Welcome!

And so we begin...

This class blog is designed to serve as your interactive syllabus, class outline, and project timekeeper. This will be where I post readings, assignments, and information about the class.

A quick intro to its use:
Use the tabs at the top to navigate to specific sections (like the syllabus and the course outline), and the calendar on the left to find materials related to a specific class meeting.

1A: A little theory, a little history (An overview)

Beyond Mickey

• George Melies' Trip to the Moon

Georges Melies - A trip to the moon (1902) - 6 from sinematek on Vimeo.

Georges Melies - A trip to the moon (1902) -3 from sinematek on Vimeo.

Georges Melies - A trip to the moon (1902) -2 from sinematek on Vimeo.

Georges Melies - A trip to the moon (1902) -1 from sinematek on Vimeo.

• J. Stuart Blackton's Lightning Sketches
• Winsor McKay

Why do we see animation the way we do? How do we make it? What are the different kinds?

1B: One frame at a time

Oskar Fischinger - was noted for his abstract animations paired with popular music of the day. His contribution to Disney's Fantasia was the abstract movements to J. S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor sequence for Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940). He quit without credit because all studio artists simplified and altered all his designs to be more representational.
The thing to note about his work as you embark on today's exercise that the heart of animation is the manipulation of graphics over time.

A good example of work based upon his notions can be found in

• Danse Macabre
• Removable Tongue
• Tac Tic

The building blocks of animation:

• Line
• Color
• Motion
• Shape
• Environment
• Time

Exercise: Digital Flipbook

There are myriad ways to attack the problem. Essentially all we need is a way to string a series of individually drawn images together. We could use Flash, Fireworks, Imageready, and others. Over these 10 weeks we will attack the animation problem a variety of ways.

Today we will use Photoshop (and maybe some Flash).

Helpful links: www.adobe.com/go/vid0027 for an introduction to the video layer.

The Exercise:

Using either flash or photoshop create the following frame by frame animation.

Exercise 1
1.a. Some thing traverses from left to right
1.b. Some thing else traverses with a different kind of locomotion and interacts with it.

Exercise 2
2.a. Rotate a head (species of your choice)
2.b. The head does at least one expression
2.c. Rotation continues

Experimental Animation is Assigned