Copyright is held by the author / owner(s). SIGGRAPH 2009, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 3–7, 2009. ISBN 978-1-60558-726-4/09/0008

COLLABORATIVE ANIMATION PRODUCTIONS USING ORIGINAL MUSIC IN A UNIQUE TEACHING ENVIRONMENT

Darlene Hadrika, Research Associate Department of Digital Media University of Central Florida

dhadrika@mail.ucf.edu

Stella Sung, Professor of Music Department of Digital Media University of Central Florida ssung@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

Figure 1: The class of 2009 created Atlas’ Revenge, which was animated

to music that was composed before production began.

1 Introduction The Department of Digital Media at the University of Central Florida has developed a unique Visual Language Track that offers a select group of students the opportunity to learn skills needed for a career in computer animation. The Junior Year focuses on the design aspects of story telling, such as traditional animation, art direction and story-boarding followed by intense workshops applying those principles while learning all the steps of the computer animation production process. Senior Year students work together as members of the class cohort on a narrative digital animation production through a highly integrated structure of courses. This affords each student the opportunity to learn and contribute to every artistic and technical step in the computer animation production process. 2 Story, Production, Teamwork and Music The Visual Language Track was influenced by feedback from the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Educator’s Forum, where industry leaders expressed that students should learn a general understanding of digital tools, be good problem solvers and communicators, and be trained to work as a member of a team. There are four unique concepts that drive the philosophy of the Visual Language track: story, production, teamwork, and music integration. Students learn that every visual and musical element within a digital production deliberately contributes to the exposition of a narrative story. This unusual approach resulted in the students increased awareness of how music and sound impact animation, including character development, length of film, environment, timing, etc. During the

course of the production, the students came to understand the impact of the music, and not only learned to synchronize images to music, but came to heighten their listening abilities during the creative process. 3 Variations on Music Integration Techniques Each film was developed with a unique story and a corresponding musical approach. Uncle Monday, the first film was directed and storyboarded by a faculty member. A faculty composer composed the music specifically for the film. Little Bee Girl, the second film was storyboarded by students with music composed by a student composer, who worked alongside the student animators. UCF faculty members heavily supervised these students. For Ladybug: Action Hero, the third film, students were given a script and were allowed to expand upon the story. The music was created entirely by a student composer after the storyboards were completed. Atlas’ Revenge, the fourth film, was directed by a graduate student using pre-composed music by a faculty member. Students working on this film storyboarded and animated to the score. In each of these situations, students were forced to come up with creative solutions for their animation, depending upon the given musical parameters.

4 Conclusion This talk will focus upon strategies that were developed during the production process to successfully complete each film within the academic year.