COP 3 Research Proposal ISSUU

Visual Journal Overview

In my visual journal I have tried to collate images, make images and add texture to all of the pages to convey the information that is contained within my essay into one seamless story, begining with a rich contextual basis and slipping into the more abstract ideas that are brought up in my essay.

Study Task 6 - COP 2 - ESSAY

Evaluation COP2

overall I think the module went okay, I developed a reasonable amount of research and tried to produce a well informed argument in critical analysis as best I could, however I do feel like I could have said more with less context and opened the essay up into more of a critical discussion with more triangulation and key points being raised. I do feel like I have answered the research question I originally set out to answer but could have done so in a more clearer articulate sophisticated manner.
What I enjoyed the most about this module was producing the visual side to accompany my essay, and although I did not have time to produce an actual animated response to my question I think that the visual exploration that I have undertaken clearly indicates how I might have responded to the research question through an animated response, with the mixed media approach and use of contextual images to set the scene as it were.
what I least enjoyed about this module or found difficult was the ability to stay focussed on my research and decide what I wanted to say in my essay in regards to my research, I also struggled to find many examples of animation that were relative to my research.
what I think went well on this module was the way the critical analysis ties in nicely with the visual exploration that I have gone through, I think using music form Muslimgauze really helped me ti get inspired and produce visual work that is of the same subject matter.
I think my time management could have been better whilst producing the work for this module, I think I underestimated how much work I would be undertaking at the start of it which lead me to focus on other areas within the course.
From this I have learned that to feel secure within this module it is better to do the bulk of the work quite early on so that when it comes the final outcome all ideas are clear and there is a set plan of action towards completing the work.

Study Task 5 - writing an Introduction

This essay will aim to give an answer as to how animation could be used as a tool to navigate the complexities of the on going conflict in the middle east, it will also give reasons as to why this may be an important issue for not just contemporary animators but also contemporary creatives in general. The reader will be guided to an informed conclusion to the overarching research question through the sum of research accumulated by trying to answer a series of sub-questions in relation to the subject matter. Using the research gathered and each idea formulated in an attempt to answer these sub questions triangulations will be made between pieces of evidence that support the claims that will be made in this essay. There are four main sub questions that I will attempt to answer in order to arrive at a conclusion to the overarching research question, and they are as follows:

Historical context, what is the historical context? How is it relevant? Knowing the historical context surrounding countries such as; Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, will give the reader a simplified yet in depth look at the key figures and groups in these countries and the historic relationship western governments have had with them. This historical context will also lead into comparisons being drawn between the current narrative of the western media towards middle eastern intervention, and those that were once presented to the public at times of western intervention in middle eastern conflicts – these comparisons will be key to understanding the relevance of the historical context.
The affect conflict has on culture, what makes this relevant? Why is this important to an animator/visual communicator? By keeping this question in mind whilst reading this essay, whether or not you regard yourself as an animator or creative practitioner – you build up an understanding of how much of an affect the extremities of conflict can have – not only on the people of a conflict stricken area, but also on the peoples of surrounding areas – a good example to point out would be that of Germany accepting a large amount of refugees from across the region and the problems that came as a result of trying to integrate people into society from a range of ethnic groups and cultures.
Western media coverage, How does the western mainstream media present conflict in the middle east to its audience? What affect does this have on western society? By analysing news stories and the mainstream political narrative at a given time in history and contrasting them with actual evidence based reporting and journalism – you are able to build up a clearer picture what is actually happening in area where conflict is present. This question is important as it’s answer holds much relevance to the answer of the research question, given that this essay is aimed at western animators/creative practitioners.
Contemporary Context, what is the contemporary context of conflict in the middle east? This question will be one that will be periodically revisited throughout this essay to assess the relevance of the research gathered in its relation to current affairs and contemporary animations that reference conflicts in middle eastern countries.

Study task 3 - Adorno & The Culture Industry

Adorno's view on television was that it presents conventional values in a way that is easily digested by the masses, that there is a formula that producers follow in order to make their shows accepted and viewed en masse but also put into categories/genres that follow their own individual formulas so as to give the viewer and idea/ preconception about which they are about to see, 'we are all familiar with the division of television content into various classes, such as light comedy, westerns, mysteries, so-called sophisticated plays, and others. These types have developed into formulas which, to a certain degree, pre-establish the attituinal pattern of the spectator before he is confronted with any specific content and which largely determines the way in which any specific content is being perceived.' (Adorno, 1954)

Adorno explains that the reason for this formulaic approach to making television programs is so that the audience does not have to think about what they watching too much, making it easily digestible - and it can be argued that most mainstream film and animation that is currently being produced still follow this approach, and this is to be expected of a capitalist society wanting to make the most money from a production as possible. If the content was challenging or jarring of peoples preconceived notions the production is inherently bound not to do so well in the mainstream.

Persepolis

Persepolis is a film that tells the story of Marjane Satrapi - a young girl growing up in iran at the time of the revolution and through the Iran-Iraq war. It is interesting an useful to my studies as the story is told from a female perspective and also from a middle eastern perspective. This is an interesting perspective to have a story told through as it is uncommon to hear the female perspective of woman from a conservative Muslim country.

This Is What Winning Looks Like - VICE

'This Is What Winning Looks Like' Is a documentary that explores the conditions in afghanistan as the British and american troops were about to pull out of the country and hand over the job of protecting civilians from the Taliban to the Afghan National Army.
This has helped me to gather contextual research on what the situation the country is now - and make some interesting points about the western media in relation to the conflict in the area.

Bryn Jones a.k.a Muslimgauze

Muslimgauze aka bryn jones is a musician that I found highly influential in relation to my visual journal, his music has a very political edge to it and a facination with arab world - incorporating middle eastern intruments and sampling news broadcasts he manages to paint a picture or create an atmosphere that I feel is really representative of the western point of view towards the middle east.
I have taken inspiration from this music and by listening to bryn jones' interviews on what he tries to accomplish in his music and tried to synthesize this into my visual research as I feel it would be silly not to take into account the work of someone who is trying to spark discussion around this subject matter with music as apposed to animation.

Adam Curtis - Bitter Lake - Contextual Research

I found Adam Curtis' Bitter Lake documentary to be very helpful in painting a picture of the events that have occurred in the middle east by bringing to light key figures and events that resulted to the present situation.

I think if \I were to produce an animated response to this brief it would be heavily influenced by this style of film making.