Note: Although the assigments are all due at midterm and during the last class of the session (see projects page), each student is expected to present work every class as part of the "progress reports" you see on the schedule below. These reports will be used to evaluate progress on projects, and solve both aesthetic and technical problems. Failure to continuously present work will result in a warning.

Tuesday 2/2- Class 1: Storytelling with pictures

•Introduction to the course structure:
- progress reports
- screenings
- studio work
- a few films from last semester

•How to make a storyboard
- discussion of basic cinematic language and continuity

• Working with digital cameras

READING: "Time Frames" from Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud |HTML format| |PDF format 18 megs|
SCREENING: La Jetee by Chris Marker, |link|

Tuesday 2/9 - Class 2: Towards Movement

• Working in class with iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut, any other editing software as needed for picture editing

- Panning, zooming
-Transitions
- More about continuity and timing
- Importing files/exporting movies

READING: "Storyboards" lPDFl

SCREENING: Ken Burns

Tuesday 2/16 - Class 3: Sound and Image relationships

• Sound:
- Soundtrack and
- GarageBand :input/output, multiitracking , filters, editing techniques

SCREENING: • Mary Ellen Bute, Synchromy No. 4: Escape
Oskar Fischinger
Sampling Based Music

Tuesday 2/23 - Class 4: From Storyboard to Motion

Due: show PROJECT ONE

- Introduction to Basic Animation Terminolgy
- Persistance of vision, range of animation techniques
- Inspiration: The Cafe Drawing
- Introduction to iStopMotion

- Screening: Examples of StopMotion and Pixellation

Examples:
· William Kentridge clips
· Gumby and Pokey television show
· Chicken Run
· Martha Colburn
· Quay
· White Stripes "Fell in Love with a Girl"
· Robert Breer

For Next Week: Work on character development for Project Two
Please bring in more materials for in class experimentation next week.

READING: 12 Principles of Animation / PDF

Storytelling Through Animation,Character Design,Chapter 11
http://www.animateclay.com/

 

Tuesday 3/2 - Class 5: Analyzing Motion

• Progress Reports: discuss ideas for paper or clay stopmotion

- In Class Experimentation with iStopMotion (form animation teams)
- Claymation and Cut Paper Animation

recap:

- Introduction to Basic Animation Terminolgy
- Persistance of vision, range of animation techniques
- Inspiration: The Cafe Drawing

1.Production Notes-· simple storyboards (written or illustrated), sketches of main character(s), sketches of set design, notes concerning props
2. Lighting
3. Rehearsal
4. Filming

SCREENING: Nathalie Djurberg, Karen Yasinsky, William Kentridge, Brent Green

READING: Principles of Animation

Tuesday 3/9- Class 6: Animation work session

• Progress Reports: show works in progress for StopMotion projects

- Cleaning up/ Editing work in Final Cut Pro/iMovie
- Adding sound
- Recording Voice Over
- Adding bacgkrounds/ChromaKey Feature
- Reference Movies
- Realtime recording

Screenings: Michel Gondry videos
READING: Storytelling Through Animation, Art Direction,Chapter 5

Tuesday 3/16- Class 7: From StopMotion to Digital Motion

• DUE: MIDTERM CLASS - Show PROJECT TWO

-Introduction to Motion 3
- Interface Overview
- Working with keyframes
-Vector based paints

- Historical antecedents:
Screening: Harry Smith animations (Harry Smith's early abstractions)
The World of Oskar Fischinger [videorecording] : pioneer of abstract and advertising animation
Len Lye
The Whitneys, Lapis, Yantra

READING: Motion Tutorial Files

Tuesday 3/23 - Class 8: More editing with Motion

• Progress Reports: show works in progress for Motion projects, anything else

-More work with Motion 3
- Behaviors in Motion 3
- Filters and effects

-Motion Resources
http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=143
http://motion.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=611001
http://www.vimeo.com/groups/applemotiontutorials
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Motion-3/dp/0321509102/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265221893&sr=8-2

Screening: Vasulka's Art of Memory

Tuesday 4/13 Class 9: Mattes

• Progress Reports: show works in progress for Motion projects, anything else

-More work with Motion 3
- Creating Matte Effects, traveling mattes
- Syncing events to sound

Screening: Tin Kin Hung

 

Tuesday 4/20 - Class 10: Drawing with Flash// Working with Text in Flash

• DUE: Show PROJECT THREE

Beginning with Flash- Creating Text and Simple Graphics

-Drawing a box
-Coloring fills and strokes
-Merging and stacking shapes
-Creating reusable graphics
-Customizing movie properties
- Aligning objects on the stage

- Frame by Frame Animations

-Text types
- Using fonts
- Loading and styling text
- Flashtype

- Testing and Publishing a movie

Screening: Marina Zurkow, Y0UNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES
· White Stripes "Walking with A Ghost"

Tuesday 4/27 - Class 11: Class 10:First Animations in Flash

DUE: PROJECT FOUR

Layers and the timeline

- Classic Tweening, Shape Tweening, Motion Tweening
- Keyframes and tweening
- Staggering animation
-Alpha effects
- Motion effects

Tuesday 5/4 - Class 12:Added Flash Features

Progress Reports: Presentation of Ideas for Final Flash Movie

- Inverse Kinematics
- Sound and Video

Tuesday 5/11 - Class 13: Flash Review

- Individual help with everything we've covered.

Tuesday 5/18 - Class 14: Last Class

Re-Screening of Projects ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR

EXAM:Tuesday, MAY 25, 8-10am
DUE: Final Flash Project