Chalkboard AnimationThe first animation project of the year is based on the very first animated film - "The Humorous Phases of Funny Face". Like that short film, these are created completely on chalk (or dry-erase) boards, where the animator draws, photographs and erases frame by frame for fluid animation. These films might be short in length, but they show immediate promise from the students, and are sometimes among the best work of the year. Video PostcardsA video postcard is a very short documentary, usually focusing on a single person telling a single story. Part of the challenge of this sort of filmmaking is to isolate the story and keep the duration of the film short. It's very easy to allow the film to deviate onto tangents, as one does during conversation, but the students worked hard to make sure their films came in under five minutes and with a single focus.
Title SequencesOnce upon a time, folks would sit down to watch network programming, and the shows would all begin with a short sequence that introduced the audience to the story and the characters, set to catchy music. As this practice has become less common in modern television, the students set out to create title sequences for the shows that they watch. This was their first editing assignment. Face StudiesIn animation, we say that you have to know the rules before you break the rules. For this reason, the students first learn to draw the canon of the head, followed by drawing realistic celebrity faces, and finally making simplified, cartoon versions of those same celebrities. TransformationsThe basis of filmmaking is the phi phenomenon, or the brain's ability to maintain an impression of an image briefly while viewing another image. When these images are played rapidly in succession, it gives the illusion of motion. In the case of animation, this principle connects heavily to the idea of a gradual transformation - starting from one image and ending on another. This classic project has the students begin on a realistic version of their faces, morph into an animal, and then into a cartoonish version of their faces. RotoscopesRotoscoping is a traditional form of animation which relies on recording actors performing and then tracing or copying that sequence frame by frame. This practice has been used in various, famous projects including Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and the music video for "Take On Me" by Aha. The students experimented in this format in short animations where they recorded themselves performing. Characters Reimagined This project is an abridged version of a design from the Fashion Design class. As the students began their extensive unit on character design, they began to investigate fashion history for the sake of aesthetic and accuracy. This project tasked the students to take a famous character and reimagine that character in three different time periods - the ancient world, the majority of the second millennium and the last hundred years, while keeping the integrity and iconography of the character. This was also the first assignment completed after the switch to distance learning. Character DesignIn movies, if we don't care about the characters, we won't care about the film. For this reason, the animation students spend a great deal of time studying characters before they create their own. This extensive unit begins by watching live action fairy tales from the 1980s series "Faerie Tale Theatre". These tales have no animated version that would invade the imagination of the viewer - in this case, "Hansel and Gretel" was our first film, followed by "Jack and the Beanstalk" and finally "The Dancing Princesses". Some of the designs are conventional, many are unexpected, but all are unique! The students are tasked to think like character development artists. After viewing the film, they begin their research, followed by their concept images. The class votes and makes suggestions on their favorite of each student concept designs, which are then refined and voted on again. When the character is finalized, the students create model sheets (a page of the character making five different expressions) and turnarounds (a chart showing the character facing multiple angles), and finally color studies. In the animation world, this stage is vital, as it gives the animation team material to work from. In this class, it's just as vital to learning, and just plain fun! Hansel and GretelJack and the BeanstalkThe Dancing PrincessesWalk CyclesThe final stage of the character design process is the walk cycle. This is an animated loop that shows what the character looks like in motion, specifically walking. How a character walks can tell us a great deal about their personality and their mood. A walk cycle has a minimum of four poses and a maximum of twelve, depending on the pace of the walk. The students here animated one of the characters that they'd previously designed. TrailersFor many, the best part of going to the movies is to see "the previews" of films soon to be released. This is an editing assignment that challenges the students to work with existing footage. Each student had the opportunity to edit a trailer that either reimagines an existing film with a different context and genre, or edit together multiple projects to make an entirely new concept. While the title sequence assignment familiarizes students with the process of editing, this assignment forces them to think about story and dialogue. Short FilmsIn a time marked with tragedy and strangeness, sometimes good things emerge. No one expected COVID19 or its effects. As film is a collaborative medium, this class was particularly challenged by the quarantine. Aside from the film projects that the students spent the year developing, there were several projects that the class was unable to do because of resources. This time was used instead to create a series of short, themed films, some of which appear here. The themes had to do with "physical activity" (a film forcing the students to get out from behind their computers and move around),, "how to" (an instructional video) and "looking good" (a film that celebrates the things that make the student feel good about themselves. These films show that in tough times, people can still find ways to be productive and creative.
Stop Motion FilmsThe final animation format that the students learned was "stop motion". Unlike hand-drawn or computer animation, stop motion sees the animator creating a story by taking inanimate objects or cut out photos and moving them in small increments to be photographed. Some students chose to create their animations out of toys, like legos, some chose to animate cut out paper images, and others used unexpected objects altogether. Final FilmsThe students spent the entire first half of the year gearing up to make their narrative short films. The class studied filmmaking for months before beginning. The students each created a short proposal for their film, wrote three drafts of a screenplay, created a shot list, storyboard, production schedule and even held casting for actors.... And then the pandemic happened. Many of the filmmakers were no longer able to shoot the films they'd worked so hard to develop, either because of locations or cast sizes. Just as they were beginning to put their stories onto the camera, they have to pivot and make a completely different film with all new parameters. But, as they say, "that's show biz"! What the students were able to create in a short time, be it live action, animated or some combination of the two, is nothing short of incredible! Some stories are love stories, others are horror. There are documentaries, dramas, comedies and more! Welcome to our show!
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