Ideas for the Animated Short, 2nd Edition

Ideas for the Animated Short, 2nd Edition

by Karen Sullivan, Gary Schumer
Released March 2013
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136141973

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Book description

Follow from start to finish the creation of an animated short from the pre-production thought process to story development and character design. Explore the best practices and avoid the common pitfalls of creating two to five minute shorts. Watch a specially created animated short, demonstrating the core techniques and principles at the companion website! 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 website 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 all NEW content on script writing, acting, sound design and visual storytelling as well as stereoscopic 3D storytelling, further enhance your animated shorts and apply the industry best practices to your own projects and workflows.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword: John Tarnoff, Former Head of Show Development, DreamWorks Animation
  7. Preface: Karen Sullivan
  8. Acknowledgments
    1. Bee Sting by Demetri Martin
  9. Chapter 1: Story Background and Theory
    1. Making the Animated Short: An Interview with Andrew Jimenez, Pixar Animation Studios
  10. Chapter 2: Finding Ideas
    1. The Ideas Behind Technological Threat: An Interview with Bill and Sue Kroyer
    2. The Ideas Behind Moongirl: An Interview with Mike Cachuela
  11. Chapter 3: Acting: Exploring the Human Condition
    1. The Importance of Play: An Interview with Jack Canfora, Playwright
  12. Chapter 4: Building Character and Location
    1. Personality, Goals, Shapes and Variance in Character Design: Tom Bancroft, Funnypages Productions, LLC
    2. Visual Design: Interviews with Kendal Cronkhite and Kathy Altieri, DreamWorks Feature Animation
  13. Chapter 5: Building Story
    1. Making It Visual: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. An Interview with Brandon Oldenburg and Adam Volker, Moonbot Studios (excerpt)
  14. Chapter 6: Off the Rails: An Introduction to Nonlinear Storytelling
    1. Nonlinear on the Edge: An Interview with Deanna Morse
  15. Chapter 7: The Purpose of Dialogue
    1. The ABCCCs of Voice and Dialects for Animators: Ginny Kopf
    2. Creating Music to Support Narrative: An Interview with Perry La Marca
  16. Chapter 8: Storyboarding
    1. Storyboarding: An Interview with Nathan Greno, Walt Disney Feature Animation
  17. Chapter 9: Staging
    1. On Staging: An Interview and Shot Analysis with Steve Hickner, DreamWorks Animation Studios
  18. Chapter 10: Developing a Short Animated Film with Aubry Mintz
    1. Pitching Stories: Sande Scoredos, Sony Pictures Imageworks
  19. Appendix: What’s on the Web
  20. Index

Product information

  • Title: Ideas for the Animated Short, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Karen Sullivan, Gary Schumer
  • Release date: March 2013
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136141973