Animatics for September 15th, 2014

Animatics due on Monday. These may necessarily be only rough approximations of what the final approach to the music will be, but exploration now will serve you well in the following weeks, so I'm expecting to see real research and effort. Avoid being passive, and don't let obstacles slow you down. The more you move forward under your own efforts, the more opportunities you will create for yourself.

Pitch Grading Criteria 
• presentation includes introduction of self and partner. 
• did you meet with your collaborator to discuss the music and possible visual approaches? Articulate technical process for moving forward (materials, steps, etc.) 
• together with your partner, articulate your goals for this piece of music: interpretation, ideas contributed by each of you. Summarize the main points of your conversation. Information posted to the “Journal” page on your blog. 
• degree to which idea shows inspiration, originality, basis for real dialogue between an animator and a musician. 
• preliminary thoughts on materials needed and overall production schedule. 

Animatic Grading Criteria 
• animatic with scratch music ready for class review. 
• animatic is easy to understand (visual continuity via shot selection), reflects conversation and beginning dialogue points made with your partner. 
• reflections on critique feedback posted to “Journal” page of blog, along with your own thoughts on the process to this point. * by end of class.

Create Production Calendars and Post to Blog

• How will you organize your time? What tasks need to be done? When? How long will they take to accomplish? Break them into small pieces.

• Demo Google Drive: create spreadsheet.

• Post Production Calendar to blog by 2pm. 

Week 3

A few notes about our progress thus far:

• Labor Day was a speed bump: it is Week 3 and we need to catch up.

• It is important to understand that the musical piece chosen is one that the vocalist will be working on with Reggie Pindell, and that they understand they are strongly encouraged to perform live with animation supporting the performance, in mid-October (date to be set). This is not a piece the animator tells the vocalist to work on, although the hope is that your musical tastes are compatible and that you are both excited about the song.

• Your blogs need three tabs: "Journal" (for weekly posts), "About" (where you describe the music chosen with your partner and your artistic goals for the piece - why choose particular aesthetic approach, way you will interpret it, how this project serves as a means to learn the language of music and how to work with a musician on a collaboration), and "Production Calendar" (link to a Google Doc that outlines the production process from start to finish, including scratch track deadline, animatic deadline, asset creation deadline, animation deadlines, final audio recording deadline, and compositing deadline). Include our major critique dates, as per the syllabus.

• Tabs need to be pages, not posts.

• Links need to be clickable.

• The tone of the writing can be fun, but you must represent yourself as an artist who asks to be taken seriously.

• Most of you are missing the post that articulates your initial thoughts about the project, the type of work you are thinking of creating (installation, music video, other), and any thoughts about the examples screened in class (Tony Oursler, William Kentridge, others). We will do this in class.

• The weekly post is a progress post. This week's had to do with describing how the meeting between yourself and your vocalist went: discussion of music and musical tastes, visual tastes, the performance goals of the vocalist, your ideas for the visual interpretation, etc. Also include what your next, mutually-agreed step forward will be.

• Individualize your blogs so they don't all look like this one, but keeping the pages visible (I will, too!).

• Make sure to begin structuring your production calendars, as we will move quickly into production (after animatics). 

Here are the pitch grading criteria*:

Pitch Grading Criteria

• presentation includes self introduction and summary of conversation posted to blog (see below).

• did you meet with your collaborator to discuss the music and possible visual approaches?

• together with your partner, articulate your goals for this piece of music: interpretation, ideas contributed by each of you. Summarize the main points of your conversation. Information posted to the “Journal” page on your blog.

• degree to which idea shows inspiration, originality, basis for real dialogue between an animator and a musician.

• preliminary thoughts on materials needed and overall production schedule. 

*note: assignment grading criteria will be posted to Digication this week. Please refer to Digication for these notes, as well as for grades, announcements, etc.