IDT Brown Bag

Presentation

• design goals
  • appeal to male and female
  • appeal to high school and college
  • feel “cool” but not intimidating
  • encourage creativity and collaboration (subtly)
• show 3 original designs, ask for feedback
• show sites that served as inspiration (?)
• show chosen design and subsequent tweaks, ask for feedback

1. how many of you create animations either for fun or for school projects, and what software do you use?
2. do you collaborate on animation creation, and what benefits/drawbacks do you experience from the collaboration?
3. do you often visit forums to get more information about animation?
4. do you view other people’s work to get ideas?
5. what are some of your favorite sites for forums or showcases of animation, and what do you like best about them?
6. how do you improve your animation skills?
7. would you participate in an arena such as Anival to publish animations and get reviews from your peers?
   • what aspects of the design encourage participation?
   • what aspects seem like barriers?

Notes from IDT Brown Bag

• link to other animation sites to provide access more resources and contests
• check out the site for the Atlanta chapter of ASIFA (International Animation Organization)
• create a special forum for people who have a high points total (i.e. people who have participated in a lot of events)
• provide resources related to STORY CONSTRUCTION
  • how to tell a story
  • examples
  • storyboards
• encourage people to upload amimations at different levels of completeness, or to upload components (such as scripts, storyboards, etc.)
• split people up by experience level instead of age
• reward people for forming groups
  • more web space
  • reward if someone performs a role that is new to them (for example, writing the script)
• Screening Room:
  • show storyboards that led to finished product
• Reward people for putting up content that is rough
• Allow people to upload unfinished product to appeal for collaboration/help
• State clearly on home page that people of all levels are invited to join the community and participate in the competition.
  • example: EBay has a special login screen for people who haven't yet joined (don't have a cookie)
• one idea for a competition is to limit filesize (ex. contest where people were invited to create web pages that were less than 5k)
• Design – too many right angles and boxes
  • try to use dotted lines to separate things more, and keep white space open
• How to feature a script (we can feature an animation with a screenshot, but how do you take a screenshot of a script?)
  • use an icon
• in header, maybe use film cells to show animation development from sketchiness to finished product (shows spirit of site – ok to start from beginner level; not all about glossy finished product)
• give people a page where they can download plug-ins for the different players
• industry process and general process for animation – find a way to showcase these and show what they have in common. People who are interested in going into industy would find this helpful
• Studios – have the studios put their philosophy on their user/studio pages
• Sites to check out:
  • Harvard Grad School of Ed – site Tom used and liked
  • Robin Chapman – Pearls (Perls?) of Wisdom
• A good beginner task might be to create an animated icon for yourself to put on your user page.
• Windows MovieMaker may be a viable platform people create animations in.