Character Animation

This is a program certificate that serves as a continuation for Animation Level I. Upon completion of both Animation Level I and Character Animation, students will be awarded an Associate Degree in Animation (AA) with emphasis in  Character Animation.  This program is recommended for students with a desire for bringing characters to life by creating the illusion of thought, personality, performance and emotions. Students will learn skills needed in fields such as 3D Animation, 3D games, Previz, 3D Motion Graphics and Visual Effects.

Student learning outcomes:

• Acquire and demonstrate animation skills necessary to communicate effectively through visual means.
• Create and implement a variety of animation techniques in order to develop a filmic concept.

The 2019-2020 annual and three-year average number of awards conferred for all Animation Certificates and Animation AA degree is 12 and 11 respectively.

We anticipate this certificate will be one of the most popular ones, and we project a solid increase of completion of this certificate to about 18-20 students/year, for an increase of 50% to 70%.

(Remember our discipline has smaller caps than most due to the fact that the labs that we use only have an average of 25 seats, and we have a total of 3 labs for all courses)

The objectives of this Certificate are:

• Align the program with other existing programs to provide an increase of transfers to 4 year institutions, since the typical entry-level education levels for the related occupations in Animation related field is a Bachelor's Degree.
• To make the degree more relevant to current employment trends.
• To provide access to a curriculum that traditionally is found mostly in more expensive 4 year colleges or higher-ed private institutions.
• To provide occupational skills to students interested in the  Animation and other entertainment industries.
• To match students interest and abilities with employment needs by grouping courses based on career-based disciplines.
• Remap courses to offer a clear path to completion using the Guided Pathways framework.
• Utilize existing resources currently available in Animation Program (hardware and software) into a wider variety of subjects without having to increase dramatically the current course offerings.
• Include portfolio classes so students can apply for entry level positions in the entertainment industry.

This is an intermediate/advanced  Certificate of Animation discipline. There are four prereqs in this program. 

• Three prereqs correspond to art and animation courses  (Art201,  Anim218 and Anim 221) required to complete the Animation Level I certificate.
  
• The other one is for the Portfolio or Project course, and is the culmination of the Character Animation Certificate. This course requires to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in character animation, therefore  completion of most other courses in this Certificate is required.

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
Anim217	Storyboarding	3	S1
Animxxx	Figure drawing for animation	3	S1
Animxxx	Advanced 2D animation	3	S1
Anim216	Layout and Background art	3	S1
Anim226	Previz and camera techniques	3	S2
Anim225	3D character animation	3	S2
Anim227  -or- Anim219	3D project  -or -Animation process and production	3	S3

This program will replace the generic Animation Level II existing program and will provide a more specific area of focus.

There are no other Animation Certificates currently offered at other LACCD colleges. Santa Monica College offers two similar programs 2D animation certificate and 3D animation certificate

The 2019-2020 annual and three-year average number of awards conferred for all Animation Certificates and Animation AA degree is 12 and 11 respectively. We project an increase of completion of this certificate to about 14 students/year, for an increase of 50% to 60%.

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