Category: Theory with Nigel

I read an interesting article but I believe it is maybe a bit too complex to include it in my proposal. Maybe I will use it in my final work. It is called “Narrative Experience of Animation Based on Virtual Reality Technology: Take the League of Legends: Arcane as an Example” by Wenjuan Chai and Hao Fang (2023). This paper first analyzes how League of Legends: Arcane uses the virtual camera mappingtechnology to achieve the audience’s personal narrative experience; Then it analyzes that the on-site immersion of virtual images realizes the audience’s aesthetic transcendence from visual wonders to emotional experience, and obtains a more real, rich and free viewing experience. On this basis, it summarizes that the effective intervention of virtual reality technology has developed human sensory functions, improved the all-round emotional experience, and the audience’s vision has followed the development of technology into the combination effect of virtual images to experience narrative wonders.

I found a short article from people who created “Spider-Man“. It is called the “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – How to build a pipeline for variable rate animation” by Marteinn Örn Óskarsson and Marlène Chazot (2023). It is very specific and I will definitely include it in my work. It is about variable rate animation, or stepped animation. It is the process of holding a frame of an animation performance between two or more frames, as opposed to keeping a consistent motion of performance through each and every frame. The art direction on Spider-Verse aimed to bring the look of the project closer to a comic book and hand drawn traditional animation. Using the variable rate animation method helped the project get closer to the desired style with some key differences.

This week I focused on writing down the plan for the main body.

Chapter 1: Historical overview 

• Definition of hybrid animation and its evolution.

• Historical context and milestones in hybrid animation.

• The impact of technology on artistic choices.

Chapter 2: Character Design

• Principles of character design in both 2D and 3D contexts.

• The role of movement and expression in hybrid character design.

• Case studies of characters from hybrid animations (characters from “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”).

Chapter 3: The Role of Style in Storytelling

• The relationship between visual aesthetics and narrative structure.

• The use of symbolism and visual metaphors in hybrid animation.

Thinking about my topic, I decided to not only read but also watch some reviews and overviews about hybrid animation because this term does not have a clear definition and is quite broad.

This video talks about history of evolution of the hybrid animation and how a lot of people forget about it existing way before the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”.

I changed my research question to “How does the style of hybrid animation technique contribute to the narrative and overall identity of the animations?”. This way, I will be able to study different papers and maybe conduct case-study and discourse analysis instead of focusing statistics. What is more, it will give me a limitation of the scope of research as absence of numerical data leads to biased conclusions. So I will specify it in my work.

This week we received feedback for our literature review. My reading list was fine overall. Though Nigel suggested to change my research question because it seems there is not enough statistics and evidences to answer on the current one (How does the audience perceive hybrid animation compared to traditional 3D animation?). I think I will move focus to more evolution overview of the phenomenon.

I continue to read articles which might be useful for my paper. This week I read “Hybrid Animation: The Process and Methods of Implementing 2D Style in 3D Animation” by Jerina Kivistö (2019). Technological advancements have made computer generated 3D animations more prominent than ever, switching the dynamics of the animation industry completely in the 21st century. With this major change, a question has emerged: where does hand-drawn animation stand? While 3D methods are efficient and can allow complex animations as a result, it lacks in expressing the same level of artistry that hand-drawn animation is capable of. Thus, the objective of this study was to consider if hybrid animation — combining 2D and 3D animation — is beneficial in creating an appealing visual outcome without compromising the workflow efficiency and development costs. It also touches on the subject of how 3D renders are used to emulate the hand-drawn style.

This week I decided to reed some more articles about my topic, so I can sort more information and narrow the research gap.

I found this paper: “Cinematic animation – Analysis of mechanisms and techniques: the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as a case study” by Dr. Bouthayna HAMMI (2025). This article explores the narrative mechanisms and visual techniques in animated films, focusing on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Through an analysis of the innovative use of hybrid 2D and 3D animation, color palettes, and lighting, the article examines how these elements contribute to storytelling and the viewer’s emotional experience. Emphasis is placed on the impact of the “multiverse” concept and comic book elements in narrative construction, as well as the enhanced visual immersion created by special effects. The study concludes with the significance of these techniques in pushing the boundaries of traditional
animation.

I am not sure whether I want to include it in my literature review, but it was interesting to read. Maybe I will take some points from it after all.

While we are waiting for the feedback for our literature review, it is important to start thinking about plan for proposal. I usually write this kind of paper using the following plan:

1. Relevance

2. Literature review

1.  Research gap

  You need to show that nobody have studied this topic from your particular scientific perspective (time frame, side, etc.)

3. Research Question

 Shows what the research is about; must show the end point of the research — research in itself is not an objective; research question must be just one

4. Hypothesis

Supposed explanation to the research question; it can be wrong (research result may contradict some conventional positions in science, which may lead to scientific revolution)

5. Methodology

– a very long part

– theoretical framework (tells us about the things we will look at)

– method – a tool to work with data to find some causalities, correlation, etc

– methodology – plan of using methods

– what data will be used in the research

– with what we won’t work

– sequence of methods