Week 2
8/30/2010 - Introduction to course.
9/1/2010 - Overview of the 12 principles of animation.
Week 3
9/6/2010 - No class.
9/8/2010 - Student portraits, visit to camera stand, distribution of lightboxes, and assignment of flipbook exercise. Conclusion of overview of the 12 principles of animation. Beginning of coverage of extended examples. Screening of Luxo, Jr.
Week 4
9/13/2010 - Guest speaker Lowell Bergman to discuss animation in nonfiction and documentary work. Visit to the camera stand.
9/15/2010 - Continuation of extended examples of the 12 principles of animation. Screening of Dover Boys. Tutorial on image processing in Photoshop, and video conversion in QuickTime Pro. Assignment of bouncing ball exercise.
Week 5
9/20/2010 - Conclusion of extended examples of the 12 principles of animation. Screening of Tom & Jerry: "That's My Mommy", What's Opera Doc, and Don Hertzfeldt's "Intermission". Screening and discussion of Cel Mates, The Cat Came Back, and The Big Snit.
9/22/2010 - Guest speaker Jan Wurm's introductory art workshop. Assignment of falling lines.
Week 6
9/27/2010 - Lecture on visual elements in film -- space, line/shape, tone, color, motion, and rhythm. Numerous film examples shown.
9/29/2010 - Screening of The Cat Piano. Drawing lesson focusing on line and gesture. Screening of excerpt from All that Heaven Allows. Assignment of moving squares exercise.
Week 7
10/4/2010 - Lecture on Aristotelian narrative structure. Screening of Tom & Jerry: Puppy Tale, as well as clips from 30 Rock, Pretty Woman, Center Stage, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Insider, Julie & Julia, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Coraline, and Casino Royale.
10/6/2010 - Conclusion of lecture on Aristotelian narrative structure. Screening of clips from The Dark Knight. Lecture on, and assignment of walk cycles. Break early for Pixar infosession.
Week 8
10/11/2010 - Guest lecture by Jim Peterson on cinematography. Screening of clips from Dennis the Menace, Million Dollar Baby, and The Dark Knight.
10/13/2010 - Lecture on elements of character design, both story-driven and visual. Screening of I Met the Walrus, clips from Juno, The Lady and the Reaper, Big Buck Bunny, and Ah, L'Amour. Assignment of character design exercise.
Week 9
10/18/2010 - Lecture on common narrative patterns in film. Screenings of clips from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Men in Black, The Dark Knight, My Fair Lady, She's All That, Not Another Teen Movie, South Park, Watchmen, and more.
10/20/2010 - Lecture on storyboarding. Screening of scrapped Pixar storyboards, as well as clips from Beauty and the Beast, and The Lady and the Reaper.
Week 10
10/25/2010 - Brief remarks on irony in narrative. Screening of clips from House. Analysis of animation; screening of clips from Azumanga Daioh and Strawberry Marshmallow.
10/27/2010 - Guest lecture by Peggy Hackney on the Laban-Bartenieff method of movement analysis.
Week 11
11/1/2010 - Analysis of animation; screening of Don Hertzfeldt's Meaning of Life, an animated version of the logo from The Animator's Survival Kit, and various shorts by Bird Box Studios. Studio time for an in-betweening exercise.
Some of the shorts screened:
11/3/2010 - Student storyboard pitches.