Course Name (short): Animation Production
School: Animation Arts and Design
Program(s): Bachelor of Animation
Program Coordinator(s): Mark Mayerson
Course Leader or Contact: Mark Mayerson
Originator: Paulette Geffros
Designate: Tracy Smith
Version: 12.02
Status: Approved - Under Rev (AREV)

Calendar Description
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to generate an animated group film. Students organize and develop film production similar to that experienced in industry.

Typical Instructional Format

Courses may be offered in other formats.

Section I Notes: N/A

Detailed Description
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to generate an animated group film. Students organize and develop film production technique similar to that experienced in industry. Emphasis is placed on the development of a production schedule and adherence to the schedule, problem solving and working effectively as a production team. Students demonstrate their abilities as individual leaders at times throughout the production and as team members who can follow directions at other times. In addition, students demonstrate the ability to develop work that demonstrates effective sequence, continuity and consistency in terms of style, to drive the story effectively. Through group collaboration and ongoing consultation with mentors, students learn to work well in teams in to produce a quality film.

Program Context

 Critical Performance
By the end of this course, students will have demonstrated the 
ability to create on schedule a group film that incorporates 
consistency of character design and performance through effective 
collaboration with others in a production team.

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


1. Conduct team meetings as a project or department leader.

2. Achieve consensus within the production team in terms of decisions 
   around design and animation styles based on historical data.

3. Follow required design standards established by the team in terms
   of animation style, quality and characteristics of the film 
   development.

4. Develop components of a portfolio package in order to market their 
   work.

5. Prepare effectively for a quality final screening.

6. Finalize scenes for compositing.

7. Formalize the processes involved in animation to achieve a 
   consistent character performance among several artists.

8. Establish protocols for dealing with problems and issues related 
   to production. 

9. Adapt individual skills and preferences to the needs of the
   production process.

10. Refine communications skills that effectively address the range 
    of diversity within the production team.

Weeklies-----------------------------20%
(each student must participate in a minimum of 4 weeklies @ 5% each)

Individual Portfolio  (animation)----30%
	(Artwork for group film 20% + test animation Due 10%)
*note: the total amount of animation to produce by each student is
dependant on group size and film length.

Group Film---------------------------50%
(Individual Peer evaluation mark will be used to adjust final
individual student group film mark. (Group film mark X Peer evaluation
mark % = individual film mark)

Total--------------------------------100%

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.

Textbook(s): n/a

Description:
Because each group generates its own production schedule, the 
specific content of the weekly classes and sessions with mentors will 
vary. Students engage heavily in troubleshooting and problem solving 
activities that are a natural part of the production process and 
adjust their work flow to meet the challenges and issues that arise 
in this process.  Within the class sessions, specific technical 
topics and concepts addressed include levelling, scanning, the 
organization of a film, production needs, digital components,
colour model sheets and marketing.  Artistic 
components of the interactive lectures and demonstrations include the 
concepts and principles associated with clean up, in-betweening, 
separating levels, compositing and art direction. While the group 
film is a major component of the program, student evaluation is also 
based on individual contributions to the group effort and the group 
process during production, The Animation and Layout components of 
this program are combined in this Semester to maximize the potential 
for quality student productions.
Under the supervision of a Mentor/Director the student(within a group)
will participate in creation of artwork and supply various
departmental support for the completion of the group film.

In this term the production weeks are broken down as follows:

Weeks 1 to 4 are for group film pre-production development
Weeks 5 to 12 are for group film production
Week 13 group film due
Week 14 Individual portfolio due 

Near the end of the production term, group members will be required to
prepare a peer and self evaluation that will be used to calculate
final individual group film mark

Due to the nature and complexities of the production process, topics
and learning situations will be delivered though out the term by
Lecture and in-class demonstrations, in a week by week basis as
learning situations arise.


Animation:the following are Topics that will be Discussed or demonstrated

Animation Critiques and Production
Acting for Animation
Preparation of a scenes from the storyboard
scene Staging (character and layout)
performance and continuity
character design
test animation
Art direction 
Dialogue recording
scene preparation
Model sheet preparation
dialogue and Lip-sync
Thumbnails
pose test
timing
ruff animation
in betweening
animation levelling
animation Clean up
ink and paint
compositing animation
explore advance animation techniques
animation group process and continuity
Special Effects animation(traditional and digital)

WEEK  1

Introduction to animation production 
Guidelines and expectations
Role of the Mentor/director
Review of the previous semester and processes
review animation process
Discussion and Question forum with students
Introduction to the production process 
Discussion on test animation for group film

WEEK 2

Pre-production development

WEEK 3

Pre-production development

WEEK 4		

Pre-production development
Evaluation: test animation Due(individual portfolio) 10%

WEEK 5		

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 6		

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 7		

Mid-Screening of group films

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 8	

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 9		

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies
		
WEEK 10		

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 11 	

Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 12
		
Production on group film
Evaluation:in production Weeklies

WEEK 13

Evaluation:Final Group Film Due(50%)

WEEK 14		

Evaluation:Individual Animation Portfolio Due (30%)