The proposal...

The School of Art don't muck about when it comes to research proposals. It took me a while to put together a document that clarified my topic, the context for the thesis, methodology, development, outcomes, precedents and related issues...

4000 words later, I had a proposal that offered a pretty comprehensive framework for my M(Phil) studio-practice and sub-thesis components. I put the split at 80:20, but this may well change further down the track if I have the opportunity and motivation to transfer this program to a PhD.

This is the bread and butter of it all:

"My research will be an examination of the relevance of political cartooning in its historical contexts and new media applications.

The project will explore the impact of the electronic media revolution on the traditional printed political cartoon image, and investigate the use of computer animation techniques in retooling political cartooning to a new media context.

Research into Australia’s contemporary political cartoon landscape and Australian artists making political, animated works will provide a theoretical context for the making of digitally animated work that is disseminated within the framework of a regular media cycle.

In developing methods and processes through which the traditional printed political cartoon can adapt to the electronic media environment, this project will establish a contemporary relevance to the political cartoon as an effective device for subversive political comment."

With that out of the way, I was ready to get it on. I began my M(Phil) March 31, 2006.