Alternative Lesson Plan Assignments

Below are alternate lesson plan assignments that incorporate the different levels Bloom's Taxonomy.

This assignment was challenging as it forced me to think outside of what I already knew. I learned a lot. I wasn't sure of the difference between "conventional" and "unconventional". I'm guessing the unconventional assignments were assignments that I normally wouldn't do because they seem out of place, but offered a differerent point of view for solving a problem. What do you guys think? If any assignments come up while you are reading, by all means, shoot them my way. Thanks in advance.

Randolf


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Lesson 2 : "The Animated Drink Box"
How do you achieve emotion in a character who has no facial features arms, or legs? In this lesson you will see that this is possible. By understanding what creates emotion in inanimate objects, you will have a better understanding how emotion is achieved in more complex characters. To practice doing so, you will be animating a pre-rigged drink box cg character. The objective is to animate the drink box so that he clearly conveys a series of emotions . You will be exploring the principles of animation and you will also learn effective methods for planning that will help get your point across. Let's begin.

Conventional Assignments:

1) Type a one paragraph synopsis of what your drinkbox is going to do in this animation. To begin, have your character show one emotion, then have him experience an event or problem (that occurs offscreen - is the easiest), and end by having the drinkbox react to this event. Show the viewer if he is successful or unsuccessful in solving the problem or after experiencing the event.

2) Storyboard the above story in 5 panels.

3) Practice keyframing in Maya by creating animations that show your drinkbox hopping in three different ways. The drink box should hop a minimum of five times and should travel.

4) The "principles of animation" are an integral part of this lesson. In four short separate animations, animate the drinkbox demonstrating the following animation principles:

• squash and stretch
• timing
• ease in and ease out
• overlapping action

5) Using the above storyboard as a guide, create an animation of your drinkbox showing an emotion, experiencing an event or problem, then have the drinkbox react to this event by shifting to another emotion.


Unconventional Assignments

1) Research animations online that feature inanimate objects expressing an emotion. Be prepared to share how these emotions were achieved. Which ones were effective and which ones were not?

2) Act out your scene in front of a video camera and use this footage as reference. Yes, you have to believe that you are the drink box. If you didn't have arms and legs, how would you convey the emotion, happy? sad?

3) Draw on paper your drink box in the following emotions:

• sadness
• happy
• proud
• dizzy
• inquisitive.

4) On your computer, pose your drinkbox rig in the emotions listed above using the previous drawings as a guide. Use the bookend technique to hold these animations for one second (24 frames), then shift to another emotion.

5) Answer or provide your input to the following: What emotions were the easiest to create in the drinkbox? How did you achieve them? What emotions were difficult to achieve and how did you solve for this?

Essay Stucture

All of us in school will eventually create an essay. Its a formal method of conveying an idea, analysis or defending a stance to an argument. We all need reminders, myself included so here are some tips. In any any essay, the basic structure is that you have a beginning, a middle an end. The image below explains these parts in greater detail followed by a series of guiding questions.

Steps in the Reaction Essay Process

1. Read or reread the text with specific questions in mind.
2. Jot down or pay attention to basic ideas, events, and names.
3. Identify and consider the most important ideas.
• a. How do you feel about what was said?
• b. Do you agree or disagree with the author?
• c. Have you had any applicable experience?
4. Does the evidence in the article support the statements the writer made? Give examples; be specific.
5. What other sources agree or disagree with the major claim? (Find additional critiques.)
   
   MIU Online Lectures. "Warrants and Arguments". Miami International University Online. 21 Feb. 2008.
   

Thesis Checkin - Tune Up

At the beginning of the quarter it was essential, and halfway through the term, its a good idea to check directions again. For the most part, my direction has gotten more focused. I've added a slight change to my audience, which will affect how my thesis will be presented in the end. I have a couple of directions to explore regarding "Laban Motion Analysis", the theoretical acting component to my thesis and Ed Hooks' thoughts on "Laban Motion Analysis". Looking ahead, I'm thinking about refining and filling in the blanks for the exercises which make up my curriculum, and finally (and this makes me nervous...) is that I still have to plan an unexpected addition to the animation component of my thesis which I will explain below.

My major claim is that animating emotion can be taught to intermediate animation students, after this week, I've decided to change things a bit, I've decided to gear my presentation towards instructors as well. This seems obvious, but I didn't see it at first. This change came about while doing work for the "Teaching Methodologies" class with Michael Greene. I figured that I needed to include myself, acting as the animation instructor, as I will be using this specific curriculum for the classes I teach. In the class, I put together a list of objectives and a workable lesson plan that made me see how the exercises should be presented. I had not done so up to this point, and it would be best to begin putting this information together before the quarter ends. My main audience, the MFA approving body, are instructors as well, and one of things they will be watching out for, is how clear and well presented my curriculum is. This includes learning objectives, lesson plans, exercise descriptions, tips from professionals, video tutorials (for some) and a means to assess progress for the student. I have 10 other exercises to do this for, and if I can commit this to paper, I would feel much better.

A subject that came up last week was "Laban Motion Analysis". Developed at the turn of the century, this was a system which broke down movement for actors to four major states. Presently, ideas are included in acting classes for animators. One of the main proponents for this method is Ed Hooks. Hooks is the author for "Acting for Animators", the book which gave me the idea for this project, and has since acted as my guide. The book however, doesn't mention the Laban Method, and so an inquiry is in order. I hope to make contact with him early next week. Some of the driving questions regarding "Laban Motion Analysis" that will guide my research include: What is Laban Motion Analysis? How does it benefit actors? How can it benefit animators? How is this used in acting classes for animators? How can this information be simplified and edited so that it can be integrated into my curriculum?

One concern I had developed last quarter, was when my thesis was reviewed by my MFA thesis committee. It is still not clear, but I wasn't sure if people were in agreement of the development of a website to represent my curriculum, I also don't think they liked that my project didn't have a final animation to accompany the thesis, which is what usually happens. The input I got from my acting advisors, was that my idea was good. When my work was reviewed last quarter, my project consisted of examples from the animation exercises presented in my curriculum. This, as well as creating the website, seemed to be enough.

This was not the case. After my thesis was reviewed, someone made the comment that my animations were disparate and that something needed to be done to make it look like one piece and there were some in agreement. I had some help, and came up with the idea of stringing all of my animations into a "documentary" style presentation. Imagine a show like "60 Minutes", where the animated characters were being interviewed about the topic of emotion. These interviews would be strung in-between the different animated examples and would also have an interviewer or host who would guide these characters. The idea had merit, seemed fun to do and was feasible to complete within the timeframe.

To some extent, I agree to what was suggested. By putting this animation together in this way, it would serve as a good example for others as it unifies everything I have done. The extra animated footage would also feature the characters in different emotional states (I envision these to be quite entertaining). The hard part, is that since this idea came at the last minute, that I should be using this quarter to plan before executing the animations next quarter. This includes developing a simple script and a storyboard so that I have a better understanding of how the final animation is going to be put together. The sledding accident which broke my leg didn't help and its been frustrating, but things are getting better. So in my schedule I hope to include time to put this together. I'm expected to begin animating and putting this together next quarter, otherwise I won't be able to finish in time for thesis defense.

Below is a tentative schedule for this quarter. I think everything explained (excluding the animation) above can be achieved, and once completed, would serve as a good base for the next two quarters. Mentally, I would like to have this work out of the way before I animate next quarter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Week 7:
Send Ed Hooks inquiry
Develop learning objectives for exercises 1 and 3.
Research Laban Motion Analysis
Create Script for final animation.
Research and make contact with USC animation group.

Week 8:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 4 and 5.
Research Laban Motion Analysis
Review professional animator interviews and note where information will be placed.
Garner script feedback.

Week 9:
Refine Laban Motion Analysis
Develop learning objectives for exercises 6 and 7.
Storyboard script for final animation.
Cite 2D and Lifedrawing Examples
Gesture Research

Week 10:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 8 and 9.
Refine storyboard script for final animation.
Work on thesis rough.
Eyes Research

Week 11:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 10 and 11.
Submit thesis rough.

MLA Style: Theses Published and Unpublished

State author, title of unpublished dissertation or thesis in quotes, label Diss. or MA thesis, name of university, and year.

Elmendorf, James. "The Military and the Mall: Society and Culture in Long Beach, California." BA thesis. Hampshire College, 1995.

Jackson, Marjorie. "The Oboe: A Study of Its Development and Use." Diss. Columbia U, 1962.

Underline title if dissertation is published:

Chan, Marjorie K.M. Fuzhou Phonology: A Non-Linear Analysis of Tone and Stress. Diss. U of Washington, 1985.

Gregory, T.R. The C-Value Enigma. PhD thesis. U. of Guelph, ON, 2002.

MLA Style: Weblogs and Blogs

Last Name, First. "Title of Entry." Weblog Entry. Title of Weblog. Date Posted. Date Accessed (URL).

Example:
Romano, Lou. "Phoenix." Lou Romano. Feb. 1, 2008. 9 Feb. 2008. <http://louromano.blogspot.com>

To cite an archived weblog entry, navigate to the archived source and provide the exactURL to the post:
Hawhee, Debra. "Hail, Speech!" Weblog entry. Blogos. 30 April 2007. 23 May 2007 <http://dhawhee.blogs.com/d_hawhee/2007/04/index.html>

Other examples of citing digital sources can be found on the OWL Purdue site here:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/09/

MLA Style: Interviews

MLA Citation for Professional Interviews:
Interviewee's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the interview (if given)." Interview (if untitled) with interviewer's name (if pertinent). Day, month, year, edition (if radio, TV, or periodical). Publication location: Publishing company, year (if given). Page numbers (if given).

example (Use this one):
Last Name of interviewee, First Name. "Animating Emotion Interview". Randolf Dimalanta. 10 Oct. 2007.

example:
Lansbury, Angela. Interview. Off-Camera: Conversations with the Makers of Prime-Time Television. By Richard Levinson and William Link. New York: Plume-NAL, 1986.

Curriculum Split

While reading for my thesis writing class, I thought about the curriculum that was developing. Currently, its a series of 9 exercises. This group is directed to the intermediate animation student, and in order to ensure that students were able to follow the final the final assignments, the beginning assignments were designed to review keyframing, posing and the Maya workflow for completing animation.

I thought about developing a second curriculum that was geared towards someone more advanced. This curriculum would not include the bouncing ball, walk or run cycle, but instead will begin with posing exercises or various gear change exercises.

Robert Cagne's 9 Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention (Stimuli activates receptors)
2. Inform learners of objectives (Creates level of expectation for learning)
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning (Retrieval and activation of short-term memory)
4. Present the content (Selective perception of content)
5. Provide "learning guidance" (Semantic encoding for storage long-term memory)
6. Elicit performance (Responds to questions to enhance encoding and verification)
7. Provide feedback (Reinforcement and assessment of correct performance)
8. Assess performance (Retrieval and reinforcement of content as final evaluation)
9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job (Retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new situation)

Thanks Drew for the info. I plan to implement these in my class this week.