DUE 11/5/13

1.  Make a list of everything you may need to know to animate your story!

2.  Preproduction must be done. And completed. FULLY! NO EXCEPTIONS! =D

3.  Start working on your animation when all of your preproduction is fully completed!  I will begin to cover NEW 

functions of toonboom and advanced animation and painting techniques tuesday!

4.  As a class, come with a time and a date for our Movie Day! We will discuss our final decisions sometime before class is over Tuesday!

5. Bring your supplies to class to start animating! We will have class time on Tuesday to animate!

DUE FOR TUESDAY, OCT 24, 2013

A. If you missed class, please download the pdf of cinematic storytelling below. It describes many elements of the miss en scene, that is, the many elements that make up your stories, with some extra notes for live filming.

Introduction to Cinematic Storytelling

1.  Finish your story, character, and environment designs!  Remember to adhere to the standards I asked for in earlier posts!  Create a file that has all of your elements professionally and cleanly laid out, like the character designs below!

2. Write out the beats of your story!  Remember to write it the same way you charted out last weeks homework.  We need to know the cause and effect of your characters, and your story!

3.  Using Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, create a storyboard and animatic for your cartoon!  Remember that the more storytelling detail you include, the better!  I covered a lot of shortcuts and ideas for creating these projects today.  For those of you that were not here, you are also responsible for the work, and I will upload a video tutorial that supplements what we learned in class in the next two days.  All the same, find one of your classmates, and ask them for any tips in creating your storyboards in Toon Boom Storyboard Pro.4. Bring your animation gear, ready to work on Tuesday!

RECAP NOTES FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO!

Note: The following resources were compiled from various resources on the internet. Pick and choose and find what works best of you! That said, there are three books that will need to be in your library if you want to be the best at what you do, be it animation, illustration, or more cinematic photography.

Why are we learning shot types?  The only way for you to expand your knowledge as a visual storyteller is to know all of the formulas and conventions you have at your disposal.  Even one new frame could be the difference between an amateur production and presentation and a visual masterpiece of storytelling!

A list of helpful books for cinematic storytelling, good for both Animation and Live Cinema!

http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Storytelling-Powerful-Conventions-Filmmaker/dp/193290705X

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Shots-Vol-2nd-Techniques/dp/1615930876/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Shots-Volume-Shooting-Dialogue/dp/1615930558/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

THE RULE OF THIRDS:

http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds

http://vimeo.com/14315821

VARIOUS CAMERA SHOTS:

Basic Shots: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Advanced shots begin to manipulate the camera and treat it as more of a character in the film, moving and swaying between angles and shots to create a more lived in space:

Examples:  http://revision4gcses.wordpress.com/media-studies/camera-anglesmovementshots/

Dolly shots are some of the most advanced, yet easiest to preform in animation.  Dolly shots are where the camera trucks, weaving in and out of the scene, around characters key environment elements, and other places.

Two Shot: A medium shot with two subjects.

Overhead shot (bird's eye view):  Camera is facing down from above.

Canted shot:  When the camera is tilted on it's axis so that normally vertical lines appear slanted to the left or right.  Ordinary expectations are frustrated.  Often used to create mystery and suspense in films to create a sense of unease in the viewer.

http://www.slideshare.net/StaceySmith1/camera-shots-and-angles-5618222

Handheld Shot:  "shaky cam"  sometimes played up in action scenes to suggest a state of unrest.

Remember that the shots you use already come loaded with information for your character to use.  Also remember that keeping the camera steady in some instances will give your character pivotal moments to come alive.

BONUS: Notes on camera angle diversity: Notes on camera diversity.

http://www.demotix.com/blog/advice/1072724/creating-shot-list-diversity-your-camera-angles-and-image-submissions

Staging and blocking for animation: 

Why do we stage and block shots?  To better plan our animation.  It's a good idea to have a list of documents for what our cartoon will be.  Printouts of our character and our character's expressions for easy reference.  Printouts or organized sketches for your characters.  Documents of the action and shot direction. Drawings of where you think your shots will be.  And, it makes you feel better about the work you do. Seeing the pieces of your cartoon come together creates a sense of pride in your cartoon, as if you are doing something important that many people are simply unable to do.  It's the truth.

Things to remember:

Practice your draftsmanship!  Draw lighter in the beginning, sketch first, refine second!  We will animate our character through drawing frames!  Block out each shot.  Export your drawings out of Storyboard pro as a pdf.  You can board on paper, or photoshop, and scan in too.  but we will make an animatic of your work for the final.

For Tuesday: October 21, 2013

1. Watch your favorite animated movie, animated film, or animated cartoon episode (web or TV).  Then, I want you to list each major plot point from your favorite part of the story, from beginning to end.  

• You can choose any animated work you wish.
• Be as specific or a generic as you feel is necessary. 
• From your notes, you need to be able to understand the cause and effect from each action.  

2. Come up with a character for your next animated story!  The only parameters for your story include the following:

• Time limit: 10 seconds (minimum time limit).
• Your character is supposed to interact with an inanimate object. The inanimate object must change in size and mass over the course of the story.
• We will cover design work and layout next class, but have a few ideas for what you think your character may look like.

Here is how your character design should be laid out!  Make a turnaround, similar to the examples that were shown in class! You need to be able to draw the character from every angle!

some additional resources that may help with your character designs are below:

A link to character designs and production art in the Living Lines Library, anthropormorphic, animals, and humans:  http://livlily.blogspot.com/2010/11/model-sheets-production-drawings.html


If you want more information about character designs, look in the REFS and EBOOKS ---> Character Design folder on the server!

Draw sketches of your environment design for Tuesday! We will cover environment design in detail next week!  If you need examples, look at the REFS and EBOOKS 
---> [pireze]MakotoShinkai_Sora_no_Kioku_REVIEW



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As an example for your story layout, I have made the following detailed set of notes from Natasha Allegri's "Bee and Puppycat."  (10 minutes)

• Bee gets fired from work.
• On the way home, a mysterious animal (part cat, part dog) falls out of the sky.
• She brings the animal home.
• Bee heads home, reflecting on her sense of self in a self deprecating manner.
• She hears a knock at the door, only to answer it and find her friend Deckard.
• Blushing, they make small talk until she accidentally hits him in the crotch with her umbrella.
• Embarrassed, she slams the door and runs to get him ice.
• She shoves the ice under the door.  He takes it, leaving her a casserole to eat.

• Afterward, Bee has a nightmate about dancing cats.
• She wakes up, realizing she's late for a temp agency appointment.
• The temp agent refuses to hire her, and she eats all of his candy while she waits.
• She heads back home, after bringing toys for her new cat.
• She realizes she has no more money to eat.
• A magical envelope comes out of the animal, requesting the cat, named Puppycat to come to work in a place called fishbowl space.
• Puppycat's pawprint teleports them to fishbowl space.
• The two get teleported to fishbowl space.  Bee is considered an intruder, and a talking box tries to incinerate her.
• Bee mentions they are friends, and the talking box gives her an outfit.
• Bee learns Puppycat's job is to babysit a fish who misses it's mom.

• Puppycat tells the fish a story, about a space outlaw who was betrayed by a space princess. The thief was transformed by the king into a hideous monster and escaped.
• After hearing the story, the fish turns into a space demon, speaking menacingly about Puppycat, calling him into a monster.
• The space demon picks up puppy cat, and Bee runs to save him.
• She bites his tongue and hits him with her sword, swinging it with little experience.
• She bites his tongue off, picks up Puppycat, and uses him as a laser gun.
• She asks him if the story told was true. Puppycat does not answer.
• They get teleported back to her house, where Puppycat is given a lot of cash. He gives Bee half.
• Bee thanks him, and heads to bed, offering to make a better ending to Puppycat's story. A reflection of the Space Outlaw is seen in the mirror.
  
  

Welcome to the Second Half of The Semester!

Congrats everyone on finishing the first half of this class!  For the next half, we will focus much more on storytelling for animation, and cover a wide range of subjects, from production pipelines: (pre, prod, and post), film and camera techniques, to storytelling and storyboarding devices.

As a precursor to our next big project, here is a reminder for what was asked of you to complete last Thursday. Our next class is mostly discussion and research, so the following will be due in a final form next Tuesday, October 22.

1. Watch your favorite animated movie, animated film, or animated cartoon episode (web or tv).  Then, I want you to list each major plot point from your favorite part of the story, from beginning to end.  

• You can choose any animated work you wish.
• Be as specific or a generic as you feel is necessary. 
• From your notes, you need to be able to understand the cause and effect from each action.  

2. Come up with a character for your next animated story!  The only parameters for your story include the following:

• Time limit: 10 seconds.
• Your character is supposed to interact with an inanimate object. The inanimate object must change in size and mass over the course of the story.
• We will cover design work and layout next class, but have a few ideas for what you think your character may look like.

As an example, I have made the following detailed set of notes from Natasha Allegri's "Bee and Puppycat."  (10 minutes)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lOG_UtLxh58" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

• Bee gets fired from work.
• On the way home, a mysterious animal (part cat, part dog) falls out of the sky.
• She brings the animal home.
• Bee heads home, reflecting on her sense of self in a self deprecating manner.
• She hears a knock at the door, only to answer it and find her friend Deckard.
• Blushing, they make small talk until she accidentally hits him in the crotch with her umbrella.
• Embarrassed, she slams the door and runs to get him ice.
• She shoves the ice under the door.  He takes it, leaving her a casserole to eat.

• Afterward, Bee has a nightmate about dancing cats.
• She wakes up, realizing she's late for a temp agency appointment.
• The temp agent refuses to hire her, and she eats all of his candy while she waits.
• She heads back home, after bringing toys for her new cat.
• She realizes she has no more money to eat.
• A magical envelope comes out of the animal, requesting the cat, named Puppycat to come to work in a place called fishbowl space.
• Puppycat's pawprint teleports them to fishbowl space.
• The two get teleported to fishbowl space.  Bee is considered an intruder, and a talking box tries to incinerate her.
• Bee mentions they are friends, and the talking box gives her an outfit.
• Bee learns Puppycat's job is to babysit a fish who misses it's mom.

• Puppycat tells the fish a story, about a space outlaw who was betrayed by a space princess. The thief was transformed by the king into a hideous monster and escaped.
• After hearing the story, the fish turns into a space demon, speaking menacingly about Puppycat, calling him into a monster.
• The space demon picks up puppy cat, and Bee runs to save him.
• She bites his tongue and hits him with her sword, swinging it with little experience.
• She bites his tongue off, picks up Puppycat, and uses him as a laser gun.
• She asks him if the story told was true. Puppycat does not answer.
• They get teleported back to her house, where Puppycat is given a lot of cash. He gives Bee half.
• Bee thanks him, and heads to bed, offering to make a better ending to Puppycat's story. A reflection of the Space Outlaw is seen in the mirror.

This work is considered research for our next project.  Doing it will help you when you create the story for our next work! We will talk a lot about storytelling and pre-production in our next class!

Things Required for Midterm Grading! (Thurdsday, Oct 10th)

Start work on your midterm project! Remember that it is due at the end of class on Thursday, Oct 10th!  
The theme of your project is "DEALER'S CHOICE."  You are allowed to create anything between now and Thursday that demonstrates the animation skills you have learned at this point!  Use this as an opportunity to experiment with new ideas, ideas you've always wanted to do, or push the skills you have already learned!

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Blog requirements for midterm grading:

• Your blog, completed, with a link to your work!
• Have documentation of the following:

• Your ball bouncing project
• Your first walk cycle
• Your second walk cycle
• -and what you learned from each project!
• Any sketches made from the projects, 
• and your hour life drawing sketches from past weekends! (first 7 weeks of class)

Have a great weekend!   The next half of the class will be geared toward more storytelling, and solid animation production methods.