AfterEffects/GarageBand Project 4 – Animated Poem

Project Description
You will create a 30 second to 2 minute animation based on a short poem.

Poem
The poem must be contemporary (written within the last 100 years) and no more than 150 words.

Sound
You will start by creating the sound for this poem. The sound must include someone reading the text of the poem. This should also effectively be a collage, an emotional response to the poem, amplifying your interpretation of it. You should generate all sounds yourself, although you may appropriate short (5 seconds or less) bits of audio from http://www.archive.org. No other sounds may be appropriated. You will want to vary the tempo of the soundtrack to create drama, contrast and suspense. Remember that the pacing of your animation will be determined, in part, by the pacing of your audio.

Storyboard
Next, you will create a storyboard outlining the different scenes of the animation. The storyboard should note the audio track (what’s being read for each block) and any movement in the animation. Sound effects can be added to fit the images better as well, and these should also be described in the storyboard.

Refined Illustration
Although your storyboard will be a very rough outline of your animation, you will also create one refined illustration (created in Photoshop) of a scene to give a sense of the aesthetic you are using. This way you will quickly know if you aesthetic is too ambitious or too simplistic for the project. You may NOT appropriate any images for this project with the following exceptions:

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/ (Creative Commons, Attribution).
If you use an image from this site, you MUST LEGALLY and FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT credit the photographer as part of the credits to your work!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/collections/72157600007938726/ (Ping News' Public Domain images). These are Public Domain and you need not credit the photographer.

If you appropriate images from any other sources or do not credit the Creative Commons 2.0 images, YOU WILL FAIL THE PROJECT! This will be considered CHEATING and will be handled as such.

You may also, of course, use your own drawings and photographs. This is STRONGLY encouraged; the best results have generally been when the artist creates their own work.

Animation
You are also encouraged to try different approaches to animation, from drawings created in the computer, to those created by hand, white boards, sand, pixilation, stop-motion, puppet animation, abstraction, etc. Do not simply illustrate what the poem is literally saying. Consider how the imagery can add another level of meaning to the poem. For example, if the poem says, “Love is like a red, red rose” and you show us a red rose and a heart, you are simply repeating the verbal imagery of the poem and this may bore the audience. However, if poem says, “Love is like a red, red rose” and you show a rapid dog eating a bloody steak, you will make the audience very curious about the connection and excited to see what comes next! You can create your own original metaphors and analogies this way to build interest and create depth and meaning to the animation.
Inspiration/Resources
Animations of poems by Billy Collins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrEPJh14mcU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuTNdHadwbk&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xovLpim_1s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xiWuwGq8M&feature=related

Born Magazine (Mostly interactive text animations, but great work!) http://www.bornmagazine.com

Contemporary Poems/Poets
http://www.palace.net/~llama/poetry/
http://capa.conncoll.edu/
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets_contemporary.html

Blank Storyboard -- Click Here

Storyboard Examples -- Click Here and Here

Refined Illustration Examples -- Click Here and Here and Here

Schedule

11/10 AfterEffects CS3 Professional Essential Training
3. Getting Started>Understanding the interface
4. Importing Files>Importing basic files, What is an alpha channel?, Using image sequences
5. Of Layers and Compositions>About Compositions, Adding assets to compositions, Layer essentials, Nesting compositions
6. Using the Timeline>All headings
7. Animation Essentials>All headings
Homework - Poem Due (DO NOT CHANGE YOUR POEM AFTER THIS DATE!)

11/12 AfterEffects CS3 Professional Essential Training

8. Animation Part 1: Basic Principles (All headings are optional but encouraged!)

9. Animation Part 2: Helpers>Easing keyframes, Using Auto-orient. (Other headings are optional, but encouraged!)

10. Animation Part 3: The Next Level> Parenting, Altering multiple parameters at once, Working with paths

11. Being Creative with After Effects> (All headings are optional but encouraged!)

12. Introduction to Effects>Using Effects, Using blur effects, Color correcting with effects

13. Using Text in After Effects>Creating Text, Animating Text

14. Video Editing in After Effects>Trimming and video editing in After Effects, Splitting a layer, Time stretching

Homework – Storyboard Due

11/17 AfterEffects CS3 Professional Essential Training

15. Masks, Mattes and Keying> Creating masks, Creating a garbage matte, (Optional but encouraged: Introduction to Keylight)

16. Workig with Audio>Using audio in AfterEffects, Creating audio markers

17. Intoduction to 3D> (All headings are optional but encouraged!)

18. Photoshop and After Effects> Importing Photoshop files, Converting Photoshop text to editable text

20. Exporting> The Render Queue, Essential File Formats, Essential Codecs

Homework - Refined Illustration Due. Sound should be done by this date.

11/19 ---Work on Project 4

11/24 ---Work on Project 4

11/26 No Class – Thanksgiving Break

12/1---Work on Project 4

12/3---Work on Project 4

12/8---Last Class - CRITIQUES

12/15---FINAL EXAM DAY - AfterEffects Quiz and Open Printing