Course Name (short): Animation Principles 2
School: Animation Arts and Design
Program(s): Bachelor of Animation
Program Coordinator(s): Mark Mayerson
Course Leader or Contact: Michel Hannan
Originator: Paulette Geffros
Designate: Paulette Geffros
Version: 14.0
Status: Approved (APPR)

Calendar Description
This course is designed to provide students with opportunities to explore and apply additional animation principles. Students continue to build on the fundamentals in animation and elementary character design.

Typical Instructional Format

Courses may be offered in other formats.

Section I Notes: Course Contributors: Michel Hannan, Mark Mayerson, David Quesnelle

Detailed Description
This course is designed to provide students with opportunities to explore and apply additional animation principles. Students continue to build on the fundamentals in animation and elementary character design, working within design rules established in Semester 1. These include: continuing to build and develop structural drawing skills; expanding knowledge of character design to economize the detail of the animated character; designing believable overlapping secondary action; and studying animal anatomy, design and caricature. Students discuss the difference between conceptual and production art work, create a working design package (studio standard) and continue to develop the vocabulary of motion. Through exploration of the character expression and movement, students will gain knowledge of the processes involved in the art of classical 2D animation, using interactive lecture, discussion, demonstration and studio motion exercises.

Program Context

 Critical Performance
By the end of this course, students will have demonstrated the 
ability to build animation sequences using the proper application of 
key drawings and in-betweens to convey believable performance.


Learning Outcomes

To achieve the critical performance, students will have demonstrated 
the ability to:

1. Recognize the subtle differences of balance and weight for 
   different character designs.

2. Differentiate between various character types in terms of shape
   and style.

3. Investigate the movement and subtle differences of animal and 
   human motion.

4.Analyze the appeal and believability of established characters that
  reflect the principles of motion and solid research.

5. Animate drawings using the principles of timing, rhythm and 
   spacing.

6. Animate drawings that build from basic dimensional structure to
   believable real life beings. 

7. Create mouth shapes that synchronize with supplied dialogue. 

8. Incorporate geometric shapes and forms into various character
   poses.

9. Animate using consistency and proportion of character design.

Students demonstrate their learning in the following ways:   

ANIMATION:
Assignment 1: Walk Combo Cycle                10%
Assignment 2: Head Turn & Lip Sync            15%
Assignment 3: Animal Walk                     15%
Assignment 4: Flour Sack and In-sequence      15%
Total                                         55%

CHARACTER DESIGN:
Film Review - Due Week 1                       5%
In-Sequence Assignment - Due Week 5           15%
Character Time line - Due Week 9              10%
Total Character Pack - Due Week 13            15% 
Total                                         45%

Total for Animation & Character Design = 100%


NOTE:  Final grade is the average of the ANIMATION and CHARACTER
DESIGN portions of the class.  Students must achieve 50% or better in
each area in order to pass the course.

Late Policy

Late Policy for all courses in the program: All assignments are due
within the first 15 minutes after the start of class on the due date.
Late projects, submitted after the first 15 minutes of the start of
class will receive a 20% grade reduction. Late projects submitted the
following week will receive a 30% grade reduction. There will be no
submission of work after the last day of semester unless arrangements
have been made and documented by the professor. Work that is more than
one week late will not be graded unless a prior arrangement has been
made with the professor; the arrangement must be documented on email
or a memo, with the new due date identified. There will be no
resubmission of work unless, under exceptional circumstances, this has
been agreed to or suggested by the professor. Again, a hard copy of
the agreement is necessary. If there is a valid reason for the late
project, the student must email the professor at least 3 days before
the due date. If the reason is deemed to be valid, there will be no
late penalty. A new due date with be set by the instructor. 

The basic late policy as laid out above will be followed, except in
the instance that an instructor requires a variation in policy. That
variation will be provided to the student in writing as part of the
actual assignment, which will be handed out by the instructor.

n/a

Instructors:
Animation: Michel Hannan and Blair Kitchen
Character Design: Enzo Avolio


Week 1
ANIMATION
- Introduction the Course and expectations. 
- A visual tour of the past years student's assignments to get an
  overview of the semester and projects. 
- Introduce Assignment #1: Walk Combo with a visual
  rubric of what is expected from the students by show past student
  examples.
- Overview of Animation terminology and processes. 
- Start the first component of Walk Combo assignment. 
- Assignment #1: Walk Combo assigned - due week 3
 
CHARACTER
- Design a character that is anthropomorphic
- Write film review

Week 2

ANIMATION
- Extension and Application of Animation concepts.
- Principles the anthomorphic walking character.
- Discussion of 2009 Anime awards and animated Oscar nominees
- Basic Principals of Animation reviewed in relation with walk cycle.
  (Timing, staging, arc of motion, mass and weight, center of mass, 
  path of action, squash and stretch).
- Class demo of pink panther walk cycle. 
- In class - Work on walk combo cycle.

CHARACTER 
- Critique the anthropomorphic character designs
- Design a character as an inanimate object
- Assign the Group Project

Week 3
ANIMATION
- Extension and Application of Animation concepts through a debate of
  current animation topic. 
- NFB Documentary of Altar a Egos Chris Landreth and Ryan Larkin
- In class of Walk Combo
- Demo - how to shoot a repeat cycle animation, 
- Animation exposure sheet (aka Dope Sheet) components of the scene
  package.
- Character model sheets for possible head turn character. 

CHARACTER 
- Construction of character through the structure of forms that build
  a character proportions in a series of thumbnails. 
- In class demo
- In class drawing exercise.

Week 4

ANIMATION
- Continue with debate of animation current event. 
- Introduce the head turn assignment with past student visual rubric.
- In class critique of "Walk Combo" 
- In class demo of the head turn and breaking characters into shapes. 

CHARACTER
- In class acting as an anthomorphic character
- In class demo 
- In class drawing exercise

Week 5
ANIMATION
- Introduce Assignment #2: "Head Turn and Lip Sync" with a visual 
   rubric of what is expected from the students by showing past 
   student examples.
- Discuss Lip Sync and mouth shapes
- In class demo

CHARACTER
- Second assignment "In-Sequence" is due. Performance, Posing and 
  Gesture, blocking performance through thumbnails. 
- In class demo
- In class drawing exercise. 
- Assignment #3: Character Timeline introduced (Due Week 9).

Week 6
ANIMATION
- Screen Assignment #1 "Walk Combo" animations. 
- Discuss and explain all required components of the exposure sheet
  and scene package.
- Repeat cycle animation
- Animation exposure sheet (aka Dope Sheet) components of the scene 
  package, delayed action, anticipation in Performance recovery and 
  balance. 
- In class demo - How to use and read an exposure sheet with students
  using a worksheet to follow along.

CHARACTER
- Critique of the in sequence assignment
- In class demo of the posing assignment
- In class drawing exercise 

Week 7

ANIMATION
- Analyzing the effectiveness of solid lip sync principals animation 
  by showing clips from animated films.
- Rough in-betweening animation, balance key frames (pose to pose) 
  and straight ahead animation. 
- In class work on the Head Turn assignment. 
- Extension and application of animation concepts and principles.
- Assignment #2: Head Turn due

CHARACTER
- Performance and the discovery of the character and his /her 
  responses to objects balance and gravity
- In class demo
- In class drawing exercise 

Week 8
ANIMATION
- Introduce Animal Walk with a visual rubric of past student work.
- Assignment #3: Animal Walk and In-betweening.
- In class demo of how to approach the in-between and following the 
  arcs and spacing of a good in-between.

CHARACTER
- Arc of movement and follow through in relation to poses and how 
  they relate to in-betweening. 
- In class demo 
- In class drawing exercise. Character Types and their responses to 
  aging.

Week 9
ANIMATION
- Screen parts of "Frank and Ollie" - a brief history of strong
character animators. 
- Break down the animal walk to a skeleton structure and review
student work.

CHARACTER
- Assignment #3 "Character Timeline" is due. 
- Overview of structure with rough poses of character with in
  personality. 
- In class demo 
- In class drawing exercise

Week 10
ANIMATION
- Debate of a current issue in the animation industry.
- Continue to work in class on the animal walk and in-between 
  assignment. Assignment #3: Animal Walk and In-betweening due.

CHARACTER
- A character design with colour 

Week 11
ANIMATION
- Introduce Assignment #4: "Flour Sack" with a visual rubric of what
  is expected from the students showing past student examples.
- Assign the object for the Flour Sack assignment.
- Discuss ideas and review thumbnails for the final animation.

CHARACTER
- Critique character design with colour
- Last minute discussion for feature animated film presentations 

Week 12
ANIMATION
- Screening of the "Animal Walk" assignments. 
- Animation Performance techniques through gestures and body 
  language with examples from films clips of animation and character
  design projects.
- In class demo of how to approach the flour sack assignment, 
- Review a whole years worth on animation principals that will 
  combined with the flour sack assignment: squash and stretch, follow 
  through, S & C curve, anticipation and performance.

CHARACTER
- Group Projects - Presentations of Deconstruction of the Animated 
  Feature Film Animated Feature film (characters, design, voice, 
  personality and performance)

Week 13
ANIMATION
- Review the principals and animation terminology for the test.
- In class with one on one critique of the Flour Sack animation. 

CHARACTER
- Group Projects - Continue Presentations of Deconstruction of the 
  Animated Feature Film (characters, design, voice, personality and
  performance)

Week 14
ANIMATION
- Assignment #4: Flour Sack and In-Sequence Assignment Due 

CHARACTER
- Submission of Model Sheet package and sketch book/journal for 
  critique