The Art Institute of California – San Francisco
Course Syllabus
Course Number:
MA2212
Course Title: 3D
Camera Techniques
3D Camera Techniques
Course Description:
In this course
students learn techniques used in pre-production and /production
including cameras, lenses, mounting equipment, framing and
composition, and natural and studio lighting.
Course Length: 11 Weeks
Contact Hours: 44 Hours
Lecture: 22 Hours
Lab: 22 Hours
Credit Values: 3 Credits
Course Competencies:
Upon successful completion of this course, the
student should be able to:
- Apply industry-standard storyboard and scripting techniques to animation
- Demonstrate the ability to create shots from storyboards
- and other source material.
- Understand production schedules
- Discuss camera techniques in computer animation
- Manipulate camera and lights in virtual atmosphere.
- Understand the application of lights in a traditional studio setting vs. digital studio setting.
- Apply camera and lighting principles in a practical situation
- Manipulate Camera and lights
- Adapt physical camera and lighting techniques to CGI
- Understand the relationship between camera and subject, background, light and movement.
- Control different light properties, including ambient, spotlight, tracking, etc.
- Apply the language of cinematography
- Understand the principles of editing, art direction and production design as they relate to cinematography.
Course
Prerequisite(s): MA2204 3D Animation
Grading Scale:
All assignments must have
clear criteria and objectives to meet. All students shall be treated
equitably. It will be that student’s right to know his/her grade at
any reasonable point that information is requested by that student.
The criteria for determining a student’s grade shall be as follows
(on a percentage of total points basis):
A 100-93
A- 92-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-73
C- 72-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-65
F 64 or below
Process for Evaluation:
Attendance and Participation 10%
Project 1 -15%
Project 2 - 25%
Project 3 - 50%
Project 1 - Primitive Drama / 0:10 - 0:15 / 10+ shots / Due Week 3
- Pick one of the following scenarios and visualize it in a 10-15 second playblasted 3D animatic:
- Two characters find both find a coin/treasure. Who gets it?
- One character is chasing another. Up ahead, there is a gap in the ground. What happens?
- One character is waiting for another. Draw out the suspense, and then have the other character arrive. What happens?
- use simple primitives to build sets
- use the simple rig to animate your scene.
- block basic poses to tell the story; don't worry about detail animation (walks, etc)
- Playblast the scene and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.
Project 2 - Movie Remake / 0:30 - 0:45 / 15+ shots / Due Week 6
- Pick a 30 - 45 second sequence from a film that has at least 15 different camera shots/cuts.
- Recreate the entire scene using built or found models and available character rigs.
- Character animation should include poses needed to tell the story.
- Use basic shaders and lights to color and tone the scene.
- Playblast the scene and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.
Project 3 - Final Project 3D Animatic / 0:45 - 1:00 / 25+ shots / Due Week 11
- Create a SIMPLE story and visualize it in a RENDERED 3D animatic.
- Recreate the entire scene using built or found models and available character rigs.
- Use basic shaders and lights to color and tone the scene.
- RENDER the scene(s) and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.
Student
Evaluation/Grading Policies:
- Class time will be spent in a productive manner.
- Grading will be done on a point system.
- Points for individual activities will be announced.
- All work must be received by the set deadlines.
- ABSOLUTELY NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE FINAL CLASS MEETS WEEK 11.
Classroom Policy:
- No food allowed in class or lab at any time. Drinks in sealable bottles allowed in classroom.
- Edible items brought to class or lab must be thrown out.
- If student elects to eat/drink outside class or lab door, missed time is recorded as absent.
- Attendance is taken hourly. Tardiness or absence is recorded in 15-minute increments.
- Break times are scheduled by the instructor at appropriate intervals.
- No private software is to be brought to lab or loaded onto school computers.
- No software games are allowed in lab (unless in course curriculum).
- Headphones are required if listening to music during lab. No headphones are allowed in lecture.
- Any student who has special needs that may affect his or her performance in this class is asked to identify his/her needs to the instructor in private by the end of the first day of class. Any resulting class performance problems that may arise for those who do not identify their needs will not receive any special grading considerations.
Disability Policy Statement:
It is our policy not to
discriminate against qualified students with documented disabilities
in its educational programs, activities, or services. If you have a
disability-related need for adjustments or other accommodations in
this class, contact the Disabilities Services Coordinator at
415-276-1060.
Academic Honesty Policy:
Students are expected
to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty while pursuing
their studies at AiCA-SF. Academic dishonesty includes but is
not limited to: plagiarism and cheating; misuse of academic resources
or facilities; and misuse of computer software, data, equipment or
networks.
Student work that appears to violate AiCA-SF’s
standards of academic honesty will be reviewed by the Committee on
Academic Honesty. If the work is judged to have violated
standards of academic honesty, appropriate sanctions will be given.
Sanctions include but are not limited to course failure and academic
termination.
Suggested Course Outline
Lecture: Intros. Film Language, Aesthetics, Frame Composition.
vector. Simple character rigging.
Lecture: Storyboarding, Pre-visualization & Production Planning. Spatial
Connections: Line of action; cutaways; bridges and establishing shots.
Connections: Line of action; cutaways; bridges and establishing shots.
.
Lecture: Project 1 critique, Framing and Aspect ratio. Depth: The third dimension. Editing
Basics. Story Progression, and tension building.
Basics. Story Progression, and tension building.
of storyboard with Instructor.
Midterm: Present storyboards to the class. Scan storyboards in, so that the digital format can
be projected. Pitch Story to class, Go through storyboards once, reiterate with more detail
during the second pass.
Lecture: Adding Camera Movement to the mix. Crane, Dolly, Track and Pan. Should the
character dance or the camera dance? Movement and it’s relationship to story intensity.
Camera lens change versa Camera movement change.
Lab:
Setup a telephoto, normal, wide angle, Dolly, Zoom, Zolly Cameras in given scene. Work
on environments for final project.
Lecture: Script breakdown, Story Progression, Arcs and Beats. The relationship between the
story structure and the visual structure.
Depth of Field, motion blur.
project.
Homework:
Finish working on environments. Start thinking about characters for final
project.
Lecture: Editing. Shot duration, cutting, patterns, montages. Overlapping action. Cutting on
action. Transitions.
Adding sound to the scene.
Lecture: Staging Dialogue. Two subjects; Three subjects; four or more subjects. Point of View,
Subjective and Object Cameras.
your camera shots in your scene. Instructor will give help on Character rigging and setup
issues.
Homework: Develop shotlist. First pass of camera layout for scene,
Lecture: Using Color and lighting as visual components in Film and Games. Rendering versus
playblasting issues. Adding camera shake to an explosion. Creating a handheld camera effect.
Lab:
Handheld and shake cameras. Lighting Setup.
Homework:
Finish lab and work on Final project.
first pass done.
