Note: Although the assigments are all due 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.

Monday 6/1- 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|
Aleksandra Domanovic's Anhedonia
Ken Burns

Other:
Juho Terha animations
Jeff Scher Dog Days
Brent Green
Tin Kin

Wednesday 6/3 - Class 2: Sound and Image relationships

• Progress Reports: Show storyboards and any images from PROJECT ONE
• Working in class with iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut, any other editing software as needed for picture editing

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

READING: • Mary Ellen Bute, Synchromy No. 4: Escape

• Screening: sample based music (Hans Peter Kuhn?), real audio, "My Favorite Character is a Wizard" (Scott Roberts)

Monday 6/8 - Class 3: From Storyboard to Motion

• Progress Reports: show current versions of 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:
· Disney cartoons
· Gumby and Pokey television show
· Nightmare Before Christmas Movie
· 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/

Wednesday 6/10 - Class 4: Field trip to the Whitney

945 Madison Avenue at 75th St.
Meet in the lobby at 11:50.

Artist Sadie Benning is known for her experimental video narratives, which she started making in the late 1980s. First shown here in the Whitney's 1993 Biennial, and again in the 2000 Biennial, Benning now presents her latest video installation Play Pause (2006) as part of the Whitney's Contemporary Series. The two-channel video departs from Benning’s earlier work, cutting together hundreds of the artist’s gouache drawings of urban landscapes, figures, and abstractions. With its fragmented split-screen perspective, durational takes of still drawings, and occasional use of color filters, Play Pause speaks to the heightening of perception that accompanies periods of loss. This is Benning’s first solo museum exhibition in New York.

Review: Animating the Everyday Sublime, The New York Times, May 1, 2009

THEN: Downtown @ Postmasters, 459 W. 19th St.

David Herbert- “Séance for the Symphony” (2009) – a near exact replica of the classic first Mickey Mouse cartoon and vessel of Americana, "Steam Boat Willie" (1928). Herbert’s seven minute long video, combining puppetry, stop-animation, and motion graphics, is made exclusively from cardboard, paper, wire and string. The re-created cartoon plays within a translucent sculpture of a floating movie palace. A ghost-like set for what was once a giant step in filmmaking and corporate identity, “Séance for the Symphony” becomes a personal attempt at resurrection – a do-it-yourself copy of an icon that no longer stands.

Monday 6/15 - 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

READING: Principles of Animation

Wednesday 6/17- 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

READING: Storytelling Through Animation, Art Direction,Chapter 5

Monday 6/22- Class 7: From StopMotion to Digital Motion

• Progress Reports: show works in progress for StopMotion projects

-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

Wednesday 6/24 - 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

Screening: Vasulka's Art of Memory

Beginning with Flash for whoever is interested!

Monday 6/29 Class 9: Drawing with Flash

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

Beginning with Flash-Drawing a box
-Coloring fills and strokes
-Merging and stacking shapes
-Creating reusable graphics
-Customizing movie properties
- Aligning objects on the stage
Layers and the timeline
- Keyframes and tweening
- Staggering animation
-Alpha effects
- Motion effects
- Publishing a movie
-Text types
- Using fonts
- Loading and styling text
- Flashtype

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

Wednesday 7/1 - Class 10:First Animations in Flash/ Working with Text in Flash

• Working on finishing projects

Final Screenings at 3pm!