30.01.15

Things have been quiet for the past couple of days, I still have not heard anything from Uni so things are starting to get a little hectic and frustrating. To keep my mind going I have decided to create a new animatronics project that will run along side the research study. The aim of this project will be to structure a set of workshop tutorials that will act as a sort of beginner guide to animatronic systems and control. I will look at eye mechanisms, mouth movement, internal fabrication and if I have time I may look at doing some work with moulding and silicone. Anyway I will hopefully have more of a positive outcome by the start of next week concerning the research project so I will keep my fingers crossed until then.

27.01.15

Today was pretty frustrating..

I found out that my main supervisor is no longer working for the University which explains why I could not arrange my first supervision session with him. I feel pretty stressed at the moment as I don't know why I was not informed of this and why nobody contacted me at any point in the past few weeks.

Anyway I guess these things are sent to try us and I have not stopped working on the project over the weekend and I have put in place a structure and set deadlines/goals. Yesterday I had a full day at Uni and went for a look around the postgrad area and the research building. I found some more industry contacts that I will be sending out a request for information to.

I wish I had more positive things to write about at this current time. 

22.1.15

Today progress has once again has been steady which is difficult to sustain as I am pretty fired up and ready to get to work. I still have not heard anything about my first supervision session. However I am still filling out the skills audit form and I have been reviewing the questions from Tetsushi. On review I have noticed that some of the questions appeared a little bit to difficult for him to understand, fortunately a friend is going to translate them into Japanese for in hope of making it easier for him to understand.

Additional: I have been reading a book I purchased called Animatronics, a designers guide. It is not film based but more advertising and themepark based animatronics. However there are some useful topics on guideline for companies wanting to use animatronics in a project. I have also found a book concerning life-like animatronic characters which I will purchase shortly.

21.1.15

Name: Carl Strathearn

(First Class BA-Hons) Multimedia Design

www.Strathearnmultimedia.co.uk

Description:

Initially I will take a casual approach to writing this reflective blog but as the course gets going I will adopt the Gibbs model of reflective practise to give a more clinical approach to documenting the processes of this research project.

21.1.15 : First Log.

Today I tried to go into University and have a look around the research Hub but the weather and train service had other ideas and my train has been cancelled.

This is not the greatest start to the day but I have a few things to write about anyway. I have been in contact with Tetsushi Okuyama who created an amazing Animatronic of Rocket Raccoon for the Japanese release of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' 2014. He is a wonderful and helpful guy who has answered a few questions for me about his perspective on animatronic systems in film and how he has created his model for post production use. However, Tetsushi was unable to answer the questions in depth so I will be seeking a Japanese translator from the university to aid with those questions. 

I am going to aim to complete a rough chapter guide, 10 questions for my pilot study and finish writing up the skills audit form I have to fill in for my first supervision meeting. In addition I have also booked onto a few research skills courses (Lecturing for large audiences, Conducting a Lit review and Research Project Planning). hopefully this will refresh my mind and give me a little more focus on picking the best research approach for this project. 

Feelings: I currently feel a little apprehensive about the project, I have yet to have my first supervision session with my course leader so things are sort of up in the air and I am just doing what I should be doing without direction. However I have set myself a few goals to achieve over the week so I do not feel like I am just sat around waisting time. 

Evaluation: Today has been a little bit frustrating as I have not been able to get in to University due to transport issues. 

Analysis: The situation of the project is very detached at the moment but hopefully things will come together after my first supervision meeting and I can get a feeling for the course. 

Action Plan: Complete the targets I have set myself before first supervision meeting.

Conclusion: In conclusion I believe that the outlined issues will be overcome after I have had chance to speak about them with my course leader. I will update again on Friday as I am to go into University and check out the research hub and have a look at what material is available to me in the resource center.