ATEC 2331 Preproduction for Time Based Media

Instructor: Bruce Barnes

Term: Second Semester 08’
Meeting Time:: W, 12:30-3:15
Location: ATEC 1.202

Contact Information:

Phone: (972) 883-2860

Office: ATEC 1.906
Email: bruce.barnes@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 12:00-2:00

Course Description: Students will develop an idea, of their creation, from a concept to
final animatic. Each week students will advance the form of their concept. They will also
look for an assigned film language/concept and then type a one paragraph description of
it, naming the film or game they found it in.

Learning Outcomes:
Students will learn film language, design techniques, classic art principles and story
methods and genres. Over the semester the students will pull from these principles to
construct their own time-based project.

Course Requirements:
Attend all classes and specified lectures on time.
Complete all assignments on time and in a professional manner.
Participation in class discussions and critiques.

Course Methodology:
Class sessions will consist of lectures, chalk talks, DVD/video/web viewings, and
critiques that will focus on student work.

Required Text:

Materials:
If you do not have a vast film/game library to pull from or the address to a web site where
you can download clips consider getting a library card. Rentals are free if you return the
materials in time.

If you choose to work with traditional tools

Two spiral sketchbooks.

Artist grade pencils
Watercolors and/or color pencils

If you go digital….

Students are encouraged to complete all work at the ATEC computer labs in order to
benefit from collaborative learning with your peers. Students choosing “off-site” hard and
soft ware must have their current work files on the system and available for review at the
beginning of each and every class. Problems with “of-site” systems and /or
incompatibility will not be an acceptable excuse and the work will be considered as
missing assignments.

The school has a scanner in the break room and another in the PC lab. Use these or the
scanner of your choice to convert any traditional medium materials into digital formats.
Keep it simple. Nothing arcane or memory intensive please, unless there is a valid and
necessary reason for you to format it that way.

All work must be saved into the class folder. Students must create a personal folder with
titled with their name. Inside the folder create a series of folders for each weeks work.
Title them Week 1, Week2 and so on. This is the ONLY place I will look for your work.

All projects must be saved into a personal, self-named folder within the class folder.
To access the class folder :
//atec01 (zero,one)
login: medialab
password: m0cap (m zero cap)
Network Users
Bruce Barnes
Public
Animation 08

This is the ONLY place I will look for your project. If it isn’t here when I am
evaluating the projects I will consider it a missing project=zero=F

No late work will be accepted.

Grading Policies:
Students must satisfactorily demonstrate achievement of course objectives through
fulfillment of course assignments and by contributing to class discussions and critiques.
Course assignments will require students to use software and equipment available at the
ATEC computer labs. Course evaluations will be based on the following:

Points required for Grade:

A
100-90%
B
89-80%
C
79-70%
D
69-60%
F
59 or below.

Each weekly project counts for 5% .

The Final Project counts for 35%
The final is broken up into 3 parts. Animatic 25%, Rough Animation 25% Final In class
display 50%.

All work is due and ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be
accepted.

Attendance also is a critical factor in your grade. Everyone is permitted one unexcused
absence. A second unexcused absence will result in a one-letter drop in your final grade
(the end of the semester grade of A goes to B, B to C…) Three unexcused absences will
result in failing the class.

Week One
50 What if…but then taglines
A Framing example

Week Two
Select three of your What if’s and expand each of these three into one page (double
spaced) premises

Find a genre specific example of mise-en-scene and describe the under lying design
strategy that holds it together.

Week 3
Expand one of your premises into a 4 page outline. This is also called treatments.

Find a cinematography plan that goes from the general to the specific or the specific to
the general. Pick one.

Week 4
Create a spec script
Also write back stories for your principle characters and explain the world they inhabit
and the circumstances that surround them.

Look for an expressive lighting example.

Week 5
Create a reference folder in your Week 5 folder. Save environment photo and art
reference into it.

Also draw an environmental study of your characters world. Think of it as their stage.
What does it look like there?

Next add appropriate colors to this setting.

Look for an example of expressive color usage .

Week 6
Create position turn around model sheets of each of your central characters. Also create
one (minimum) full body actions model sheet and one facial expressions model sheet
for each of your central characters. Each character must have proportion guidelines that
measure them by their individual heads as the standard of measurement.

Look for an example of symbolism.

Week 7
Revise your script.
Also, create a side-by-side character model sheet. Create one model sheet, positioning
the characters in self-descriptive stances, side by side.
Look for an editing example. Find a sequence where the pacing of the shots move from
slow to fast or find an example where the shot durations go fast to slow. Pick one.

Week 8
Storyboard your script, first pass. Create a post it, stick people version. Scan in each
image individually so that when you share it with the class we see only one image at a
time.
Find an example of montage. Either classic Hollywood style or the intellectual style.

Week 9
Draw and drop under your first pass storyboards overhead schematics. Using simple
shapes place your characters and camera, shot by shot.

Also create prop model sheets. If it moves, it’s a prop. If it’s a prop it must have a model
sheet. Draw a two-position model sheet, front on and profile.

Week 10
Create a scratch track.
Find an example of expressive audio that was constructed or manipulated for dramatic o
comedic effect. Don’t choose an example that is musical.

Week 11
Revise your storyboards. Get your characters on model.
Look for an editing example of parallel cutting that has a tempo increase or decrease
and one cut in.

Week 12
Make your first pass on an animatic. Lay down your tracks and drop your images on
top. Develop your beats, tempo, and rhythms.
Find an obvious manipulation of time.

Week13
Animatic, 2nd pass
Find an example of rack focus.

Week 14
Tie everything down. 3rd pass on your animatic
Find an example of a transition.

Week15
Final presentation of your animatic
No film example
The Work
All project revisions must be saved into your folder at the beginning of class time on its
due date.

Everyone must turn in a film language example however, for time sake, students will
count off numbers, I,2,3,4,5 up and down the rows. Each person in the ones group has the
individual responsibility of also bringing in their film example in a viewable form. These
are not teams. They are simple designations so that students can share their examples
with the class at large. Even when your number is up you are still responsible for writing
and saving into your personal folder a double spaced paper naming your source and
describing the sequence the principle appears in.

Live action animation or game cut scenes are all acceptable.

Grading Policies:

Students must satisfactorily demonstrate achievement of course objectives through

fulfillment of course assignments and by contributing to class discussions and critiques.
Course assignments will require students to use software and equipment available at the
ATEC computer labs. Course evaluations will be based on the following:

Points required for Grade:

A
100-90%
B
89-80%
C
79-70%
D
69-60%
F
59 or below.

Each weekly project counts for 5% .

The Final Project counts for 35%
The final is broken up into 3 parts. Animatic 25%, Rough Animation 25% Final In class
display 50%.

All work is due and ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be
accepted.

Attendance also is a critical factor in your grade. Everyone is permitted one unexcused
absence. A second unexcused absence will result in a one-letter drop in your final grade
(the end of the semester grade of A goes to B, B to C…) Three unexcused absences will
result in failing the class.