Lip Syncing

There are many resources online to give you tips to achieve better lip syncing, the best way to get the best results is to simply research yourself.  The videoes below will help you gain some quick tips, but there are no shortcuts to mastering lip syncing beyond practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfw5BJi0RFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMWiYIVoDis

--- Taking video of talking can allow you to perfectly mimic the mouth, similarly to rotoscoping.

1.  Take video or either dialouge your characters say or to simply, common words.
2.  Screen shot the moments of pronunciation of a word.

Use these as reference.  A mirror handy at the studio can also help with on the fly animation drawing.

Have a code of mouth sounds to refer back to is also handy.

- Lip Syncing Tutorials
- Round class check in
- Studio Time

The Long Road Home

Congratulations, class!  If you've been keeping up with class, you have all now successfully made your first "animatics".  One could make an argument that this is the hardest part.  One can go the distance, slaving away at an animation, but if the animatic isn't strong, if it's confusing, if specific movements and storytelling ques aren't addressed, it can be all for nothing.

We've reached the fun part. Actual animating!  Drawing lots and lots and lots and lots of little pictures.

There is a little over a month left of school and we will be working in groups of 3 or 4 to finish 1 of the animatic.   

1) Final showing of animatics. 8 - 8:20

2) Vote for best animatics

3) make groups based upon animatics

4) demonstration about animation philosophy; speed vs. accuracy and how much you can get away with in terms of inconsistency.

5) . Discuss within your group who will do what.

6) Lip Sync exercise:  Videotape dialogue from the chosen animatic.  Do drawings of a sentence to practice.

Adapting your storyboard to sounds; Return emphasis to background & Hitchcock Rule

Mission Hill Animatic Episode -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T1t87wbnKQ

As we discussed earlier, having your 30 second animatics have internal logic is vital for grasping the attention of your audience.  It is an element that can transcend an animation to the realm of an experience, as it gives off the effect of witnessing a separate reality.  Consistency to the worlds created, specific details and even visual tangents are what separates derivative work from original work.   It gives you, the creators, a never ending well of resources and paths to go down.

If you're beating yourself over the head as to where a story must go, perhaps 30 seconds of animatic has passed by simply pausing and observing the worlds you have created.  Establishing shots, often more rendered and painterly, is a trope within narration that is highly anticipated and beloved by fans of animation art collectors.

As a result, we will be talking about background painting today.















Suggested scale: relative to 1080 x 1920 - 6.4 inches by 3.6 inches

Hitchcock Rule:  "The Size of Any Object in Your Frame Should Be Proportional To Its Importance to the story at that moment".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCf1a7ApKhQ

More References:
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/11/hitchcock-rule-help-you-tell-better-visual-stories
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/08/hitchcocks-rule.html

Sound; an Introduction

8:00- 8:30 -  Lecture on Sound + Performance

Sound is critical to the success of an animatic.  Witness a cartoon without it and with it, including the soundtrack and the contrast is startling.  As we have seen in class, sound is the main inspiration of a variety of classics, most notably Fantasia.  Let's look at some other examples of sound in class that exemplify animation.

Bruce Bickford w/ Frank Zappa

Mall 84:
https://vimeo.com/184245517

4 Track Demonstration:

Ultimately you want to have your various sounds on different "tracks" so that you may edit them individually.  I do this the old fashion way, with a Tascam 4 track.  This is where my mixing and editing occurs.  If you can't find one of these dinosaurs, I suggest using the Lesley Sound Studio that is available to you to record conversation at the same time.

When playing music, traditionally drums, bass, guitar and vocals would be on 4 separate tracks.  However, thanks to auxiliary cables, the source of music can be from just about anywhere and run through the same analog effects.


Once I have a mix I like, I put it the sounds back into the computer and edit it in AUDACITY, a free video recording and editing software.

http://www.audacityteam.org/

Here, sound can be chopped up, looped, distorted, amplified, slowed down, sped up, etc.

Once I have my soundtrack completely in order, I trace the time of the sound and co-ordinate it with VISUALS.  The converging of these two things will be what makes the final animatic.

Roger Otto:  Dinosaur Skateboarder was made this way, as well as a series of ongoing live performances.

8:30 - 8:45 - Looking at Color

Color!




How does your color decisions reinforce the theme of your animatic?  Does it play into the world you have built?  Does it accompany the song?  It is true to its adaptation?

9:00 - 10:00 - Critique of Homework

10 - 10:30 - Description of homework and experimentation with 4 track.

Homework: Write script and/or First take recordings.  Attempt to mix sound using Audacity.  Record with your phone.  I suggest each piece of dialogue be its own file so that it can be pieced together in an audio program.

Santoro's Notecard Method

Notecard Method!

This Assignment is adapted from Frank Santoro, an aesthetic thinker in the field of comic books (he is a graphic novelist himself and often contributes articles to the comics journal).  He has developed "the Notecard Method" which opens you up to being inspired to develop storyboards from your direct sketchbook.  This means you could potentially develop a storyboard from just an image.  Maybe you did a sketch, there are made up characters that you have not given names to, but you just love the composition!  You just love the color you used.  or maybe you just drew something on the subway; someone who was across from you who just looked interesting.

With the notecard method, you can start a storyboard at the END of a story, the BEGINNING of the story, or the MIDDLE of the story.

Homework:  With your notecards, develop a storyboard.  Try to use various sketchbook entires.  What connects the drawings in your sketchbook?  What power is there in gaining ideas from you subconscious or indirectly?

It is not just what is being told, but how the story is being told.

Today is a BIG CRIT day!

8-8:45 - Character rotation crits.  After crits, students can choose to except a final grade on the rotations or can have an extension to turn in a final character rotation on Wednesday.  We will troubleshoot any last process, technology or craft issues presented in the character rotation gifs.

8:45 - 9 = break

9 = 10:15

ADAPTATION STORYBOARDS

Does the aesthetic of the storyboard fit well with the adapted script?  Are the camera angles used appropriate for the story?  

We will look over our storyboarded adaptations. Students will present their storyboards and walk us through them as if we were in an animation boardroom.  We will cross reference their animations while looking at a variety of camera angles to ask if other camera angles would better fit the frames presented in storyboard panel.  

Pan = A movement which scans a scene horizontally ... you may want to add "pan" notes to your storyboard".  Panning is something that cannot be mimicked in graphic novels and is exclusive to the medium of film.  

Framing, or Shot Length = 

1.  Extreme Long Shot - often used to show establishing shots.  Normally an exterior, often the outside of a building or a landscape.

2.  Long shot = Hard to categorize.  Usually shots characters at "life" size, or full figure.  Also called a FULL SHOT.  A focus on characters but with plenty of background.

3.  Medium Shot =
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialouge scenes or to show some detail of action.

4.  Close-up:  Pretty self explanatory.

5.  Extreme Close up:  Pretty self explanatory.

Camera Angles:

1.  Bird's Eye View
2. High Angle
3. Eye Level
4. Low Angle
5.  Oblique/Canted Angle

Camera Movements

1.  Pans
2.  Tilts
3.  Dolly Shots
4.  Hand-Held Shots
5.  Crane Shots (Dolly shots in the air)
6.  Zoom Lenses
7.  Aerial Shot (Like a Crane but with a drone/helicopter)

A lot of this terminology does not apply because as animator your "camera" can literally go anywhere and do anything.  You are not restricted by reality.  However, having this vocabulary down will help you talk with filmmakers.  

While on the topic of vocabulary, this is a good time to talk about lighting.  



How a shot is lit will dramatically change the vibe of the shot. Here is a chart of lighting terms for reference. 

Lastly, I am posting "Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work" again. While this is originally intended for cartoonists, and the terminology is specific to them, visually it can be a great guide for deciding what camera angles are appropriate when.  

 
A nice youtube series on Wally's work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_KwzCarm_0

10:15 - 10:30

Homework:  
 Quick in Class Demonstration of how to use Bosca Ceoil
1.  Go to http://boscaceoil.net/ - I would suggest downloading the program, but there is an online version.
2.  Construct a song.  Play with the program, don't worry about making a musical masterpiece.
3.  Save your project and have it ready to present in class on Wednesday for a class project. 

Camera Shots

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/film-studies-101-camera-shots-styles/

How to make a Character Rotation .GIF in photoshop

Hello students, welcome to class 3 of freshman animation seminar.  Today we will -

8 - 9:30 : crit our characters!  Ask questions about these characters.  Asks follow up questions!  Be curious!  Remember!  This process isn't a game of "gotcha!" - with the intensions of exposing you of not fleshing out our characters.  No!  This is an exercise in flexing the inquisitive mind.  We want to get to the bottom of who these people are, what this environment is ... we want to develop a fully fleshed out world so that our animations have internal logic, specific details, elements that will make them more individual and far removed from a cookie cutter replica of a pre-established environment that is handicapped by the trappings of industry, genre or commodity culture.  This is art school!  Let's experiment!

9:30 - 9:45 : Break

9:45 - 10:15 :

Demo:  HOW TO MAKE AN ANIMATED GIF IN PHOTOSHOP

1.  Open up a new document at 1920x1080 pixels.  Get in the habit of knowing these dimensions as they are used for youtube, a forum you will be using often as an animator.  

Here we have your homework, completed and opened up in photoshop.  A minimum of five heads, drawn with a computer mouse the night before class.  Hey, points for getting it in on time, and not too bad with the proportions!

2.  Make sure that each face is on a separate LAYER.  Your LAYERS window can be opened by clicking WINDOW at the top of your photoshop controls and hitting LAYERS.

3.  There are multiple ways of putting each different frame into a separate layer.  I suggest scanning all five images in at once, hitting M for marquee tool, and cutting and pasting (shift C+ shift P) on top of one another.  Once each drawing is copied and pasted onto a separate layer, delete the original underdrawing.



4. Open up timeline in photoshop by clicking window in the top controls. Click "Create Video TImeline".

5.  In the bottom right hand corner of the timeline function, there is an icon of 3 squares.  Click it.  This shifts how the timeline is visualized.  For audio, you would switch back to the other timeline.  I have always been more comfortable with the three square method, feel free to use either one and experiment.


6.
  

Congratulations!  You're half way there.  Your timeline should look like this.  The bottom time of the frame indicates how long of a pause should remain on that frame.  The picture shows what the frame looks like. These are interchangeable.  Click on the tab right next to the trashcan to make new frames.
7.  From here, align you frames with your layer.  Hit the eyeball on the side of the layer window to make them visible and invisible.

Your end product should look like this:


10:15 - 10:30:
Q & A plus description of the homework
Homework:  Complete an animated GIF. for NEXT MONDAY.  Wednesday there will be a seminar and workshop as well as additional homework assignments.  Please bring drawing materials to the next class.

Designing a Character; In-House Style Vs. Personal Aesthetic

Class Schedule:

1.  8 - 8:30; evaluating the Alan Moore Reading. 
Questions: 

Opening Question - 

What is an odd thing that alligators eat in Louisiana?

8:30 - 8:45

Lecture on Well Developed Environments with Eternal Logic:

Springfield, The Simpsons



Due to the Simpson's prolonged length in programing, the show has consistently developed an entire environment, most notably examined in the classic episode "22 Short Stories About Springfield."  The town of Springfield has developed an internal map that is observed in the opening credits in the form of a fly-by.  

Neo-Tokyo, Akira



Neo-Tokyo in the landmark Anime classic, AKIRA, is a major part to the success of the film.  The city itself is a character due to its attention to detail and vibe.  The intricate elements of the environment heighten its illusion of reality, allowing the audience to feel the illusion of existing in a futuristic vision.

American Flagg!



Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! is cited in Alan Moore's "writing for comics" as an example of a narrative with a highly developed internal logic.  The names of basketball teams within the future are mentioned, the recipes of the meals the characters eat are in the author's notes and the whole comic is interrupted by News Reports and Non Sequitur Commercials that exist within this Reagan Economics Futuristic Satire.  Reading Flagg! now feels almost grotesque in its prophetic estimates of a corporately owned, oligarchical, hyper-masculinized and misogynistic society.

8:45 - 9:45: "In-House" Exercise & Crit"

Many animations and cartoons are drawn in an "In-House" style.  This means a style which is predetermined by a head creator.  The classic example of this would be "the Simpsons". 





While the Simpsons have been "refined" in aesthetic (you will notice this early 1989 rendition of the family feels more hand drawn with no location of where light is hitting the characters in relation to the above image (making the below image appear flatter)), their proportions and characteristics are identical.  While the cloning of a character can be done with the assistance of a computer, it is literally impossible for two humans to draw the exact same Homer Simpsons.  The minute details of our individual hands cannot create exact copies.  Our own artistic tendencies and how we hold our instruments of mark making are too idiosyncratic.

In contrast, DC and Marvel Comics have corporate owned characters that are NOT drawn in-house style.  Their hand picked artists are encouraged to draw these characters in their own personal styles, although it is within the confines of the companies editors and owners.  As a result, their characters can become marketable to a variety of audiences.  A perfect example of this would be Batman and his depiction through the ages.

 

Batman is drawn for children in the pages of "Lil' Gotham".



And Batman is drawn for adults who are fans of gritty, noir crime literature.



Batman can be campy.



Batman can be slick and stylish.

Every artist interprets Batman to their own aesthetic vision that is developed into what is considered their iconic style.

Exercise:

Think of an In-House character.  Popeye, Yogi Bear, the cast of Akira, the Simpsons, Family Guy are all good examples.  We will collect a handful for the projector and then attempt to draw these in-house characters as perfectly as possible by observation.

When these In-House drawings are completed, draw the same character in your own personal aesthetic with your own materials.  We will compare and contrast the two.

10 minute break

9:55 - 10:30: 

Develop a Character for your environment.  Develop questions for this character first.   Write an entire page of questions like Alan Moore writes an entire column asking questions about the imaginary Neptune colony.  If you get stuck, ask follow up questions to the answer to your questions.  Once a page is written, post it in the comments section of this blog post.  Once you have done this, enjoy the pleasure of illustrating your character.  Consider the medium of animation when developing your character and that you will be most likely drawing lots and lots and lots and lots of little pictures of said character.  Therefore, you may wish to keep the rendering and excessive details down.  Consider how you can express your character with:

*  Fashion Decisions
*  Posture 
*  Facial Expression


When drawing your character, use the above handout as a model.  Draw your character from the front, a "turn right" (3/4th view), profile right, back right, back.  If your character is not symmetrical,  draw the additional figures so that the character makes a full 360 rotation.  This will prepare us for our first in-class animation, a character rotation GIF.  Here are some examples drawn by Middle Schoolers.












I strongly believe in developing characters and environments before script writing.  You can't write a script or draw storyboards based on characters and worlds you don't understand.  

Next week we will go over - 

Master Requirements

Cinematic grammar

Aspect ratio VS. resolution

Long shots, medium shots and full shots 

Syllabus!

IANIM-1300-02

Animation Foundation Seminar 1

Instructor Information

Jack Turnbull

(508) 783 3120

mr.jackwhturnbull@gmail.com

www.jackturnbull.com

Description

This course focuses on the creation of a short animated film.  Students bring their ideas; they will cover the twelve principles of animation, as well as filmmaking, conceptual thinking, story boarding, story structures, animatics, character design, and lip-syncing.  Each week, you will work toward finishing your animated film, presenting a complete piece with sound at the end of the semester.

Outcomes and Goals:

• Students will learn the 12 principles of animation, universal laws of animation that they will continue to use throughout their professional careers
• Students will expand their abilities at conceptual thinking through a series of creative challenges dealing with mood, tension, humor, and drama
• Students will learn the components of story structure, how to construct the narrative elements that make up a film
• Students will discover how to tell a visual narrative through storyboarding, sequential images that describe the events of an animated sequence.  It is a crucial planning tool for animation production
• Students will learn how to build an animatic, which consists of their storyboard edited in motion with sound
• Students will explore the way individuals appearance influence an audiences perception of them by learning the principles of character design
• Students will learn to work in group projects as well as individual creations
• Students will present their work for regular critiques, including a mid-term and final comprehensive critique
• Students will learn to work collaboratively as well as direct their own animation

Content:

In this class students will direct their own 20-second animation while working as a team on animations directed by other students.  Using a round robin approach students will experience every aspect of working on an animation team from being the director, animator, to tweener. 

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance in all classes required.  Students are expected to arrive on time and remain in class for the entire period scheduled.  The responsibility for work missed due to any type of absence rests with the student.  A failing grade will be assigned to any students who attends less than 80% of class meetings (3 classes of a course meeting once a week or 6 classes of a course meeting twice weekly).  Any exceptions are made at the discretion of the instructor.

Expectations

Students are expected to develop a professional attitude in all aspects of this course.  This includes not only fulfilling course requirements, but also demonstrating respect for your self, instructor, classmates, and workspace at all times.  

• Please do not use the computers during lecture or discussion time. 
• Emailing, Facebook, IM-ing, etc. is not permitted during class time.  It is distracting and disrespectful to your instructor and other students.  
• Cell phones should not be used during class time. Please leave phones outside of classroom
• Food or drink should not be near the computers or digital equipment at any time.  
• Please do not leave any trash in the room.

SHARED COMPUTER HABITS:

At the end of each class make sure you have:

• Closed all applications
• Saved, transported, emailed, and or trashed your own work on classroom lab computers
• Cleaned up around your space

As a member of the class, the level of your work, commitment, and participation are valuable and essential to the development of creativity, knowledge, and skills of each individual.  Your active role enhances the overall learning experience of the class, so please be sure to contribute.  During class critiques, activities, and discussions, you are expected to participate in a respectful, constructive manner.  Any disruptive behavior would be a violation of course decorum and may be penalized. 

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT: 

To pass this course the student: 

• Must be on time and prepared at the start of every class
• Have good attendance
• Turn in projects on time
• Participate in class discussions and critiques
• Complete all course projects and exercises
• Complete all course related readings, research, and writing assignments
• Submit a high quality final Digital Portfolio
•  

Grading Policy

Class Participation 28%

Homework 60%

Final presentation 6%

Sketch Book 6%

Late work will not be accepted, but all work that is handed in on time can be redone at any time during the semester for a better grade.  Work is expected at the start of class.

A Laptop and external hard drive are required for every class.  Lack of either at the start of class will result in an absence for the class period.

• Missing Portfolio pieces will be subtracted from the appropriate category.
• A missing portfolio at the end of the semester will result in failure of the class.
• Students must treat one another with respect.  Any art or behavior that is deliberately offensive will be penalized.
• One hour of outside work is the required minimum for each credit hour of class.  Expect to do at least three hours of outside work per week.  For higher marks expect to do at least twice that amount of work outside of class.

Evaluation for Projects and Assignments will be based on your: Process, Progress, Clarity of Concept, Technical Execution, Craftsmanship, and Presentation as well as participation in class critiques, discussions and activities, attention to quality of work, effort, overall progress, meeting deadlines, attendance and open-mindedness throughout the course. 

Itinerary/Schedule: 

This syllabus is only a guideline for the course I may make changes to it as the course progresses.

Module I Pre production (5wks): 

• Storytelling
• 3 Act story
• The Hero’s journey
• Script writing
• Creating storyboards
• Cinematic language
• Round robin projects
• Editing
• Color studies
• Character sheets

Project #1 – 3 Act story: Create a 3act story using Mad libs.

Project #2 – Storyboard someone else’s story

Project #3 – Ink a storyboard

Project #4 – create edits, montage and use Hitchcock’s rule to enhance a story

Project #5 – color studies and character development with turn around

Module II Production  (10 wks)

• Foley
• Lip syncing
• Principles of animation 
• File management 
• File sharing
• Lighting
• Gesture drawing
• Team work
• Animatic
• Line of action
• Character expressions
• Animation
• Scratch disc
• Sound track
• Dialogue
• Set dressing
• Background scenes
• Editing

Project #6 – create extremes for sequence

Project #7  - tweens for animation

Project #8 – scene dressing and background scenes

Project #9 – Scratch disc

Project #10  - lip syncing

Project #11 – Animatic

Project #12 – Animation

Calendar

Week 1 Monday January 23

CW: Introduction

Instructor Introduction

Roger Otto:  The Animation

Roger Otto: The Comic Book (Re-aloud)

Alan Moore Story Structure & the major significance of the Introduction (or the environment and theme)

Alan Moore argues that the most significant part of any story is the idea of the story, or what the story is ABOUT beyond the plot (which is related to what the story is about but is its own thing). For example, No Country For Old Men is a horror-western about a psychotic maniac chasing after a stolen sachet of money, but what the story is ABOUT is confronting the existence of evil, a meditation on the randomness of death and an intension to de-romanticize violence.  Watchmen is a superhero whodunnit, but what the story is about is an exploration of the question “what if super heroes were real?”.  

However, when creating an animation, you don’t have to start with the idea.  Starting with an idea can seem extremely daunting; I might as well ask “what is your art about?” which is a question artists struggle with their whole careers because what our art is about is usually in flux.  So sometimes a good catalyst to flesh out an idea is to first create an environment and characters.

Before you can make an animation or write a script, the environment and characters must be established.  You can’t write the dialogue for a character you don’t know because a character will speak and act a specific way depending upon their motivations, characteristics and environment.  

You can’t even write a character until you’ve established an environment.  We can all agree that we would be very different people if we were living in Syria right now.  Our environment drastically shifts our character.   

Take Class Outside and draw on location environment shots.

Imagine your landscape drawings are now existing in an alternative reality.  This alternative reality can be as abstract or as mundane as you wish.  It can very not too different from our own world or it can be drastically different.  It can exist in a different time period or on another planet.  The only consistent is the structure of the landscape; you are using reality as a “skeleton” so to speak.  Answer the following questions before you start the second drawing:  

  What is the population of the environment?

*  Does this environment have any local sports teams?

*  How are those sports teams?  Do they win or lose?

*  If you environment is on another planet, what is the gravity like?

*  Is there any rodent or pest problems in this environment?

*  What is the employment rate?

*  What does this environment sound like?

*  What is the leading cause of death in this environment?

*  What is the birth rate?

*  How are people’s nutrition?  Are they getting enough vitamins? Is food sparse or plentiful?

*  What is the local government like, if there is a local government? 

*  Are there ethnic or communal tensions within this community?

Homework:  Come in Wednesday with a sketch of this alternative reality Porter Square with the questions answered.  

Master Requirements

Storytelling review

The 3 act story

Different genres

Script writing

Introduction Project #1 Create a 3 act story in class

Wednesday January 25

CW:  

Now that we have a fleshed out environment, we will spend this class time developing 1 character.  It is important to develop the environment first because the environment influences a character.  If your environment is a dingy, dank, dark cave, it will affect the character within it as opposed to if the environment is a wide-open field in spring.  

Write 20 questions about this character.  It is extra helpful if the questions relate to the environment you just established.  Once these 20 questions are answered, you can begin to draw this character.

Draw this character in 3 different camera angles.  Observe Wally Wood’s 22 Panels that always work for reference.  Go over Long shots, Medium Shots and Full Shots.  Go over Screen Resolution and paper ratio to youtube video (which will be our final “canvas”).  Write twenty   

Master Requirements

Cinematic grammar

Aspect ratio VS. resolution

Long shots, medium shots and full shots 

HW: Make a character rotation GIF of your character within the character’s environment. 

Week 2 Monday, 30 January

 CW:

Crit of character rotations.

In-House style Vs. personal aesthetic.  It is not just what your character wears, but how  the character is drawn.

Wednesday February 1

CW:

Pre-production idea #2:

Adaptation 

Watch: Inherent Vice & Read Inherent Vice.  Compare and contrast the two

Watch: No Country For Old Men & Read No Country for Old Men.  Compare and Contrast the two. 

Dramatic shots and camera angles

Establishing shots and emblematic shots

Introduction Project #2A Storyboard a story that is not your own following the script: storyboard may be hand done, digital or collaged

Shots and camera angles continued

Compositions 

2/3rds 1/3^rd rules

Shots with drama:  high angles, low angles, and canted angles

HW:  Create a storyboard of an adapted story.  This can be in the form of a news report, a fable, a historical event, etc.  It should be something recognizable to the general public (please no obscurities, doing so will give the audience little reference and ultimately be pointless for educational purposes).

Adding in and subtracting notecards is vital to this process.  When critique is over, we will start talking about how to adapt a story in one medium to another.  Using The given storyboard create active compositions for all scenes that are Long shots, emblematic shots, establishing shots, medium shots and full shots, high angles, low angles, and canted angles.  Draw with active compositions.

Week 3:

Monday, February 6

Start class by critiquing adaptation storyboards. Does the aesthetic of the storyboard fit well with the adapted script? 

CW: Synesthesia and inter sensory experiences; the internal process of transcribing music to visuals. 

Watch: Fantasia. Discuss:  Heinz Werner.

Storyboarding

Meet with Director of story for feedback 

Cinematic grammar

Camera actions:  zoom, trucking, dolly

Line of action

Racking focus

Depth of field

Introduction Project #2B Add symbols for camera actions and shots as well as timing to story and storyboard

Wednesday, February 8

CW: Introduce:  Computer sequencers; how to score music for an animation.  Students will create 30 second songs.  Students will then draw inspiration from these songs through drawing while listening to music.  

Beats

Pacing

Scenes and sequences

Timing

Storytelling through value

HW:  Write a song for class for next week using a computer sequencer.

 Week 4 Monday, February 13

CW: Students will present their songs.  As we listen to each song, each student will draw what they see in their imagination while listening to the song. We will discuss the parallels of the music to the images and see if there are potential story ideas that development from this experience.

Edits and cuts and transitions

Montage

Hitchcock’s rule

Workshop with Director and make notes and edits

Wednesday, February 15

CW: Workshop day.  Students will bring in the three storyboards they have been developing; the Alan Moore world building method, the synesthesia method and the adaptation.  From these three the students will discuss which ones are strongest.  We will focus the rest of the semester on developing this particular storyboard into a 30 second animatic. 

Lecture on COLOR.

180• rule

Cutting on action

Storytelling through color

HW: TBA

Week 5 Monday, February 20^th

President’s Day

Wednesday, February 22nd

CW: Meet with Directors to get notes on storyboards

Character Development

Character turn-arounds

Color studies

HW:  Project #5B Using a director’s color study, color in the corresponding storyboard.  Create a character turn around sheets for both the protagonist and the antagonist. 

Week 6 Monday, February 27th

CW: Directors critique storyboards and character sheets

Create animation schedule

Animatics

Critique stories: ship, shelve or shred – (production teams will be made for the top third of the stories)

Extreme Poses in-betweens and tweens

Directors choose the medium of animation

Animation teams chosen 

File sharing and file format

Wednesday, March 1

CW: Creating Foley

Editing sound in Premiere

Directors - Create dialogue for a scene in your animation 

HW: Project #6A Directors create the extreme poses for your sequence, and create animation schedule for their team

Week 7 Monday, March 6

CW: lip syncing

Directors meet up with animators to workshop animation

Tweening

Critique

12 Principles of animation

Creating Foley

Wednesday, March 8 

CW: workshop story 

Editing sound in Premiere

Project #9 Team creates a scratch disc 

HW: Project #7A Tween 5-7 seconds of animation on any animation 

Week 8 Monday, March 13

Wednesday, March 15

Spring Break

Week 9 Monday, March 20

CW: Project # 11 create animatic

Daily’s:  Directors give a 1 minute review of where their team is and their animation schedule

Polish sound 

Foley

12 Principles of Animation

Wednesday, March 22

CW: lay down the sound for any dialogue

Background and set dressing

HW: Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 10 Monday, March 27

CW: Daily’s:  Directors give a 1 minute review of their film 

Project #10 Create lip syncing for a scene in your animatic

Wednesday, March 29

CW: Workshop animations

HW: Team members switch roles: Director becomes Animator, Animator – Art Director, Art Director – Director

Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 11 Monday, April 3

CW: Daily’s:  Directors give a 1 minute review of their film

Build animation with new job roles

Wednesday, April 5

CW: Workshop animations

Build animation with new job roles 

HW: Team members switch roles: Director becomes Animator, Animator – Art Director, Art Director – Director

Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 12 Monday, April 10

CW: Critique, original Directors present their animations

Wednesday, April 12

CW: Start replacing scratch disc with sound track

Workshop stories

HW: Team members switch roles: Director becomes Animator, Animator – Art Director, Art Director – Director

Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 13 Monday, April 17

CW: Daily’s:  Directors give a 1 minute review of where their team is and their animation

Wednesday, April 19 

CW: Creating special effects

Replace animatic with animation

HW: Animate the Extreme poses of a Sequence at least 10 seconds 

Team members switch roles: Director becomes Animator, Animator – Art Director, Art Director – Director

Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 14 Monday, April 24

CW: Daily’s:  Directors give a 1 minute review of where their team is and their animation

Refine animation

Project #12 final animation

Wednesday, April 26

CW: Editing animations.  Director’s to assign last minute jobs to their teams 

HW:  Team members switch roles: Director becomes Animator, Animator – Art Director, Art Director – Director

Director #6B:  Start organizing the animatic, draw in any break down poses 

Animator #7B: tween scenes 

Art Director: Project#8: Start creating scene dressing and back ground scenes

Week 15 Monday, May 1 Final class presentation

CW: Critique:  Original Director’s present films

Wednesday, May 3 Final class presentation

CW: Make edits to films and hand them in

HW: Finalize your film and have animatic ready for final presentation

Required Texts and Materials

Atomic Learning.com

External Hard Drive with at least a terabyte of space

Computer with the Adobe CC

Drawing paper

10” x 12” sketchbook

Drawing utensils

Suggested Texts and Materials

The Animators Survival Kit, Richard Williams

Timing For Animation, Harold Whitaker, John Halas

Story, Robert McKee

Animation Unleashed, Ellen Besen

The Animation Bible, Maureen Furniss

The Animation Book, Kit Laybourne

Research & Critical Inquiry

The College of Art and Design Library & Sherrill Library (main Lesley University library): Students are encouraged to use library collections and services for both academic research and studio art inspiration.

For General Refernece help:

asklib@lesley.edu

For research and Instructional needs:

Micki Harrington, MLS

Art Research and Instruction Librarian, Moriarty Library

Lesley University Library

617.349.8071

mharri27@lesley.edu

Tamar Gonen Brown, PHD

Assitant Director of Research and Instruction

Lesley University Library

617.349.8862

tbrown13@lesley.edu

For Circulation, Reserves, and Interlibrary Loans:

Access Services Supervisor, Moriarty Library

Assits with circulation, reserves, and interlibrary loan

617.349.8070

moriartylibrary@lesley.edu

Circulation Desk

617-349-8070

Art & Design Research Guides

http://research.lesley.edu/art

• Books, exhibition catalogs and videos are listed in the FLO library catalog.
• Articles from journals, magazines, and entire e-books are online in the library databases (MyLesley login required).
• High quality museum images, including contemporary art, are online in the library databases and books.
• Interlibrary Loan service delivers items not available from Lesley or FLO.   

Research strategies, MLA citation help, library tutorials and personalized research help by email, IM or phone. 

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty comes in many forms. The following list is not meant to be exhaustive and a student may be charged and found guilty of violating the University’s Academic Integrity Policy for an offense not enumerated below. Academic dishonesty includes: cheating, plagiarism, fabrication and falsification, multiple submissions, abuse of academic materials, complicity/unauthorized assistance, lying/tampering/theft. Please review the student handbook for details: http://www.lesley.edu/academic-integrity-policy/

Disability Statement 

Lesley University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and to benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and must provide documentation of the disability.  Eligibility for reasonable accommodations will be based on the documentation provided.

If you are a student with a documented disability, or feel that you may have a disability, please contact the appropriate disability administrator:

Learning Disabilities and Attention Disorders for On-Campus Students 

Kimberly J. Johnson, Director LD/ADD Academic Support Program 

Doble Hall, 2^nd floor

Phone: 617.349.8462 • Fax: 617.349.8324

kjohnso7@lesley.edu

Physical, Sensory, and Psychiatric Disorders for On-Campus Students

G. Ruth Kukiela Bork, Director of Access Services for Students with Disabilities

11 Mellen Street

Phone: 617.349.8194 • Fax: 617.349. 8558 • TTY: 617.349.8544

rbork@lesley.edu

For All Off-Campus Students

Daniel Newman, Lesley University ADA/504 Coordinator

Doble Hall, 2^nd Floor 

Phone: 617.349.8572 • Fax: 617.349.8324

dnewman@lesley.edu

The contact persons play the role of facilitator between

the student's needs, faculty requirements, and administrative guidelines of the University. Disability-related information is not shared without the permission of the student.

Equal Opportunity and Inclusion Policy 

Lesley University remains committed to a policy of equal opportunity, affirmative action, and inclusion for all 

current and prospective faculty, students, and staff and 

to eliminating discrimination when it occurs. Lesley University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or sexual orientation in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities. Lesley will not ignore any form of discrimination, harassment, or sexual harassment by any member of the Lesley community. Moreover, Lesley does not condone any form of retaliation against any person who brings a complaint of discrimination, harassment or sexual harassment or against anyone who cooperates in a complaint investigation.