Category: Thesis

Introduction

Over the course of the term, I have come a long way working on my research paper. I personally feel that I learned new academic writing and research skills, which enabled me to gradually improve my thesis.

In this last article, I would like to highlight the positive outcomes of this experience.

Positive Outcomes

Analyzing Tim Burton’s Movies

Tim Burton has always been the most influential director in my personal life as I have always admired his unique aesthetic and grotesque visual style. In this sense, the thesis was a great opportunity to research more in depth about his filmography and dissect his character design.

Since I wanted to explore his grotesque aesthetic, my thesis focuses on how the director makes use of the grotesque and the uncanny in the characters of his movies to create an emotional connection with the audience. Even though I have already watched all of his movies, it was truly interesting to analyze them from a different perspective.

Combining Thesis with FMP

Working on my thesis has enabled me to understand how Tim Burton creates his visual aesthetic. This was very inspiring as I resonate with a grotesque narrative style and would like to implement it into my future animations.

Having said that, I applied my research findings in my FMP project as I managed to develop my own personal grotesque aesthetic. In this sense, the research process was key in order to understand how to execute the visuals for my animation. Without my research, I would not have been able to fully understand how to distort the story and environment to make them seem beyond the usual.

Receiving Feedback from Academic Support

Attending several sessions with academic support lecturer Sarah, has allowed me to enhance my writing skills and improve my thesis. As many other international students know, sometimes it can be very challenging to write a paper in your second language. For this reason, it was very helpful to get advice from a native speaker.

Furthermore, it was interesting to share my ideas and thoughts with my tutors, as it enabled me to push my critical thinking skills into the next level.

Learning new Referencing Styles (Harvard)

Working on my literature review has helped me to learn how to quote using the Harvard referencing style. During my undergraduate I was used to the APA style, so it was important to be open to new ways of referencing.

In addition, the website Cite Them Right was a very useful tool as it helped me to clarify some questions I had regarding in-text citations.

Final Thoughts

From my personal perspective, it is crucial to develop our critical thinking skills as it enables us to sharpen our artistic eye. In this sense, working on my thesis has given me new skill-sets and tools to analyze animations in more depth.

Finally, given the fact that I was truly passionate about my research topic, I enjoyed the entire journey of developing my thesis research throughout the course.

In order to effectively conduct my study on Tim Burton’s characters, I decided to create a timetable to regularly work on my thesis during the summer. In this way, planning my workload ahead will enable me to deliver my thesis on time.

Timetable

I created a timetable based on weekly objectives focusing on both the development of the thesis and the feedback sessions to enhance my work.

Further Comments

I would like to point out that the timetable I created will serve as a general guideline as regards my workload. Even though I will put great effort in fulfilling my weekly aims, I am flexible to rethink and adapt my workload.

Introduction

During this term, I decided to get feedback on my paper from my tutor to improve the quality of my research and avoid spelling mistakes.  

Receiving Feedback from Nigel

In order to receive feedback from Nigel, I attended some tutorial sessions in the Tower block on Wednesday’s. My feedback sessions went better than expected as he approved my paper and encouraged me to submit my assignment.

Proof Reading

However, before submitting my paper, I decided to proof read my research in order to:

• Avoid spelling mistakes.
• Avoid grammar mistakes.
• Upgrade my use of English.

Double Checking Harvard Conventions

Furthermore, I made sure that I followed the Harvard referencing style, so I used the website Cite Them Right as a guide (https://www.citethemrightonline.com/). It is a very useful tool as it explains how to create in-text citations and reference lists according to the different mediums of communication, for instance, books, journal articles, movies.

Conclusion

Receiving feedback and proof reading my paper is essential to avoid spelling and citation mistakes.

Introduction

I decided to schedule regular academic support tutorials in order to edit and improve my thesis writing as I would like to receive feedback from an English native speaker. Even though I am confident with the analysis I made of Tim Burton’s character design, I am looking forward to sharing my progress and findings with a tutor during summer time.

Arranging Regular Meetings with Academic Support

In order to arrange the meetings, I used UAL’s website to schedule several one-to-one tutorials with academic support lecturer Sarah Macdonald, who has already helped me during the first term with my critical report and gave us some lectures on paraphrasing and referencing.

Academic Support Tutorials

The aim of my tutorials is to:

• Paraphrase and improve my thesis writing.
• Clarify some questions regarding the Harvard Referencing Style.
• Share my progress whilst receiving feedback on my analysis.

Bibliography

University of the Arts London (2023). Academic Support Online. Workshops & Tutorials.  Available at : https://academicsupportonline.arts.ac.uk/workshops-tutorials (Accessed: 7 September 2023).

Introduction

In order to conduct my study, I analyzed the character design of the following movies: Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994), Corpse Bride (2005), and Frankenweenie (2012).

Data Collection Tool

In order to gather information, I developed a data collection tool which focuses on the following two major aspects: the character construction and the emotional connection between the audience and the character through both character identification and character engagement. Having said that, what follows next is a brief outline of what I analyzed in each section.

Character Construction

• The grotesque and the uncanny portrayed in the character design.

Emotional Connection Through Character Identification

• Connection on a Surface Level between the character and the audience (through physical appearance, gender and sexuality, race or ethnicity)
• Connection on a Deeper Level between the character and the audience (through personal backstory, embodied experience)

Emotional Connection Through Character Engagement

• Levels of Sympathy towards the character (through recognition, alignment, allegiance)
• Levels of Empathy (through emotional simulation, affective mimicry)

Gathering Data from Tim Burton’s movies

Introduction

I developed a data collection tool with two focal points: Tim Burton’s character construction — focusing on the portrayal of the grotesque and the uncanny — and the emotional connection between the characters and the audience through character identification and engagement — expanding on Shaw’s findings on character identification and Smith’s structure of sympathy.

Data Collection Tool

Whereas the aim of the first section is to determine how Tim Burton makes use of the grotesque and the uncanny in the characterization of the protagonists, the second section focuses on how the levels of identification and engagement can influence the emotional connection and response the spectator feels towards the character.

Conclusion

The data collection tool I have developed for this study —  which uses triangulation as a validity procedure — can be used in the future by the animation community as a guideline to examine the remaining characters in terms of levels of identification and character engagement through empathy and sympathy.

Bibliography

Shaw, A. (2015) Gaming at the Edge. Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture. London: University of Minnesota Press.

Smith, M. (1995) Engaging Characters. Fiction, Emotion, and the Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Introduction

After understanding the importance of validity procedures in qualitative research, I finally found which one I would like to apply to my paper.

Triangulation

Triangulation is a validity procedure where researchers search for convergence among multiple and different sources of information to form themes or categories in a study’ (Creswell, J. K. and Miller, D. L., 2000, p. 126). In other words, the researcher uses a variety of methods and sources to analyze a phenomenon.

Given the fact that my research question implies analyzing emotional triggers in order to understand the bonding between Tim Burton’s characters and the audience, I decided to use triangulation as my validity procedure as I will combine different research approaches to create my own data recollection tool. I expanded Murray Smith’s ‘structure of sympathy’  with Shaw’s findings on ‘character identification’ as it enables me to critically analyze and break down the emotional connection of the viewer and a fictional character.

Conclusion

Having defined that I am going to use triangulation as a validation procedure for my study was essential in that my study will not be conducted in a subjective manner. Instead, I will include different approaches that analyze the emotional engagement between the audience and characters in a systematic approach.

Bibliography

Creswell, J. W. and Miller, D. L. (2000) Determining Validity in Qualitative Inquiry. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1477543 (Accessed 8 August 2023).  

Wax, M. L. (1995) ‘Knowledge, Power, and Ethics in Qualitative Social Research’, The American Sociologist, Vol. 26, No. 2, Part II: Sociology, Law, and Ethics, pp. 22-34. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27698724 (Accessed: 8 August 2023).

Introduction

After defining my research question and designing my methodology, the next step I needed to do is determine the validity of my qualitative research. To do so, I explored which validity procedures researchers use in their inquiries in order to apply the most suitable into my investigation.

Defining Validity Procedures

According to Creswell, J. W. and Miler, D. L. (2000, p. 124) there are two key factors that affect the validity of an inquiry, and they are ‘the lens researchers use to validate their studies and researchers’ paradigm assumptions’. In this sense, in my research it will be crucial to define the framework I am going to use as it will clarify what perspectives I am going to use to analyze and interpret Tim Burton’s movies.

In order to examine how Tim Burton balances horror and empathy in his characters, I will approach the character design from a cognitive psychology perspective since it will enable me to understand the emotional engagement they have with the audience. When it comes to the paradigm assumptions, which are influenced by how the researcher perceives the world, I will conduct my study based on a systematic procedure to avoid bias while collecting data and information from the characters.

Further Comments

Defining a validity procedure is extremely essential as it can be argued that qualitative research is subjective in approach when it studies human behaviors rather than collecting countable and numbers-based data. For this reason, in the following week I will define what type of validity procedure I would like to apply to my paper.

Bibliography

Creswell, J. W. and Miller, D. L. (2000) Determining Validity in Qualitative Inquiry. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1477543 (Accessed 8 August 2023).  

Wax, M. L. (1995) ‘Knowledge, Power, and Ethics in Qualitative Social Research’, The American Sociologist, Vol. 26, No. 2, Part II: Sociology, Law, and Ethics, pp. 22-34. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27698724 (Accessed: 8 August 2023).

Introduction

After defining that I will conduct a qualitative research, I started working on defining my research design methodology.

Research Design

In order to conduct my study, I will follow two main approaches to answer my research question:

1. Case Studies: I will examine the main characters of some of Tim Burton’s most influential animated and live action movies in form of case studies. The movies are: Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994), Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012).
   
2. Diagnostic Research: I will attempt to find a pattern between the protagonists of the before mentioned movies by examining their physical appearance, personality traits and backstory. The focal point will be to figure out which grotesque and uncanny characteristics these characters have and how they trigger an emotional response on the audience. To do so, I will elaborate a data collection tool (by adapting and editing preexisting studies from different authors and fields) to systematically gather information.

Conclusion

By analyzing the movies in form of case studies, I will approach my research in a systematic way of collecting data.

Introduction

Developing a methodology is crucial as it helps the audience understand how the researcher is planning to gather information to answer their research question. What follows next is a brief description of what type of research I am planning to conduct.

Qualitative Research

‘Unlike quantitative studies which are concerned with outcomes, generalization, prediction, and cause-effect relationships through deductive reasoning, qualitative studies are concerned with process, context, interpretation, meaning or understanding through inductive reasoning’ (Yilmaz, K., 2013, p. 313).

Since I would like to understand how Tim Burton makes use of the grotesque and uncanny in his characters, I will carry out qualitative-based research. I will analyze the dualistic nature of his character design, focusing on their physical and personality traits, in view of finding a pattern between the different protagonists. Then, I will examine how the director manages to trigger an emotional response on the audience by examining the emotional connection through the character identification and engagement with the viewers.   

Conclusion

In order to find an answer to my question, I will compare and contrast the characters from Tim Burton’s movies by creating my own data collection tool. In order to gather information systematically, I will establish common categories and guidelines on how to analyze the physical and personality traits of the main characters. 

Bibliography

Yilmaz, K. (2013) Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: epistemological, theoretical, and methodological differences. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26357806 (Accessed: 18 August 2023).