Cop Lecture Programme

COP Lecture Programme

Lecture 1 (Module Briefing/Overview) notes:

• This programme is the theory side of the course
• Thinking about why your doing something instead of just doing it
• Research is important and links in with creation as a system

Lecture 2 (Visual Literacy) notes:

• How do we assign meaning to an object or an image of an object
• We need to make it clear what we are assigning meanings to and make sure we're doing it correctly
• We need to be able to correctly communicate ideas and concepts to a wide range of audiences.
• Some symbols are used to universally communicate messages
• Male and female toilet signs are a good example of using symbols
• Misinterpretation of a symbol can be very impactful
• Syntax is a word for the building blocks of an image
• Semantics refers to the link between forms and meanings

Link to animation: In animations signs can be used alot and it is important to have a good knowledge of how to use signs clearly and effectively and not cause the viewer to misinterpret the signs.

Lecture 3 (The History Of Image) notes:

• Historic art has an aura attached to it that makes it seem more fascinating and interesting
• Modern art is based more on the experience of visiting the exhibit than the quality of the piece of art itself
• The rise of reproduction brought change to the art world
• Artwork can never be safe from reproduction anymore
• The purpose of art has changed over time, because of reproduction art can now be used as a weapon in political attacks
• Art can be used to construct ideas of places that may not be the reality

Link to animation: It is useful to know that the purpose of art changes over time due to new technologies and art can be used in different ways

Lecture 4 (The History Of Type) notes:

• Modernism has its own typography
• Type is what language looks like
• All that is necessary for a language to exist is an agreement between a group of people that one thing will stand for another
• 25 years is the maximum time that a design is protected by intellectual property before it lapses

Link to animation: When using fonts for titles and credit or written text in scenes it is important to have a relevant font to not confuse the audience.

Lecture 5 (What Is Research?) notes:

• Research helps practice through learning from others and mistakes
• Process is more important than outcome because the outcome is just a product of the process
• Failing quicker gives more time to improve and develop
• Quantitive research is dealing with facts, figures and measurements, such as surveys
• Qualitative research deals with peoples experiences, beliefs and attitudes

Link to animation: This lecture relates to all practices in roughly the same way which is that the more practice you get making animations and the more animations you produce will help to become a better animator quicker aslong as you learn from your mistakes and do sufficient research. 

Lecture 6 (Print Culture & Distribution) notes:

• The age of print began around 1940
• Technological reproduction of art removes aura
• Artists began producing works of art made for reproduction like andy warhol

Link to animation: It is useful to know about the history of the print culture as this has informed animation practice and had a big effect on the animation world.

Lecture 8 (Consumerism) notes:

• Freuds model of personality structure
• the conciseness is just a small portion of the structure of our personality
• Bernays was using principles of psychoanalysis to help companies sell their products
• Advertising commercials were linking human desires to their products
• People were given the illusion that they were free when they were not

Link to animation: If animating for advertisements whilst not very moral it is effective to exploit human desires and make the product seem as though it will contain these desires.

Lecture 9 (Modernism) notes:

• Modern artists response to the city
• Advancements and different style of architecture
• Made people feel isolated and crave a place in the changing world
• The modernist movement was about form following function
• Also about showing the material for what it was and the design suiting the material
• Iffel tower built as a symbol for modern
• Stripping back things to their essentials

Link to animation: The idea of modernism is a interesting aspect in regards to animation and there are many modernist animations.

Lecture 10 (Post-Modernism) notes:

• Post-modernism is characterised by pessimism, exhaustion and the disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge
• The demolition of the Pruitt - Igoe development, St Louis was the end of modernism according to  Charles Jencks
• Postmodernism has an attitude of questioning conventions (especially modernist conventions)
• Only rule is that there are no rules
• "Artists" start producing rubbish and calling it art

Link to animation: As with modernism, there are alot of post-modernism animations, animations that explore that fact that with post-modernism there are no rules, no set narratives.

Lecture 11 (The designer as social critic) notes:

• Searching for reasons behind practice
• Designers are producing work for immoral companies
• A meme is a unit of information that gets passed around from brain to brain
• A practitioner's work should have a coherent message
• Art can be very powerful when it has a message behind it
• Communicating ideas through art can have consequences

Link to animation: When there is a meaning behind an animation it can be alot more influential and can have an impact on society.

Lecture 12/13 (Colour Theory) notes:

• Rods - convey shades of black, white and grey
• Cones -  allows the brain to perceive colour
• yellow is not a direct result of a type of cone but a mix of red/orange and green cones
• mixing complementary colours dims the colours making less bright colours
• Primarys - colours that cant be made by mixing
• chromatic value = hue+tone+saturation

Link to animation: Colour theory is useful for designing backgrounds, characters and most aspects of animation would benefit from knowledge of how colours work and how our brains perceive them.

Lecture 14/15 (Semiotics) notes:

•  Semiotics is the science of studying signs
• a code is a system of symbols or signs
• codes rely on a shared knowledge
• signifier = sound image, signified = mental concept
• the meanings of signs can shift
• meanings dont come from objects themselves but people

Link to animation: Signifiers have been present in animations throughout history and it is very useful to understand how to use signifiers and how they work.