Welcome To Animation

Roach Middle School2006-2007

WHAT IS ANIMATION?

Telling a story through motion, or giving the impression that the characters are moving

Motion can be on paper, or on computers

Is it different from cartoons?

Animation is all about bringing cartoon characters to life through motion

THE HISTORY OF ANIMATION

Cartoon Strips

Zoetropes

Flip Books

Computer Animation

Who invented animation?

How did it happen?

Video

Rotoscopes

Oh, yes, we still have to write stories!!!!

STORYTELLING 101

ComedyHorror

ActionScience Fiction

We have to have a story for our character

Animation technique is the most important storytelling aspect of computer graphics

So, we’ll be learning animation technique!

It’s all about creating a Character and telling their story Yes, you are going to learn how to draw!

It’s going to be simple drawings, yet better than stick figures.

CREATING YOUR OWN CHARACTER

They will each have their own personality

Posture

Shape

Clothing

PERSONALITY

What does their face tell you about their personality?

Hero?

Villian?

Brave?

Cowardly?

Grumpy?Friendly?

What do their actions mean? How does someone stand if they are nervous?

If you are sad, do you walk down the street the same way you do if you are happy?

Can animated movies tell you how the characters feel without telling you verbally?

ACTIONS AND MOVEMENTS

What do cartoonists do to show movement when their pictures don’t move?

We will learn to tell stories with simple techniques!

STORYBOARDING Rough sketches

More than stick figures, but you still don’t have to be an artist

You will have to start thinking like an animator!

Blocking the camera shots…what’s visible and for how long

Which character receives the most camera time?

When are close-ups used? Which scenes show perspective?

Where do the camera angles change?

BACKGROUNDSWe will be studying backgrounds, and why they are so important to animation

What does our background say about our animation?

VOCABULARY

Animation has it’s own special “language”

The software Animation:Master also has it’s own computer shortcuts to make animation simpler and easier

We will be spending a lot of time on vocabulary and computer shortcuts so you can become an animation expert!

Is this beginning to sound like a Video Production Class?

It has a lot of the same terminology like:

Using multiple cameras

Camera angles

Dolly

Pan Shot Types

POV

Rendering 3D Animation

Sound

Lighting Techniques

Pre-production Character design

Script writing

Storyboarding

Dialog recording – dialog is recorded first, so the animator can match the voice to the lips

What is the story all about?

What will it look like when it’s done?

What does the character look like?

What will the character act out? Will there be interaction with other characters?

Is the skeleton capable of the animation you have planned?

????

Post-production

Production Animating

Lighting Rendering

Re-combining the dialog track

Credits

Adding sound effects

Adding music

PLASTICINE FIGURES AND FACES

For an at-home assignment, you will be creating your own character out of plasticine, or modeling clay, during the Thanksgiving holidays

By making your own character with plasticine, you will be able to then create it on the computer by looking at it in 3D before you begin “drawing” it in the computer

Created by: Stacy Walker, Roach Middle School, Frisco, Texas 2006©

Material used from the following sources:

•Martin Hash’s “The Art of Animation:Master” www.hash.com 2005

•Arts and Crafts Skills, “Cartoons and Animation” Childrens Press, 1998 ISBN 0-516-21194-3

www.apple.com/trailers

www.blockbuster.com

www.pixar.com

www.disney.com