Project 1: Weight

Project 1: Weight

Due 10/23

5-10 second animation of a character interacting with a heavy object.  Animation may be rough, but must be clear/easy to read.  Will be looking at readability of the poses, character motivation and implementation of the relevant Principles of Animation. 

     Requirements:

             - It must have a beginning, middle and end - Character approaches or notices object.  Character attempts to pick up, push, pull or otherwise manipulate object.  Character either succeeds or fails.

             - The character's entire body must be involved in the animation.  (It can't just be a bust shot, for example).

             - The character may succeed, fail, give up, drop it, slip, etc. but the character must show some kind of strain.  The object he or she is picking up must feel heavy.

             - The object may be animated with tweens, but the character must be fully frame-by-frame hand drawn animation.  May use Flash/Animate or Photoshop, but Flash/Animate is recommended.

             - Does not have to be inked or colored, but the roughs should be refined enough that we can tell what's going on.

             - The Framerate is 24fps, on two's (though you may switch to one's as needed)

     Recommendations:

             -  It would be easiest if the object was something stiff, like a piano, chair, ball, rock, something that is easy to draw or tween animate.  One character trying to pick up another, for example, might be especially challenging.  You're definitely allowed to do it, but it might take a lot more time then you'd think.

              - The beginning/lead up to the character picking up the object can be brief.  If there's a long time spent on the introduction, it may take away time from the interaction with the object itself. The video can start with the character already standing at or near the object.

              - I would recommend not going past 10 seconds, just to keep the project manageable, but if you have time in the end you can extend the animation.

              - You will need to keep the character as on-model as you can throughout the animation. It would be best to pick a character you'd be comfortable animating, and could get a lot of pose and expression from.  The style of the character doesn't matter - cartoony, hyper-real or somewhere in between. 

     Rubric:

          This is what I'm going to be thinking about while grading:

          1)Clarity:  Can we tell what's happening?  Are the visuals clear, or is it too messy to read? 

          2) Animation:Are the 12 Principles of Animation applied as needed?  Does the character show weight, balance, personality?  Are the motions dramatic?  Can we feel the character struggling?  Snappy vs. Swimmy

          3) Technical:  Are there any noticeable technical issues, such as unwanted artifacts (things appearing and disappearing from the screen), the video length not matching the film length?  Is there a set beginning, middle and end?  Are the character's volumes kept consistent?

Aesthetics will not be its own grade, here, due to the fact that the animation may be rough and uncolored.  Unless it severely detracts or adds to the animation, all I will be looking for in the character design is that he or she is functional enough to manipulate the object.  Any relevant 'aesthetic' grade will be included in Animation, particularly under the "Appeal" Principle of Animation.