different way, she feels small in her own house.

 

References:

(1) Takai, S. Howl’s Moving Castle – Studio Ghibli‎｜STUDIO GHIBLI [Online]. Available at: ハウルの動く城 – スタジオジブリ｜STUDIO GHIBLI

(2) Takai, S. Studio Ghibli Overview – Studio Ghibli‎｜STUDIO GHIBLI [Online]. Available at: スタジオジブリの概要 – スタジオジブリ｜STUDIO GHIBLI

(3) Hudson, K. (2014).  What is the best definition of innovation? | Dr Ken Hudson[Online]. Dr Ken Hudson. Available at: What is the best definition of innovation? | Dr Ken Hudson (Accessed: 7 February 2021)

(4) )Pokémon GO [Online]. Available at: Pokémon GO (pokemongolive.com) (Accessed: 7 February 2021)

(5) What Is Augmented Reality (AR)? A Practical Overview [Online]. Threekit.com. Available at: What Is Augmented Reality (AR)? A Practical Overview (threekit.com) (Accessed at: 7 February 2021)

(6) The art of innovation | Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley – YouTube

(7) Missing Halloween – YouTube (Accessed: 14 February 2021)

(8) Top 10 reasons for using animation in your business | Sliced Bread Animation[Online]. Sliced Bread Animation. Available at: Top 10 reasons for using animation in your business | Sliced Bread Animation (sbanimation.com) (Accessed: 14 February 2021)

(9) Gender and health [Online]. Who.int. Available at: Gender (who.int) (Accessed: 24 February 2021)

(10) Gender Animatic – YouTube (Accessed: 24 February 2021)

(11) Place Meaning | Best 89 Definitions of Place [Online]. Yourdictionary.com. Available at: Place Meaning | Best 89 Definitions of Place (yourdictionary.com) (Accessed: 4 March 2021)

(12) Amy – YouTube (Accessed: 4 March 2021)