CS 294-07: The Art of Animation

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Syllabus

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Spring 2005 Overview

Class time and place:

The class is on Mondays from 3 pm to 6 pm , in 380 Soda Hall.
The first class is January 24 and the last class is May 9.
There will be no class on February 21 (Presidents' Day) and March 21 (Spring Break).
Information on the class computer lab can be found here:

Copy Stand and Computer Lab

Course Summary

This hands-on animation course is intended for students with a computer science background who would like to improve their sense of observation, timing, and motion through the real art of animation to create strong believable animation pieces. A good understanding of motion is an important foundation for using computers and technology to their full potential for the creation of animation. This class also emphasizes artistic and aesthetic creativity, intending to push the boundaries of the imagination and to familiarize students with storytelling, acting, character development and dramatic structure. Some time will be spent on screening international animated for inspiration and to learn a variety of styles and techniques.

Lectures will be accompanied by simple step-by-step exercises on paper in weight, speed, and timing as well as improvisation exercises.

In this class, students will learn:

  • The importance of the bouncing ball to obtain weight
  • Spacing and timing
  • Anticipation/action/reaction
  • What squash and stretch does to animation
  • The importance of exaggeration (or interpretation) of reality to communicate an idea
  • The importance of sound to convey an idea and improve animation
  • Character development
  • How to build believable walk cycles with personality
  • Dramatic structure

During the second half of the semester, there will be group presentations of topics related to animation, as well as group development of an animation. This should be a small project with a small story line. Since animation is time consuming, it is not advisable to attempt to create a piece that is too long or too complex. Instead, students should concentrate on projects that are still challenging but can be nonetheless done successfully.

Students are encouraged to keep an open mind of creative experimentation to fully appreciate this class.

Class structure

This is a three hour class. The first hour (or two) will comprise exercises review, lecture and screening, and then the remaining class time will be devoted either to a workshop where the students will animate simple exercises with one-on-one advice and critiquing or to doing improvisation, acting or writing exercises.

Assignments

    Ongoing assignments include reading, discussion, animation exercises, presentations, and other class work as appropriate. There will be a group presentation of a topic related to animation, as well as a final project animation. Students are expected to spend 8 to 10 hours a week outside the class working on their assignments and reading the material (but it is difficult to estimate the time requirement).

Class Texts and Materials

Required Texts

Required Materials

Grading -- Students will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Quality of work and understanding of the exercises (20%)
  • Attendance (10%)
  • Participation (10%)
  • Presentation of Animation Topic (25%)
  • Final Project Animation (35%)

All weightings are approximate.

Staff Support

Robert (rarm@berkeley.edu) and Corey (rcorey@berkeley.edu) can help with Adobe Premier, and other related software and hardware questions.

Help with Photoshop for handling the white background is available from Xylar (xylarstorm@gmail.com).

If you have any suggestions, info, requests, links, etc., for the wesite, please send them to John (john@fogelin.com) and Stan (sprs@berkeley.edu).

Class Synopsis

Find Lecture Detail Here

Find Assignment Detail Here

Find a Calendar of Events Here

Class Date Lecture Screenings Assignments
1 January 24 General introduction - definition of animation. Presentation of the class: syllabus and assignments. Skills for an animator. What is animation? Basic principles of animation. 1) Salute to Chuck Jones
2) Feed the Kitty (by Chuck Jones)
Bring index cards and pencils for next class
2 January 31 Introduction to the Animation Process 1) Cel Mates (Derek Mazur's "flim within a film" about Brad Caslor, Richard Condie, and Cordell Barker" ) Flipbook assignment presented and discussed.
3 February 7

Lecture: Posing Part I
Special Guest: Warren Trezevant
We introduce a language of discussing posing the human body to communicate a character's emotional state. This will include silhouette, line of action, straight vs. curves, and basic anatomy, plus others. Using the language of posing, examples of single frame fine art and cartoon art, videos of animation and live action film, as well as in-class examples will be discussed. The goal of the talk is to atune the student's eye to values of posing and to describe how to bring the greatest value into their work.

Luxo Jr (animated by John Lasseter)
The Immigrant (w/ Charlie Chaplin)
Rabbit Seasoning (directed by Chuck Jones)
City Lights w/ Charlie Chaplin
Before Sunset w/ Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy
Glengarry Glenross w/ Kevin Spacey & Jack Lemmon
The Office w/ Martin Freeman as "Tim"
The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Tigger animated by Milt Kahl)
Tarzan (Tarzan animated by Glen Keane)
Toy Story

Drawing and shooting of flipbook animation shot due in this class; and final, finished piece due to be shown in Feb. 14 class.

4 February 14 Lecture: Storyboarding Part 1
Special Guest: Mark Andrews
Storyboarding is a means of telling story, visually. There is no one way to do it, no formula. In this class, we will learn about what tools storyboard artists have at their grasp and how these tools work (and we're not talking about pencils). We will analyze clips from a hand picked selection of great films, discuss the importance of staging, composition, rhythm, continuity. You will never ask these questions again: "What is screen direction?", "Can I break the one-eighty?", "What is the coincidence of tone?", "What is a jump cut?". This lecture will also explore character posing, linear motif, screen division, space, value, visual progression and how they can be used to affect the emotional state of the audience.
Indian Jones raiders of the lost ark

Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the rings

Shawshank Redemption

Star wars episode 4

Final, finished flipbook animation assigned Jan 31st due to be screened in today's class.
New assignment on storyboarding to be assigned in today's class; due on Mar 7th.
5 February 28 Lecture: Posing Part II
Special Guest:
Warren Trezevant
Student Poses Screened. Three character poses assigned Feb. 7th due in today's class.
6 March 7 Lecture: Storyboarding II
Special Guest:
Mark Andrews
Student Storyboards Screened. Storyboarding assignment assigned Feb. 14th due in today's class.
New assignment on gravity to be assigned in today's class (see assignments); due on Mar 27th.
7 March 14

Lecture: Story Telling
Special Guest: Alex Seiden
We will discuss two vital areas that the filmmaker must understand the principles of story structure and the elements of shot selection.

Snapple Ad
Apple 1984 Ad
Please read the chapter "The Substance of Story"
(pp. 235-255) in Robert McKee
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Regan Books / Harper Collins, 1997
Xerox copies are available outside 785 Soda Hall.
8 March 28

Lecture: Walk-Cycle
We will discuss the fundamentals of the walk-cycle in animation.

Student Presentations:
Xylar Assay-Davis: 2d and 3d animations
Sean HJ Kim: Korean Animation History
Yangfan Wang: Flash and Amateur Animation

Xylar's Presentation
Sean's Presentation
Yangfan's Presentation

Gravity assignment assigned Mar. 7th due in today's class.
Final Project: Pitch due in today's class.

New assignment on walk-cycle to be assigned in today's class (see assignments); due on Apr 11th.

9 April 4

Lecture: Student Presentations
Final Project Check-In:
We will review Final Project proposals.

Student Presentations:
Steven Jian: 3D Computer Animation.

Steven's Presentation

Final Project: please work out the details of the composition of your group, and be prepared to present a little story board with character design with 2 views: front and profile.

10 April 11

Lecture: Animation History/Video Paint Research
Special Guest: John ? (PHd Bath, UK)
Final Project Check-In:
Final Project layout and animation progress will be reviewed.
Student Presentations:
Chris Alarcon: Disney WW2 propaganda shorts

Tony Sun: Anime Eye
Mark Thomas: Hertzfeldt, award-winning stick-figure artist.

Christian's Presentation
Tony's Presentation
Mark's Presentation

Walk Cycle assignment assigned Mar. 28th due in today's class.

Final Project: Layout and Animation due in today's class.

11 April 18

Lecture: Student Presentations
Final Project Check-In:
Final Project animation progress will be reviewed.
Student Presentations:

John Fogelin: An introduction to The Brother's Quay
Neil Chopra:
Motion Capture
Robert Armstrong: Claymation of Wallace and Gromit.
Aaron Leung: Anime
Todd Kosloff: Animation of Scarfe

John's Presentation
Neil's Presentation
Robert's Presentation
Aaron's Presentation
Todd's Presentation

Final Project: Animation due in today's class.

12 April 25

Lecture: Student Workshop day
Special Guests: Two Guest Animators

Final Project Check-In:
Final Project editing progress should be underway.
For the 25th April class, all of you should show the current version of your final animation project. Since that will be just one week before the final due, you should begun shooting your animation by then.
That is, this should be more than just showing a storyboard. It is important to be considering timing and motion. It would be good to do an Animatic, where some stills are shown but they are held for the precise time that is planned in the final animation. Also, at this stage, you should already have your sound track well underway.
Include music, sound effects, and any dialogue. The idea will be to show these roughed out versions that day. I am arranging for some animators to view this and offer constructive criticism.

 

Final Project: Editing due in today's class.

13 May 2

Lecture: Final Project Screening
Special Guests: Two Guest Animators (the jury!)

Final Project Check-In:
Final Projects will be screened today!

Student Presentations:

Stan Sprogis
R Corey

Stan's Presentation
R Corey's Presentation

Final Projects due in today's class.

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