Class DM 325 - Advanced 2D Animation
Location - Mac Lab 4
Professor Michael Shaw
Contact: mshaw@mca.edu
Office Hours: (Location and time TBA)
(1 hour before or after class; will be finalized by end of first week.)
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Welcome to DM 325! This class is an advanced course in animation production. Each week will be spent learning new concepts in animation, as well as refining established fundamentals to new heights. This class emphasizes personal development and research so you are encouraged to push beyond your current understanding of animation as an art form and a business! We will continue to spend time researching different artists and jobs in the industry to have a firm understanding of best practices in a professional animation studio setting.
To sum it up: This class is about 3 things: TECHNIQUE, TECHNOLOGY, AND TOOLSET MASTERY.
TECHNOLOGY refers to a mastery of the software we have in the computer. We will be covering advanced concepts that maximize your potential as an animator, including but not limited to:
- Lip Sync and refined audio production.
- Camera controls in toonboom and after effects.
- Advanced compositing and effects techniques.
- Rigging and use of Inverse kinematics (flash-style puppet animation) as an alternate and useful animation style, and how to implement and do it WELL.
- (patching, drawing characters, etc.)
TOOLSET MASTERY is what we will focus on most, covering in-depth tricks and methods for making the most of each of the skills above. How to get the computer, your pencils, paper, and ideas to work with you, as opposed to against you, and how to create animated works of art in a TIMELY manner.
METHODS:
The way we will complete the above objectives is through in-depth instruction and exercise supplemented by self-directed goals established early-on in the semester. This way, students are given the opportunity to focus on the skills he/she deems highest priority, while improving on one’s entire skill set.
COURSE GOALS:
· Students will demonstrate the ability to design, execute, refine and polish an animated short film.
· Students will demonstrate a firm understanding and implementation of visual storytelling devices.
· Students will demonstrate the ability to efficiently animate intricate scenes with prolonged character acting.
· Students will effectively communicate emotion and character motivations through the animated medium.
· Through collaboration, students will work together to produce high-quality animated films by understanding the benefits to great layout design, excellent pre-production development, and refined visual design and storytelling.
· Through competition, students will create production packages that will showcase the raw essence of a film, long before the film itself is produced.
STUDENTS' PROFESSIONAL GOALS:
· By semester's end, students will demonstrate a level of speed and accuracy when animating, equivalent to 7-8 seconds a week.
· Students will showcase their work beyond the classroom by establishing a professional web presence.
· Students will pursue their career aspirations, and refine their search with an informed perspective on industry standards and criteria.
· Students will demonstrate experience gained from understanding both the competitive and collaborative sides of the animation industry.
· Students will demonstrate mastery over the tools used to create an animated film, both analog and computerized.
-------------------------ASSIGNMENTS and REQUIREMENTS---------------------------
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
You are required to attend class everyday, on time. Students are allowed to miss via MCA's handbook, 2 absences due to illness or emergency. For every absence afterward, your final grade is lowered one full letter grade. Therefore, missing six (6) classes is the equivalent of failing the course. Three tardies equals one absence. Notify me ahead of time if you will be late to class. Arriving more than 30 minutes into class will count as an absence, as will leaving early, or constant wandering in and out.
In this course you will need to use class time efficiently. This means not leaving early, wandering in and out, or arriving late. Leaving class early constitutes an absence unless an arrangement has been worked out with me. Assignments will require additional time out of class to complete as well. If you miss an assignment due to lateness or absence, take the initiative by checking the syllabus and/or getting it from another student. Notify me ahead of time if you will miss class that day. If you then have questions, email me, or come see me after class or during office hours.
TURNING IN ASSIGNMENTS:
Students are required to turn in assignments on time, on the blog and/or server, as instructed for each assignment. Any assignments that require printing must have their work printed before class, unless otherwise instructed. Failure to print assignments before class will result in that project being considered "Late," and subject to the same
penalties.
Late assignments will not be accepted for major critiques, final projects, midterms, and any other major assignments assigned at my discretion. An assignment that is turned in, on time, with a proficient level of work may be reworked and turned in again at a later date, for a higher grade.
For all other assignments, the class works on a 3 strike policy. Please make note of the following:
1st late project: -1 letter grades. (maximum: B)
2nd late project: -2 letter grades. (maximum: C)
A third late project will not be accepted.
You will have a maximum of 2 days to turn in your project for a grade, with your assignment dropping 1 additional letter grade for each day it is not turned in.
CLASS BLOG, CRITIQUE, AND STUDENT WEB PRESENCE:
All assignments will be posted in full detail to the class blog, located at
http://mca-dm325.blogspot.com. The blog will be updated/checked regularly, so
students are free to reply to assignment postings with questions, comments and concerns.
As we complete projects in the class, we will develop a web presence to showcase our work. (Creating blogs via blogger. or tumblr.) We will also use these blogs to communicate outside of class.
As pitching is important for every artist of an animation production, you will be encouraged to speak up and share feedback. Remember to be open and honest, but stay cordial.
IN CLASS DISCUSSION, CRITIQUE, AND EXERCISES:
You will be expected to do original analysis of your work, as well as the work of
your peers and professional artists. We will do this through communication via blogs, and through in-class critique. As pitching is important for every artist of an animation production, you will be encouraged to speak up and share feedback. Remember to be open and honest, but stay cordial.
VISITING ARTIST LECTURES:
You are required to attend 50% of these lectures and post a short review to your blog.
Materials and Supplies
1. Textbooks:
NOTE: A TEXTBOOK IS NOT ASSIGNED FOR THIS CLASS, AS THERE IS STILL MUCH KNOWLEDGE TO BE GAINED FROM OUR PAST TEXTBOOKS. THAT SAID, WE WILL STILL USE THE FOLLOWING IN THIS COURSE:
The Animator's Survival Kit, Expanded Edition: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators. Richard Williams ($25.00)
Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive - David B. Levy ($14.46)
Directing the Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques for Live Action and Animation - Francis Glebas ($29.95)
2. External Hard Drive for saving work: About $130
Can purchase online, and use with other classes. An investment purchase that should last you the rest of your undergraduate career.
Note: The computers now use primarily USB 3.0 connections. The Hard drives listed below are compatible both with mac and pc, but require formatting to go cross-platform. If you use firewire connections, you will need a firewire-to-USB converter. Check the model number online to see if it runs at 7200 rpm, for optimized performance.
Western Digital Brands:
3. A sketchbook for storing all of your ideas, and in-progress work. Must be separate from other classes, but can contain your personal work within.
Students will be asked to produce an hour of drawing a week in a sketchbook to turn in to me. These drawings should be directed towards appending the skills you need to work on most in your portfolio. (Example: Environment Design, Character Design, etc.) I will periodically review these sketches and work with you to turn them into professional pieces of art.
GRADING:
Each assignment will be awarded a grade based on the following rubric. Plus(+) and minus(-) will denote more or less intricate mastery of objectives. Students will be allowed to turn in higher-quality versions of their projects midterm for a higher grade.
Group assignments will be graded on individual achievement, and group achievement. Both grades count 50% of any group assignment.
A - Excellent. Assignment objectives are completed above and beyond the course requirements to great effort and great success. Technical and conceptual skills are on display in a masterfully coherent manner with clean craftsmanship.
B - Proficient. The assignment completed demonstrates most mastery of the skills presented, and objectives are completed beyond course goals. Much effort, and a clear and concise direction shines through the final result. There are still a few issues that can be pushed further.
C - Competent. The assignment completed demonstrates relative mastery of the skills presented, and objectives are completed to average sufficiency. Assignments are successful, and craftsmanship and technical skills are on display -- All are completed at an average level.
D - Deficient. The assignments completed are missing demonstrations of the skills presented, and/or required objectives have yet to be completed. There are conceptual and technical flaws and hurdles that have not been overcome.
F - Failure. The majority of the project is either not completed, and/or objectives for assignment are not met.
Final Grades will be based on a comprehensive average of all of your projects, as well as midterm and final milestones for blog upkeep.
*Your blog upkeep factors into your grades for each major assignment handled out of class.*
Assignments are due at 9a.m. on their scheduled dates. Loss of data, files, or other associated items needed for any assignment or project will require that you recreate your work, with no exceptions. You are solely responsible for the security of your files. Your files are not 100% secure on the server or computer. You should have multiple copies on multiple sources at all times. No files are safe unless backed up to 3 locations. (Example: Personal hard drive or flash drive, school network, personal computer, or web service. Note: you can store work on dropbox. We will discuss cloud storage.)
Copyright
LEARNING ACCOMMODATIONS:
In compliance with MCA policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss
appropriate academic accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Request for academic accommodations need to be made during the first week of the semester, except for unusual circumstances, so arrangements can be made.
HEALTH and SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
As more and more work, education and recreation involves computers, everyone needs to be aware of the hazard of Repetitive Strain Injury to the hands and arms resulting from the use of computer keyboards and mice. This can be a serious and very painful condition that is far easier to prevent that cure once contracted, and can occur even in young physically fit individuals. Paul Marxhausen - visit his site below.
http://eeshop.unl.edu/rsi.html
http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yoga/rsi.html
DEPARTMENT AND LAB POLICIES:
Immediately submit an online tech request to report any problems with a lab computer or printer.
Main MCA computing info site = mca.edu/labs -- go here for answers to frequently asked questions and online tutorials for MCA specific technologies.
No Food or Drinks in Lab.
Keep the Lab Clean. Dispose of all trash -- Paper scraps, old media etc.
Leave your workstation in an orderly fashion. All materials left on the desktop will be deleted. Organize files within the documents folder on your account. Delete your trash from your desktop and trash bin.
Back up work to an external source. Remember files are only safe if they exist in 3 separate locations. MCA servers are not to be considered secure and used only for temporary storage.
Log Out of your workstation prior to your departure. Upon your departure, the chair should be pushed in. Your monitor, keyboard and mouse should be placed in their proper positions.
COPYRIGHT:
You must receive copyright permission for all non-public domain media used in projects. (Music, film footage, etc.) Public domain material can be found at http://www.publicdomain.org/ and http://www.creativecommons.org. Visit American University's Center for Social Media Website for detailed information regarding the difference between rights infringement and fair use. We will discuss fair-use policies during class.
EPA MANDATE:
Memphis College of Art students and faculty are required to follow the standards detailed in the "EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Materials
Handling Protocols - September 2007"
