animation for film & tv

This hands-on Production course will provide new possibilities to tell your stories through shape and text animation, including main title/lower thirds, kinetic typography music videos, and 2D characters.

Each project will rely heavily on finding creative ways to implement the techniques introduced and discovering your unique artistic style. Students do not need to be good at drawing to excel in this course.

Students will leave the course making an individual project, creating your personal brand, and a job application ready Demo Reel. It’s not recommended to take this with another production course simultaneously as the workload can be heavy at times.

assignments

introduction to after effects

Students begin by learning the basic language and workflow for 2D animation and how to perform simple tasks in Adobe After Effects.

Following this introduction, students practice a few simple animation tasks using pre-recorded live action footage as their base. Through these early projects, they will learn the following skills:

  • Rotoscoping

  • Keying

  • 2D Tracking

  • 3D Tracking

  • Basic Compositing

These labs give the students technical knowledge that will assist them in the more creative assignments later on.

rotoscoping.gif
keying.gif
2d tracking.gif
3d tracking.gif
compositing.gif

creative labs

Next, students use these new technical skills in a series of assignments focused on creativity and storytelling. During this phase of the class, students will utilize the following techniques:

  • Personal Logo Design/Animation

  • Motion Graphics for Main Titles

  • Kinetic Typography

  • Line Art

  • Puppeting

  • Pin Tool Animation

  • Character Design/Animation.

These projects teach the class how to use the skills that they are learning in unique and creative ways using original characters and ideas.

character.gif
kinetictypography.gif
logo.gif
parenting.gif
pintool.gif
titles.gif

final projects and reels

The last section of the semester allows the students to combine all of the creative and technical knowledge that they have gained into one final project. This can take the form of a narrative short, a kinetic typography video, a music video, a PSA, a motion graphics demonstration, or any other work that the student feels will best showcase their skills.

They begin by presenting their creative idea to the class with samples of what the final product may look like and what techniques will be used for it. Following critique and discussion, they will then proceed to animate the project, sharing progress along the way. Once the main animation is finished, they then have to edit it together into a full final product with sound and credits.

Alongside this final project, students create a “best of” reel to showcase their work created throughout the course. Each person selects their favorite selection of their own work and edits this together in a professional reel featuring music, transitions, and motion graphic titles. They also have a chance to update their personal brand logo animation that was done earlier in the semester as the intro and outro to this reel.

Students with previous post production work from other classes may incorporate these other projects into the reel as well so that they will end the class with a finalized demo that could be used professionally in the industry.

(3 credits) – TRF 447/647 (Spring Only)

Software: After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop

Goals: Creating and animating shapes, text, and characters in 2D

Final Project: create a short film/music video/promo completely animated