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?