This course focuses on storytelling skills for time-based media with a special emphais on animation. These include storyboarding conventions and techniques, the visual and auditory language of time-based media, design development, concept development, animatics, and story development. Storytelling is explored first with a traditional, "continuity style" approach, and subsequently with more experimental approaches. The principles and issues presented are relevant for animation, live-action, film, and video. Application of these principles to short animations is especially emphasized.

The course focuses on understanding and using the graphic language of film, video, and animation to tell a story in coherent and compelling visual terms. Emphasis is placed on the process of refinement and iterations in the development of the story. Students participate in weekly class critiques and discussion of both their own work and of professional films.

An emphasis is placed throughout on the artisitic quality of both story and storytelling. This means that stories should show originality and should be substantive intellectually and/or emotionally.

Topic Summary

The following is a list of topics addressed in this course,organized by topic and concept. For the sequence in which these topics are likely to be introduced, see the weekly schedule above.

• The Visualization process: concept & design illustrations, storyboards

• Storyboard language/conventions/iconography
• Stick figures, perspective boxes, camera arrows, multiple panels, transitions, verbal descriptions, dialogue, soundtrack
• Concept development, presentation, production boards
• Design implications - characters, props, environments

• Continuity: spatial, temporal, the Continuity Style, simulation of reality, spatial connections, temporal connections

• Emotion & action
• Identification of audience with players
• Dominant & non-dominant players: size, position, focus, depth
• Questions and answer patterns, player vs. audience comprehension, withholding information, engagement of viewer
• Audience expectations: meeting, confounding

• Shot size: closeup, long shot, extreme closeup, etc
• Camera point of view: over the shoulder, reverse angle
• Camera moves: pan, track, dolly, tilt, crane
• Zoom, camera lenses
• Virtual camera vs. physical camera
• Camera triangulation
• The line of action, 180 rule, establishing new line, breaking the rule

• Camera cuts: cut on action, match cut, clearing the frame, cut on look, jump cuts
• Transitions: cross-dissolve, fade, time passage, wipes, cuts
• Directionality: of action, of camera
• Character development and design: character, emotion, scale sketches, emotion sketches, sculptural models
• Scripts: formatting, dialogue
• Storyboarding software

• The production environment

Storyboarding Projects

There will be two story-development projects. The first is 5 weeks in duration. The second is 10 weeks in duration. The second, longer project is divided into two assignments/stages. Details of assignments are provided in the links listed listed below within the Course Schedule.

Film Analysis Presentation

In addition to the two story-development assignments, there will be one Film Analysis assignment, in which students select, analyze, and make a presentation to the class on a segment of a film, video, or animation. They also write a short paper summarizing their analysis.

Exercises and Homeworks

There will be in-class exercises, as well as occasional homework-assigned exercises.

All assignments and exercises must be handed in on the due date. If you have not finished an assignment, you should hand in whatever you have finished up to that point. Your work will be graded based on whatever portion you have handed in as of the due date.

Please note that technical problems, lab problems, or being "really busy" do not constitute an excuse for unfinished work. Such issues are part of life and life with computers, and you should assume they will occur. It is your responsibility to schedule your time and your work to allow for this sort of problem and still get your work done well and on time. If there is some valid reason for not having your work completed (for example, illness), you must document that (for example, a doctor's note) in order to gain an extension of time.

Blogs

Blogs: Each student will maintain a blog and update this blog with new materials every week. Materials posted may include sketches, scripts, storyboards, animatics, concept art, responses to readings, and other thoughts. Final animatics will be posted to a site such as Vimeo or YouTube, then linked to from your blog. Other final work will also be posted to your blogs in the form of images and other relevant files. Blogs must have a unique link such that only material for this course is on this blog. Blogs are to be accessible to all students in the class without password, and are expected to be well designed, clearly structured and uncluttered, and allow a reader -- instructors and classmates -- to follow your projects' progress.

Required Textbooks

There are three required textbooks for this course. There will be required readings from selected chapters in each of these two books throughout the semester. (You are strongly encouraged, but not required, to read the entirety of each book.) For each assigned reading, you will be required to write up your thoughts and reactions to the reading in your blog prior to the next class.

The three required textbooks are:

Film Directing Shot by Shot, Steven D. Katz, Michael Wiese Productions, 1991, ISBN 0-941188-10-8

Cinematic Storytelling, Jennifer Van Sijll, Michael Wiese Prods., 2005, ISBN 1-932907-05-X

The Filmmaker's Eye, Gustavo Mercado, Focal Press, 2010, ISBN-13: 978-0-240-81217-5

These books can be purchased as hardcopy paperback books and in various e-book formats (Kindle, Nook, etc). A single hardcopy of each textbook is available in our Dept.'s Resource Room for one-day overnight checkout by students.

Other Recommended Readings

There are several other books you may wish to consult. These include:

Master Shots, Christopher Kenworthy, Michael Wiese Productions, 2013, ISBN-13: 978-1-61593-154-5

The Five C's of Cinematography, Joseph V. Mascelli, Silman-James Press, 1965, ISBN 1-879505-41-X

Screenplay, the Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field, Delta, 2005 (Revised), ISBN 0-385-33903-8 Setting Up Your Shots, Jeremy Vineyard, Michael Wiese Productions, 1999, ISBN 0-941188-73-6

The Art of Storyboarding, John Hart, Focal Press, 1999, ISBN 0-240-80329-9
Exploring Storyboarding, Wendy Tumminello, Thomson Delmar Learning, 2005, ISBN 1-4018-2715-2

Storyboards, Motion in Art , Mark Simon, Focal Press, 2007 (3rd Edition), ISBN-10: 0-240-80805-3

Reading the Movies, Wm. Costanzo, National Council of Teachers, 1991, ISBN 0-8141-3910-8

A History of Narrative Film, David Cook, W.W. Norton, 1999, ISBN 0-393-01370-7

Directing the Story:..., Francis Glebas, Focal Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-240-81076-8

All assignments will be graded based on the quality of thought, the quality of the storyboard and/or animatic, and the level of skill and comprehension demonstrated. All projects should show originality and be intellectually and/or emotionally substantive. For team projects, each student's grade will be based on both the overall quality of the team project, plus the individual student's contribution to the project.

Students are expected to bring in work-in-progress each week. An emphasis is placed on the evolution of work through critique and the process of iteration and refinement. Failure to bring in work-in-progress or to actively participate in the critiques will result in a lowering of your grade for that assignment.

The weighting of grades for this course is as follows:

Project#1 (group project) = 20%
Project#2, stage1 (assignment2) = 15%
Project#2, final (assignment3) = 40%
Film Analysis presentation & paper = 5%
Homework exercises and readings = 10%
Active participation in the classes, blogs, exercises and discussions = 10%

Be advised that grades are earned by a combination of effort + quality. It is assumed that all students will work hard. That is where we start. Thus, a grade of A means that you have worked hard and you have done excellent work; a grade of B means you have worked hard and done reasonably good work; a grade of C means your work is acceptable but not strong; a grade of D means your work is quite weak; a grade of F means your work is patently unacceptable.

Institute Grading Guidelines

See this link for Pratt's official guidelines for Grading. Note that grades below C are non-passing at the graduate level.

My interpretation of the meaning of these grades is listed below.

A = Extremely good work
A- = Very good work
B+ = Good work, better than average
B = Reasonably good work, not outstanding
B- = Acceptable, some significant weaknesses
C+ = Weak, better than minimally passing (not acceptable for graduate students)
C = Minimally passing, not acceptable quality
D+, D, D- = Very weak work, not acceptable quality

Attendance & Participation

It is extremely important that you attend and fully participate in the weekly classes. Please note also that it is Pratt Institute policy that three unexcused absences constitute grounds for an automatic F for the course, and that two latenesses are considered the equivalent of one absence. Arriving more than 15 minutes after the scheduled start of class will be considered late. Arriving more than half-way through the class time will be considered absent. Students are 100% responsible for their own attendance and must allow for delays due to subways, traffic, etc. If you miss class because of illness, you should bring in a note from your physician to avoid your absence being listed as "unexcused". (Pratt Student Health services can be of help to you here.)

Participation

It is critical that each student actively participate in the classroom discussions and critiques. It is not enough to merely attend class -- you must also actively participate.

File Storage

As with all DDA courses, each student is 100% responsible for storing all of his or her files on their own removable storage media. You must make permanent backups of your files on regular basis onto your own storage media (CD, Flash, DVD, etc.). Student files are not to be stored for extended periods on the local hard drives of the Lab workstations. Each student may, upon request, receive storage space on the DDA server. Ask Lab Management about this if you are interested. Also, be aware that Lab Management may, at their discretion, delete student files from the hard drives to make room for other work.

CLASSROOM ASSIGNMENTS

It is Pratt Institute policy that work done in one class cannot be submitted to fulfill assignments in another class. It is very possible to do work that overlaps or is closely related in two different courses, but you cannot fulfill two assignment requirements with one piece of work. If you have any questions, discuss the issue with all the instructors involved before proceeding.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING ISSUES

If you have a significant learning issue or disability, you are strongly encouraged to work with the Offiice of Disability Services (Main Bldg, Tel: 718 636 3711). Through them you can get guidance and support and request special accomodations if appropriate. You are also very strongly encouraged to notifiy your instructor if you have a special learning difficulty, as we cannot help you or make accomodations unless we know what your situation is.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

(The following is derived from the Pratt Institute website. Please see also the Pratt Student Handbook for more details.)

Pratt Institute considers Academic Integrity highly important. Instances of cheating, plagiarism, and wrongful use of intellectual property will not be tolerated.

• Faculty members will report each incident to the registrar for inclusion in studentsí files.
• More than one report to the registrar during a studentís program of study at Pratt will result in a hearing before the Academic Integrity Board, at which time appropriate sanctions will be decided. These may include dismissal from the Institute.
• The nature and severity of the infraction will be determined by faculty members who can: ask students to repeat an assignment, fail students on the assignment, fail students in the course and/or refer the incident to the Academic Integrity Board.

For more details about these procedures please see the Pratt Student Handbook, the Pratt Bulletins, and the pamphlet entitled Judicial Procedures at Pratt.

CHEATING

If students use dishonest methods to fulfill course requirements, they are cheating. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Obtaining or offering copies of exams or information about the content of exams in advance.
• Bringing notes in any form to a closed book exam.
• Looking at another studentís paper during an exam.
• Receiving or communicating any information from or to another student during an exam.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a bit more complicated, but the rules of documentation and citation are very specific and are tailored to different academic disciplines. Types of plagiarism include:

• Including any material from any source other than you in a paper or project without proper attribution. This includes material from the Internet, books, papers, or projects by other students, and from any other source.
• Using your own work to fulfill requirements for more than one course
• The extensive use of the ideas of others in your work without proper attribution.
• Turning in work done by another person or a fellow student as oneís own.

Please remember that all work must be the student's own. If it is not, the source should be cited and documented appropriately.

If there are aspects of this statement that are not understood, ask faculty members for help.