Research and Reflective Practice Module Day

Today we had two workshops for the Reflection On Practice Module, 'Presenting Your Partner's Research' workshop with Jeanette in the morning; and 'Writing Abstracts' with Sharon and Anna Notaro in the Afternoon.

Last night I hit a slight crisis point where I felt I had lost my research question/focus. I think my confusion began because I was trying to relate my research to/link it to my main project work, as I would like it to help better inform my practice-led work. We also have to carry out a Focus Group or Interview in the very near future, (with ethics and participant consent forms to be handed in asap) and I started to think what do I actually want to find out, and what could I find out from doing a focus group... If I know what I want to find out, maybe this will help me word my question.

All my notes from yesterday - trying to figure out my research...

Started to take notes and references from Paul Wells The Animated Bestiary.  There are some interesting thoughts and theories explored in this book, from anthropomorphism, empathy, crossing the line, and how animals are portrayed in animated film and what they represent on a societal and cultural level.

I took all my notes and confused thoughts to the workshop this morning. I was paired with Fraser, who is researching some similar subject areas to my own research (anthropomorphism). I attempted to explain my current research question, methods of research and possible outcomes to him.

My research is looking at how to create a convincing and believable performance of an animated dog character, by giving the dog human characteristics and emotions which allow the audience to empathize with.
As I have learned from my research last semester, one essential method that contributes towards a convincing and believable character performance is empathy: to empathize with a character is to relate to their feelings and therefore to care for them; this results in an audience that is engrossed for the duration of the film.

Another aspect I would like to investigate is the difference in empathy with dog owners and non-dog owners, is empathy dependent on the audience?  I wondered if dog owners would connect with the character more because they would recognize traits in their own dog(s) and that would be their way to empathizing with the dog character. Are they recognizing behavior and seeing their own dog, consciously or not. If they watch films like 101 Dalmatians and Lady & the Tramp, do they watch it with different eyes compared to when they weren't dog owners. For the non-dog owners, do they empathize more with the human characteristics in the dog character because they aren't as familiar with dog characteristics.

Slight historical context could be explored: how relationship between dog and man have developed throughout history. How have cartoon dogs developed throughout animation history.

Need to explore methods: Dogs can talk or express emotions like humans, therefore we have to constantly work out what they might be thinking. To animate a dog, we need to find a more expressive and clear way to express what a dog will be thinking, in order to communicate a story and character performance to an audience.


I think writing the Abstract is going to further help me to summarize and structure my research.