Post-Pitch

There wasn't a great response to my project aim during last week’s pitch. My idea of analysing audience response to 3d and non-3d was deemed to be an impossible honours project.

My lecturers thought that to attempt to analyse audience response would be difficult and doubted that I would be able to glean anything useful from any data I might have been able to gather. Another general comment was that I had not really considered what a test audience might expect from 3d. It was pointed out to me that the general public have a preconception about what 3d should be, many 3d movie goers expects a certain amount of “pop-out” 3d that you get with 3d thrill rides. My lecturers pointed out that most well received 3d movies are like the thrill rides audiences expect, Polar Express and Avatar are, too an extent, like rides. The story in each film won’t blow an audience away, it's more about the visuals and the thrill provided by the 3d in these films that keeps consumers happy. If my film did not have the same level of “pop-out” 3d then an audience might not be able to assess their own thoughts on the 3d effect because they did not get what they expected.

So think means that I really have to take a bit of a step backwards and think about how I can do a stereo 3d honours project that can still work academically.

Despite having to back-pedal a bit I did get quite a few good suggestions from the lecturers that were at my pitch. I think the main one I want to take forward is Robin's suggestion that I should look at practice based research. Robin suggested that I look into how practice changes based on a different type of medium. The problem here though is that it seems like it might be a little light for an honours project, however it is no doubt a lot easier to research and study.

Lynn also suggested a slightly different approach; that I look into the way that cinematography changes when you are using 3d. Although i think that this would make an interesting research question but I am not really interested in this particular field of study at this time. I feel that following up on Robin’s suggestion of analysing changes in production practice might put me in a better position when it comes to finding a job within the industry.

As a result of all of this I have come up with two different approaches to stereo 3d and how I might study 3d in more depth:

1. "How does the production pipeline for cgi animation change when stereoscopic 3d is being used?"

2. "How can Stereoscopic 3d help animators convey the particular thoughts and/of feelings of a character?"

I intend this week to decide upon where my final piece of work might be shown and how it might be shown. It was suggested that I decide upon a location or medium during my pitch, based on previous students attempts to organise this at the last minute. I was aware of this myself anyway after continuing my research with “3d Movie Making” which points out the necessity to cater 3d effects to the screen that the film will be shown upon. I also need to research within the Uni what type of 3d they will be able to provide resources for, as there are many different types of 3d and each require a slightly different approach.