82710 Animation Studio: Advanced Animation Practice
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
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.
Description
This studio operates in tandem with 82711 Animation 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, working to complete a real pseudo commercial studio project.
The subject covers the following areas, specifically in relation to animation production: scriptwriting, storyboarding, concept art and production design, character design, editing, production management, compositing, mastering, and of course animation. Students are encouraged to identify and work towards specific animation career paths by focusing on their specialist area developing their skill to the very high level required for team developed animation projects.
Production pipelines are introduced in the context of an animation studio like experience. Students will take on specialist roles within the studio working on a significant project that is brought to the subject by an external client. e.g. storyboard from script, design from concepts, animation from storyboard, character design from script, etc. Students will work with a creative director, animation director, line producer and an external client - taking on professional roles, replicating a typical production pipeline.
This approach allows students to spend more time developing their professional skills by avoiding the pitfalls of taking on too many production tasks.
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.
Study enhances students' awareness of the many disparate but interconnected roles in the industry and feeds into the production values and management of the honours project undertaken in Spring session.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | Demonstrate a willingness to explore specialist animation skills in depth |
|---|---|
| 2. | Demonstrate a capacity to identify and build upon personal capabilities |
| 3. | Demonstrate a capacity to position work within contemporary industry practice |
| 4. | Demonstrate a capacity to critically reflect on professional practice |
| 5. | Demonstrate an understanding of the roles and functions within team based animation production |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Professional attitude to clarity and accuracy of communication (C.1)
- Ability to appraise, develop or redirect design ideas (I.2)
- Ability to independently develop new skills and areas of knowledge (P.1)
- Ability to critically reflect on work by self and others (R.3)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
This subject contributes to the course educational aims to produce graduates with high levels of:
Communication and interpersonal skills through visual and verbal presentations
Practical and professional skills through design and animation
Critical thinking and research skills through analysis and reflection
Understanding of the roles and functions within team based animation production
Teaching and learning strategies
This subject is delivered over 12 weeks and will focus on the development of specific craft skills found in animation production.
Students will work individually in the area of their choice in three hour weekly studio sessions. It is expected that a minimum of three hours a week outside of class will be required to complete the tasks to a satisfactory level.
Students will be participating in individual tutorials, peer reviewed discussions and presentations throughout the semester, and formative feedback will be provided in class. Grades, marks and feedback on final design submissions will be provided through ReView.
Content (topics)
This subject focuses on the development of a broader understanding of the animation industry and builds upon the conceptual knowledge, technical skills and aesthetic sensibility developed through previous studio and context subjects.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Reflection and slide folio of Work in Progress
| Intent: | Students have to submit the following: a) a 500-word reflection on their specialised area of choice and their future career path; and b) 12-20 slide folio, in pdf form, showing production knowledge and expertise in the chosen area of specialisation. | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 3 and 4 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): C.1 and I.2 | ||||||||||||
| Type: | Reflection | ||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Slide presentation of Specialist Skills contribution
| Intent: | Presentation, and submission of completed tasks showing production of professional level skills outcomes within the terms of the brief and agreed area of specialisation. | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2 and 5 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): C.1, P.1 and R.3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Presentation | ||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 60% | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
References
Beck, J. 2003, Outlaw Animation: Cutting Edge Cartoons from the Spike and Mike Festivals, H.N. Abrams, New York.
Hart, J. 1999, The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV and Animation, Focal Press, Boston.
Hooks, E. 2003, Acting for Animators: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.
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.
Other resources
GENERAL ANIMATION
http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/
CHARACTER DESIGN
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
ANIMATION
http://www.carlosbaena.com/anim_material.html
ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN