ANI 390 Topics in Animation

Summary

ANI 390
Topics in Animation:
Adv.Hand Drawn
Spring 2013 |Mon-Wed 3:10 -4:40 pm|
Instructor: Matt Marsden
mmarsd@artic.edu


Course Description
AS A COURSE DEVOTED TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF 2D DRAWN CHARACTER ACTING IN ANIMATION THE VARIOUS TECHNIQUES REQUIRED TO CREATE CONVINCING MOVEMENT, FRAME TO FRAME CONSISTENCY AND SOPHISTICATED CHARACTER ACTING WILL BE THOROUGHLY COVERED. BEGINNING WITH A REVIEW OF THE FUNDAMENTALS AND PROGRESSING TO MORE COMPLICATED TECHNIQUES STUDENTS WILL LEARN HOW TO CREATE UNIQUE AND TECHNICALLY ACCOMPLISHED 2D DRAWN CHARACTER/PERSONALITY ANIMATION AS WELL AS METHODS FOR ITS EVENTUAL DIGITAL CLEAN-UP, INKING AND PAINTING THROUGH WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS, LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS, CRITIQUES AND SCREENINGS OF RELEVANT ANIMATED FILMS. MUCH OF THE MATERIAL COVERED WILL NOT BE REQUIRED IN ASSIGNMENTS BUT STUDENTS WILL BE ENCOURAGED TO USE AND/OR EXPERIMENT WITH THEM. NON LECTURE/SCREENING TIME WILL BE SPENT ON DRAWING AND COMPUTER LAB WORK. ALL WORK WILL BE SHOT ON DIGITAL LUNCHBOX PENCIL TESTERS WITH ALL FINISHED WORK SCANNED INTO AND COLORIZED IN EITHER TOONBOOM OR PHOTOSHOP/AFTER EFFECTS.

Attendance IS MANDATORY AS MANY ANIMATION TECHNIQUES BUILD UPON ONE ANOTHER. THREE OR MORE ABSENCES WILL RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT GRADE REDUCTION. CLASS BEGINS PROMPTLY AT 3:10 AND FREQUENT LATE ARRIVALS MAY ALSO RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT GRADE REDUCTION.


Grading

25% Attendance and participation in class
45% Weekly projects
30% Final project

A = 100-93, A- = 92-90, B+ = 89-88, B = 87-83, B- = 82-80, C+ = 79-78, C = 77-73, C- = 72-70, D+ = 69-68, D = 67-63, D- = 62-60, F = 59-0.

Bibliography Required Text:
THE ANIMATORS SURVIVAL KIT ? RICHARD WILLIAMS
Recommended:
? Disney Animation: the Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
? Timing for Animation by John Halas.





Schedule This schedule is subject to change throughout the semester.



Week 1







Week 2 DISCUSS: LINE QUALITY REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVE ROUGH ANIMATION, ATTENTION TO VOLUMES IN ROUGH ANIMATION, LINE OF ACTION, WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION IN POSES, EASE IN ? OUT. LINE OF ACTION, MOTION PATHS, ANIMATING ON ARCS, STRETCH AND SQUASH. ANTICIPATION POSES. IMPORTANCE OF SIMPLIFIED VOLUME AND SHAPE FOR ROUGH ANIMATION. TOONBOOM DIGITAL INK AND PAINT PROGRAMS.

ASSIGNMENT: USING EFFECTIVE POSES AND TIMING (EASE IN-OUT ETC.) CREATE A SIMPLE ROUGH ANIMATION OF A CHARACTER DOING THE ?ROCK LIFT?.

DISCUSS: EFFECTIVE POSES FOR DANCE. CREATING EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE THUMBNAIL SKETCHS FOR EXPOSURE SHEET. ANIMATING TO 4/4 TIME AND ?MICKEY MOUSING?.


ASSIGNMENT: FIND AND LOG 4/4 AUDIO. KEY OUT AND BEGIN ANIMATING DANCE PROJECT. DUE NEXT WEEK.


Week 3
DISCUSS: FOLLOW THROUGH ANIMATION: LONG AND WEIGHTLESS THREADS VS. HEAVY LUMPY CHUNKS. MULTI JOINTED FORMS. ROUGH ANIMATION: SPATIAL LINES AND LINE OF ACTION AND WHAT ELSE TO INCLUDE. OVERLAPPING ACTION AND DRAG IN ANIMATED MOVEMENT. PERSPECTIVE IN ANIMATION. FLAT VS. DEEP SPACE. SPACING OF KEYS AND THE USE OF MOTION PATHS IN FORCED PERSPECTIVE ANIMATION.

ASSIGNMENT: REFINE ROUGH ANIMATION OF DANCING CHARACTER WITH AT LEAST ONE FOLLOW THROUGH ELEMENT. DUE NEXT WEEK.



Week 4
DISCUSS: TIMING, TIMING, TIMING! HEAD TURNS AND ACTING IN ANIMATION WITH THE BODY AS WELL AS THE FACE. EFFECTIVE USE OF HOLDS, WHEN AND FOR HOW MANY FRAMES. LOGGING DIALOGUE AND THE EXPOSURE SHEET. THE CADENCE OF SPEECH. LIP SYNC: EXPRESSIONS AND BASIC LIP SHAPES FOR VARIOUS SOUNDS. ACTING FOR LIP SYNC. READING DIALOGUE SOUND FILES AND SCRUBBING THE SOUND TRACK. FINDING AND ANIMATING TO VERBAL ACCENTS. EXPOSURE SHEETING FOR LIP SYNC.

ASSIGNMENT: CREATE A FULL BODY ANIMATED HEAD TURN (REMEMBER ARCS) FROM A HOLD INTO A SECOND HOLD WHICH INVOLVES AN ANTICIPATION OF VERBAL ACCENTS. AS ALWAYS CONCENTRATE ON MOVEMENT/PROPORTIONS AND NOT ON DETAILS.




Week 5


DISCUSS: ACTING, ACTING, AND TIMING! HEAD MOVES AND THE USE OF BLINKS. ACTING IN ANIMATION USING THE ?EVER ELASTIC FACE?. LIP SYNC, VOWELS AND CONSANTS AND THE PRIMACY OF THE ACCENTS AND PHONETICS. LAUGHING, SHOUTING, CRYING, MUMBLING. THE ?EXTENDED HOLD?.
ASSIGNMENT: ANIMATE FACIAL ACTING INCLUDING VERBAL ACCENTS AND CHEEK/JOWEL MOVEMENT. INCLUDE BLINKS ON HOLDS AND DIPS.DUE NEXT WEEK.

.
Week 6 DISCUSS: USING MODEL SHEETS TO ADD CORRECT PROPORTIONS TO ROUGHS. THE USEFULNESS OF PAGE FLIPPING. THE IMPORTANCE OF KEY FRAME CORRECTIONS. THE SEDUCTIVE DANGER OF TRACE OFFS. LIFT AND TRACE INBETWEENING.
CREATING FRAME TO FRAME CONSISTENCY FOR EVENTUAL FULL CLEAN-UP OF ROUGH ANIMATION. USING LIFT AND TRACE FOR CLEAN-UP. INKING AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF LINE WEIGHT: FLICKERING LINE, CHUNKY LINE, CLEAN STUDIO LINE, BLOCKY GRAPHIC LINE, WAVERING AND FRANTIC LINE, BOTTOM HEAVY SHADOW LINE ETC. ETC.ETC. TIME SAVING MEASURES FOR QUICKER CLEAN-UP AND INKING OF ROUGHS VIA THE COMPUTER. COLOR AND THE COMPUTER PALETTE. EFFECTIVE USE OF COLORED LINE ART. USING TOONBOOM TO COLOR SCANNED ANIMATION. UNUSUAL COLOR EFFECTS AND CREATING A UNIQUE AND EFFECTIVE COLOR SCHEME.

ASSIGNMENT: CLEAN-UP TO ?BLUELINE? LEVEL EITHER LIPSYNC OR DANCE PROJECT .

Week 7

DISCUSS: THE STORYBOARD AND COMMUNICATING GRAPHICALLY.
BASIC FILM GRAMMAR: SHOT SIZE, CUTS, FADES, DISSOLVES, ZOOMS,
PANS ETC. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FINAL PROJECT. CREATING EFFECTIVE LAYOUTS FROM STORYBOARDS.
PANS AND ZOOMS IN TOONBOOM. LAYOUT FOR PANS USING BACKGROUND RETICLES. DIAGONAL OR SWOOPING PANS. THE CYCLED BACKGROUND AND IN PLACE CHARACTER ANIMATION. ANIMATING INTO AND OUT OF THE CYCLED BACKGROUND. EXAGGERATED PERSPECTIVE TURNS IN BACKGROUNDS AND ANIMATING THE TRAIN WINDOW PERSPECTIVE.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF CREATING AND MOVING BACKGROUNDS WITHIN TOONBOOM. ZOOMS AND COMBINED PAN/ZOOM CAMERA MOVES. EDITING AND USING LAYERS. CREATING HOLDS AND CYCLES.

ASSIGNMENT: CREATE STORYBOARDS AND/OR BEGIN LAYOUTS FOR FINAL PROJECT.

Week 8
DISCUSS: INDIVIDUAL REVIEW OF FINAL PROJECT CONCEPTS. LAYOUT AND ANIMATION FOR FINAL.
ASSIGNMENT: REFINE STORYBOARDS, COMPLETE LAYOUT AND BEGIN ANIMATION FOR FINAL PROJECT.



Week 9
DISCUSS: PROGRESS ON FINAL.
ASSIGNMENT: FOR FINAL: DRAW, DRAW, DRAW.


Week 10 DISCUSS: RENDERING AND EXPORTING.
ASSIGNMENT: FOR FINAL: DRAW, SCAN, EDIT, COLOR.

Texts

Grading

As listed above.

School policies:

Changes to Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.

Online Course Evaluations

Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation. Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.

All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.

Academic Policies

All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.

Students with Disabilities

Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296