Thesis Questions:

Below is my tentative thesis title which served as my focal point from which I will base my objectives. I then broke down this title into different components which served as a starting point for generating questions. Some of the questions are accompanied by a few personal thoughts that I think would lead to more helpful questions, and so that I would not forget them.


Tentative Thesis Title:

“Animating Emotion and Intersubjectivity: How to run off a cliff with style”


1) Why is animation important and who benefits from it?

2) What are some of the trends in animation?

3) What are some of the problems with animation today?

4) How is “emotion” defined by animation?



EMOTION & INTERSUBJECTIVITY :

5) In what ways is “emotion” important? What’s a good example of this?

6) What is intersubjectivity? What’s a good example of this?

7) How does intersubjectivity relate to emotion? Are both possible to accomplish at the same time? What are good examples of this?

8) How is emotion expressed in characters?

8B) How are the “12 Principles of Animation” helpful in animating emotion?

9) How is facial structure, gesture, body language, hands and shapes used to express emotion?

10) What are some best practices used for stage plays and drama that help convey emotion? Are there any theses or studies about this?

11) How does timing affect emotion?

12) Who are some examples of animators (past and present) that are expert in animating emotion?

13) What are some of these animators doing today, and how is there knowledge of emotion help them with their work?

14) What are some of the components that make intersubjectivity possible?

Some examples include: Eye contact, sharing of common experiences, scene set up, character appearance, character and scene lighting, and timing.

15) Which is more important: emotion or intersubjectivity? Or is one part of the other?

I think successful emotive animation leads to intersubjectivity, but I’m investigating to see if it could go the other way around.

16) Where is this leading animation into the future?



WORKSHOP

17) What character models am I going to use? Where am I going to get these?
How much do these cost? And who do I got to treat?

18) Are these random exercises or do all of these excercises culminate towards a final animation?

19) How complex or simple should these exercises be?



TEACHING

20) How should these workshops be structured so that an intermediate student can learn these techniques? And in which order should they be presented.

21) How many workshops / exercises should I have? And how should each be designed and presented?


22) Should I include an evaluation process for teachers to use?

I probably should include some.

23) What are some common mistakes that students and instructors should watch out for in executing the exercises.




SHARING & DOCUMENTATION

19) What’s the best way to document my thoughts and progress?

21) How do I make it accessible to everyone interested so that it helps the larger community?

I thought about creating a website where all of this would be made available. It could then be accessed by all animation schools, and companies to be used for artistic creative renewal and improvement of animation skills for beginning entry level animators.

If the models are available for public use, then documentation for how to use them should also be created. What does this include?