HOMEWORK for Wednesday, 10/26!

HOMEWORK:  Inside the "Performance Project" folder:

A. Please place an in-progress video of your character performance in the "Animation Draft_10_26" Folder on the server!

B. Find one(1) student in class, and give/receive feedback about your animation so far!
You want to focus on the timing of your animation at this stage!
Do we see every action as it happens?
Are any movements too fast or slow to be believable?
How is the story's rhythm working? Do we have slow scenes leading to faster ones or vice versa?

C. Before class Wednesday, place a new animation video with new updates to your work! I want to see better timing, and a clearer performance with your characters!


Notes recap from today:

As an extra note for yourself: CLICK HERE for the video that we viewed in class today!

Remember to focus on these formal elements for your animation!

• Giving your character challenges to deal with.
• Having logical reactions to everything that goes.
• Clarity! (Staging is important! We need to see where your character is, and where your character is going!)
• Give us time to know what is happening!
• Remember your facial expressions!
• Body language should sell your animation first.
• After that, facial expressions should drive your point home, and really make your character's actions and performance pop!

As always, if you have any questions, email me at mshaw@mca.edu! =D

Class Start Time Delayed 30 min, instructions below.

Hello Class!  Due to the current bad weather, I will not be able to arrive to class on time. However, you have some freshly produced key drawings for your next animation!  To stay on top of things, complete the following in the next hour:

1. Scan your drawings and begin to time out a rough draft of your animation.

2. When you have a rough draft to show, show it to your fellow students! Use the feedback you receive to make corrections!

HOMEWORK FOR MONDAY

A) Come up with 2 IDEAS for a 6-10 second character animation.

• Your animation should follow this prompt:
• "CHARACTER X” (action word) ________________”
• Examples:
• "Joe sits down in a chair”
• “Jessica is hungry.”
• “Chance eats a hamburger”
• When you come up with this action, your character should do 2 IMPORTANT THINGS:
• 1) Have an emotion or feeling about what they are doing. (Why are they doing this?)
• 2) Have a solid REACTION and RELEASE to what they are doing. (How do they feel after doing it?)

We are asking this question: “What’s the point!?”

You want to make note of the GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES of your performance:

Here is how to add the “Given Circumstances" to your scene:

Step 1) Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Be your character.

Step 2) As yourself these questions:

• Who am I?
• Where am I?
• What do I want?
• What do I do when I get what I want?
• What do I do when I don’t get what I want?

Step 3) Answer these 5 questions!

B) Do research on CHARACTERS and ENVIRONMENTS (both live action and animated)

• find examples that reference the kind of story you are trying to tell!
• Look at the elements we talked about today!
• >>> Big, Medium, and Small Shapes

>>>SHAPE SYMBOLISM

>>>Color Symbolism

>>>Posturing and Stance (Staging)

>>> POSING IS KEY!

C) Start making character designs and environment designs for this six second animation! 

• for the sake of next class, I want QUANTITY. You are allowed to bring in sketches!  But your sketches must be CLEAR and easy to understand.
• At least 10 environment sketches and 10 character designs (at least 2 sketches per character)
• WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU: IS at least 5 environments and character designs per idea!

D)Bring your research and designs in MONDAY!

E) OPTIONAL EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT:

• go to a public place and do at least 10 drawings of people and environments around you!

MOUSEWORKS MODEL PACK (free download for reference)

Please click the following link and download this pack to your computer!

http://onanimation.com/2011/04/25/mouseworks-model-pack/

Midterms Checklist!

I.  On the Server, in the "MIDTERMS" folder, turn in final videos for the following:

1. The ball bounce project.

2. The shape emotion project.

3. The research assignment.

4. Walk cycle 1. (The standard walk)

5. Walk cycle 2. (The walk cycle with personality!)

I will grade based on the following:

A. Craftsmanship: Line-art quality.  Are your lines clean? Is your character the focal point of your animation, or are the rough lines the focal point?

B. Modeling: How consistent is your character between every frame of your animation?  Do limbs get too thin and then too thick?

C. Performance: Are we captivated by the actions on screen?  Is your animation about the character? Are the performances believable and relatable if we look at your animation as an actor and as the audience?

D. Clarity of storytelling:  What is the story of each animation?  Is the story coming across?

E. Technique:  Are you demonstrating the principles we've learned in class?

Arcs - The way we add weight to how your character moves.

Easing - speeding up and slowing down of actions over time.

Positioning - (spacing)

Pacing - (Timing)

II. Come to class knowing the 9 basic keys of a walk cycle and how to construct them in 30 to 45 minutes!