About the overarching Unit Question:

For the Conceptual Project, Juniors develop their abstract thinking and communication skills to answer the question

"How can I use unconventional forms to express myself?"

This project emphasizes creative risk-taking through poetry, music, art, animations, experimental film and web production, challenging students to express their opinions through a distinct personal aesthetic. Students begin developing their technical communication skills by learning a variety of modern professional equipment and applications such as DSLR cameras, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), Wacom Cintiqs, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress websites, and Google Apps.

About the specific project within the unit that is featured in this gallery:

The Phenakistoscope Wheel Project introduces Junior Animation students to loops and animation principles while comparing pre-cinematic animation toys with contemporary video formats, as it is sometimes compared to GIF animation since both show short continuos loops.

The paper version of the project comes in the form of a spinning cardboard disc attached vertically to a handle. Arrayed radially around the disc’s center are a series of drawings showing sequential phases of the animation. Small rectangular apertures are spaced evenly around the rim of the disc. The user would spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the images reflected in a a mirror. The scanning of the slits across the reflected images keeps them from simply blurring together, so that the user can see a rapid succession of images that appear to be a single moving picture. The digital version of the project in this gallery introduced the students to Photoshop and how to create GIF animations.