Important Links for Today!

THOMAS ROMAIN:  Notes about perspective!

CHRIS OATLEY: Character Design Goes Deep!

PAUL FELIX

SAKUGA BOORU: Like the living lines library, but with a lot of finished production examples!

Homework for Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Workshop 2: Story Editing, Storytelling, and Shot Choice!

The following post is a recap of what we have done today in class! We had a "half solo, half collaborative" workshop that we used to improve your stories and refine your decision making skills as an animator!  If you were absent, I expect you to preform this exercise on your own, and find a couple classmates to share your ideas with.  Everyone is documenting their process in a sketchbook or notebook. I expect you to do the same.

I would like everyone to be at the same place on Wednesday, ready to move on to the next step! It is up to you to get the information you have missed! Always remember that!

STORY EDITING FOR ANIMATION:

In your story: 

Find a portion of the story you know works well.

• write down: Why does ________ work? / Why do “I” like _______?
• mark them with a star!

Next, write down this question (or a question like it): What qualities do I have in panel/sequence “______” that is missing in my other panels?

• can refer to anything
• story devices, cinematography, art, characterization, audience reaction, anything.

In about 4 minutes: make a list of every change you would make to your story to make every panel share the same level of quality.
Select the two brainstormed ideas you think will be most successful.

• underline them, highlight them, put a star next to them, try anything.

Using two index cards, (or a number of them for future projects), make a change to two sections of your story to improve the whole film.

• use the two brainstormed ideas you underlined in your notes!
• use one card for each idea!
• make two changes to your film, and then review the whole story!
• Draw a new panel for that shot. Replace the old one. Don’t worry if the film is not 100% better. We’re looking for INCREMENTAL growth! Great works of art and cinema are built over time, not all at once!

Take 15-25 minutes to improve your stories!

• This should help you better flesh out your stories, and start to develop a sense of which ones you really like, and which ones you want to change.

Next: Split into two groups of 2!

• Person A: Give a brief synopsis of the story. Pitch! Be active in your speech and acting!
• Mention the biggest problem you currently face with the story (what is working the least?) Ask Person B about possible solutions!
• Person B: Offer solutions first. Then, make note of anything that is currently working well in each story, and any other constructive comments you may have.
• Switch!

Next step: Take 3-4 minutes to brainstorm some ideas you have about “DEVELOPING THE VISUALS” of your film?

• Designs you would like to try?
• Shot choices you are unsure about.
• Drawing skills you would like to develop.
• Drawing skills you would like to refine.
• Things about the design you think are missing from your film!

Share ideas with each other about strategies to apply to your stories!

• Include any websites or references, other films or sequences to look at, etc.

After everyone has shared visuals, share any other thoughts you have about your film ideas and your stories!

• The point of this class is to develop a process to direct yourself and figure out solutions to your own problems.  The biggest hang-up any film-maker has during the movie-making process is making decisions! The better you can make decisions, the easier it is to improve as an artist, animator, and film-maker! =D

Aug 23: GENRE & SHORT FILMS! (Homework for Monday Below!)

Check this out!
Don Hertzfeldt: Genre
A Mary Poppins Trailer!?

There are tons of stories to be told! Those stories come in many forms, some of which you may have never considered! Today: We talk genre!

Goal of this class! Think about the flexibility and possibilities of short-format storytelling, and develop the ability to tell EXACTLY the story you want with the right amount of detail and simplicity! (i.e. just the right amount of fluff, and the right amount of stuff!)

Keep the story you currently have. You may think about it a little differently once our exercise is complete! We will share at different points in class today!

Our Storytelling Exercise (Cause and Effect):

Step 1:  Write a sentence on the back of the card.  As an example:  A kid drops an ice cream cone on the floor by accident.  An adult is scared of a spider sitting in his/her/their chair.  

• Keep the sentences ACTIVE! Write something that uses ACTION VERBS so the action is in the present! It helps you stay focused!
• Avoid the phrase "wants to." This is a really passive phrase that allows for a lot of middle-of-the-road storytelling. Yes, your character has desires, but we need to see the actions that come as a result of them.  Instead of "a character wants to eat,"  a character is starving for a slice of cake. The words you use inform your storytelling!

Step 2: Draw on the other side, a single drawing that represents that action!

Step3:  Think about the five questions:  Who am I? Where am I? What do I want? What do I do when I get what I want? What do I do when I don't get what I want?   

• Answering these questions, draw a potential effect of the previous action! (Think:  What happens next? Don't think ending or beginning yet.)  
• After that, draw what could have happened before? (Think: What creates the original situation? Where did we come from, and how do we get there?)
• Write sentences for these actions on the back of each card.

Step 4: Now we have a story. These three scenes can happen in any order!  Next:  On an index card: make a list of 3 different genres: Genre examples can be found here.

• Picking 3 genres. create a cause and effect between the initial 3 sequences for each genre!  Genres are used as a way to channel different relatable experiences from people!  
• Changing the way events occur in a movie changes the reactions of the audience. That experience shapes genre!

Be aware, every genre can share elements of another! What is important for you is to understand how cause and affect generate audience reaction in a short time, and how you can use that relationship with the audience to build a larger theme for your movie!

Storytelling Exercise part 2:

Repeat this exercise, but start with something in your life that happened that you would like to share!

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Your homework for MONDAY is this:

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1. Get more 4x6 blank index cards! You can find these at any store!
2. Using 12 of those index cards, draw 2 or 3 very simple stories that you would like to animate this semester as your big project! (Treat it like storyboarding!) Having three options helps us decide on the one you want to use on Monday!
• keep your drawings simple! We will throw them away very soon!
• for now, your story can only have one or two characters!
3. Bring your idea and index cards to class! I will use them to teach you writing and story development!
4. Bring the rest of your unused blank index cards to class! We will revise in-class that day! 

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BELOW ARE NOTES FROM THE CLASS:
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Purpose of class = Efficient and Creative animation production.

Goal of class: Produce a FULLY COMPLETE 45 second film.

• Give yourself MORE TIME THAN NEEDED!
• I have given you plenty of time in the class schedule!

When writing your story, focus on character performance!

• you want character-driven stories more than plot-driven stories! This helps the audience connect with what you are trying to say!
• If you're stuck, use the same in-class exercise we made for writing stories!

QUESTIONS ABOUT CLASS:

• Are we going to be doing mini-exercises
• yes!
• How would you start thinking about a story?
• METHODS:
• Method 1:  The single sentence approach.
• You use a simple sentence with a single action or goal as your focus.
• My example:  “A kid drops an ice cream cone on the floor by accident.”
• Start super simple, and ask a single question:
• What can I add to it to make it ______ (more funny? make it more sad? add drama? etc.)
• Method 2: A character acting sequence that you can use in your portfolio. (Use contrasting actions!)
• Example: A character likes to hug people… and hugs someone who does not like hugs.

Welcome to Advanced 2-D Animation! (AN325) =D

Course# AN325 | Advanced 2D Animation

Location: Mac Lab 4

Instructor: Michael Shaw

Time: Monday and Wednesday A: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM |   B: 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Contact: mshaw@mca.edu  901.282.3902

Office Hours:  Monday and Wednesday:  6:30 PM – 8 PM Mac Lab 4

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Welcome to AN325! This is an advanced level course that focuses on producing animation work of the highest quality! This is the course where you channel your experiences in animation art-creation into making professional level work by semester’s end! Here, you are both a researcher a theorist, and a skilled executioner in producing complete assignments. We aim for quality over quantity in this course, so you will be asked to make multiple revisions to a shorter project as opposed to working once through a longer one. By semester’s end, you should be well versed and comfortable in all the avenues of producing quality 2-D animation, and ready to make self-directed, higher-level work in the classes going forward!

Methods of Study – The Flow of Class is as Follows:

Class Readings:

Each topic we cover in class will have an accompanied reading or video that provides more information and instructions on the current study.  These readings are meant to give you means to practice in-class content on your own!

Interactive Demonstrations:

The best way to learn how to animate is to practice hard, and see how others animate!  Keep what works, and scrap what does not! This semester will have many interactive demonstrations on making quality animated works.  The short you create will be divided into easily digestible chunks for building your animation skills each week. Each demonstration will focus on specific principles of animation. Creating a practical project where we can focus in detail on refining

Projects and Workflow

Each week, you will be given an assignment to accomplish that will investigate the possibilities of story and visual development of an animated short. The purpose of these assignments is to prove that the process of making a film is not magic, but a series of calculated steps that help you hone in and further develop your creativity.  You will be able to combine each assignment into a professional portfolio by semester’s end, and have all the tools needed to begin applying for internships, and exploring new content that piques your interests!

The Flow of Class is as follows:

4 Weeks for storyboarding and film development. We will review and assess your abilities here.

8 weeks for Animation Development at a minimum of 6 seconds a week.

4 weeks (including finals week) for additional animation production, post production, and polish.

Professional Practice, honest critique, and proper discussion will be maintained throughout!

Fields of Study Include:

I. Preproduction: You will design your story in the first month of class! Here, we will assess your skills as an animation artist, and come up with a great plan to fully realize your idea!

II. Animation: This semester: We will spend each week covering a couple of the principles of animation in detail!

III. Workflow: How to become a more balanced animation artist.  How to design and implement a successful project, working backwards form the end goal to the beginning!
IV. Animation Art and Collaboration: How to properly assess your abilities. How to know how long it takes you to create a first draft for an animation shot, and how to get resources that are beyond your abilities, whether it’s other people, or new skills.

V. Professional Development: Portfolios, demo reels, applications for internships, film festivals, and everything else!

DEPARTMENTAL OUTCOMES:

Students will demonstrate the capability to organize and present concepts verbally.

Students will demonstrate the capability to organize and present concepts audibly. 

Students will produce evidence of an understanding of the methods of audio production.

Students will be able to coherently communicate the content their audio productions.

Students will demonstrate the time management skills necessary to complete the entire sound creation process.

Students will demonstrate the capability to effectively publish their audio production via the web, and integrate it into their current body of work.

PROFESSIONAL OUTCOMES:

Students will demonstrate the ability to write an artist statement.

Students will demonstrate the ability to document their work.

Students will demonstrate basic computer/software literacy applicable to their field.

Students will demonstrate the ability to give a public presentation about their work.

Students will demonstrate the ability to research to stay current in their field.

Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of communication etiquette in their field.

Students will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively.

-------Assignments and Requirements ------

You are required to attend class everyday, on time.  We will start class @ 4:20 every day, unless otherwise noted.  As with the Student Handbook, students who misses 6 days of class will fail the course.  This will be strictly enforced. Prior to this event, any student that must miss a day needs to notify me ahead of time, long before the start of class.  Anyone who wonders into class at least 30 minutes after class begins will be considered absent for the rest of the day. 4 absences result in a loss of one letter grade. Three tardies equate to one absence. If you miss, you must catch up on assignments via consulting other students first, and myself via email. I reserve the right to notify students ahead of time for any day that MUST NOT BE MISSED due to course content be it finals, assessments, midterms, or other coursework.

----Turning in Assignments -----

Each Assignment will be due on a scheduled date, given at the beginning of the assignment.  Often, this will be the day before the class, to give students time to listen to, and review other students’ work.  Part of your grade will be your review of the creations of your peers. We will remain objective throughout, even when we are delving into content that goes beyond our personal taste.  When it comes to late assignments, assignments will drop a letter grade each day they are late. After 3 days, I will not accept your assignment.

Supplies:
**)    INDEX CARDS!  *4 x 6, blank is good enough. Something small and wide to draft ideas upon!

1)    If working Traditionally: 1 ream of 10f Ingram Bond Animation Paper and 1 plastic peg bar Purchased for $50.00 at the business office. Return to me with a recipt of purchase!

2)    Folder and Notebook for taking notes. You are required to keep track of your notes. You will also be required to turn in your sketches for review from time to time, so be sure to keep your sketchbook on hand during class!

3)    $100 Deposit to check out audio equipment. (optional) Upon completion of the class, or the major, you will receive this deposit back. This single deposit can count for multiple classes within the department. If you still have your deposit from last semester, you can check out as available.

4)    External Hard Drive: Can purchase online and use with other classes. If you already have it, great! If not, it’s an investment that can last you long beyond your undergraduate career.  The Computers primarily use USB 3.0 connections. The hard drives listed below are examples, compatible with mac and PC, but require formatting to go cross-platform.

Western Digital Brands:

WD 4TB My Book

5)    Light Box: You will need a lightbox for your animated projects if you choose to work digitally! Below are a few very cost effective options for you to use! You need something big enough to cover a piece of 10f paper, or 8.5” x 11”Huion L4S: 12.20" x 8.26"
Huion 17" With Angled Surface (drawing area is the same)ME456 Tracer: A4 Size (9" x 12")

AGPtek Light Table (A4 Size)

6)    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)  http://www.amazon.com/Your-Career-Animation-Survive-Thrive/dp/1581154453

Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytelling - Marcus Mateu_Mestre (16.00) http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421179351&sr=8-1&keywords=framed+ink

7)    Pencils, tablets, erasers, etc!  For those that draw traditionally, it may help to obtain a pack of non-photo blue and blue pencils for sketching characters and drawings!

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 4:20 P.M. on their scheduled dates unless otherwise noted. Loss of data, files, or other associated items needed for any assignment or project will require that you recreate your work, with no exceptions. I can not grade what does not exist!  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

You must receive copyright permission for all non-public domain media used in your film projects. 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.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Students with a special learning need are encouraged to let their instructor know at the beginning of the course. Reasonable accommodations (such as extended time for exams, readers, scribes, and interpreters) are provided on an individual basis as determined by documented need. It is the student’s responsibility to provide authorized documentation to Student Affairs or Achievement Center Support Staff as early in the semester as possible.

Course Content and Title IX Reporting

Students should be aware that information disclosed to faculty (whether through assignments or as a personal disclosure) that indicate experiencing sexual harassment, abuse, or violence while a student at Memphis College of Art, requires that your instructor as a “mandatory reporter” disclose this information to Student Affairs staff to ensure students’ safety and welfare are addressed. Student Affairs staff will contact you, and/or those involved, to make you aware of accommodations, remedies, and resources available at Memphis College of Art.

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.

OSHA MANDATE:

Memphis College of Art students and faculty are required to follow the      standards detailed in the OSHA safety guidelines.

Below is a link to the estimated schedule for course content. This is subject to change based on my discretion, changes to the curriculum based on student circumstances, etc.

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