THE STORY TREATMENT

THE STORY TREATMENT

This week's Milestone includes a project treatment, a type of document which you might not be familiar with.  While there are some guidelines for it in the 4th Year Handbook, I have found this quick guide to be helpful.

As you can see, it's not really that complicated. The first few items require only very brief answers. Your main effort should go into items seven, eight and nine, the Three Act Story Summary.

If you want more information go to Marilyn Horowitz's blog at the address below.

some of the information below is adapted from www.movieoutline.com/articles/how-to-write-a-treatment.html

How To Write a  Treatment

This one to two page document should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the script it is based on.

What Should Be in the Treatment?
1. Working Title
2. Your name and contact information
3. A logline. (one or two sentences MAX. see example below)
4. What makes this a good project? (Its "hook" or rationale.)
        5.     Genre, target audience, style, length.
6. Introduction to key characters
                
                THREE ACT STORY SUMMARY 
7. Act 1 in one paragraph. Setup the scene, characters and main conflict.
8. Act 2 in one paragraph. Dramatize how the conflict leads to a crisis.
9. Act 3 in one paragraph. Dramatize the final conflict and resolution.



Example Logline: The Ramen Girl (2008):
An aimless American woman, abandoned by her boyfriend in Tokyo, impulsively decides to train as a ramen chef under a master who is impossible to please.

WEEK 3 - LECTURE with Kaj Pindal; WORKSHOP with Melanie Rose

This week we have a lecture by our Mentor Emeritus Kaj Pindal. The lecture is entitled "Laying the Tracks for a Successful Film",  and Kaj is one of the few animators with the breadth of experience in the film-making process to take the long view.  J102 at 11 am.

The workshop is given by Melanie Rose, a fantasy artist and freelance book illustrator  with a fabulous portfolio.  She also an experienced storyboard artist.

http://www.melanieroseart.com

Melanie has a unique approach to her visual art, which you might find useful in your storyboarding work over the next few weeks.  A151 at 2 pm.

Voice Actor Available

Voice Actor Charmaine Spiteri is interested in doing character voices for your films. You can contact her at: 
ccolucci1@xplornet.ca

Here's her demo reel: 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1heogwjzugdbz5/CharmaineS-AnimationFinal.mp3?dl=0

Composer available

I was just forwarded this email from Los Angeles based composer-pianist Josh Moshier, who is available to write music for your film.  You can check out his IMDB page here: 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3268665/  And he's got a number of examples of his work up on Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/joshmoshier/ 

You should also check out the vimeo link he mentions, as it's a rather nice bit of animation with continuous musical accompaniment. Its logline is: 

A woman walks through life, confronts her changing body, and learns to love herself.

- bruno

----------------------------------------------------------------------

(from Josh Moshier)

I'm a composer based in Los Angeles and a great admirer of your animation program. I was wondering if you have any recommendations about how to connect with any Sheridan students in need original music for their projects? I love animation, and most recently scored Celia Bullwinkle's "Sidewalk" which has developed a nice following online. Any thoughts you can offer are much appreciated. Thank you for your time!

Best wishes,

---

Josh Moshier

630.779.4207

jmoshiermusic.com

Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Tips for Writing a Great Story

Kurt Vonnegut was the author of Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle , and many other serious and funny science fiction novels that have since become classics. He was one of the most admired and widely-read twentieth-century American  writers.  

He gave many lectures and seminars on the craft of writing, some of which are now available online. Below, I’ve paraphrased  a few of his tips that I feel are most relevant to developing a good story for your 4th Year films. 

================================================

• Give the  reader  viewer at least one character he or she can root for.

• Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

• Every  sentence  shot must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

• Start as close to the end as possible.

• Make awful things happen to your leading character so that the reader can see what they are made of.

================================================

You can read more of Vonnegut’s writing tips here: 

https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/tips-masters/kurt-vonnegut-8-basics-of-creative-writing

-------------------------------------------------

Bruno Degazio, 

Professor, Academic Advisor

Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design,
Sheridan College, Oakville, ON

degazio@sheridancollege.ca

website: http://www-acad.sheridanc.on.ca/~degazio 

Professional Voice Acting and Voice-Over

Voice Actor Patrick Sweeney is offering his acting and studio services to Sheridan BA students free of charge. Patrick has done many of our student films in the past few years, and he always does a great job. You can hear some of his work in the demo links at the websites listed below.

-- Bruno
--------------------------------
416.520.8786

pat@patsvoice.com
www.patsvoice.com

www.themedicalvoice.com 

Skype ID: patsvoice

Patrick Sweeney <patsvoice@me.com> 

http://www.patsvoice.com

If anyone is interested in using my services the following process can be followed:

1. Contact me by email or phone to discuss their project.  Cell 416 520-8786,  email pat@patsvoice.com. 

2. Tell me as much about their vision/project as possible, their expectations of us, any character details/pictures etc..... If the student requires a female voice actor, Lori Scarfarotti is available and very versatile.

3. After discussing the project we can set up a time to record a raw audio file in mp3, wav or aiff etc... 

4. On the set appointed recording date, the student can direct me over the phone or via Skype. During the session I can provide the student with as many takes as they wish throughout the recording process. My goal is to make sure their characters come to life and to ensure their expectations are met to produce a successful film.

5. Once the recording session is complete I will then send the student the raw file via FTP for them to edit within 24-48 hours depending upon my schedule.

If the students wish to learn more about me or to listen to my demos they can visit my website at the following link:  http://www.patsvoice.com

Here are some links to voice work Patrick did for last year's 4th Year films --

Nathaniel Manns-Just Desserts       https://youtu.be/IhdGPaW8UlY
Kaitlin Sutherland-The Tale         https://vimeo.com/125934959
Christine Biala-Shoot                   https://vimeo.com/126512698
Nicole Turner-The Master Bait    https://vimeo.com/126655542
Justine Howard-Flouse              https://vimeo.com/122152934
Rory Smith                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6syZ5Xcn6vA#t=159

Disney Presentation at Sheridan Theatre - Tuesday Sept. 22, 5 pm

Ars Technica has published a critique of the Glen Keane VR demo for the Future of Storytelling event.

Apparently Keane's video was somewhat misleading in avoiding the 3D aspect of the technology because of the distortions that result in the drawing. From the article's description of using the HTC Tilt Brush, the VR drawing system employed by Keane in the video:

"Not only is your stick person floating in three dimensions, with your every splot of paint enjoying its own X-, Y-, and Z-axis properties, but its parts are probably all floating at different points in the air. You've just drawn on something that has no solid stopping point, probably for your first time (unless you're a sky artist, in which case, we'd love to chat). And we guarantee that if Keane was seen really walking around his creation, it'd have some very weirdly hanging eyes and other details."

These criticisms might be spurious though. Decide for yourself by reading the article:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/09/how-a-disney-artists-deceptive-vr-demo-still-heralds-a-new-
digital-art-future/

Glen Keane – Step into the Page

Speaking from  the 2015 Future of StoryTelling Summit.

And he enters virtual reality at 2:44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=GSbkn6mCfXE

From Leica to Final - 2015 Edition

I showed a bit of this video in our introductory lecture this week, but we weren't able to watch it all due to lack of time.

It illustrates four important stages of producing an animated film, using work by the Sheridan College BA Animation graduating class of 2015. Five films are shown in three different animation media: Traditional 2D, 3D and Stop Motion.

The stages of production vary depending on the medium in use. Here's an overview as they are described in our 4th Year Student Handbook:

Medium: TRADITIONAL 2D
1. Leica Reel with Temp music, scratch dialog, sound effects
2.Animatic with final layouts and character poses; rough animation test for at least one shot
3.Rough Animation; final music and dialog
4. Final animation and post-production (i.e clean and coloured) Animation; finished audio mix


Medium: 3D 
1. Leica Reel with Temp music, scratch dialog, sound effects
2. all Models built, rigging begins
3. Key Pose Reel with 50% rough animation; (aka "pop-through" reel); Rendering & Lighting tested; final music and dialog
4. Final Animation, Rendering and Lighting throughout; finished audio mix


Medium: STOP MOTION
1. Leica Reel with Temp music, scratch dialog, sound effects
2. Sets, puppets and props 30% constructed
3. Finished photography - 90%; final music and dialog
4. Finished film - 100% photography; Effects and other post-production; finished audio mix



The five student films included in this video are:
The Casebook of Nips and Porkington (Melody Wang);
That One With the Robot (Erik Blohm-Gagne);
The Bright Side (Kelsey Ryan);
Defect (Xining Zhai);
Luggage (Tracy Harris)


Note that a password is required to watch the video. This is done in order to protect the copyright of the graduates who created these pieces, as many of them are actively involved in submitting this work to Festivals or negotiating with TV or web channels. The password will follow under a separate email directly to the 4th Year Mailing list.

Leica To Final 2015 from Bruno Degazio on Vimeo.

Student Composer available

Well, it hasn't taken long for interest in the 4th Year films to start warming up.

Sergei Koffman is a young composer currently studying music at Wilfrid Laurier University.  He is a graduate of the music program at University of Toronto Schools and according to his teacher and conductor Ron Royer, he is developing into quite a fine composer and has already done some very interesting work composing music for various film projects. His email is: kofm8390@mylaurier.ca

I know that it's still way too early for you to be considering a composer, but the Leica Reel screening is only seven weeks away, and wouldn't it be nice to have some custom-made music?

You can listen to some of Sergei's work at:

https://soundcloud.com/sergei-l-kofman/sets/sergei-kofman-demo-reel/s-eziy7

FALL 2015 - LECTURES & WORKSHOPS

These are the planned lectures and workshops for Fall 2015 semester of ANIM 45436. Note that many are not yet confirmed, so this listing is subject to change.  

Unless otherwise stated, lectures take place on Wednesdays at 11 am in J102,  and Workshops at 2 pm in A151.

Week 1 - Sept. 9

Lecture:

- Course Introduction and Overview

- Course Policies
- Introduction to the 4th Year Mentors

- 4^th Year Course Handbook
- From Leica Reel to Finished Film

- Stephen Barnes - ComBoom Co-Op project (tent.)

- Maury Whyte - Leica reel for Senza Luce (tent.)

- Mark Palowich - Sheridan Interstitials Co-Op project (tent.) 

- Nancy Beiman - SUPERNOVA 

- 2015 Ottawa Festival selections

- 2014-15 animations with U of T student music scores

- review of past Animatic reels - the good and the bad

Workshop:

Alternative Forms and Techniques for Short Animated Films

Workshop Leaders: Bruno Degazio & Trevor Davies 

Week 2 - Sept. 16 

Lecture:

Advanced Storyboarding - Nancy Beiman

Essential Academic Considerations for 4^th Year- Bruno Degazio

Workshop:

Story Development for 4^th Year Film - Using ToonBoom StoryBoard Pro 

Workshop Leader: Apollo Okamura (tent.)

Milestone Due:

Milestone 1- Story Pitch and Concept Art

Week 3 - Sept. 23

Lecture: 
Laying The Tracks for a Successful Film -  Kaj Pindal

Workshop:

Approaches To Storyboarding for 4^th Year Films - 
Melanie Rose (illustrator for children’s books/concept artist for advertising, entertainment, and editorial industries) 

Milestone Due:

Milestone 2- Story Treatment and Rough Boards

Week 4 - Sept. 30 

Lecture:

“Professional Storyboarding” Presented by Scott Caple 

Workshop:

Practical Storyboarding with Photoshop and other tools. 

Workshop Leader: Scott Caple 

Week 5 - Oct. 7

Lecture:

The Wonderful World of Color Keys - Nancy Beiman 

Scratch Track Recording for your Leica Reel - Bruno Degazio

Workshop:  
Critique of Character Designs For 4^th Year films - Enzo Avolio

Milestone Due:

Milestone 3- Finished Boards and Script

Week 6 - Oct. 14 

Lecture:

Guerrilla Design and Workbook Development for Short Animated Films - Peter Bielicki (tent.)

Workshop:

Animation Design & Workbook Critique - Peter Bielicki (tent.)

Milestone Due:

Milestone 4- Finished Leica (2 versions: 60 sec and full length)

Week 7 - Oct. 21

Lecture:
Production Planning: Morghan Fortier, executive producer, Brett Jubinville, director, Tinman Creative (tent.)

Production Worksheet Introduction - Maury Whyte (tent.)

Workshop:  ZBrush Sculpting workshop - Florian Jacot (tent.)

Special Event: Guest Leica Reel critique

BREAK WEEK

Week 8 - Nov. 4

Lecture & Workshop:

LEICA REEL SCREENING  (10 AM, S235 - note the early start time!)

Milestone Due:

Milestone 5
     - Performance Test (2D)
     - Design Pack (3D and Stop Motion)

Week 9 - Nov. 11

Lecture:

Preparation for University of Toronto Sound Trip - Bruno Degazio

Professional Practices for Layout - Terry Lenko  (Curious George feature, series work on Franklin, Little Bear, Bob & Margaret; Production Designer on The Backyardigans, and Sidekick) (tent.)

Workshop:

Layout Critique for 4^th Year Films

Workshop Leader: Terry Lenko (tent.)

Week 10 - Nov. 18

Lecture & Workshop:

University of Toronto Music Trip (times for this week to be confirmed closer to date)

Milestone Due:

Milestone 6 
- For 2D: Animatic Reel; 
- For 3D: Models and Animatic
- For StopMo: Sets, Props, and Puppets @ 30% Complete

Week 11 - Nov. 25

Lecture:

Animation Timing - Greg Duffel (tent.)

Workshop 2-4 pm 

Rigging for 4^th Year Films, Part 2.

Workshop Leader: Mark Palowich (tent.)

Week 12 - Dec. 2

Lecture:

Industry Day Primer - Tony Tarantini (tent.)
Inspired Acting: A Study of Great Moments From Great Actors - Stephen Barnes 

Wednesday Workshop - 4th Year Studio Video Reference Area
Using Video Reference for Animation - Steven Barnes (tent.)

Week 13 - Dec. 9

Lecture: Tony Tosti - Working with a Composer (tent.)

Workshop:

Soundtrack Workshop and Adobe Audition refresher, with Tony Tosti (tent.)
.

Milestone Due:

Milestone 7- 

2D - Production Plan
3D - Rigging Completed.
Stop Mo. -  Puppets (100%), Sets & Props (70%)

Week 14 - Dec. 16

Lecture:

ANIMATIC SCREENING (times for this week to be confirmed closer to date)

Workshop:

Special Christmas screening and critical discussion of Raymond Brigg's Oscar nominated short film, The Snowman
Kaj Pindal, workshop leader

Milestone Due:

Milestone 8- Screening Participation Review

Welcome to the Sheridan Senior Film Project

The 4th Year Senior Project Blog
Greetings to all Sheridan 4th Year BA Animation students.

This is the first posting of the 2016-2017 school year.  Please note this blog address for future reference:

http://sheridan4thyear.blogspot.ca

This is where all announcements relevant to ANIM 45436 are posted, including Lecture guest announcements, workshops, and Milestone deadlines. There is also a listing of Mentor office hours (soon to be updated.)

Blog posts are automatically mailed to the 4thYear Mailing list, so keep an eye on your official Sheridan email for new postings.


==================================

What does this course consist of? 

ANIM 45436 is the course to help you make your Senior Project Film. It's made up of three components:

1) The Lecture Series, which takes place on Wednesdays at 11 am, in J102
2) The Workshop Series - Wednesdays at 2 pm, in Lab A151
3) Mentor Group Meetings - various times through the week, mostly in A360A and B

In addition there are several highlights to the semester:

4) SCREENINGS - All film works-in-progress are screened twice in the semester; the Leica Reel in Week 8, and the Animatic Reel in Week 14. These screenings are CENTRAL to the production workflow and are therefore required of all students. There is a 20% Grade Penalty for not submitting your film for screening. 

5) GUEST CRITIQUE - During Week 7's Mentor Group Meeting, a guest, normally from the animation industry, will be present to view and critique your Leica Reel. This is a valuable opportunity to have an experienced pair of eyes view your film - make the most of it!

6) UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO "Composing For Film" CLASS VISIT  - Each year about 40-50 animation students work with musicians from the U of T Faculty of Music to have music written specially for their films. The first step of this process happens this Fall (normally in Week 10) when we travel to U of T for a "Meet and Greet" session.

The Lecture and Workshop Series

You can get a very good idea of what we cover in the Lectures and Workshops by browsing through this listing. Note that most of the Lecture and Workshop bookings are still tentative and are subject to change. This listing also shows Milestone deadlines for the semester. More details will be available at the first lecture:

http://sheridan4thyear.blogspot.ca/p/fall-2015-lectures-and-workshops.html

The Milestones

Grading for this course is determined by meeting the Milestone requirements as laid out in the 4th Year Handbook (link below - see especially the section titled, "SEMESTER 7 MILESTONES".) You'll get a very good idea of where you're going with your film project over the next few months by browsing through this document. More details at the lecture:

http://sheridan4thyear.blogspot.ca/p/4th-year-student-handbook.html

==================================

What workflow do we use? 

You might have fun watching the video below. It's a compilation of several films from last year's graduating students, shown in four stages of development, from Leica Reel to Final Film. It should give you an idea of the overall workflow we use in the 4th Year Senior Project films. I'll show this video at the lecture and we'll have some time to discuss what it means for you. The password is: 'Sheridan'





(link: https://vimeo.com/138324352)


I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday at 11 am.

Bruno Degazio
4th Year Academic Advisor
Senior Project Course Lead
Senior Project Mentor

Student Annie Awards Submission

Welcome returning BAA students!  Keep an eye on this email stream for much more information soon regarding our coming year.

For now, here's an announcement  from ASIFA Hollywood, courtesy of mentor Nancy Beiman. Consider your group project from last year as a possible entry to the Annie Student Awards.

- Bruno



(For more information, go to submissions.annieawards.org)

9. ANNIE AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT FILM

An Annie Award for Best Student Film shall be awarded to an animated student-produced film in recognition of creative excellence in the art of animation.

Eligibility: To be eligible to receive this award, the submitted production must beentirely the work of an individual student or team of students from an accredited post-secondary, degree granting program anywhere in the world, and must have been produced between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

Faculty may advise on the production, but all work, from concept through finished film, must be the work of a student or students. ASIFA Hollywood does not allow for hands-on involvement by professionals in key positions, including but not limited to, animators, production designers, directors, producers, camera persons, editors, writers, etc.

Exceptions to this rule allow professional actors for voice work, professional composers and musicians for orchestrations, and use of professionally recorded stock music or music in the public domain.

If the filmmaker has graduated or left such a program, the film may be submitted no later than one year from the filmmaker's date of departure. If the film was completed after the date of departure, the film must remain entirely the work of students. The non-professional requisite still applies.

ASIFA-Hollywood reserves the right to disqualify from competition any entry in which professionals have had undue influence.

MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY:

The entire production must be uploaded as a digital video file. (Acceptable formats for video files are listed on vimeo.com/help/compression). Please slate the file as instructed under Mechanical Requirements for Submissions.​

Kaj Pindal's Animation Wisdom

I've just been reminded about this little gem of book by our own Kaj Pindal, which distils his many years of experience in the world of animation at Disney, the National Film Board, with Richard Williams and elsewhere,  into a collection of sayings, principles and other tasty drops of animation wisdom.

It's a full colour print-on-demand publication, nicely bound, with a glossy cover, and it's available from Lulu.com, at

http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=kaj+pindal&type=

I encourage you all to order a copy as a memento of your years here at Sheridan. Kaj will be happy to sign your copy at Industry Day, or any time you can drop into the College. 

INDUSTRY DAY and FAMILY DAY - DEADLINES, DATES and TIMES

Although classes are nearly over, there are still some important deadlines, dates and times to keep in mind. Here's a reminder:


Friday April 24
     8 AM - Industry Day Hand in Deadline
      - maximum length - :60
      - no credits (except for your name in a head title and optionally repeated at end.)
      - no title slate (a five second title slate will be added automatically and does not count toward your 60 second running time.)
      - a clearly designated folder on the Hand-In server is already in place



Monday April 27
     8 AM - Family Day Hand in Deadline
     - no length limit
     - full credits and thank-yous are allowed
     - as in previous class screenings, please add your own title slate for five seconds in advance of your film. Include your name, film title, and date  or version of the film.
      - a clearly designated folder on the Hand-In server is already in place

Thursday April 30
     1 pm - Industry Day BAA Screening
     3:30 pm - Meet with Industry Reps in Learning Commons
     5:30 pm - Awards Presentation (Learning Commons)
     6:15 pm - Graduates and Industry Social


Sunday May 3 
     time TBA (usually early afternoon) - Family Day Screening

4th Year Studio Access next week

I've had some questions from students about access to the  4th Year Studio and to lockers for Industry Day (April 30) and  Family Day (May 3). Mark Mayerson has made some inquiries and arranged that:

"We will be extending access to all 4th Year Animation students until Sunday, May 3rd at midnight. "

That means that lockers within the studio will continue to be available for your use until that date. 

No mention has been made of hallway lockers, so if you;re using those be sure to have them cleared out at the posted deadline (this Friday, I believe) or the locks will be cut off.