Overview of the process of Storyboarding and the job of the Story Artist.

A look at the process of creating Beat-boards and generating new ideas.

Lecture about story structure, and how to develop a three act story.

We will explore how to create new characters and situations.

Explore the different types of gags used in Filmmaking, and new techniques that can help you generate your own gag ideas.

Discuss storyboarding a script from beginning to end, as well as how to pitch your storyboards to the Director and get feedback.

Learn how to take characters, ideas and sequence boards to the next level using composition and cinematography.

Discuss line and value techniques that will allow you to incorporate elements of depth and mood, as well as to emphasize important story information into your storyboards.

Review of the classic principles of animation and why they are the core.

Lecture about staging for animation and pose design. A look at how to push poses and how to fix broken poses. A review of Pixar interns work helps demonstrate how to improve work. This lecture incorporates material taken from an interview with one of Pixar's best animators.

A look at the process of creating character driven walk cycles as well as runs and other types of movement.

Discuss how to make your characters emote. Pantomime, Subtle, Broad will be explored. Participants will do an improvisation in order to learn some basic principles. Gestures are a huge part of animating. Looks at ways to make your characters gestures feel believable, fresh and telling. This lecture explores how to add entertainment value to your scenes.

They say when you are watching a character, most of your time is spent looking at the face, then the hands. This lecture explores in detail the aspects of creating great facial animation. Facial acting, subtle eye movement, blinks, lid shaping, cheats, dialogue, etc... will be covered.

Discusses all the different things you can do to get yourself ready for a scene. Thumbnails, Video Reference, File Reference, etc. By looking at past shots, the speaker will discuss what has worked and what has not. Also looks at how the masters, like Milt Kahl, plan scenes. Different methods of scene blocking will be covered in this lecture. Explores the process of blocking, getting notes, and making changes in an efficient manner. Straight Ahead, Pose to Pose and the Layered approach will all be covered.

Good polish on a shot can give your shot the extra 10 per cent it needs. Discusses, in depth, the process of polishing a shot. Spline work, layering, facial polish, torso polish, cheats, motion blur, details cams, fleshiness, bend-bows as well as other topics will be covered.