This was a big week for my research project. I was able to meet with my consultant, Dr. Helmers. He wrecked me, but in a good way that led me to a better research question. While I am still a little lost, my goal for my new research project is to define or redefine the genre of children's films. 

This process will include a lot of reading about t genre and children, so that I can find prominent themes or elements that separate children's movies from adult movies. Or possibly do not separate them? I have to justify that whether it necessitates distinction or not. 

The subtopics I envision for my project:

- Genre 

- Children's movies 

- Family Film 

- Children 

- Adults 

- Film Theory/ Film basics 

- Thematic Topics 

- Maturity 

I also am planning to add onto this list, specifically the elements that separate children from adults. Right now, I still have a broad idea of what I am doing. I know what film I am looking at, but I cannot tell at the moment what I am looking for. This will come with more research and reading. 

My subtopic list right now deals mostly with being able to define the different parts. What is genre distinction? What is a child? What is an adult? What is family film and how has it developed? What are current definitions of children's movies? Once I have this information I can put a whole picture together and hopefully find a gap, where I can better define children's movies. 

In terms of searches, right now I am looking a genre development, what it is and how you do it. From here I hope to find sources on children's movies. Since I have not had as much luck with that, I may have to take a different direction. This is both exciting and nerve-wracking to me, since it means there is a gap, but that I have a big gap to fill. My plan from here is to look at sources that define children versus adults. This way I can analyze movies paying attention to these attributes that set them apart. 

Since this is a very new field of study for me, I am still feeling nervous that my subtopics are not solid. But, I am so excited for this project and am willing to build a base of knowledge for my inquiry. I also have great guidance with Dr. Helmers and Mrs. Haag. Now it's time to hit the books. 

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This week I ended up very far from where I started. But that is A-OKAY! I am really excited about the progress I have made and the topic I have chosen. This topic is... Children's movies.

Specifically, I would like to research what elements or themes allow adults to also relate to children's movies. That being said, this is the direction I would like to go and it is subject to change.

I started with basically nothing this week. I knew I was going for film but was still having trouble envisioning where I could take this. However, with amazing feedback I was able to decide that I wanted to focus on how films make people feel or think. A recent interest of mine has been children's films/ tv shows. Particularly when I watched The Little Prince, I was attached to the story, related to the characters, and deeply moved by the end. I wondered why is it that I felt so strongly about an imaginative, adventurous kid's movie?

Right now, I want to refine my topic by honing in on either a director, animations studio, or something else. Or if it is an option, I would like to choose maybe a few movies that seem particularly respected by both adults and children.

My biggest problem right now though, is that I am not finding sources very related to the direction I would like to go. For instance, most sources I find are deconstructions of Disney movies that conclude a sexist or racist story. However, I fail to believe a child would interpret a movie this way. I also read one source in which college students were interviewed about Disney Princess movies, and they reported feeling little or no influence of the movies onto their lives.

While I want to find a research topic that is unique, I still feel lost in that I am still trying to find a basis for my project. My plan going forward is to continue to play with advanced searches to find more sources. I would also like to narrow "children's movies" by finding an intriguing director or company. I am trying to be open minded on where my initial idea of children's movies will take me, so that I can find a more clear academic conversation with room for my project.

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Exploring Topic 8/11/16

Yay Senior Year! It has started with enthusiastic teachers, excited students, and interesting classes. I have been looking forward to AP Research all summer! In all seriousness, I have.

I started this class thinking I wanted to do research on film. Why?

It all started with my Netflix subscription. With an almost unlimited access to tv shows and movies, I started developing my taste. I really enjoyed independent films or movies that left me thinking. For this reason, I have developed an ever growing interest for film, but have never had the opportunity to actually DO something with it. So I am taking advantage of this project to learn more.

I have two options in mind: theory and technique. Ideally, I would like to create my own short film or music video or something. I am particularly interested in stop animation. However, I would also love to learn more about film theory.

I am having some trouble getting a grasp on the academic conversation of film. I think some of that may stem from me looking in the wrong places, but as of right now much of the arguments I have seen have been content analyses to show racism or sexism in modern films. I tried looking at film journals but got a little overwhelmed by the expertise it seemed was needed for the things being featured, like directors and such.

However I did see something that piqued my interest: a recently released music video by Cut Copy that had an interactive element to it. Not only was the idea of the music video amazing, stop motion glow in the dark figures, but it also included code to 3D print a set of figures for yourself. From this, I started researching interactive music videos because I did not realize that was a thing. The results were fascinating, but unfortunately seem to require a lot of coding knowledge that I do not have.

I decided to look more into Stop Animation, but I have found little research. I will continue looking because I am drawn to this technique. I also think I could create something of my own using the technique, especially for a music video or short film. I do not want to force a project though so I am still searching academia with an open and inquisitive mind.

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