COURSE STRUCTURE
Course Description
Students will create new or rework existing imaging, animation or interactive project that demonstrates their aesthetic voice as well as their technical skills. The project will be geared towards building a portfolio work that can help them to gain employment in their targeted field.
Course Outcomes
Evaluate the appropriate fair use of media employed in the production of Imaging, animation and interactive media.
Compose concise verbal, visual, and written communication materials to develop an original concept.
Design a concepting and production process that supports industry standards for an Illustration, animation, game or interactive media project.
Develop project concepts informed by professional goals that target a specific Digital Media professional market.
Function within a creative community where mentorship, collaboration and critique are shared with industry professionals and/or forums.
Collaborate with other student artists, designers, musicians and programmers, within or outside of the Kendall environment.
Make recommendations, critique and justify concept proposals, works in progress, and finished works as a member of a review group.
Attendance
More than 3 unexcused absences will negatively effect your grade. Each absence beyond 3 will continue to negatively effect your grade. Arriving to class late will also lower your grade.
Grading Criteria
You will be graded at 2 intervals, mid-term and final. The midterm is a progress assessment. The final grade is the only one that goes on your transcripts
You will be expected to have the listed deliverables completed on the 5 review dates that are posted on the calendar. Missed dates will result in the lowering of your final grade by 1 full letter (such as.. a B becomes a C).
Project Rework due dates that are missed will result in the lowering of your grade by 1/3 (such as.. a B becomes a B-)
Quality of project presentations and class review participation.
Quality of project execution relative to project objectives as outlined in the course deliverables.
Professionalism: Pushing your work. Taking responsibility for your work. Commitment to and patience in communication with other students and me. Giving and Taking Critique. Being respectful.
Attendance: For every 3 absences your final course grade will be lowered by 1/2 (such as.. a 'B' becomes a 'B-'). Excused absences include illness, family issues that are beyond your control, natural disasters and alien invasions.
Unless noted otherwise, all projects are due at the beginning of class on the dates listed in the calendar.
Materials
Laptop computer and external hard drive for back ups. Losing data is not an excuse for missing deadlines. Files that are backed up are files that are never lost.
Software Required: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Quicktime PRO, E-mail, Web Browser
Software Optional: Lightwave, Aftereffects, Etc.
School Policies, Resources & Dates
This syllabus may be revised, at any time, at the discretion of the instructor.
School-wide policies, resources and dates are available on this site's home page:
| PROJECT OVERVIEW
Create a 1 - 2 sentence pitch describing your thesis project idea. Memorize it and be prepared to recite it on demand at any time. Include: deliverable (from menu), target audience, delivery system, objective, emotional connection. You can find examples in the DMUX Design Guide.
You will form an advisory committee of 2 or 3 faculty and professionals (optional). I will be one of the members automatically. You should pick people that can help you both technically and aesthetically. You will communicate with your advisors with informal and on-going meetings and e-mail correspondence. Arrange meetings ahead of time as much as possible.
First 2 items: due by the end of the first class E-mail to me (bill@visualpump.com)
Projects will be driven by these 3 factors:
• Aesthetics: the visceral audience reaction to the look, feel, sound, taste and smell. • Function: the behavioral audience reaction to the way it meets it's objective. • Brand: the reflective audience reaction; the lasting impression that the work weaves into their story.
Execute the project Meet the due dates for the deliverables as outlined on this website. Prompt your Committee members to comment on your project. You are responsible for making plans to meet with them. Obtain technical direction from your committee members when needed. You are responsible for making plans to meet with them.
Present Be prepared at all times to remind advisors, using your log-line or synopsis, what you are working on. There will be two formal presentations, one near the beginning (to introduce your project) and then at the end to pitch or screen it. There will be an additional three class-particiption reviews between them.
Rework Existing Projects Review with instructor, your portfolio, as it stands at the beginning of the semester. Choose three projects to advance to a professional level and execute the reworks over the course of the semester. Interactive Media should work on: Windows - Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer. MAC - Firefox, Schrome, Safari. You can use Fusion on the teacher workstations to test sites in Windows. This means printing and adjusting images several times to achieve the highest quality prints possible. Retain a source file and make versions for all of the different printers you may use. We have high quality laser paper available for these prints. This varies depending on the project. Generally there is a source file (usually QT Animation Compression) that does not really play smoothly on any device because it is such a large file. From that file, is created various compressions for playing on hard drives, CDroms and the web. In the case of SWF files, there are also various compression settings for these same uses within the publish settings. This is the final step of fine tuning the composited sound file in the audio recording room... as you were instructed in your Sound Design course(s). Revised according to the feedback from a review.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
Don Hahn: Brain Storm (book)
Promotional video
Innovation and Pixar by Brad Bird (pdf)
- critique - Ashliegh
- communication - Kate
- motivation - Fredy
- goals - Megan
- risk - Nate
- Visceral
- Behavioral
- Reflective
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