55500 Studio: Advanced Animation Practice
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 12 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 82710 Animation Studio: Advanced Animation Practice
Description
This studio operates in tandem with 55501 Studio: Animation Project Pre-production to advance students' understanding of industry production practices. The subject focuses on the development of the professional and specialist skills necessary to thrive in the animation industry. Students complete a simulated commercial studio project and take on professional roles that replicate those in a typical production pipeline.
Students are encouraged to identify and work towards specific animation career paths by focusing on their specialist area (scriptwriting, storyboarding, concept art and production design, character design, editing, production management, animation, effects development, layout, directing, editing, compositing, mastering), developing their skill to the high level required for team-developed animation projects. Students develop their understanding of working within an animation production pipeline and are exposed to how the animation industry works, and how to position themselves in relation to it.
This subject supports the production values and management of the honours project undertaken in Spring session.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| a. | Explore specialist animation skills in depth |
|---|---|
| b. | Identify and build upon personal capabilities |
| c. | Analyse and position work within contemporary industry practice |
| d. | Critically reflect on professional practice in animation production |
| e. | Actively engage in the roles and functions within team-based animation production |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:
- Apply theoretically informed processes to production practice, including managing complexity and collaboration, incorporating research into development, active iteration and critique, clarity in communication, delegation, and resource management. (1.2)
- Demonstrate reflexive critical thinking as creative practitioners who are intellectually curious, imaginative, and innovative, with an ability to evaluate their own and others' work with candour. (2.1)
- Demonstrate an awareness and knowledge of contexts and openness to cultural exchange as a global citizen. (3.1)
- Act transparently and demonstrate an awareness of ethical practice and integrity across civil society's personal, political, and professional contexts, including cultural and gender diversity. (5.1)
- Demonstrate proficiencies in communication to professionally develop, and critically reflect upon and find solutions through collaborative work (6.2)
Teaching and learning strategies
This subject is delivered over 12 weeks and focuses on the development and implementation of specific craft skills found in animation production, including critical reflection of practice, positioning work within global, contemporary animation production, and understanding the roles and functions within the team-based animation approach. Through developing specific roles within the Animation production pipeline students gain greater insight and hands-on experience of industry practice, while engagement with Industry throughout the project offers further insight.
The studio model in this subject reflects industry practices of collaborative and iterative work. When working in teams to produce an outcome, students must regularly present their individual contributions and reflections on the collaborative creative process to peers and their tutors. Tutors makes notes on and use these conversations, reflections and presentations to assess individual contribution to the assessment, as submitted.
Face-to-face classes incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies including short presentations, videos, simulations, peer-reviewed discussions, and presentations.
Formative feedback is provided pre-Census date and as an ongoing participatory response to creative practice in weekly classes, complemented by independent student reading and participation in online discussion forums.
Content (topics)
This subject focuses on developing a broader understanding of specialised skill sets in the animation industry and builds upon the conceptual knowledge, technical skills and aesthetic sensibility developed through previous studio and context subjects. Content is project-based with topics that include : scriptwriting, storyboarding, concept art and production design, character design, editing, production management, animation, effects development, layout, directing, editing, compositing, and mastering.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Reflection and slide folio of Work in Progress
| Objective(s): | a, b, c and d | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||||||
| Length: |
| ||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Slide presentation of Specialist skills contribution
| Objective(s): | a, b and e | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 60% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 12 -16 slides showing evidence of specialist skills development and contribution. All screen-based images to be saved at 72dpi | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Minimum requirements
Attendance at classes is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor to build capacities towards meeting the subject learning objectives. A roll will be taken at each class. Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused marking of their final assessment (see Rule 3.8)
References
Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing, Penguin.
Beck, J. (2003). Outlaw animation : cutting-edge cartoons from the Spike & Mike Festivals . H.N. Abrams.Hart, J. (1999). The art of the storyboard : storyboarding for film, TV, and animation . Focal Press.
Hooks, E., & Naas, P. (2003). Acting for animators : a complete guide to performance animation (Rev. ed.). Heinemann.
McDonald, B. 2010, Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate, Libertary Company, Seattle.
Meyer, T. 2010, Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Focal Press, Burlington MA.
Noble, I. 2005, Visual Research: An introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design, AVA Academia, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pilling, J. 2001, Animation: 2D and Beyond, RotoVision, Hove, UK.
Scott, J. 2002, How to Write for Animation, Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY.
Tufte E.R. 1997, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative, Graphics Press, Cheshire Connecticut.
Wells, P. 2007, Basic Animation 01: Scriptwriting, AVA Academia, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Wells, P. 2009, The Animated Bestiary: Animals, Cartoons and Culture, Rutgers Press, New York.
GENERAL ANIMATION
http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/
CHARACTER DESIGN STORYBOARD
http://characterdesign.blogspot.com.au/
Ben Hibon
http://www.statelessfilms.com/main.htm
John Krick
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com.au/2007/08/character-design-primer.html
Nicolas Marlet
http://artofnicomarlet.tumblr.com/
Adrian Johnson
http://www.adrianjohnson.org.uk/
Hanoch Piven
STORYBOARD
http://www.floobynooby.com/comp1.html#anchor
ANIMATION
http://www.carlosbaena.com/anim_material.html
ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN