jill225

Thursday Skype talk after class: Dresscode!

 Dresscode. Two dudes from CCA [hey! That's where I went to school!] now living and working in Brooklyn NY [Hey! That's where I used to live!]. 

their website: http://dresscodeny.com

their book: http://neversleepbook.com

I checked out their website. Their motion graphics are an amazing combination of moving images, shapes and typography! Great inspiration for short story pacing, cropping, and editing; whether your final 12 image story will be moving or not.

Especially you typography and film nerds: check it out! Especially you, Bruno and Sean. And then go to the Skype chat and ask them specific questions about their work process! This is a great opportunity to pump these guys for story-telling mechanics and techniques! Figure out how these guys do what they do so you can begin to incorporate it into what you do!

Current assignment: make a 12-panel story about apples - research format phase

[mark found this amazing apple image - see our group Flickr for details!]

 Project brief: The Washington Apple Commission has approached us as a class because they heard we were studying apples, and they're interested in finding new ways to drum up public interest in apples. 

Our first assignment is to develop an exploratory 12-panel story about apples. The idea is to create a series of 12 consistent images that work together as a story. The story, the images, and story format will be up to you. The first step is to decide on the format, and research it.

STEP 1

The story format is also up to you. We've talked about story pacing techniques in children's books, comic books and film. Decide what type of story format you'd like to work on and learn more about. Right now, don't worry about what the actual story will be, or what your actual images will be just yet. We're concentrating on what the format will be first! Whatever you decide to do, research the heck out of that particular type of format! 

Find an expert on that type of format and glean as much info. as you can from that person [online research of thesis projects relating to your format, books, the employees at powells or local museums come to mind]. If you can't find someone who's an expert, you'll have to become one yourself. Find as many examples as you can, and document the commonalities amongst all of them. What is the psychology of this particular format? The pacing? The imagery? Can you draw a definitive diagram that shows us all how the mechanics of this type of format works?

Some format ideas:

a comic book page/poster incorporating all 12 images

12 spreads for a kid's book

12 spread for a magazine article

12 postcards set

storyboard of 12 images for a tv commercial

Create a Flickr set in your personal account called "225.06 format research" and dump all your research in there for reference. Be prepared to give a presentation on what you learned about your particular format in class on Thursday.

What to bring to class on Thursday: your laptops, any additional research you want to show in person. 

You'll all give a 5 minute presentation as an expert on your particular format imparting your knowledge on the rest of us on Thursday.

PS: What to bring to class Tuesday/ Movie Day

Oh yeah, and DUH! Please bring your completed apple drawing journal so we can all take a look at it!!! Post pics or scans of 3 of your favorite pages on your personal Flickr page with a written explanation as to why you think it's successful in a set titled "225.05", and add these to the group Flickr pool.

What to bring to class Tuesday/ Movie Day

[above image from here] 

Yesssss! We're going to watch a movie! About... apples! And then we're going to group brainstorm [our idea-generating technique for this week]. What you'll need to bring:

1. a pen

2. your sketchbook/journal to take notes

3. your laptop for research

Notice something about the list? No apple!

What we did in class today/ Drawing day

For your reference as you complete your drawing journal this weekend, here's a snap of the whiteboard from class today showing many different types of marks you can get from a simple black pen!

Remember: being a good designer takes patience, perseverance and at least 10,000 hours of quality geek time! 

Also remember, in case the apple is still boring: Paper [and an apple] contains everything in it.

Oh yeah, and: "If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." --John Cage.

One more thing I didn't read to you in class, but is still interesting and relevent to the discussions we had in class today: sociologist Richard Sennett explains how working with our hands enhances critical thinking, radicalizes labor, and makes us proud. 

One last thing to remember: check this blog on Sunday night to see what to bring to class on Tuesday.

 

In-Class Assignment #4 / What to Bring to Class on Thursday

[above: basic kids book storyboard, from here] From one of your exisiting storyboards you showed us this morning, choose one to flesh out into a 10-panel story. Each panel needs to be the same size, and all 10 panels should fit on one 11 x 17 document.

You can use photos you already have and flesh them out with some re-shoots, or completely re-shoot the story. You can also crop your images and colorize them. You can even add text if you really, really want to. 

Show us your 10-panel storyboard sequence on an 11 x 17 document, uploaded to your personal flickr account in a folder called "225.04", then upload it to the group Flickr page. 

1. Personal 225.04 folder should contain:

a. the final 11x17 document

b. the previously created 3-panel or 5-panel story it was inspired by

c. any thumbnail sketches or other process materials

2. Group Flickr should have:

a. Your final 11x17 document

Due on Flickr before next class.

[above: a nice kids book storyboard, showing the flow of the entire story, again from here.] 

What to Bring for Thursday:

1. Several different black ink pens.

2. Another apple! Yessss!

Links to Movies and Storyboards I Showed you in Class

For your review, if you'd like to refer to these again as you create your own panel stories from your apple photos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSX444hQ5Vo&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNR4ER9tC6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TWBSMc47bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTeC6BoFk7Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noNsMGDInTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imao4MMO2QE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cltAZXkTOMw&feature=related
http://joeljohnson.com/images2/wallywood22panel1600.jpg
http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1
http://sethhoward.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/complete_storyboard.jpg
http://www.airworksart.com/wbe11.jpg

In Class/Homework and What to Bring Tuesday

The contact sheets you just created will help you see naturally-occurring stories and select individual photos for...

STEP 2

Create nine 3-panel stories and three 5-panel stories from the raw photos you took in class - no cropping or other type of photo manipulation! 

Print these out on 8.5x11 paper [three stories per page] and bring them to class on Tuesday for critique.

WHAT TO BRING TO CLASS TUESDAY [Just like last time]

1. Your Laptop.

2. A Camera - digital preferred. If you have an extra one you don't mind lending out, please bring it!

3. A way to get your photos from the camera onto your laptop.

4. An apple. The fruit! Any color, any size.

5. An apple peeler or corer, if you have one. I'll be responsible for bringing a knife and cutting board!

In Class: Create contact sheets from your Photoshoot Photos

Create a contact sheet from all the photos you took in class, upload to your personal Flickr in a set called "225.03".

Contact sheet tutorials:

photoshop: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WS42C3020A-DAD1-4f92-8014-012263F3A51D.html 

photoshop: http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28891

i-photo: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1385066

Attend! Attend!

 The next installment of the Skype lecture series this Thursday after our class is a dual video chat battle between Chad Kouri (representing The Post Family of Chicago) and Will Bryant (representing Public School of Austin). Listen to them both talk about their booming freelancing careers along with working with a collective of talented fellows in their respective cities. 

 

I had the good fortune to work "alongside" Chad and Jesse Brown while we were all stationed in the Renegade shop for the Renegade Craft Fair this past September in Chicago. Here are some pics of Chad and Jesse's finished posters for their booth at the fair and their front window workspace for the week previous. Their project was called Life Long Work Week. Chad'll be a great person to ask about the process behind his work!

 

So, come to the Skype chat after class this Thursday, January 14th at Noon in room 170!