Sample Syllabi and Lessons

Here’s a few of the classes and assignments I invented from almost the ground up — brought to you by GreenScreenMan®! Yes, that’s me in the suit. Anything to get their attention.

DF1410 Preproduction

In 2010 I was handed a nearly blank slate and told to create a course on preproduction for the Visual Effects and Digital Film students. Previously, they had taken a Storyboarding class that was shared with the Animation program. Obviously there’s a lot of common ground there, but the VEMG/DFVP students needed to actually go out and shoot things with live action. This meant incorporating some of the particulars associated with getting things in front of the camera, including art direction and costuming and previsualization, all things that I have had experience with on my own shows. Since then, this class has been run by other instructors from the complete package that included sample videos, media-rich PowerPoint presentations, and a solid curriculum based on actual practice (with an emphasis on low budget, something the students could undoubtedly relate to!).

Preproduction Syllabus
Example Presentation (30 MB pdf)
Examples of student work: These are “look books” for character costumes. The students were given the design problem — a cinematic character costume — and tasked with creating a cohesive look. Some worked from a comic book as the source of inspiration, some existing movies, and some stories of their own devising.

VE2450 Maps Mattes and Masks

An ongoing challenge in the Visual Effects program is managing throughput of curriculum, and deciding when in their studies they should be learning each stage of the post-production process. There are several classes dedicated to compositing, and this had traditionally been one of them. But the competencies in the syllabus are repeated throughout the curriculum, rendering this course as described somewhat obsolete. This course is due to be converted into a digital matte painting class. The advantage of having a course like this at the 2000 level is the inclusion of crucial concept and shot design concerns, something that echoes through all of the subsequent projects. What’s more, we have become somewhat known for graduating a number of really talented matte painters, and every quarter or two someone decides upon matte painting as a career, so it arrives at a really foundational moment in their schooling.