Research Proposal weekly summary
Week 1;
This week we were briefed on the project. We must come up with an idea to research that is both academic but will also help us. I would like to research into google books and google scholar.
I already have a few ideas in mind;
I would like to research into animated series/cartoons and producing them, Using therapy for art.
I also have a few protentional questions:
-Can a student create their own animation series a self challenge,
-Is animation dominated by a children audience?
-Is animation more popular now?
-Is the industry more male based?
-Is animation more male based?
-Is animation more artistic or technique?
-Can you create a fanbase for a new animation series with in 12 weeks using social media
I feel I would prefer to either do an industry report or experimental report.
- Week 2
This week we had a group tutorial with Lynsey discussing and sharing our ideas; the idea I was most keen on (Attempting to produce a piolet) was pointed out to be unrealistic in the time frame, due to the time taking to animate, and the time to research would not fit with in a 12 week time frame. My other concept ideas such as male dominance in the industry v.s women in animation, and animations main target audience where liked by the others however I do not feel as interested In this. I plan to develop my preferred idea into something more focused and simpler but covers parts of that area.
- Week 3
After some careful consideration, I have decided to do an industry report, researching into getting an animation produced rather than attempting to produce one myself. I will be researching into different types of distribution, how to get funding, different routes, such as independent v.s going to/working for a company, freelancing and collaborating with a business one off. I will be looking at different roles, information about costs, profits ect. Overall it will be aindustry report, however it will benefit myself evaluating the best process and possible out comes when I come to graduate and attempt to pitch my idea for an animation series. I have written a plan prior to writing my actual research proposal that I can show Lynsey for my tutorial next week.
my working title; how can you produce an animated cartoon series? My type of report; industry report -background (the history of animated series, how it became, English, American and japan Cartoons.) - research question; how you can produce an animated cartoon series in the modern era. - overall aims; to look at different routes into distributing an animated cartoon, through companies/self distributing, look at the process from pre-production, production, pitching/ getting funding, creating an successful series, target audience. Overall looking at the reality of myself being able to create and successfully produce an animated series after graduating. Research methods; - books on how to do, history of cartoons ect, books on previous cartoons - online interviews by animation producers of current and finished cartoons - case studies into old cartoon series - talk to self publishing animators and ask to interview them - research into companies, potential all courses and internships - research into publishing companies such as amazon prime and Netflix and YouTube. - table of contexts Chapter one; methods of preproduction of a cartoon animated series (2d focused) - finding a team, pilots, story boarding ect. Chapter two; How to get funding -pitching, crowd funding, raising money, sponsors, doing work in own time whilst working ect Chapter three; how to distribute -Netflix, amazon prime.. as options - going through companies Such as Disney, Nickelodeon, cartoon next work, bbc - self publishing on YouTube and other social media Tv/online platforms/social media/ Chapter four; Producing the series - time, money - technology - methods Chapter 5; How to make a successful cartoon - making fan base, making it economical, making money back Chapter six; possible routes for a newly graduate/ plan Potential outcomes; -help students, and creatives wanting to produce their own animated series - help me with a plan to produce my animated series and if it’s realistic. - look at different roles and challenges involved - look at theories of current and old animations, evaluate the importance of cartoons in the modern era and their success - look at the hopes for independent animators Bibliography; Timeline; - research /books on context and history of tv animated series, web series - look into already produced animated series - research into successful animation process old and current - research into cartoon current trends and technologies -interview independent producers - research into courses, internships, ma, jobs ladders.
Week 4
This week, I had my one to one tutorial with Lynsey; This time my idea was approved, however I needed to narrow down my ideas and reword the question to be more focused. my working title; how can you produce an animated cartoon series? My type of report; industry report -background ( the history of animated series, how it became, English, American and japan Cartoons.) - research question; how can you produce an animated cartoon series in the modern era. I need to re write the question. I need to focus On smaller areas instead of having such a wide coverage of different cultures of animation. For this reasoning I will only be focusing on American and English cartoons. - overall aims; to look at different routes into distributing an animated cartoon, through companies/self distributing, look at the process from pre-production, production, pitching/ getting funding,creating an successful series, target audience. Overall looking at the reality of myself being able to create and successfully produce an animated series after graduating. I need to slim line my areas of research so I’m just going to focus on production and pitching/funding. Research methods; - books on how to do, history of cartoons ect, books on previous cartoons - online interviews by animation producers of current and finished cartoons - case studies into old cartoon series - talk to self publishing animators and ask to interview them - research into companies, potential all courses and internships - research into publishing companies such as amazon prime and Netflix and YouTube. - table of contexts Chapter one; methods of preproduction of a cartoon animated series (2d focused) - finding a team, pilots , story boarding ect. Chapter two; How to get funding -pitching, crowd funding, raising money, sponsors, doing work in own time whilst working ect Chapter three; how to distribute -Netflix, amazon prime.. as options - going through companies Such as Disney, Nickelodeon, cartoon next work, bbc - self publishing on YouTube and other social media Tv/online platforms/social media/ Chapter four; Prodocuing the series - time, money - technology - methods Chapter 5; How to make a successful cartoon - making fan base, making it economical, making money back Chapter six; possible routes for a newly graduate/ plan Once again, I need to slim line my research. I have decided to focus researching on the production, funding and distribution. Including, I can only have three chapters. Potential outcomes; -help students, and creatives wanting to produce their own animated series - help me with a plan to produce my animated series and if it’s realistic. - look at different roles and challenges involved - look at theories of current and old animations, evaluate the importance of cartoons in the modern era and their success - look at the hopes for independent animators Timeline; - research /books on context and history of tv animated series, web series - look into already produced animated series - research into successful animation process old and current - research into cartoon current trends and technologies -interview independent producers - research into courses, internships, ma, jobs ladder - Look at case studies of successful and unsuccessful cartoons - Research into the process Things I need to do next; - write a list of potential people I would like to contact and interview - start up my Harvard bibliography -write up the finalized version of my research proposal
Week 5
This week I have begun some reading, researching into animated television, I have found saturated information about context and history of prime time animations;
‘graphic freedoms afforded by the simple use of line and form... this is what Hanna Barberareturned to as its prevailing aesthetics, concentrating on producing simple forms in both line and form, but in colour. In many senses there was less concentration on animation itself and more on the ingenuity of a visual joke making and creating characters as graphic ciphers for specific ideas.’ P.19
’ Oriolo.. equally recognizing the importance of the shift emphasis and the possibilities of recovering an established market, trained his workers in this style... fully animated scenes were considered a threat to the budget and were sent back to the animators for changes" (canemaker1991:150)’ p.21
‘UPA specialized in "limited" or "planned" animation, which in the American idom operates as a more economic form of animation by using fewer and less detailed backgrounds; creating fewer animated movements- often only the movement of eyes, mouth and functional limbs on key characters; employing simple, repeatable movement cycles; and by stressing sound over some aspects of action.’ P.22-23
Huckleberry working in the tradition of endearing idiot-savant, combined accidental heroism with customary slapstick... the show won an Emmy in 1959 as the outstanding achievement in children's programming, the first animated cartoon series to be hindered by the television industry.' P.24
'[spin-offs] The most popular elements of one program could be re-contextualized and resold’ p.26
'animation survived because of the recumbency strategies that enabled it to re-event itself in a populist idiom and context in the post-theatrical era.' P.27
From this research, I can summaries some of the information as context to its history, and where it originated from, television. Some of the information mentioned such as spin offs and simplified animation ‘Less is more’ will go into the main body of my text, briefly talking about more efficient and successful roots to producing an animated cartoon.
Week 6
Still researching into the same book, (Stabile, C. and Harrison, M. (2003). Prime-time animation. 1st ed. London: Routledge) I began reading into the ecnomids of television. As this is one of the factors I will be taking into count for distribution/companies to partner up with in my evaluation. Some information I found:
'to understand the economic incentives toward an increase in animated program production in the 1990s we, cannot, then rely upon a simple model of cost per episode versus revenue, or even upon the assumptions that luring of demographically desirable audiences its self renderedanimation more profitable than other forms of programming.' P.57
'Even today advertisers rarely pay a significantly higher raw cost per an thousand rates for viewers based upon their demographics alone. Attraction of a particular demographic makes theshows commercial time more sellable - more likely to be purchased - but does not necessarily raise the value of the time it's self'. P.57
Solid branding equity is a new form of currency (together with ratings) that is exchanged between networks, audiences and advertisers. The networks mandate to build and maintain a brand profile, the audiences has turned original animated series into a lucrative and hip programming option on cable' p.91
From my findings, Animation is not so profitable on television; The way a show is valued is by being more sellable to advertisers and having lower costs to produce. I also found out when it comes down to tv, there is two different types of companies: Broad casters v.snetworks. Networks seem to be the best for animation productions because they are valued by advertisers for their niche audiences. Essentially animated has competition with low-budget reality/live action programs on cable.
Cable has more freedom in what it , a more niche target audience,where as broadcast has to follow many rules and has a much larger target audience.
Animation needs to made cost effective, a 'desirable target audience' and needs to try and attract higher ratings to compete with reality programs when it comes to television. success comes with making it most sell able to advertisers, either by having a large audience or a specific target audience most likely to purchase a product.
brands need multiple relationships with their consumers.
Week 7
This week I researched in to the book ‘Crowd Funding’; a different approach to funding/and distribution compared to going to broadcasters/ networkers, although the book was focused on films, the techniques and methods I read on could easily be applied to animated series. Crowd funding is creating a campaign that allows the ‘crowd’ to help fund your project. It is clear there is two main platforms, Kick starter and indeigo. 'crowdfunding has been around since the 1990's, which serves as an alternative method of raising capital for creative projects' p.10
people may not opt for crowdfunding and instead start saving their own money or pursue more traditional approaches like submitting scripts to independent studios, writing grant proposals and seeking the aid of private sector investors if they don't have the support system to make a crowdfunding campaign successful.' p.20
according to data available through indiegogo, campaigns that have four or more members on their team raise more funds than those being run by one person.' P.25
Recommended is three sets of teams: team A; from day one they are on the front lines of the project/ the main people. p.26 Team B; volunteers/interns who help with additional tasks involved with securing funding for your film. p.27 Team c; 'crowd team', strong supporters of your project, may help with spreading through social media, or contribute funding. P.28
'A crowd funding platform is a website that aids in the fundraising process by offering crowdfunders a space to host their campaign and supplying them with the tools necessary to promote iit to the world.' p.35 kickstarter- 'all or nothing'... loose ot on the money if you do not reach your goal by set deadline indiegogo- 'keep what you raise' p.36 if you need a certain higher budget to complete a film and if you do not make enough, kick starter is best as it will not take the contributors money. indiegogo is better for those with smaller budgets, that if they do not meet their goal can still produce a film. p.37
Week 8
Reading into the book; ’Prodoucing Animation' I found most of my research into the pipe line of trying to sell/ pitch an animated series, the different roles and the pipe line of prodoucing it. It also tells into different methods and routes.It also has detailed information about the average cost of production, I belive this will be one of my main sources for researching into the industry, along with interviews and websearching.
Week 9
I found the next few books less helpful, but managed to find little bits of imformation about branding yourself, and being a prodoucer.
'You (should) hire a writer, designer, other artists, an animation director, an editor ect' p.20
'(John) Carry sees his role as an producer putting art and money together, as an integrated mindset.'
p.20
'Tv tends to commission for particular time slots, which determine Finacle and time constraints.'
p.30
'Every stage of production has different pains and pleasures.' p.30.
This week I shall begin and finish my biblography and research proposal.
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