A hands-on course in animated media and visual effects production examined alongside historical and critical animation studies. Students will explore creative and technical strategies for designing form and content across experimental, abstract, character based, hybrid, and live-action composited approaches. A series of individual and collaborative, hands-on media projects will be supplemented by discussions of theoretical readings, screenings, and technical workshops. Topics courses may be repeated with a different topic for credit. Note: specific topics may fulfill distinct Core requirements.
3D Design & Animation Fundamentals
A hands-on course in 3D animated media production using Cinema 4D. A series of practical workshops will introduce students to fundamental principles and practices of modeling, lighting, animation, rendering, and concept design alongside studying existing and historical works, and critical animation studies frameworks. Students will engage in conceptual, creative, and technical exercises, screenings, reading, writing, discussion, and the development of a series of short animated projects. No prior art, animation, or design experience necessary.
Representing Health, Illness, & Well-being Through Storytelling
Whose stories are being told and shared, and whose are left out? How might we use animated storytelling to voice and share new stories of health, illness, and well-being?
Students will engage with theoretical readings, screenings, discussion, and writing to examine how marginalized communities are often mis-represented or absent within conversations about health, illness, and well-being. As these topics are explored theoretically, students will develop their creative voice through journaling, sketching, creative research, and hands on experimentation with a variety of animated storytelling techniques, forms, and methods across experimental, abstract, and character based forms. Students will engage with writing, storyboarding, creating animatics, working with voice-over acting, sound design, and creating animation using analog and digital techniques.
Special emphasis will be placed on documentary animation’s unique ability to represent varying facets of health and illness with sensitivity and layered meaning. Throughout, students will work in groups to develop short animated films around chosen health, illness, and well-being topics explored throughout the semester, and we will develop distribution plans for how these projects might be best shared online within a larger outreach framework and context. This course is part of the Humanities for Just Communities curriculum.
Animation Fundamentals
A hands-on course in the fundamentals of animated media production with special emphasis on integrations between analog and digital techniques. Students will explore creative strategies for designing form and content across experimental, abstract, and character-based approaches, with special emphasis on investigations with analog materiality. We will experiment with a range of lens-based stop-motion animation techniques (2D down-shooter, pixilation), and digital methods (composting & keyframing in After Effects). Throughout, the emphasis will be on learning and practicing the fundamentals of animation timing, audio-visual design compositional principles, and pre-production methods for developing concepts and stories especially geared to animation. A series of collaborative, practical animated media projects will be supplemented by discussions of theoretical readings, screenings, and technical workshops.