ATEC 2331 Preproduction for Time Based Media

Instructor: Bruce Barnes Term: Fall Semester Meeting Time: Wednesday, 12:30-3:15 Location: ATEC 2331.001

Contact Information:
Phone: (972) 883-2860 Office: ATEC 1.906 Email: bruce.barnes@utdallas.edu Office Hours: Monday 12:30-2:00 Course Description: Students will develop an idea of their creation, from concept to final animatic. Each week students will advance the form of their concept. They will also look for an assigned film language/concept and then type a one paragraph description of it, naming the film or game they found it in. Learning Outcomes: Students will learn film language, design techniques, classic art principles and story methods and genres. Over the semester the students will pull from these principles to construct their own time-based project. Course Requirements: Attend all classes and specified lectures on time. Complete all assignments on time and in a professional manner. Participation in class discussions and critiques. Course Methodology: Class sessions will consist of lectures, chalk talks, DVD/video/web viewings, and critiques that will focus on student work.

All work is due and must be ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be accepted.

Required Texts
Prepare to Board: Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts by Nancy Beiman

These books can be found at the Off Campus Bookstore.

Materials:
Access to film and/or game examples. You can YouTube it or bring in examples of film language on DVD. If you choose to work with traditional tools Two spiral sketchbooks. Artist grade pencils Watercolors and/or color pencils If you go digital. Students are encouraged to complete all work at the ATEC computer labs in order to benefit from collaborative learning with your peers. Students choosing off-site hard and soft ware must have their current work files on the system and available for review at the beginning of each and every class. Problems with of-site systems and /or incompatibility will not be an acceptable excuse and the work will be considered as missing assignments. The school has a scanner in the break room and another in the PC lab. Use these or the scanner of your choice to convert any traditional medium materials into digital formats. Keep it simple. Nothing arcane or memory intensive please, unless there is a valid and necessary reason for you to format it that way.

All work must be saved into the class folder.

To access the class folder: Check on the lower left purple Windows icon and open the search prompt. Type: run Type:\\atec01 (zero,one) Go to the faculty folder: Bruce Barnes Open Prepro Wed Inside is a series of folders numbered One to Fourteen. There is also an additional folder titled Final Inside each of these folders create a personal folder to save each weeks work into. Self title each of the folders, using only your name as it appears on the class roster.

This is the ONLY place I will look for your projects. If it isnt here when
I am evaluating the projects I will consider it a missing project=zero=F

No late work will be accepted.

Grading Policies: Students must satisfactorily demonstrate achievement of course objectives through fulfillment of course assignments and by contributing to class discussions and critiques. Course assignments will require students to use software and equipment available at the ATEC computer labs. Course evaluations will be based on the following: Points required for Grade: A 100-90% B 89-80% C 79-70% D 69-60% F 59 or below. Weekly project work counts for 40%

The Final Project counts for 35% Attendance and participation 10% Quizzes 10% Film/game language examples 5%

Over the semester you will develop an idea, of your creation, from concept to animatic/previz. You will also seek and find a film/game language example each week. Each week create a one to two sentence document telling the name of the film/game, briefly describe in a sentence or two what it does and a link to the site. Include information on where on the time line the example appears and ends. We will also have readings from assigned text books and scans in the class resources folder. You are also responsible for AVIs/ youtube clips and lectures information. Three quizzes will be based on the information from any or all of these sources. The quizzes are multiple choice.

All work is due and ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be accepted.
Attendance also is a critical factor in your grade. Everyone is permitted one unexcused absence. A second unexcused absence will result in a one-letter drop in your final grade (the end of the semester grade of A goes to B, B to C) Three unexcused absences will result in failing the class.

Week 1

50 What ifbut then taglines

Language: A Framing example from a film or game.

Week 2 Select three of your What ifs and expand each of these three into one page (double spaced) premises/treatments or a One Sheet doc Language: The film principle is a flipped mise-en-scene. Find an example where a game or film maker has willfully and deliberately parodied or played off another genres conventions. Example: Mel Brooks taking the style and

design of classic American Westerns (cowboys and all that) and turned it into the motif for a comedy (Blazing Saddles).

Week 3 Expand one of your premises into a 4-page outline or Ten Pager

Language: Find a cinematography example that goes from the general to the specific or from the specific to the general. Pick one.

Week 4 Create a spec script or a GGD (Game Design Doc) Also write back stories for your principle characters and explain the world they inhabit and the circumstances that surround them.

Language Look for an expressive lighting example.

Week 5 Create a reference folder in your Week 5 folder. Save environment photo and art reference into it. Also draw/model an environmental study of your characters world. Think of it as their stage. Sketch out the area(s) your action is going to take place. What does it look like there?

Render/model two versions of your setting and create an over head schematic of the layout. Version One is either Line Art or Gray Scale. Version Two: do a color study adding the story appropriate color tones and hues to
this setting. Save out your color palette and in a paragraph explain what you color strategy is and the storytelling significance and intentions of your selections. Language: Look for an example of expressive color usage in a film or game.

Week 6
Create prop/assets/vehicle model sheets. If it moves, its a prop. If they drive,fly or move it it has to be modeled on sheets before anybody starts pushing a mouse or dragging a stylus. It must have a model sheet. Draw a two-position model sheet, front on and profile. Language: Look for an example of symbolism.

Week 7

Create full body, head to toe turn around model sheets of each of your central characters. Also create one full body pose model sheet and one facial
expressions model sheet for each of your central characters. Also, create a side-by-side character model sheet. This is a model sheet positioning the characters, in self-descriptive stances, side by side. Whos taller than who? By how much? Show us their size relationships to one another. Language: POV. Find an example of a shift from first person to third person POV (point of view) and back again to third person or the reverse3nd to 1st to 3nd. Week 8 Revise your script/GGD. Pick one minute ( or more if youd like ) out of your storyline and hone it into a tight well paced vehicle. This will serve as the basis for the rest of your work. Language: Look for an editing example. Find a sequence where the pacing of the shots move from slow to fast or find an example where the shot durations go fast to slow. Pick one.

Week 9
Storyboard your script, first pass Get a storyboard template from Animation Meat .com or find another that has the aspect ratios your work needs. Scan in each image individually so that when you share it with the class we see only one image at a time. The drawing count does not have to be complete. This is more about the major beats ( the beat board) in the story events. Language: Find an example of montage. Either classic Hollywood style or intellectual style.

Week 10 Create a scratch track. Something rough and quick but paced in the real-time of your story If you use Flipbook your sound file has to be pre-edited and ready to roll. It also has to be a WAV. Language: Find an example of expressive audio that was constructed or manipulated for dramatic or comedic effect. A manufactured sound design. Dont choose an example that is musical unless its an element of the story world. If the characters cant hear it, (such as a full orchestral accompaniment to the action) dont use it.

Week 11 Animatic, first pass Use Flipbook Pro or your choice of apps to drop your boards on to a time line. Let it roll again and again and see what it still needs in the way of shots, drawings, and staging. AlsoDraw overhead schematics of your scenes. Show camera placement and moves as well as character placements and movements. Place your overhead diagram under your storyboards. Language: Look for an editing example of parallel cutting (also known as cross cutting) that has a tempo increase or decrease and one cut in.

Week 12 Revise your storyboards. Flush out and expand your drawing count. Be sure your plot points are coming across with the necessary number of drawings for your shots. Put your characters on model. Language: Find an example of a shift in the depth of field by use of a rack focus. An example would be a foreground element fades to blur as a more distant person or element is brought into focus. Choose either near to far or far to near.

Week 13 Tie everything down. Second pass on your animatic Language: Find an obvious manipulation of time.

Week 14 Tweak, revise, do what it needs. Have it in the final state you would have it in if your were next going to go with the director to present it to the production crew. You are the Answer Person. You should know it backwards and forwards and be ready to field any question. Language: Find a transition example. Anything but a straight cut. Look for wipes, iris in or iris out, cross dissolves, extended fade in, fades to black or other sequence or scene ending techniques that signal a close to the present scene and a change in time and/or location.

Week15 Final presentation of your animatic Your final must time out to at least two minutes. More is fine. Less is short of the called for length and will be down graded. No film example ALL Work is due. Nothing late will be accepted after this class. All project revisions must be saved into your folder at the beginning of class time on its due date.