Animation Design-1

Course Overview

Covers the entire process from script to screen in process for an animation film (short or feature) • Overview of the Process • Preproduction, Production, Post Production • A comparison between live action filmmaking& animation The primary difference being that an animation film tends to be pegged down pretty accurately by the end of the preproduction process itself whereas for a live action film it is close to completion only at the end of editing which is a post production process. Preproduction • Story to Script • Whether adapted or original, taking the story from a verbal or spatial medium like a book or graphic novel to a form suitable for making a film. What makes a good story? • Plot & Character: Action Plots & Mind Plots. Analysis of different types of plots • Archetypes v/s Stereotypes – understanding of archetypes and a brief introduction to the monomyth (hero’s journey). • Why Animation? (instead of live action) • Animation as a story telling (narrative) medium • Animation as an artistic medium • Visual Concepts, Character Exploration & Storyboards • Animatics • Character Design & Model Sheets, Layouts & Scene Planning Production • Animation • Acting – Animation is not about moving images but moving people • Traditional 2D animation • a. Linetests – Keyframes & Timing (breakdowns & inbetweens) also brief introduction to thumbnailing (for quick exploration of alternative methods of animating a scene) • Study comparisons between different rhythms of animation • Executing straight ahead and inbetweened planned animation, limited animation, full animation • Drawing key frames, breakdowns, in between, animation cycles • Cleanups Post Production • Voice, Music & Effects • Understanding the dynamics of sound design and use of sound as a key component of animation • Designing a sound track for animation including • music, dialogue, voice overs, lip synch and FX • Recording and mixing multiple tracks • Post processing sound • Compositing & Editing • Work in Progress. Development of a film from Animatic to Edit with different scenes at different stages. • Coming together of the various elements of the scene. • Final Mixing of Sound & Final Edit • Understanding the dynamics of camera moves and magnifications • Experimenting with camera techniques and working directly under camera • Using registration fields, table moves and peg movements • Screening & Feedback Visual Form • Exploring the look and feel for animation through concept art • Planning character design, layout design, illustration style, composition, staging, backgrounds • A study of indigenous design and painting, both contemporary and traditional to understand and analyze a variety of styles and visual language.

Total Credits	6.0
Type	Theory
Lecture	2.0
Practical	2.0
Half Semester	N
Text Reference	Shamus Culhane, Animation from script to screen, St. Martin`s Griffin; Reprint edition (15 August 1990)• Richard William, The Animators Survival Kit, Faber and Faber, Faber & Faber; Second Edition edition (January 7, 2002)• Kit Laybourne, The Animation Book, Crown Trade Paperbacks, NY, 1998• Tony White, The Animator’s Workbook- Step by Step Technique of Drawn Animation, Watson-Guptill Pulications, 1988• Mascelli Joseph V, The Five C’s of Cinematography: Motion Pictures Filming Techniques, Silman-James Press, 1st October, 1998• Daniel Arijon, Film Technique, Silman-James Press, 1991• David Sonnensch, Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema, Michael Wiese Productions, 26th, October, 2001• David Lewis Yewdall, Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, Second Edition, Focal Press, 2003• Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television, Second Edition, Focal Press, 2001References for Visual Form• Mark Cotta Vaz, The Art of Finding Nemo, Cronicle Books, 2003• Gary Russell, The Art of The Fellowship of the Rings, Houghton Mifflin, 2002• Gary Russell, The Art of The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings), Houghton Mifflin, 2003• Gary Russell, The Art of The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings), Houghton Mifflin, 2004• Will Eisner, Graphic Storytelling, Poorhouse Press, 1996• Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art, Poorhouse Press, 1985• Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, Perennial Currents, 1994• Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003• Stephen Missal, Exploring Drawing for Animation (Design Exploration Series),• Thomson Delmar Learning, 2003

About Instructor(s)

Prof. Sumant Muralidhar Rao | Prof. Phani Prasad Rao Tetali