INTRODUCTION STARTS AROUND PAGE 10: GUIDANCE NOTES FOLLOW ON 23 JULY 2018 THE SECTION GUIDANCE FOR THE FINAL REPORT WAS UPDATED. IT IS NOW AS FOLLOWS: Title Page - Standard form obtained from project administrator or the Moodle website to include your course, module, student name and number, date of submission, title of dissertation and name of Supervisor. You may wish to create your own title page as part of your final report. Statement of originality – This statement confirms that the dissertation is a result of your own work and has not been submitted previously for a degree award either here at Brookes or any other institution. This statement can be found in Appendix 5. Abstract - Single page summary of report, this should include the main conclusion or recommendation. Acknowledgements – of individuals offering help towards your dissertation. Contents – This can be composed of the following chapters for the body of the report organised into numbered sections as well as a list of tables and figures etc. Introduction - Dissertation rationale, Outline of the problem, Objectives of the dissertation. A review of related work, both of an academic and commercial nature. The material in this section should directly relate to the construction of a framework that you will use for evaluation in the results and analysis section. Methodology – This section describes your personal approach to the research and which research method are chosen and why. It can include the following; a description of the scope and definition of terms relevant to your topic, how you have approached answering the research questions, what factors influenced your proposed schedule, how you tested and evaluated the product (the framework for evaluation). Process – Description of how the work was created. This should include development of workflows, pipelines and proof of concepts. This should clearly articulate activity in a conceptual form. What functions or processes were used and what effect did the choices made have on the artefact produced. This should not be a tutorial style list of actions to recreate the work. Results – Presentation of results. This could refer to media artefacts and contain screen grabs or other images in the text. Analysis – A contextualised critical discussion of the results in relation to your original aims. Conclusion - Summary of achievements, critical appraisal of the dissertation, lessons learnt, product, research methodology or deliverable evaluation. Consideration of legal, social, ethical, environmental, sustainability and risk management issues. Work plan review. Implications arising from your results and discussion: including suggestions for further work. References – to identify the sources of material you have directly cited. Bibliography – to identify material providing background or reference material but which is not directly cited. THIS REPLACES THE PASTED SECTION GUIDANCE SHOWN BELOW IN THIS VERSION OF THE DRAFT REPORT. TITLE PAGE HOLDER STILL MOVING: Contemporary digital techniques for animating still photographic images 17032698 Mark Egan MSc Digital Media Production (2017/2018) Module P01009 Project / Dissertation Submitted in time for final deadline of 21 September 2018 Supervisors: Diego Semerene / John Twycross STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY PAGE HOLDER See Appendix 5 of the guide for the statement to be included here. ABSTRACT (Single page summary of the report) STILL MOVING: Contemporary digital techniques for animating still photographic images ABSTRACT V3 There are many ways in which still images can be considered to ‘move’, both figuratively and literally. With the proliferation of diverse screen-based media targeted at smartphones, laptops and advertising screens, the animation of stills is an art form in itself. Van Vuuren’s 2018 cinematic release ‘In Saturn’s Rings’ represents the pinnacle of this endeavour, comprising over 700,000 still photos animated to create a documentary. In this project the antecedents of today’s digital animation are reviewed and three contemporary techniques, 3d projection mapping, 2.5d parallax and 2d vector animation are used to create a documentary commemorating 100 years of the Royal Air Force. So, can these animation techniques be implemented using home user equipment and combined to create a short, engaging documentary using only animated photos, and what are the workflows that will enable this? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to the MSc Digital Media Production class of 2018 at Oxford Brookes University. Your feedback at the weekly ‘scrums’ has been invaluable in steering me down a path towards this project submission! CONTENTS Page numbers to be added once correct formatting / line spacing has been applied and images have been included. Introduction Methodology Process Results Analysis Conclusion Appendices? Could be raw data from online questionnaire. INTRODUCTION REVISED GUIDANCE NOTES FOR THIS SECTION, 23 JULY 2018: Introduction - Dissertation rationale, Outline of the problem, Objectives of the dissertation. A review of related work, both of an academic and commercial nature. The material in this section should directly relate to the construction of a framework that you will use for evaluation in the results and analysis section. INTRODUCTION V3 CURRENTLY AT 1400 WORDS. NEED TO AIM FOR 1250 MAX! As the Lumiere Brothers discovered when presenting their cinematographe in 1895, moving images can invoke an immediate, emotional response. It was as though that which was still had ‘come to life’. This project considers ways in which still images can be considered as moving as well as being made to move, before applying contemporary digital animation techniques to a collection of photos and producing a stills-derived screen-based documentary. The results are evaluated through personal critical reflection and peer review. In 2018 it takes only a few mouse clicks to extract a single frame from a video sequence. It is also possible to take a single photographic image and make it move within the frame using techniques such as pan and zoom (as popularised by Ken Burns in his Civil War series in 1990). The move to fully digital workflows has opened up new ways to animate digital images such that the divide between the still and the moving is no longer simply determined by questions of frame rate and exposure. Project Objectives • Consider and research what it means for an image to ‘move’ or ‘come to life’ • Identify the terminology and digital technologies that occupy the space between still and full motion images • Implement 2d plotagraph, 2.5d parallax and 3d projection mapping by applying them to selected still photographic images • Create a short documentary using only animated still images and evaluate it using reflective practice and peer review Perspectives and reference works Considering movement in the widest sense, there are diverse ways in which images (photographic or otherwise) can be considered as being ‘animated’. Cognitive psychology has considered how the brain perceives movement in a still image though none actually exists. For example: [dots moving image] [who invented optical illusions?] It is considered this effect occurs because of conflict between our visual system and cognitive processes. In the art of reportage photography, in accepting the creation of narrative as a kind of movement, the question is raised as to whether a single image can tell a story, and to what extent this will be differentiated in the mind of the viewer. The famous reportage photographer, Bresson, writes “Sometimes there is one unique picture whose composition possesses such vigour and richness, and whose content radiates so outward from it, that this single picture is a whole picture story in itself.” (Cartier-Bresson) Others are less convinced of this: ‘What does it take to make an image that would be considered to tell a story? Wow… that would be almost as difficult as describing what makes a good melody’ (Donald Giannatti, 2015). And from the perspective of both the photographer and the viewer: “What your mind does not know, your eyes can’t see.” (Kaushik Ghosh, documentary photographer, 19xx). Narratives are being constructed and therefore made to move, and discussion remains healthy in this area. Artists using photographic images at the centre of their work continue to take their own individual approaches to bringing images to life: Maurizio Anzeri finds discarded images and embroiders over the top of select areas in taught, geometric patterns, encouraging the viewer to explore the image anew.P41: image from anzeri. Jennifer West imbibes filmstrip segments with the sights, sounds and physical objects of the time and place it was recorded. Here sand, sunblock and tequila are used to make a short sequence titled Dawn Surf Jellybowl:P77 image. Infamously, Richard Prince re-photographed 1954 images from the Marlboro cigarette print advertising, before cropping and recoloring them and displaying them as gallery-sized prints. In bringing them to a new audience it can be considered he is giving them new life beyond their original place and time P59. IMAGE FROM REPHOTOGRAPHY For screen-based representation of photographic stills, techniques have seen ongoing evolution. Presenting a succession of still images with no literal movement is a legitimate and successful storytelling device, as seen in Chris Marker’s seminal La Jetee. Similarly, producing a rapid sequence of stills matched to the beat of a music track (referred to as ‘kinestasis’) is seen in short-form output such as ‘living