Academic Poster

I didn't want to have any unfinished pages on my poster since I didn't like how they looked yet and I don't feel as though just designs would be quite as relevant to the subject of my essay so I decided to go with a sewuwnce of actions with my heroine to show her in action and to lead the viewer's eyes through the text. I added the Hero's Journey diagram so that anyone unfamiliar with the concept could understand the ideas behind and point of my poster.

Lighting Reference

Superhero comics enjoy being dramatic, which is why I want to incorporate dramatic lighting into my comic. For the stages of Crossing the Threshold and later on, I have planned the time of day to be around sunset to best make use of lighting. The warehouse where the final fight is staged has a large window at the end of the walkway, behind where the villain will be standing. This means that the villain will be backlit, allowing me to show off their silhouette and make the scene more ominous. This also lets me use red lighting, to signify danger, evil, bloodshed etc. to really build up the scene. As the fight progresses, the sun will continue to set and will eventually let the sky outside turn dark, with only the moon in view. The moon's light will be much more neutral and cast white light onto the scene, which signifies innocent, rebirth, purity which all work for the scene after the villain is defeated, and the innocent civilian has been rescued.

I think that gradients will definitely help me achieve this lighting, as well as maybe some use of layer/blending modes. I need to make sure that I do not spend too long on the colouring in order to get all pages done, but this may just mean colouring in grayscale first, before going back and adding colour which should help me get the right amounts of contrast anyway.

Lecture Two; Resolving your Research Project

Intro - outline question, argument, how that will develop your point. 'Critical knowledge of your practice'.

Evidence that you understand practice and opinion of other evidence of apply theory theory to practice.
Apply knowledge to art and other things too. Evaluate ideas, strengths/weaknesses.
Reflect.
Deep and surface learning; not superficial/limited engagement. Spring into extended w/a deeper understanding etc.

Creating - evaluating - analysing - applying - understanding - remembering

Evaluation - synthesis - analysing - applying - understanding - remembering

evaluation - synthesis - analysis - application - comprehension - knowledge

Independent engagement, opinion, critical and thoughtful about idea and information, relates ideas to own ///// experience and knowledge sees the big picture

Relates evidence to conclusion examines logic of arguments interested in wider reading + thinking /// ongoing preparation and infliction.

Specialist vocabulary (use and learn!) Formal. Based on solid evidence and logical analysis, and presented as a concise, accurate argument. Academic writing can allow you to present your argument and analysis accurately and concisely,

No more than 500 words - intro para on each chapter
Each chap w/own intro and concluding paragraphs. aim for precision, no unnecessary words.

Uncertainty = cautious language ---> may, might etc. Avoid repeating words and other long sentences.

Avoid repeating words + overly long sentences.

Avoid abbreviations and contractions, slang words and phrases. Avoid conversation terms. Avoid vague terms. Preliminaries - title/acknowledges contents/list of illustrations.
Intro - abstract, statement of the problem/methodological approach.
Main - Review of literature/logically developed argument/chapter/results of investigation/ case study
conclusion - discuss + summarise conclusions of the chapters.

Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test, coined by writer Allison Bechdel is a test for the presense of female characters in media, and if they are there for any meaningful reason. Applying the Bechdel test to anything involves asking the following questions:


1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

Many of the most popular films around do not pass this test, as women do not have that many speaking roles, especially significant speaking roles in films and media today. A piece of media could have a great, well written female character in it that would surely seem like they would pass any test of sexism/feminism - but if they are the only female character, or speaking character in that, then they would immediately fail. A piece of media may pass the test but still have underdeveloped characters and misogynistic themes throughout it, which shows the limitations of the test. It is still an interesting concept to consider when looking at feminism in media and the presence of female characters. As the feminist discussion is becoming a larger part of my essay, I think that looking into this in the animations I am discussing might be a good idea.

Thought Bubble Artist Comments

Though I have gone into more detail elsewhere in my blogs about the Thought Bubble panels, I thought it would be good to note down some of the comments about writing from the Decompressed/Worldbuilding panel in case anything can be used in my essay.

Scott Snyder - can create a world that is a projection of how you feel in a certain place or situation
What connects your own thing with everyone else? Characters are conduits to explore himself. Suffocating, knowing/using structures unless it's your own and

Noelle Stevenson - Not all of [the story] had so much thinking but knew the core of the story and where it was going

Kate Leth - a lot is improvised; mostly just knew how it was going to end.

Al Ewing - Likes to do prep + very tight outline, but will gladly deviate from it if it feels right. f it doesn't surprise you it doesn't surprise anyone else. Likes writing in a 5 act structure instead.

Rick Remender - no right or wrong way to do it, but does like to have an outline and know where he's going.

Kieron Gillen - using the same structure is like is every song in the world is using the same beat ----> boring and predictable. Worldbuilding is a tool, not an end product.

Lecture One

Methodologies and Critical Analysis
Evidence logic, judgement, sources etc

Methodology - necessary; every project will have it in some way.
- Straight forwards.
- Logical, systematic and structures way of organising a research project and gathering necessary info.
- Evidence that you have reflected critically on various research methods and chosen ones that are most appropriate for your research program.
; set/system of methods.

Thinking about how you look at the world. Theoretically honest.
Avoiding being like that is my worldview.
What kind of methods will you use?
Qualitative, quantitative, both?
What kind of research methods are the most appropriate ----> problems you may encounter

Methodology may include;
 Literature review - libraries, journals, internet
A particular theoretical approach
- Questionnaires - sample size, reliability + validity
- Interviews - structures or unstructured bias?
- Sketchbooks, critical diaries, reflective logs

- Where am *I* coming from?
How will you turn making into a part of researching

- Outline your methodology at the start of the dissertation in the intro + contextualise the question. 500 words max for introduction. Explain which chapter is which, perhaps talk about looking into feminism etc. Can talk about what the theory does not talk about - critical self refection + could suggest WHY certain things are not being talked about. Each chapter explaining a concept. Look for the agenda of the authors (incl. when they wrote it - affect judgement?)
Argument; what do I want to say? Have I got the evidence to back it up? Could you find more evidence to support your conclusions? Where else do I need to look to find more evidence? Am I expressing myself clearly and logically?

Triangulation
Pitting alternate theories against the same bodies of data - 3 min. sources etc. Need to show the reader that you are evaluating the evidence for it's relevance + reliability
Evaluation - looking at and coming to conclusions about the value of your evidence.