The Moving Image
Experimental Animation
ARTDES338 Studio Elective

      
   

School of Art & Design - Winter 2012
ARTDES 338 section 1 - Studio Elective
30182 - 3 credits

PREREQUISITES: TMP3-Time or Permission of the Instructor

Professor David Chung davchung@umich.edu
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 - 11:30 am
Duderstadt (Room TBA)

This course explores techniques in combining traditional drawing with digital animation and video software. Projects incorporate rotoscoping (drawing on live video), frame by frame hand-drawn animation and motion graphics. Concepts in time, moving imagery and narrative are be examined.

Motorcycles, Travel & Family
An example of a project from the class by Jordan Zielke. 3 mins. 52 sec.

 

      
         
         
   

Projects and Assignments

This course will be centered around a main final project with a minimum length of three minutes using the techniques discussed in class.

Shorter projects in hand drawn animation, rotoscoping, and video compositing will be assigned. Some assignments will be group projects.

 

      
         
    An example of a class exercise by Michael Hronsky and an example of video compositing from Video Mandala by Kelly Rosebrock. (All examples are student works.)      
   

Rotoscoping is the technique of drawing on live-action film or video footage popularized by Walt Disney as early as the 1930's in films such as Snow White. Today rotoscoping is used extensively in almost any live action film with special effects such as the X-men, Spiderman or hand drawn animated films like Waking Life. It is an effective tool in creating films that combine digital, hand drawing with video.

Hand drawing is one of the most fundamental techniques in animation.Producing between 10 to 15 drawings per second creates the illusion of movement. Today, it is referred as "analog" aniimation, and is a technique being re-discovered by many artists for its incredibly expressive and personal qualities.

Video compositing is the technique of combining layers of video and still images, sometimes hundreds of layers are combined to form stunning visual compositions. It is also a way to combine hand drawing with computer generated imagery or live video.

This course will also cover basic DVD authoring and web delivery for short videos.

Software

Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Final Cut Express, Apple iDVD