Happy Halloween!

Animation Principles class at Woodbury University 2014, Guest Lecturer: Tim Burton.
Plus, Can you pick out the student who also works as Mickey Mouse at Disneyland?

You are the Client!

Does this ever happen to you? You are working on your own project with a deadline you hope to reach when suddenly, an outside job opportunity comes along. Now you have to drop everything again and work on this other project, which is paying for your time and expertise.

Recently, a short commercial has driven up to my front door and needs my animation help. Its a small car commercial spot which involves two important things. 1) Design a cartoon version of an actual car dealer and 2) Animate the entire :30 spot in October.(ha!)

First, when starting a job you need to find out all the information you can about what they want, when is their deadline and how much will they pay. Once you have some of this info, you need to put together a bid or an estimate of how much time and labor it will take you to accomplish the project. I'm skipping over all this stuff since this is not a business blog and going right for the animation process stuffing.

I will mention that when I bid on this job, it was a totally different idea when my bid was approved. Luckily, even though its was a different idea altogether, the new idea was a lot simplier than the first, but does involve some character designs and rough storyboarding.

Most large studios or ad agencies have a storyboarded concept and character designs already to send off to the chosen animation studio. Smaller places don't.

The client sent me a photo of a real Car Deal guy, who I'm suppose to create a cartoon version of and so, experience has taught me to draw a bunch of rough ideas, number them and let the client decide which one they would like me to do more work on.

And now, You are the client!  

Your Deadline is Friday:10/10/14

Here are 10 possible cartoon characters, perhaps the next Homer Simpson! Which Cartoon guy do you like and if you can tell why? 

The real Client already made their choice, but I want to hear from you!!! You may send me a comment and let me know which number you like and I won't mention your name.  

Vote Early, Vote Often!  Submit by 10/10/14

24 Hours has Begun...

Moments ago, from California State University_Long Beach, Aubry Mintz announced the theme of the 2014 24 Hour Animation Contest will be:
From Animal Farm...
"All Animals are Created Equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

The list of participating schools this year has grown and are CSUF (Fullerton, CA), CSULB (Long Beach, CA), CSUN (Northridge, CA), Kendall College of A/d (Michigan), MTSU (Tennessee), Seneca College (Canada), Sheridan College (Canada), SJSU (San Jose, CA), Queensland (Australia), Westwood (Anaheim, CA) and Woodbury University (Burbank, CA).

Within minutes, the students assembled into smaller groups to attempt to figure how to come up with a short, simple and effective idea. As the teams began to brainstorm to form a solid storyboard, the Faculty must sit on their hands and not help out in any way. They are only there to make sure the equipment is running correctly and that the students are working away.


Last year, I basically worked on my own stuff and occasionally overheard the students discussions and watched their progress. After the 24 Hours were over, 2 projects came out of Woodbury and one of them won first place. It was a real boost to the Seniors who had worked together and were able to make an animated short which tested all the learning from the past four years.

Last year's theme: What if you had 24 hours to live?  Ryan Tengel and her Woodbury University animation team answered the question with this winning short.

From Woodbury University located in Burbank, CA. 4 teams working away on a Friday night.

The next day, the teams are tried, but continue to work until the final deadline at 5pm.

The Freshmen team are hanging in there too...

 

 If you have any comments for the animators, please let us know...  And now, here are their films.

 The Pink Ladies, our Freshmen entry... Curious Rendezvous

Team Evil entry...  Angus and Arthur

Team Magma entry... Just Another Day

 

The Coffee Owls with: Painful Equality

Now that the results are in, take a moment and vote on your favorite. Any comments are welcomed and will be posted for the students to learn and improve from.