The only way to respond effectively to a design project is to first understand the topic well yourself. To do this you need to research the topic and ask yourself a series of questions. Some of the questions you might ask could include:

What do I already know about this topic?
What is my initial response to this topic?
What theories exist about this topic?
How have people approached this topic before me?
What movements in art can I draw inspiration from?
What movies, paintings, illustrations, animations etc. etc. have already explored this topic?
Etc. etc.

The list is endless, however the goal is to try and understand the topic as fully as possible before you begin your creative work.

Your research journal should let us know what research you have undertaken into the topic and what things have interested you from this research and why. By looking at a range of material you will gain insight and inspiration for creating your own animation.

Specifically:
The research Journal must contain:

An introduction explaining your initial thoughts on the topic "Transformation - the process of change".
This introduction should be approximately 150-250 words

A minimum of 5 different referenced sources of inspiration. These can be images, websites, animations etc. anything that has inspired your work, however they must be related to the topic "Transformation - the process of change".

For each of the 5 sources of inspiration you must give us the following information:

1. CREDIT LINE

what is the source, who created it, where did it come from etc.

2. SUBJECT DESCRIPTION

Provide a brief description of the selected sources' content, genre or medium. For example is it a painting, photograph or animation, what style is it (pop art, surrealist etc.) and what is the content of the source. A single short sentence should be sufficient.

3. FORMAL ANALYSIS

Analyse the piece of imagery, animation etc. by discussing its formal elements or "composition". Discuss the pieces' compositional elements, how does it use line, shape, colour, scale, proportion, rhythm etc. (refer to the course notes "components of art.pdf")

4. THEMATIC INTERPRETATION

Discuss the pieces' impact or meaning, what is the creator or artist trying to say with this piece of work. What metaphors and meanings has the artist included in the piece. The pieces that you have looked at should be directly related to the theme "transformation - the process of change" and so this section should discuss the piece in relation to this theme.

5. JUDGEMENT

Tell us your opinion of the piece, how successful is it? To adequately judge an animation or piece of art you must establish criteria upon which to judge it. Is it original? Does it convey an emotion well? Etc. Establish your own criteria for the piece and use formal and thematic analysis to support your conclusion.

Always make sure that you provide adequate images of the piece you are discussing, when referencing a source such as a website for example, you must take screen grabs to demonstrate what parts of the site interest you and provide explanatory notes. There must be enough information in your journal that we can understand why you have included that particular reference without visiting the site ourselves.

Be aware that we will not visit the sites you list in the research journal and so if you only provide an address and no imagery we will ignore that reference when it comes to assessing your work.