Animation (ANIM)

Unlocking the pathways of animation, students begin their journeys toward a professional career. Immersed in the animation process, students gain an overview of both 2D and 3D production workflows, resulting in the creation of their first film.

Emerging from the minds of animators, characters transform into moving pieces of art within a 2D world. Students explore the basic principles of animation, with an emphasis on analysis of actions, to develop an understanding of character performance. Combining fundamental drawing techniques with 2D animation methods, students create original moving sequences.

From the first cartoons to blockbuster films, students focus on the history and aesthetics of animation with references to related arts. In this course, students explore a wide range of commercial and experimental works produced throughout the world, such as live-action cinema, puppetry and comics.

To really bring 3D characters to life, animators must understand the way their creations should move. Students learn to establish this believability by exploring the 12 principles of 3D animation and humanoid body mechanics. Students then apply this study to the creation of character designs and basic rigs, generating a natural performance in a short animated film.

To compose a consistent and unique narrative, animators follow a step-by-step storytelling process. Students explore the industry-standard tools of 2D animation used for efficient solutions in today’s digital character animation pipeline. Students assess both the aesthetic and technical aspects of character animation with a major emphasis on streamlining the animation process for production.

Animators tell stories through engaging visuals and thematic conceptual design. Focusing on the development of mood boards, style frames and color scripts, students generate projects through visual story-building techniques. Incorporating concept development and screen design skills into the production process, students devise compelling visuals to accompany their stories.

The most memorable characters have unforgettable personalities and a rich inner dialogue. Through prop interaction, facial expressions and body posture, students learn to convey clear attitudes in animated performances. Students also explore shot composition, staging and more intricate body mechanics to create believability in their animated pieces.

In this introductory stop motion course, students learn how to build a simple biped character and animate it in a number of motion tests. Students become familiar with the use of camera, lights and capturing software and are exposed to a wide range of stop motion styles to encourage personal aesthetic exploration.

Professional animators must be able to work well in a team environment and stick to production schedules. Using the 3D animation pipeline, students explore necessary roles, build their collaboration skills and learn effective time-management methods. Through cooperative communication and efficient oversight, students guide their original animated short film to on-time completion.

Through laughter, tears or wonder, the narrative to any compelling story must move the audience. In this course, students compile key story elements into creative narratives that express mood, emotion and subtext. Incorporating the principles of story and character creation, students develop strategies to compose captivating themes using devices such as symbolism and visual metaphors.

Building on skills learned in Stop Motion I, students explore more advanced stop motion and clay animation production techniques. Topics include foam/latex build-up models, a survey of background construction techniques, basic casting, and further study in lighting and F/X. The course emphasizes art direction and project development.

Exceptional animated characters can convey rich emotional content and storytelling through performance alone. Continuing the exploration of body mechanics and acting, students utilize humanoid rigs to generate expressive, highly-polished character performances. Students also employ exaggerated animation techniques and the use of props to extend their animated performance opportunities.

Setting, environment and imagery are all important details when creating an animated world. Through extensive visual research and art direction, students invest meaning into immersive and believable worlds with emphasis on mood, tone and stylization.

Creating dynamic and engaging scenes, students generate expressive character performances using pantomime and dialogue-driven techniques. Building upon the principles of animation, students utilize creative tools to develop character movements, facial expressions and emotional subtext that lend depth to their performances.

Monsters and critters and creatures, oh my! Students apply the fundamental practices of visual development for character and creature design, utilizing shapes, color schemes and moods to produce expressive personalities. These original characters and creatures become an integral component in students’ unique animated narratives.

The art of storyboarding and staging, including emotion and movement, are key to the animation process. Expanding on their knowledge of cinematography, students break down ideas and scenes sequentially to promote effective visual storytelling and expand their film lexicon. Students learn effective timing and pacing, as well as staging elements and employing various camera techniques to enhance comedic or dramatic tension within the narrative.

From billowing smoke to flowing water, students explore the creation and use of 2D digital effects to enhance visual storytelling and heighten the production value of animated films. Through solid design and application of animation principles, students interpret the motion and properties of physical phenomena to add personality and emotional impact to animated effects.

Applying the motion attributes of observable physical phenomena, including those which are both organic figurative and inorganic non-figurative, students create 2-D animation effects such as fire, water and smoke in traditional pencil-drawn animations.

Animating non-humanoid characters comes with unique challenges and opportunities. Students explore new concepts of body mechanics and performance utilizing a wide range of creature types and behaviors. Students conceptualize and create complex, believable animalistic performances for their animated pieces.

Ideas come to life as students combine lively characters, breathtaking worlds and engrossing narratives into animated stories. Focusing on timeless themes, students pull inspiration from a variety of genres. Students create written premises, outlines, treatments, fictional biographies and character histories, becoming the absolute authorities on their unique stories and the worlds in which they live.

From screenplay through post-production, students are immersed in the collaborative 2D animation pipeline. In this course, students utilize a variety of animation tools and techniques to tell a compelling story and experience the diverse roles within the animation industry through storyboarding, editing and completion of a short animated film.

Animators are masters in taking visual elements and transforming them into imaginative, animated scenes. Students advance their production skills and dive deeper into the methods of character setup and world building. Focus is placed on compositing techniques for seamlessly integrating characters into detailed environments.

The complex art of animating speech requires more than the movement of lips. Using their knowledge of character movement and mechanics, students learn the art of animating dialogue. Through nuanced facial animation and precise lip sync, students craft up-close, dialogue-driven performances that convey attitude, subtext and motivation.

Cultivating original ideas for the production of short animated films, students demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling, world building, character development and staging. Students develop a pitch-ready concept package, including mood boards, character and environment designs, color scripts, style frames and an industry-standard treatment. Students pitch specific elements from their concept package and explore strategies for preparing visual development for production.

Through topics such as studio hierarchy, production bidding, media distribution and professional growth, students explore important aspects of the animation business. Students prepare for professional situations through the creation of individual demo reels, résumés, websites and portfolios in relation to their career goals.

From 2D animation to revolutionary 3D films, every animated project requires large teams of artists to produce amazing visuals. Students experience the dynamic workflow of a collaborative project to produce an appealing and finished animated film.

Take a deep dive into the personalities and behaviors of animated characters. In this course, students add nuance to their characters through classic animation research and testing techniques. Students produce expressive character acting under professional work dynamics and deadlines.

From the creation of a production schedule to previsualization, students complete the preproduction phase of their animated films. Students establish milestones and deadlines, character posing and shot blocking to prepare for the production stage of a short film.

Creating realistic 3D characters requires the development of subtle gestures and strong poses that fit a character’s personality. Students generate believability in their animation through production-level shot work and nuanced performances. Students also learn to navigate the pressures associated with team-based productions and adhere to essential deadlines while progressing from blocking through final animation.

Students develop a unique sense of style and material as alternatives to formulated classical animation or digital graphics. Students employ imagery, objects and different media types to develop a method and use of media appropriate to the subject.

Location research and adaption lead to informed animation art direction and inspired storytelling. Through immersion in the visual culture of the course location, students develop concept art that informs the aesthetic of an animated film.

From final character animation to an assembly edit, animators synthesize technical and aesthetic skills to bring stories to life. Through an exploration of the production process, students continue to develop content delivery, story and technical mastery. Emphasis is placed on the identification and utilization of individual strengths in the context of a production environment.

Internships offer students valuable opportunities to work in a professional environment and gain firsthand experience to help them prepare for careers. In an approved internship setting, a student typically spends one quarter working with an on-site professional supervisor and a faculty internship supervisor to achieve specific goals and objectives related to the program of study.

That’s a wrap. Through the exploration of the postproduction process, students focus on their senior short including final edit and rendering, updating reel and self-promotional support items and researching self-promotional opportunities. This course represents the third phase of the senior project and the final phase of animation career preparation.

The selected topics of this course vary from quarter to quarter. Each seminar focuses on various issues in the field of animation and allows the advanced student an opportunity to pursue individual or collaborative projects related to the subject of the course.

This course focuses on the history and aesthetics of animation, with references to related arts such as live-action cinema, puppetry and comics. Screenings include a wide range of commercial and experimental work produced throughout the world. Students create small projects and written work pertaining to course topics.

Students explore the principles of animation to develop an understanding of the physics of character motion utilizing both traditional and CG techniques. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of action and demonstrating weight and timing appropriate to an introductory graduate level.

From the early days of animation history to the animated masterpieces of the present day, 2D animators bring hand-drawn characters to life on screen. In this course, students research and apply specialized animation tools and techniques to create 2D animated characters, including sequences, assets and rigs, suitable for professional production environments.

This course introduces students to the diversity of animation aesthetics, from industrial processes to individual personal expression. Through class screenings, students examine historical contexts and methods as well as contemporary trends and techniques. Oral and written critique is supported by practical investigation into personal aesthetic choice.

This course focuses on the issues of modeling surfaces appropriate for use in animation. In particular, students are expected to develop an understanding of modeling organic forms.

This course explores observational figurative motion through life drawing and animal study. Emphasis is placed on expressive gesture drawing to enhance fluid representation of the figure in motion.

This course explores alternative techniques for creating and animating 3D cartoon characters with emphasis on exaggerated action through timing and squash and stretch. Students are encouraged to push the technical limitations of the medium to achieve familiar cartoon motion. Emphasis is placed on advanced problem-solving in 3D animation. Students are encouraged to demonstrate character appeal through applied personal aesthetics.

Surface and context have an interdependent relationship to the production of 3D characters. This course explores advanced texturing techniques, including use of hair and fur, to create realistic and stylized surfaces appropriate for animated characters in context.

This course examines a number of approaches for adaptation of story content to cinematic form, examining the styles of many films and aesthetic problem-solving particular to animation. Students learn how to transpose ideas through 2D storyboards and animatics to 3D asset creation for previsualized story reels, emphasizing deadlines, techniques and alternative methods to communicate ideas.

This course explores the background of naturalistic character movement, advancing key-frame animation techniques and use of motion-capture technology. Observational animation is prioritized with special regard to subtle gesture. Emphasis is placed on advanced problem-solving in 3D animation.

This course emphasizes the application of industry-standard practices to create believable form and texture for animation environments. The course covers advanced topics in set creation, design and modeling with an emphasis on reference-based structures as applied to predetermined content requirements.

Through group inception, design and animation, students complete a short animated film. From preproduction to postproduction, students employ methods and practices of contemporary animation production management.

Students will gain exposure to industry professionals that range from high budget feature and game studios to smaller budget, independents. Students will establish networking contacts and understand what career opportunities exist to determine career objectives. The trip will be preceded by research and preparation of a portfolio package and followed with a paper summarizing the experience and listing contacts made.

Students lay the academic foundation for their areas of thesis investigation in this course. Under supervision, each student identifies their direction, conducts research for visual inspiration and begins drafting the thesis statement and paper. Work completed in this course is ultimately presented at the students’ candidacy reviews.

This course offers students advanced learning that combines the principles of character animation with observational techniques to create believable character performances. Students are encouraged to develop their own aesthetic. Pre-rigged models or puppets made in other courses can be used in this course.

In this course, students explore the possibilities for extreme short-form animated content such as the visual gag or animated conundrum of between 15 and 30 seconds in length. Students develop and complete content intended for portable media and interstitials.

Working closely with the professor, students define specific production goals to explore or complete an animation project of their choosing. Emphasis is on the director’s conceptual, aesthetic and technical decision-making processes. Students are encouraged to share their specific areas of expertise while producing individually directed projects.

This course exposes students to unorthodox approaches to animation production. Emphasis is placed on creating process driven work and exploring alternative narrative approaches.

This course provides additional structured production opportunities for students continuing independent project development. Emphasis is on realizing personal vision through exploration of the tools of animation and further refining of production management skills.

This studio course continues the animation thesis sequence. Students begin making the visual portion of their thesis. Animation tests, character designs, storyboards, animatics and a focused thesis statement are all vital elements of this stage in thesis completion.

Students in this course undertake a field assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students in this course undertake a teaching assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

In this final course in the animation M.F.A. thesis sequence, students complete the visual components of their major thesis work. They also finalize and polish their thesis papers, incorporating all of the research and professional development conducted throughout the process.