In the Graphics and Imaging Technologies Department at PSU I teach a course entitled Web and Motion Graphics. This course teaches students how to use Adobe Flash and apply the basic principles of animation.
The students work 16-weeks as a whole to put together a short animation feature. I prepare the script and storyboards and they are each assigned scenes from the short to produce. Then we compile it and add sound.
Time is limited and there is a steep learning curve, however, somehow we manage to produce a rather nice short. It’s not something that would win an Oscar or anything, but definitely, gives students some idea of what it would be like to be an animator and the process of animation as a whole.
With that said I’d love for you to watch this year’s animation project, Cosmic Calamities Episode 03.