Peihang's 3D computer animation Blog

This week’s class was mainly about research and referencing. A lot of it was quite practical, and honestly a bit overwhelming at first.

We talked about how sources should be used in writing. Not just books and articles, but also images and visual material. I didn’t really think about images as something that also needs referencing before, especially film stills or animation frames. It made me realise that visual research needs to be treated more carefully.

Another thing that came up was citation and paraphrasing. It was clear that simply repeating what an author says does not really count as analysis. The idea is to use sources to support what I want to argue, not to let them speak for me. This is something I still need to practice, because it’s easy to rely too much on other people’s words.

We also looked at literature reviews. Instead of listing texts one by one, the focus was on grouping them by themes or ideas. This made more sense to me, especially for my own topic, because some texts talk about similar issues from different angles.

After this class, I started to see research as something more structured. It’s not just about collecting material, but about deciding what is actually useful and how it fits into the overall direction of the project.

This week’s session focused on developing and refining our research proposals. We discussed titles, research questions, and how to narrow down a topic so that it is both researchable and meaningful.

During the feedback session, I realised that my original research idea was still quite broad. I was interested in how social and cultural factors influence animation, but the scope was too wide to handle effectively. The discussion made it clear that instead of trying to cover animation in general, it would be more practical to focus on a specific context, creator, or body of work.

One important suggestion was to ground the research in a clear cultural background. Rather than comparing too many countries or animation industries, it would be better to look closely at one cultural context and explore how it shapes animation style, themes, and storytelling. This helped me understand that cultural influence is not something abstract, but something that appears through concrete details such as narrative focus, visual design, and recurring themes.

We also talked about the difficulty of measuring audience experience, especially emotional response. This made me realise that not every interesting idea can be easily researched. It is important to choose a direction where analysis is possible, using existing texts, case studies, and visual analysis, rather than relying on vague impressions.

After this session, I started thinking more seriously about focusing on a specific director and cultural background, particularly within Japanese animation. Looking at one creator’s work could make it easier to discuss how social and cultural conditions influence animation in a more focused and realistic way.

Overall, this week helped me understand that refining a research topic is part of the process. Being more specific does not limit the research, but actually makes it clearer and stronger.

In Week 7, the class focused on how to develop a research topic and build a clear argument. The session was mainly about understanding how academic research is structured and how ideas are shaped into a focused investigation.

In class, we looked at how a research topic gradually becomes a research question. One thing I learned is that a good question needs to be specific and manageable, rather than too broad or too obvious. Choosing a topic is not just about personal interest, but also about whether it can be researched properly and supported with relevant sources.

We also talked about the idea of argument in academic writing. I realised that an argument is not just an opinion, but a position that needs to be supported by reasons and evidence. Seeing examples helped me understand how a piece of writing is built around one main idea, with each part contributing to that central point.

Another important part of the lecture was the role of research and sources. We discussed the difference between simply collecting information and actually engaging with it. Reading critically and understanding different viewpoints is important, especially when trying to find gaps or unanswered questions in existing research.

This week made me think more clearly about how my own research might be developed. It helped me understand that research is a process, not something that is fixed from the start. Refining questions, adjusting focus, and thinking about structure are all part of building a stronger piece of academic work.

This week’s class looked at how visual language works in film and animation. We focused on mise-en-scène, composition, and staging, and how these elements affect the way a scene is understood.

In the lecture, we talked about mise-en-scène as everything placed in front of the camera. This includes the setting, props, costume, lighting, and where the characters are positioned. These elements can already give the audience a lot of information about the scene, even without dialogue.

We also spent time on composition and screen direction. Seeing the examples in class made it clearer why movement direction and spatial consistency matter so much. If screen direction changes unexpectedly, it can be confusing to watch. In animation, this needs to be planned early through storyboards and layout, because it is difficult to fix later.

Staging and blocking were another important part of the session. The idea that stayed with me is that every movement should have a purpose. Characters do not move randomly. Their position in the frame and their distance from each other can show relationships and emotions quite clearly.

This week made me more aware of how scenes are constructed. Small decisions in layout, lighting, and movement can change how a scene feels and how the audience reads it. It was useful to think about these elements as part of storytelling, not just technical choices.

This week’s lecture focused on how animation can be used within documentary practice to represent real experiences and social themes. We discussed how animated documentary challenges the traditional idea that documentary must rely on live-action footage to present reality.

In class, we explored how animation can be used to visualise memories, emotions, and lived experiences that are difficult to capture directly through filming. This helped me understand that documentary truth does not only come from photographic realism, but also from the way experiences and perspectives are communicated.

Another point that stood out was that animated documentary often makes its constructed nature visible. By doing so, it reminds viewers that documentary works are shaped by creative decisions, encouraging a more reflective and critical way of watching.

This topic also connects to my interest in lighting and visual atmosphere. In animated documentary, lighting can be used to shape mood and meaning. Through light, shadow, and colour, animation can suggest memory, tension, or reflection, supporting the narrative without relying on direct explanation.

Overall, this week helped me see animated documentary as a valid form of non-fiction animation, expanding how real experiences can be expressed through visual language.

In Week 4, the class introduced me to abstraction and experimental animation, which expanded my understanding of what animation can be beyond traditional narrative and dialogue-driven storytelling.

One important thing I learned is that abstraction in animation does not mean randomness or a lack of meaning. Instead, it often focuses on form, movement, rhythm, colour, sound, and timing as the main way to communicate ideas and emotions. Meaning can be created through visual relationships and sensory experience, rather than through clear plot or dialogue. This challenged my usual way of thinking about storytelling and made me more aware of non-linear and implied narratives.

We also explored how many experimental works are driven by a personal or independent vision, rather than commercial or mainstream expectations. These works often break conventional rules and use alternative processes or techniques, such as working without dialogue, using repetition, metamorphosis, symbolism, or focusing on the relationship between sound and image. I began to understand that in experimental animation, the process itself can become part of the message, not just a method to reach a final result.

Another key topic this week was the idea of the auteur in animation. I learned that authorship in animation is complex, especially because animation can be highly collaborative but also allows individual creators to control many aspects of production. This made me reflect on how a consistent personal vision, recurring themes, or approaches to form can shape an animator’s identity, even if their visual style changes between projects.

Overall, this week encouraged me to think more openly about animation as a medium. Instead of always asking how to tell a clear story, I started asking how images, movement, and sound can communicate on a more sensory and emotional level. This perspective is especially useful for my own practice, as it allows more freedom to experiment and to explore ideas visually rather than relying only on narrative structure.

In Week 3, the class focused on film language and how meaning is created through cinematic choices rather than only through story content. This week helped me understand films not just as narratives, but as constructed visual and sensory experiences.

One key thing I learned is that a film can be understood on different levels of meaning. Simply describing what happens in a film is not the same as analysing it. Meaning can be communicated explicitly through dialogue and actions, but it can also be implied through character development, visual composition, editing, sound, and the overall atmosphere of a scene. This made me realise that many important ideas in film are not stated directly, but are suggested through how the film is made.

We also discussed different approaches to analysing films, such as focusing on visual form, narrative structure, or the broader context in which a film is created. Looking at camera movement, framing, lighting, sound, and editing helped me see how these elements influence how the audience feels and interprets a scene. Film language guides the viewer’s attention and emotional response, often without the viewer being fully aware of it.

This week was especially useful for my own animation and visual work. As someone working with moving images, understanding film language helps me think more carefully about how meaning can be built through visual decisions. Instead of only thinking about what happens in a scene, I now pay more attention to how shots are composed and how technical choices affect storytelling. This perspective will be important for future projects, particularly when planning storyboards and cinematic sequences.

This week, the class focused on visual composition, especially the use of proportion and the basic elements and principles of art. These topics helped me better understand how images are structured and how viewers read a visual frame.

In class, we learned about the golden ratio and how it can be used in composition. Rather than being only a mathematical idea, the golden ratio works as a visual guideline that helps create balance and guide the viewer’s eye naturally. Through this, I began to realise that the placement of the main subject, the distribution of empty space, and the position of visual focus all affect how comfortable or clear an image feels.

We also studied the Elements of Art and Principles of Art. Elements such as line, shape, colour, value, space, and texture form the basic structure of an image, while principles like balance, proportion, rhythm, emphasis, and movement explain how these elements are organised. Learning these concepts made it easier for me to analyse why some images feel clear and effective, rather than relying only on intuition.

This week’s learning is especially helpful for my animation and 3D work. When designing storyboards, framing shots, or arranging objects in a scene, I can now think more clearly about proportion and visual hierarchy. These foundations give me more confidence when making visual decisions and will support more complex visual storytelling in later projects.