Week 1

Lesson: How animation creates the illusion of movement, and our first animation principle, Squash and Stretch: why cartoon motion feels alive instead of stiff.

Activity: Flipbook Lab Every student draws a simple flipbook of a squash and stretch bounce. Everyone takes theirs home.

Week 2

Lesson: What makes a story: a character who wants something and runs into trouble getting it. The instructor presents three story blueprints (setting, tone, and premise) as starting points for our film.

Activity: Story Vote & World Build As a class, students discuss, vote, and begin shaping the details of the world they've chosen together.

Week 3

Lesson: Designing a character people remember: shape language, silhouette, and backstory.

Activity: Character Design & Puppet Build Each student designs their own character, then constructs a poseable paper puppet of them.

Week 4

Lesson: From idea to script: how a writer takes a room's worth of ideas and shapes them into something shootable. The instructor brings in a full draft script built from the class's story and characters.

Activity: Script Table Read Students read the script aloud together and make final calls on dialogue, character moments, and any last changes.

Week 5

Lesson: What's a storyboard, and why does every film get planned shot by shot before it's ever filmed?

Activity: Storyboard Teams Small crews storyboard their assigned scenes, panel by panel.

Week 6

Lesson: Giving the world a voice, and how backgrounds and sets do half the storytelling work.

Activity: Voice Booth and Set Building The class splits into two rotating groups: one records character dialogue while the other paints and builds sets and backgrounds. Groups swap partway through.

Week 7

Lesson: Production Week 1 Animation Principle, Timing and Spacing: how to animate a walk cycle.

Activity: Crews begin animating their assigned scenes shot by shot. Background and set work continues alongside for anyone not yet animating.

Week 8

Lesson: Production Week 2 Animation Principle, Anticipation: how a small move before the big move makes an action read clearly.

Activity: Animation continues scene by scene. Remaining backgrounds and sets are finished up.

Week 9

Lesson: Production Week 3 Shot composition and staging: how a director decides what the camera sees, and why.

Activity: Animation continues. Crews take turns reviewing early finished shots together as a class.

Week 10

Lesson: Production Week 4 Editing basics: how raw shots get cut together into a scene that flows.

Activity: Final shots are completed. The instructor begins assembling the rough cut from finished scenes.

Week 11

Lesson: Foley and sound design: how professional films build a soundscape out of ordinary household objects.

Activity: SFX Session. As a class, students invent, test, and record sound effects for their scenes.

Week 12

Lesson: Scoring a film: how music sets mood and tells an audience how to feel about what they're watching. The instructor does the final mix in class, with students weighing in on a few key musical choices along the way.

Activity: Premiere and Poster Signing. The finished film is watched together as a class for the first time, then everyone signs each other's copy of the film poster to take home.

Sunday Night: Family Premiere!

Virtual Premiere. Families join a short, hosted Zoom screening of the finished film from home. The link and poster image go out to every family that same night, whether they attend live or not.