Monday, October 5th

Class Hours: 10:05 – 2:40
Mr. Cronin

Notes

Welcome to Week 6! Let’s all make our folders now.
On Wednesday afternoon we will be having a Divergent Diamond Presentation from the Vermont Agency of Transportation. This is the new intersection near Costco that is all over the news, that had the Driving Simulator built for local drivers to get practice before they tried it for real. From what I have heard this was built in our GAWD1 Game Engine (Unreal Engine), so it should be another opportunity to see how our classwork can be turned into careers. Monetize your skills!

10:05 Attendance and Article

10:10 Last Looks

Design Homework 5: Free Sketch

lastNameDH_5.jpg

Week 5 Agency

lastNameAgency_1.jpg through lastNameAgency_3.jpg

10:30 First Storyboard

Link to the digital animation.

A storyboard is a series of simple drawings or images that show how a video, animation, or film will unfold shot by shot.

Each storyboard panel usually shows:

What the camera sees
Characters and their actions
Camera angles or movement
Important dialogue or sounds
Notes about what happens in the shot

Think of it as a visual blueprint for a video. It lets you plan the sequence before spending time filming or animating it.

Let’s all get some practice making our first storyboard using some of our storyboard paper.

10:50 Morning Break

11:00 Critiques

Each week we will upload our work on Monday. I will then present your work to the class. Each project I will pick a student to practice giving constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is a type of feedback that offers specific and actionable advice to help employees to improve. In the professional setting we need to be to talk professionally about the work, even if you don’t “love” the person who created it.

If selected, you will pick 1 thing that works, and 1 thing to improve upon next time. Remember we are separating the Design from the Designer. We are looking for actionable input.

11:30 Design Homework 2: Literal Animation Storyboards

This week we are going to get into literal animation, and before we get to the digital side of thing we are going to do the pre-production work before hand. Pre-production in this instance will be creating 2 Storyboards (1 sheet for each word, 4 cells) that demonstrates the animation you are going to choose for the 2 different words you are animating.

We are going to present your Storyboards before each animation, so what you say you WILL do for your “Float” animation, we will want to see in your digital animation.

Let’s all do a quick storyboard for Splat together.

After we do this together with Splat, you are going to choose 2 DIFFERENT words to storyboard / animate. Each sheet of storyboard paper (4 cells) will go from the start to the end of the animation, with timing, sound, and descriptions.

Once your Storyboard is done, you then will move to Blender to animate the visuals to match the storyboard. Yes I realize you have no idea how to do this yet.

Some words to consider – not limited to this list, but you have to choose 2.

~~Splat~~
Float
Bounce
Stretch
Squash
Spin
Twist
Shake
Wiggle
Slide
Drop
Fall
Jump
Pop
Burst
Explode
Melt
Drip
Splash
Crash
Smash
Roll
Flip
Swing
Sway
Snap
Zoom
Fly
Soar
Glide
Dive
Rise
Sink
Grow
Shrink
Expand
Collapse
Bend
Squish
Wobble
Pulse
Blink
Flash
Fade
Scatter
Ripple
Wave
Spring
Stretch
Swirl

11:55 Lunch

No food in the room / eat in the Cafe.
You are welcome to return to the room when you have finished eating and work / hang out.

12:25 Attendance and Article

12:30 Blender

Intro to Animation
Keyframes / Manually setting / Automatic
Interpolation Methods
Dope Sheet / Curve Editor / Timeline – the idea of adjusting our animation after it is created

12:50 A Gentleman in Moscow

Imagine being sentenced to spend your life inside a luxury hotel. In A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Count Alexander Rostov faces exactly that. Trapped in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel after the Russian Revolution, he builds unexpected friendships and watches history unfold outside. The novel asks an important question: Can you still build a meaningful life when your freedom is taken away?

A class read-along gives us a chance to slow down, disconnect from screens, and get lost in a great book together. As we read, you’ll naturally build your vocabulary, strengthen your reading skills, and experience a story.

1:10 Afternoon Break

1:25 Speed Design

Speed Designs are 10 minute sprints in GAWD where we practice. It could be any medium – 3D, 2D, video, programming, etc.

1:40 Afternoon Practice & Production

Design Homework 6: Literal Storyboards

lastNameDH_6_Word.jpg (the first word you are doing, for example croninDH_6_Float.jpg)
lastNameDH_6_Word.jpg (the second word you are doing, for example croninDH_6_Spin.jpg)

Week 6 Agency

lastNameAgency_1.jpg through lastNameAgency_3.jpg

2:15 Dailies

2:20 “19 Minutes”

Every day in GAWD will end with “19 Minutes” of silent reading. Closing down our day with silent reading provides many benefits:

Improve Literacy Skills / Reading Stamina
Create space for a small reading meditation where we can disconnect from the world and get lost in a story
Unplug

At the end I will 3 students and ask for a 1 sentence explanation of what happened.