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Ideas for the Animated Short: Finding and Building Stories
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Product Description
Product Description
Build your skills in the development of story ideas that will command an audience for your 2-5 minute animated short. Packed with illustrated examples of idea generation, character and story development, acting, dialogue and storyboarding practice this is your conceptual toolkit proven to meet the challenges of this unique art form. The companion DVD includes in-depth interviews with industry insiders, 18 short animations (many with accompanying animatics, character designs and environment designs) and an acting workshop to get your animated short off to a flying start! With "Ideas for the Animated Short" you'll learn about: Story Background and Theory; Building Better Content; Acting: Exploring the Human Condition; Building Character and Location; Building Story; Dialogue; Storyboarding; and Staging.This unique creative toolkit for idea generation and refinement is short and to the point, focused on the basic principles you need to know. The companion DVD contains professional and student animations (including preparatory sketches and storyboards) to demonstrate effective techniques and imaginative results. It is packed with inspirational interviews and behind-the-scenes work from top professionals from Sony, Pixar and Disney.
About the Author
Karen Sullivan is faculty at Ringling College of Art and Design, teaches courses in history, concept development, and preproduction practices for animation. She has lectured internationally on story development for the animated short, written articles and guest-edited SIGGRAPH issues on concept development for animation. Kate Alexander is Associate Director at Florida Studio Theatre. She developed an acting method for youth which serves as the foundation for the FST School, pioneered the highly-regarded Write A Play program that has reached over one million young people internationally, and designed master classes on The Art of Gesture. She is the recipient of numerous acting, directing, and public service awards. Gary Schumer, faculty at Ringling College of Art and Design, teaches courses in traditional animation, storyboarding and concept development for animation. He worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1996-2004, as Effects Animator, Assistant Animator, Manager of Training and Training Coordinator. He also worked on Brother Bear, Mulan, Tarzan, and Lilo & Stitch.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Story is king.
I've that idea drilled into me after watching the behind-the-scenes documentaries and audio commentary from Pixar movies. I even make mp3 audio files out of the DVDs just to listen to the story!
I'm reading this book just to learn more about story structure, to understand what makes a good story. As the title suggest, it's targeted at making animated short films. Most of the story principles work for feature length film as well, as shown through the multiple examples in the book.
Chapter 1 talks on the core elements that must exist in a story. It also introduces the basic structure of a story.
Chapter 2 is on building content for the story, different ways at looking at the stories, and places to start from when searching for ideas.
Chapter 3 is on exploring human emotions and motivations, and how these can be used to create a believable character people can relate to.
Chapter 4 is on character and set design. There are tips on creating character profiles, designing appealing characters, building functional location sets.
Chapter 5 talks specifically on building a story using the story structure introduced. There are techniques in creating conflict between characters and understanding endings.
Chapter 6 explains the role dialogue plays, and how to use it in the story effectively.
Chapter 7 and 8 are on storyboarding and staging. There are tips on camera moves, pacing, composition and many other production techniques.
Every chapter comes with a lot of examples to emphasis the lesson points. And all these lesson points always go back to building that better story. At the end is always an interview with someone in the animation industry relating back to the chapter's subject.
After reading this book, it made me appreciate animated movies even more. Story is king. Audience can never forgive a lousy story, even if the film is lavished with state of the art visual eye candies. Story is the only thing that separates the good from the great.
The write up isn't too technical. It explains how storytelling works to people not in the industry. This book is more than highly recommended, I'll say it's essential for anyone into creating animation.
Check out my Amazon profile for other reviews.
I've that idea drilled into me after watching the behind-the-scenes documentaries and audio commentary from Pixar movies. I even make mp3 audio files out of the DVDs just to listen to the story!
I'm reading this book just to learn more about story structure, to understand what makes a good story. As the title suggest, it's targeted at making animated short films. Most of the story principles work for feature length film as well, as shown through the multiple examples in the book.
Chapter 1 talks on the core elements that must exist in a story. It also introduces the basic structure of a story.
Chapter 2 is on building content for the story, different ways at looking at the stories, and places to start from when searching for ideas.
Chapter 3 is on exploring human emotions and motivations, and how these can be used to create a believable character people can relate to.
Chapter 4 is on character and set design. There are tips on creating character profiles, designing appealing characters, building functional location sets.
Chapter 5 talks specifically on building a story using the story structure introduced. There are techniques in creating conflict between characters and understanding endings.
Chapter 6 explains the role dialogue plays, and how to use it in the story effectively.
Chapter 7 and 8 are on storyboarding and staging. There are tips on camera moves, pacing, composition and many other production techniques.
Every chapter comes with a lot of examples to emphasis the lesson points. And all these lesson points always go back to building that better story. At the end is always an interview with someone in the animation industry relating back to the chapter's subject.
After reading this book, it made me appreciate animated movies even more. Story is king. Audience can never forgive a lousy story, even if the film is lavished with state of the art visual eye candies. Story is the only thing that separates the good from the great.
The write up isn't too technical. It explains how storytelling works to people not in the industry. This book is more than highly recommended, I'll say it's essential for anyone into creating animation.
Check out my Amazon profile for other reviews.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book based in the existing reviews, as well as quite liking the friendly looking cover.
I have read the whole book and i have learned so much from it. It is very easy to read, aimed at the individual animator, in particular at students. In each chapter there are some fantastic ideas as well as some activities to get you thinking, and I learned lots of tips and tricks that are really useful for building good animations. Telling the difference between a good or a dud idea becomes more clear when you follow this book. one of my favourite passages is the interview with Andrew jimenez from pixar. I quote:
"It's a strange analogy to make, but a good short film is like a good joke. It has a great setup, gets to the point, and pays off right away. And it doesnt demand too much in terms of where the story has to go. It gets to the idea right away. you get it. Even if it takes you somewhere different from what you expected, it gets there right away too. It's just very simple. And its about one idea."
"If im telling a joke, every beat of the story has to be right on the spot. In feature film i can wander a little bit, lose you a little bit, i have time to get you back, but in the short film, if i lose you, there is no time to get you back. in the short film, if i go one beat too long, i can ruin it"
I have read the whole book and i have learned so much from it. It is very easy to read, aimed at the individual animator, in particular at students. In each chapter there are some fantastic ideas as well as some activities to get you thinking, and I learned lots of tips and tricks that are really useful for building good animations. Telling the difference between a good or a dud idea becomes more clear when you follow this book. one of my favourite passages is the interview with Andrew jimenez from pixar. I quote:
"It's a strange analogy to make, but a good short film is like a good joke. It has a great setup, gets to the point, and pays off right away. And it doesnt demand too much in terms of where the story has to go. It gets to the idea right away. you get it. Even if it takes you somewhere different from what you expected, it gets there right away too. It's just very simple. And its about one idea."
"If im telling a joke, every beat of the story has to be right on the spot. In feature film i can wander a little bit, lose you a little bit, i have time to get you back, but in the short film, if i lose you, there is no time to get you back. in the short film, if i go one beat too long, i can ruin it"
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I haven't read through the whole book yet, but the parts I have read through are very well written. The interviews with professional animators & artists really add to the book, it's interesting to see the big animation houses struggle with the same technical & writing issues that all we animators & artists often struggle with in small productions.
I'll do a more thorough review when I've read the rest of the book, but so far I can give 5 stars since it covers what is mentioned on the title and goes that little bit further breaking down feature films and the short films included and showing you, the viewer how stories are constructed and the key aspects that make them entertaining and enjoyable to watch.
I'll do a more thorough review when I've read the rest of the book, but so far I can give 5 stars since it covers what is mentioned on the title and goes that little bit further breaking down feature films and the short films included and showing you, the viewer how stories are constructed and the key aspects that make them entertaining and enjoyable to watch.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I learnt so much and the examples on the CD are great
Great book I learnt sooooooo much and the examples on the CD are a great supplement to what was in the book. Someone really thought this book/cd combo through.
Published 15 months ago by Jerzy
Wish I hadnt bought it
Good book, but discovered that the DVD doesnt load on my mac, so a pointless purchase for me as I needed to see the animation examples
Published 20 months ago by Bernstein Bear
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