2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
So far we have done the following in the course:
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Created a flipbook
Learned about early animation and Chuck Jones’ cartoon work in cel animation
Selected a favorite animated movie and created a PowerPoint Presentation on it using what
we learned about color theory and typography.
Watched Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit and learned about stop-motion
animation.
Created a clay head with an expression.
Learned about the Production Process and made a complete clay stop-motion animation
using all the aspects of the process.
Learned how to edit a movie in Windows Movie Maker, learned how to record narration or
music.
Learned about the history of computers and how computers work
Made a simple bouncing ball animation in Adobe Flash CS6
Learned about the Principles of Design and created a short animations about a design
principles.
Introduction to Animation
Animation is the optical illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of
images of static elements.
Examples of animation are:
 Claymation
 stop motion
 cel animation
 web animation
 3D animation.
Persistence of Vision - The ability of the eye to retain the impression of an image for
a short time after the image has disappeared. Animation could not happen without
this fundamental principle of the human eye.
Cel Animation - also called hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and the most popular
form of animation. In a traditionally-animated cartoon, each frame is drawn by hand.
(“cel” is short for celluloid.).
A frame is an individual picture in a sequence of film.
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Zoetrope - a mechanical toy consisting of a slotted drum that, when whirled, makes
objects within the drum give the illusion of continuous motion.
Flip book - a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the
next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate.
Multimedia The use of computers to present text, graphics, video, animation, and
sound in an integrated way.
Early animators:
Winsor McCay - Gertie, the Dinosaur – the first natural-looking and moving animated
animal.
Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse in the first talkie cartoon, Steamboat Willie. First feature
animation was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Fantasia made animation an art
form by matching images to classical music.
Chuck Jones – Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Road Runner
Color and the Color Wheel
Primary Colors: Red, Yellow, Blue. These 3 colors are the base colors for every
other color on the color wheel.
Secondary Colors: Orange, Green, Purple. These 3 colors are what you get when
you mix the primary colors together. They're located in-between the primary colors to
indicate what colors they're made from.
Complimentary Colors: Red and Green, Blue and Orange, Purple and Yellow.
These are the colors directly across from each other on the color wheel. They're
called "complimentary" because, when used together, they become extremely vibrant
and have heavy contrast.
Warm Colors: Colors such as red, yellow, and orange. These colors evoke warmth
because they remind us of things like the sun or fire.
Cool Colors: Colors like blue, green, and purple (violet). These colors evoke a cool
feeling because they remind us of things like water or grass.
Neutral Colors: Gray, Brown. These aren't on most color wheel, dull and uneventful.
Hue—the color name (e.g., red, yellow, blue, etc.)
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Intensity—the purity and strength of a color (e.g., bright red or dull red)
Value—the lightness or darkness of a color
RGB Color: This is color based upon light. Your computer monitor and television
use RGB. The name "RGB" stands for Red, Green, Blue, which are the 3 primaries
(with green replacing yellow). By combining these 3 colors, any other color can be
produced.
Microsoft PowerPoint Basics
PowerPoint was developed for use as a Presentation program. In most businesses and
schools, it has replaced traditional slideshows and overhead projectors.
PowerPoint allows you to combine pictures, words, sounds, transitional effects,
animation, and links to websites. It can use files from other Microsoft programs such
as Word and Excel. We used it to present information on an animated movie.
Production Process
Below are steps of the Production Process for animation or multimedia projects. The
Process, broken into 3 main headers (Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production)
consisted of the following steps for our Scary movie project:
1.
2.
3.
Pre-Production
a. Idea/concept (Brainstorm)
b. Research/sketching
c. Script
d. Storyboard/flowchart
Production
a. Script develops into narration or dialogue
b. Characters are developed in clay
c. Backgrounds and props are constructed and painted.
d. Sound and/or music is selected
e. Video is shot frame by frame.
Post-Production
a. Video imported into computer using MovieMaker
b. Sound, titles, credits are added.
c. Final movie is saved and cd or dvd is recorded
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Don’t forget that the 3 main stages are Pre-Production, Production, and PostProduction
Stop motion (animation) - a special-effects animation technique where objects, such
as solid 3-D puppets, figures, or models are shot one frame at a time and moved or
repositioned slightly between each frame, giving the illusion of lifelike motion.
Examples of stop motion animation are King Kong (1933); Wallace & Gromit: Curse
of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Corpse Bride (2005)
Claymation- refers to the animation of models constructed of clay, putty, plasticine,
or other moldable materials, often through stop-motion. Wallace and Gromit,
Pirates, Chicken Run – examples
Lip sync (short for lip synchronization) - matching lip movements with sung or
spoken vocals (words, sounds or songs).
Windows Movie Maker Basics:
Windows Movie Maker is a basic editing program that allows you to combine video,
pictures, sounds into a final movie file.
To bring your video footage, photos, or sounds into Movie Maker, you need to Add
these files into the Storyboard in sequence.
You can cut out parts of your video by splitting it and deleting the parts you don’t
want. You can also add titles at the beginning and credits at the end.
Your final project needs to be saved as a movie file, usually a .wmv file. WMV stands
for Windows Media Video and was developed by Microsoft specifically for internet
streaming.
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Types of Shots (Camera Angle)
Horizon Level –
horizon line of
landscape or eyes of
the subject. (Normalcy,
tranquility)
Down Shot – Camera
is placed above horizon
line or subject’s eyes
with lens pointing
downward. (Overhead
for landscape or
Inferiority of character)
Up Shot – below
horizon or eye level.
(Importance or
dominance of
character)
Tilt – Camera is
diagonally tilted to left
or right so image seems
twisted. (emotionally
unbalanced character
or chaos in scene).
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Camera Movements
Tracking In / Tracking
Out- moving through
and into or out of a
scene. Adds great
spatial depth and
increases the
perspective.
Pan –from “panorama”
– the movement of the
background across the
camera or capturing a
landscape by following
the movement of a
character
Digital Technology - Exploring Computers
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Input (communication in)
o Keyboard
o Mouse
o Modem
o Scanner
o Digital camera
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Output (display out)
o Monitor
o Printer
o Modem
o Video
Memory – how the processor stores and uses immediate data.
o RAM – Random Access Memory- temporary computer memory that
functions as a machine’s primary workspace.
o VRAM is a memory chip specifically for video applications (monitor).
o ROM – Read-Only Memory – a storage chip that typically contains
hard-wired instructions for use when a computer starts up.
Microprocessors -- "The brain of the computer"
Operating system software provides a "user interface" for users to manage files, start
programs, customize computer settings, and other tasks.
GUI – Graphical User Interface –uses graphical symbols for objects familiar in real
life such as the desktop and trash.
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Applications:
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Word Processing (MS Word)
Spreadsheets (MS Excel)
Database (MS Access)
Presentation (MS PowerPoint)
Internet Browsers (Netscape Navigator, MS Internet Explorer)
Graphics (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, 3DS, Flash, Premiere)
Web (FrontPage, Dreamweaver)
 Games
Famous Companies & Computers
Intel – microchip manufacturer.
Microsoft – begun by Bill Gates and Paul Allen –operating system and business and
game software company.
IBM (International Business Machines)– hardware company.
Apple Computer Inc. – hardware and software company founded by Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak.
Colossus and ENIAC were early computers used in World War 2.
The first Personal Computer was the MITS Altair 8800 built in 1975.
Famous People in Computer History
Ivan Sutherland demonstrated the first interactive computer graphics software
program called Sketchpad. It allowed him to make engineering drawings with a light
pen.
Doug Engelbart demonstrated a word processor, an early hypertext system and a
collaborative application: three now common computer applications. Englebart also
invented the mouse.
John Warnock – founder of Adobe and inventor of Adobe Postscript.
Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak – founders of Apple
Bill Gates & Paul Allen - founders of Microsoft
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Introduction to Computer Animation and Vector Computer Graphics
Computer graphics files are either Raster (or Bitmap) or Vector.
Vector Graphics –images using lines and curves, called vectors. The image is
created by a series of points and the lines which connect them.
Vector graphics are resolution-independent, meaning that they can be displayed on
output devices of varying resolutions without losing any quality.
Graphics programs which create images as vector animated graphics include Flash
Raster/Bitmap Graphics – describe images using pixels. The image is created by
placing these pixels near each other to make one large image. Gradations of color are
simply variations of pixels to appear blended.
Pixel – (picture element) - the smallest visible unit of measure on your screen; a pixel
is a single tiny dot; together groups of pixels create recognizable images (as on a
television or computer screen).
Raster graphics are resolution-dependent because the data describing the image is
fixed to a grid of a particular size. Editing a bitmap graphic will change the quality of
its appearance. Resizing can make the edges of the image look ragged as pixels are
redistributed within the grid.
Anti- Aliasing – a technique which attempts to minimize the appearance of aliased or
jagged diagonal edges (jaggies) in a bitmap image. Anti-aliasing removes these
jaggies and gives the appearance of smoother edges.
Graphics programs which create images as bitmap graphics, like photos, include:
Adobe Photoshop
Flash Animation
Tween is actually short for "in-between", and refers to the creation of successive
frames of animation between key frames. In Flash, you create the start and end objects
and Flash creates the animated frames in between.
Key Frame – a drawing which defines the starting and ending points of any smooth
transition. In Flash, it is a frame in which something changes. This could be an object’s
position. size, color, etc..
2013/2014 Multimedia & Animation Midterm Study Guide
Principles of Design: guidelines used by artists to organize the visual elements of an artwork.