Today, we begun a series of workshops to improve your storytelling, animation, design, and cinematography skills! Next week will be a very important series of classes for everyone, as we will be discussing practices for animation development. Come early, get lots of rest, and come with questions! I will bring gifts and notes!
The following post is a recap of what we have done today in class! We had a "half solo, half collaborative" workshop that we used to improve your stories and refine your decision making skills as an animator!
Suggested reading: Chapters 2 and 3 of Framed Ink.
A) If you were absent, I expect you to preform the exercise below on your own, and find a couple classmates to share your ideas with. Everyone is documenting their process in a sketchbook or notebook and turning in the same content on Monday. I expect you to do the same!
B) ON THE SERVER, IN THE "GROUPS -----> an225" folder. TURN IN A TEXT DOCUMENT THAT ANSWERS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- Name
- Date
- Tentative Titles of your Three Stories
- Brief synopsis of the stories themselves:
- Who is the story about?
- What is the problem/challenge the character faces?
- How does it end? (if you are still not sure about your stories, starting at the ending and working backwards is a great idea!
- Who, from class, did you talk with about your stories? (At least 2 people)
- What feedback did you receive?
- What was the strongest and most successful part of each story?
- What was the weakest?
- What solutions were offered?
- What changes did you make to your stories? What new material have you brought to class for Monday the 19th?
C) On Monday, we will do a visual design and research workshop in class. THE SUCCESS OF THIS WORKSHOP DEPENDS ON YOU FINISHING YOUR HOMEWORK! We focus on the nuances of character and environment design. And focus on specific methods on Wednesday!
- Bring improvements to your three stories to class! I should see 12 improved note cards per story, plus the old swapped-out drawings from last week. For now, keep everything!
- MAKE SURE YOU ARE WORKING IN LANDSCAPE FORMAT! (turn your index cards sideways!)
- Start drawing sketches of character designs and environments in your sketchbook.
- Have an idea of which one you would like to flesh out more.
- You should bring all three story ideas for our exercise on Monday, just so you have a variety of options to use. I will give you credit for every story you make! At the beginning of class, I will check for character and environment designs for all three stories as well!
I would like everyone to be at the same place on Monday, ready to move on to the next step! It is up to you to get the information you have missed! Always remember that!
D) If you were absent, add the following notes to your sketchbook, and complete the exercise below! It should take about an hour to an hour and a half. Once finished, use this method to improve all of your stories!
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NOTES FROM THE WHITEBOARD: "How to write a better animated story!"
Before you edit your story, you should consider these five things:
- 1. Feasibility: Can it be done? Number of characters, environments, etc.
- New Term: "Character seconds:" The number of actual seconds of animation you produce in a film, per character.
- If you are animating a 30 second story, and there are 2 characters on screen the whole time, you are actually creating 60 seconds of animation! (30 seconds per character!)
- 2. Great Examples of Character Animation!
- Your portfolio will need samples of characters acting on screen, with clearly defined movement. It serves as the foundation of any good, competitive animation portfolio!
- The thing we remember most about our animated
- 3. Is it Interesting? Why?
- What makes the story interesting to you? To other people? If your story has some element that generates intrigue, or curiosity in the audience, you're on your way to making an interesting film!
- 4. Does the story have a clearly defined ending?
- Amazing films have been completely destroyed by a muddy ending. You should resolve your conflicts, resolve the problem, and let us know what happens in the end!
- 5. Be able to answer these three questions about your story:
- Who is it about?
- What is the problem the character faces?
- How does it end?
- Does the character succeed? Fail?
- If you are not sure about what to do with your film, starting with the ending and working backwards is a great place to start!
- 6. REMEMBER: Great writing is constructed.
- Great stories are built over time! KEEP WHAT WORKS and GET RID OF THE REST!
- As an animator, the best advice I can give you is to "be willing to throw away a drawing at any time!" Making new drawings and improving incrementally is part of the process!
- 7. As a final note: If you are ever not sure about a storytelling decision, pick something, anything, and just go with it. You will learn more by trying out a strange idea than you would waiting for the perfect idea to come.
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Workshop: STORY EDITING FOR ANIMATION:
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In your story:
Find a portion of the story you know works well.
- write down: Why does ________ work? / Why do “I” like _______?
- mark them with a star!
Next, write down this question (or a question like it): What qualities do I have in panel/sequence “______” that is missing in my other panels?
- can refer to anything
- story devices, cinematography, art, characterization, audience reaction, anything.
In about 4 minutes: make a list of every change you would make to your story to make every panel share the same level of quality.
Select the two brainstormed ideas you think will be most successful.
- underline them, highlight them, put a star next to them, try anything.
Using two index cards, (or a number of them for future projects), make a change to two sections of your story to improve the whole film.
- use the two brainstormed ideas you underlined in your notes!
- use one card for each idea!
- make two changes to your film, and then review the whole story!
- Draw a new panel for that shot. Replace the old one. Don’t worry if the film is not 100% better. We’re looking for INCREMENTAL growth! Great works of art and cinema are built over time, not all at once!
Take 15-25 minutes to improve your stories!
- This should help you better flesh out your stories, and start to develop a sense of which ones you really like, and which ones you want to change.
Next: Split into two groups of 2! (if you were absent, contact a classmate by facebook, email, or some other method!)
- Person A: Give a brief synopsis of the story. Pitch! Be active in your speech and acting!
- Mention the biggest problem you currently face with the story (what is working the least?) Ask Person B about possible solutions!
- Person B: Offer solutions first. Then, make note of anything that is currently working well in each story, and any other constructive comments you may have.
- Switch!
Next step: Take 3-4 minutes to brainstorm some ideas you have about “DEVELOPING THE VISUALS” of your film?
- Designs you would like to try?
- Shot choices you are unsure about.
- Drawing skills you would like to develop.
- Drawing skills you would like to refine.
- Things about the design you think are missing from your film!
Share ideas with each other about strategies to apply to your stories!
- Include any websites or references, other films or sequences to look at, etc.
After everyone has shared visuals, share any other thoughts you have about your film ideas and your stories!
- The point of this class is to develop a process to direct yourself and figure out solutions to your own problems. The biggest hang-up any film-maker has during the movie-making process is making decisions! The better you can make decisions, the easier it is to improve as an artist, animator, and film-maker! =D
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Once you have completed this, you may begin to see why this exercise is important. It trains you to be self-sufficient in developing your specific ideas, while keeping you focused on the big picture of each story! It helps you articulate your challenges and successes! It also helps you stay open-minded about making new decisions.
We are always more confident about helping others than we are with helping ourselves. By the end of the semester, I hope each of you can gain some extra confidence in your animating and art-making abilities! =D
If you are uncertain about the length of your story, scan your drawings, import them into storyboard pro, and take 30 minutes to make a short animatic of your 12 panels!
If you have any questions about this exercise, please let me know!
