Animated Cut-Paper Fable Project
Budget: $30 – $250 USD
That's the full criteria: "The project will be the completion of a one-minute long animation using cut-paper techniques and audio. In addition to the animation, you will complete a 12-panel (minimum) storyboard to prepare for the animating process and a 11x17” title poster for the animation.
Prompt:
Something like the Hedgehog in the Fog, animation was used as a mechanism to present material, fables, and messages that otherwise could be censored if it was not presented in a format strongly associated with folklore tales and children’s stories. In this way, the medium allowed for a message that otherwise might not have been able to reach the public. Your task for this animation is to create a moving image that uses the cut-paper animation to communicate a message through a format that we do not expect it from. This can be interpreted broadly, but it should be a simple narrative that strives to have a larger idea in the spirit of an animated fable. For example, it can be a social commentary or be an imaginative way to convey something as simple as the Golden Rule (treat people like you want to be treated). You cannot, however, do a version of a commonly known story (eg. Three Little Pigs).
Parameters:
Complete a minimum 60-second animation using Adobe Premiere with speed adjusted so there is fluidity between the frames and frames being consistently sized.
You must use Adobe Premiere for this project, and not other video editing software.
The Cut-paper element will involve photographing a progressive moving-image process amounting to 10 images per second of video. Fundamentally, you will take a photograph, incrementally move the pieces in the frame, take a photograph, incrementally move the pieces in the frame, so on and so forth. This means, if you have cut-paper animation throughout our entire video, you would have 600 images total by the end of the documentation part of the project for a 60-second animation. You should be incorporating a wide range offound imagery for your animation. Look through magazines, newspapers, old class printouts, computer printouts, etc. for the materials for your project. I recommend having more materials on hand than you think you need so you can add to your project throughout if you find more visuals are necessary as you document your animation. You should plan on having background imagery and not simply have your animation take place on a white piece of paper. For the project, do not construct any imagery in AI and use it as a portion of your project. You can also draw some of your own elements, but it should not be the majority of the final animation – most of your visual elements should be found-imagery. You should also add sound to your animation. I would recommend doing this last. The audio does not need to be narration or dialogue, but instead can be ambient sound effects. I would recommend using freesound.org or wordpress.org/openverse/ for sourcing the audio. Try to avoid being as simple as possible when creating your animation. While a straightforward animation is acceptable, I want you to experiment and explore the different mediums visually, and embrace opportunities for experimental aesthetic decisions. If you were to choose one assignment to go over the-top visually, this would be the one.
STORYBOARD:
For your storyboard, you should sketch out both your narrative and imagery for your animation. Your storyboard must be at least twelve panels, where each panel represents 5-seconds of your 60-second timeline. In each panel, you should include a rough drawing of how you imagine the scene to look and the characters involved, in addition to some written lines that describe what is going to take place during those five seconds. Keep in mind, as you plan out your narrative, a lot more happens in 5-seconds then we often realize, so do not assume a single action or movement will take up the entire time that the panel represents. Your storyboard should be hand-drawn, but there is no requirement as to the media used for it. While one person might use a notecard to represent a panel, another might divide a page of their sketchbook in half to represent two panels. However, I would not have your panels be any smaller than a 3x5” note card. When you are done with your storyboard, take photographs of all panels and upload the photographs in a single pdf.
TITLE POSTER:
Design an 11x17” poster representing the animation using the Adobe program(s) of your preference. The poster should not copy paste images directly from the animation, but must be a unique composition unto itself. The poster should include, at minimum, an image, title, and a tagline. You will submit the poster as a .jpg but will also be placed for 5 seconds on screen preceding your animation in your animation timeline. These 5 seconds do not count towards the 60-second animation time."
Prompt:
Something like the Hedgehog in the Fog, animation was used as a mechanism to present material, fables, and messages that otherwise could be censored if it was not presented in a format strongly associated with folklore tales and children’s stories. In this way, the medium allowed for a message that otherwise might not have been able to reach the public. Your task for this animation is to create a moving image that uses the cut-paper animation to communicate a message through a format that we do not expect it from. This can be interpreted broadly, but it should be a simple narrative that strives to have a larger idea in the spirit of an animated fable. For example, it can be a social commentary or be an imaginative way to convey something as simple as the Golden Rule (treat people like you want to be treated). You cannot, however, do a version of a commonly known story (eg. Three Little Pigs).
Parameters:
Complete a minimum 60-second animation using Adobe Premiere with speed adjusted so there is fluidity between the frames and frames being consistently sized.
You must use Adobe Premiere for this project, and not other video editing software.
The Cut-paper element will involve photographing a progressive moving-image process amounting to 10 images per second of video. Fundamentally, you will take a photograph, incrementally move the pieces in the frame, take a photograph, incrementally move the pieces in the frame, so on and so forth. This means, if you have cut-paper animation throughout our entire video, you would have 600 images total by the end of the documentation part of the project for a 60-second animation. You should be incorporating a wide range offound imagery for your animation. Look through magazines, newspapers, old class printouts, computer printouts, etc. for the materials for your project. I recommend having more materials on hand than you think you need so you can add to your project throughout if you find more visuals are necessary as you document your animation. You should plan on having background imagery and not simply have your animation take place on a white piece of paper. For the project, do not construct any imagery in AI and use it as a portion of your project. You can also draw some of your own elements, but it should not be the majority of the final animation – most of your visual elements should be found-imagery. You should also add sound to your animation. I would recommend doing this last. The audio does not need to be narration or dialogue, but instead can be ambient sound effects. I would recommend using freesound.org or wordpress.org/openverse/ for sourcing the audio. Try to avoid being as simple as possible when creating your animation. While a straightforward animation is acceptable, I want you to experiment and explore the different mediums visually, and embrace opportunities for experimental aesthetic decisions. If you were to choose one assignment to go over the-top visually, this would be the one.
STORYBOARD:
For your storyboard, you should sketch out both your narrative and imagery for your animation. Your storyboard must be at least twelve panels, where each panel represents 5-seconds of your 60-second timeline. In each panel, you should include a rough drawing of how you imagine the scene to look and the characters involved, in addition to some written lines that describe what is going to take place during those five seconds. Keep in mind, as you plan out your narrative, a lot more happens in 5-seconds then we often realize, so do not assume a single action or movement will take up the entire time that the panel represents. Your storyboard should be hand-drawn, but there is no requirement as to the media used for it. While one person might use a notecard to represent a panel, another might divide a page of their sketchbook in half to represent two panels. However, I would not have your panels be any smaller than a 3x5” note card. When you are done with your storyboard, take photographs of all panels and upload the photographs in a single pdf.
TITLE POSTER:
Design an 11x17” poster representing the animation using the Adobe program(s) of your preference. The poster should not copy paste images directly from the animation, but must be a unique composition unto itself. The poster should include, at minimum, an image, title, and a tagline. You will submit the poster as a .jpg but will also be placed for 5 seconds on screen preceding your animation in your animation timeline. These 5 seconds do not count towards the 60-second animation time."