2nd Semester 1st meeting

I had my first meeting of the year with Lynn today.

Agenda

We met to discuss:

• Practical work
• Case Studies
• Dissertation
• Ethics form
• Moving forward

Practical Work

I explained that I had continued to explore tutorials but haven't been out to take location photos and with no real direction beginning to form we determined that it will still be likely that I will have to continue pre-production work for several weeks.  I think the problem with the practice based research is that I haven't been able to conceive of a suitable direction relating to the Research Proposal.  Lynn suggested I look through this to gleam some key subject areas to discuss in case studies and explore practically.

Case Studies

We discussed investigating several films as case studies and determined that by next week I should bring a proposed framework for carrying this out.  I think this will allow me to determine a structured approach to practical work and relate things back to my dissertation more easily.  We agreed that I should return next week with a framework for how to critically analyse each film in a consistent way and determine each film's approach to VFX, or the focus of the VFX as a tool, for instance production design, story.....

I'll begin by looking at Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,  The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Hobbit.

Dissertation

We discussed writing the dissertation in smaller parts to enable Lynn to give me feedback and gradually build up the dissertation for submission.  I will determine a schedule for submission of each section and inform Lynn of this next week.

By engaging existent elements from the lit review of the Research Proposal it should help determine a direction to take the practical work that will, more importantly, be relevant to the exploration of the role of VFX as a narrative device.

Ethics Form

We went over the Ethics Approval Form which was due in today and made some minor changes before submitting it.  These improvements involved being more specific with participants and hazards.  The project may well involve one or more participants should it be required in filming.

Moving Forward

Going forward I will aim to develop work in a more consistent way.  I will be more prepared each week for meetings providing agenda of what I need to achieve each week.  I will determine a framework for Case Studies.

I will do at least one environmental compositing tutorial and 4 environment drawings from life.