Animation is a limitless medium for telling stories. Artists can create worlds, defy gravity, flip from factual to fantasy, and transport audiences to places they never imagined. The challenge is having the discipline to reel it in and be intentional about your storytelling choices. This book shows you how. In Animated Storytelling, you’ll learn how to create memorable stories using animation and motion graphics by following 10 simple guidelines that take you through the stages of concept development, pre-production, storyboarding, and design. Award-winning animator Liz Blazer uses clear examples and easy-to-follow exercises to provide you with the instruction, encouragement, and tools you need to get your designs moving. Whether your goal is to create exciting shorts for film festivals, effective messaging for broadcast or online, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the medium, Animated Storytelling simplifies the process of creating clear and engaging stories for animation and motion graphics so you can get started easily. In Animated Storytelling, you’ll learn how to: Write a creative brief for your project Find and communicate your story’s big idea Create a tight story using linear and nonlinear story structures Use color to clarify and enrich your story Define the rules for your animated world, and commit to them Ease into the challenging task of animation Make the work you want to be hired to do Share your work with the world!

Learn the skills and techniques needed to tell your own great visual stories/ explore story modes, emotional connection development, and all the animation techniques needed/ find valuable insights and tips from industry pros and view a variety of film clip examples.

Animation is a limitless medium for telling stories. Artists can create worlds, defy gravity, flip from factual to fantasy, and transport audiences to places they never imagined. The challenge is having the discipline to reel it in and be intentional about your storytelling choices. This book shows you how. In Animated Storytelling, learn how to create memorable stories using animation and motion graphics by following 10 simple guidelines that take you through the stages of concept development, pre-production, storyboarding, and design. Explore traditional linear storytelling and learn different processes for creating successful nonlinear animated stories, and also discover the wonders of experimental filmmaking. Award-winning filmmaker, educator, and motivator Liz Blazer uses clear examples and easy-to-follow exercises to provide you with the instruction, encouragement, and tools you need to get your designs moving. Whether your goal is to create exciting shorts for film festivals, effective messaging for broadcast or online, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the medium, Animated Storytelling simplifies the process of creating clear and engaging stories for animation and motion graphics so you can get started easily. Animated Storytelling teaches you how to: • Write a creative brief for your project • Find and communicate your story’s Big Idea • Create tight stories with linear and nonlinear structures • Explore experimental filmmaking techniques • Use storyboards to communicate your visual story • Use color to clarify and enrich your story • Define the rules for your animated world • Ease into the challenging task of animation • Make the work you want to be hired to do • Share your work with the world! “Equal parts inspiring and practical, Animated Storytelling is a step-by-step guide that takes aspiring storytellers from raw idea to final render to distribution. –Justin Cone, Co-founder, Motionographer “This book is the instruction manual for navigating the complex world of animated storytelling. It's informative, inspirational, and extremely entertaining to read. Anyone working (or hoping to work) in the field of animation needs to read this. –Joey Korenman, CEO & Founder, School of Motion

Lighting for Animation is designed with one goal in mind - to make you a better artist. Over the course of the book, Jasmine Katatikarn and Michael Tanzillo (Senior Lighting TDs, Blue Sky Studios) will train your eye to analyze your work more critically, and teach you approaches and techniques to improve your craft. Focusing on the main philosophies and core concepts utilized by industry professionals, this book builds the foundation for a successful career as a lighting artist in visual effects and computer animation. Inside you’ll find in-depth instruction on: • Creating mood and storytelling through lighting • Using light to create visual shaping • Directing the viewer’s eye with light and color • Gathering and utilizing reference images • Successfully lighting and rendering workflows • Render layers and how they can be used most effectively • Specific lighting scenarios, including character lighting, environment lighting, and lighting an animated sequence • Material properties and their work with lighting • Compositing techniques essential for a lighter • A guide on how to start your career and achieve success as a lighting artist This book is not designed to teach software packages—there are websites, instructional manuals, online demos, and traditional courses available to teach you how to operate specific computer programs. That type of training will teach you how to create an image; this book will teach you the technical skills you need to make that image beautiful. Key Features Stunning examples from a variety of films serve to inspire and inform your creative choices. Unique approach focuses on using lighting as a storytelling tool, rather than just telling you which buttons to press. Comprehensive companion website contains lighting exercises, assets, challenges, and further resources to help you expand your skillset.

Francis Glebas, a top Disney storyboard artist, shows how to reach the ultimate goal of animation and moviemaking by showing how to provide audiences with an emotionally satisfying experience. Directing the Story offers a structural approach to clearly and dramatically presenting visual stories. With Francis' help you'll discover the professional storytelling techniques which have swept away generations of movie goers and kept them coming back for more. You'll also learn to spot potential problems before they cost you time or money and offers creative solutions to solve them. Best of all, it practices what it preaches, using a graphic novel format to demonstrate the professional visual storytelling techniques you need to know.

PIXAR STORYTELLING is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of the screenwriting techniques that make Pixar's immensely popular films so successful and moving. Learn what Pixar's core story ideas all have in common, how Pixar creates compelling conflict and stakes, and what makes their films' resolutions so emotionally satisfying.

Learn how to generate and develop successful story ideas that fulfill the unique storytelling challenges of animation shorts between 2-5 minutes in length.

This colourful undersea adventure from the bestselling creators of The Gruffalo and Stick Man is now available in board book format! Tiddler is late to school every day, and he always has an elaborate excuse for his teacher. One day, as Tiddler is thinking up his next story, a net sweeps him up and hauls him far away from his school. How will Tiddler find his way home? All he has to do is follow the trail of his biggest, fishiest story yet! Full of bright colour and bouncy repetition, this engaging book makes a fun introduction to the wonders of story-telling!

Today everyone—whether they know it or not—is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move partners, shareholders, customers, and employees to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it. And this book tells you how to do both. Historically, stories have always been igniters of action, moving people to do things. But only recently has it become clear that purposeful stories—those created with a specific mission in mind—are absolutely essential in persuading others to support a vision, dream or cause. Peter Guber, whose executive and entrepreneurial accomplishments have made him a success in multiple industries, has long relied on purposeful story telling to motivate, win over, shape, engage and sell. Indeed, what began as knack for telling stories as an entertainment industry executive has, through years of perspiration and inspiration, evolved into a set of principles that anyone can use to achieve their goals. In Tell to Win, Guber shows how to move beyond soulless Power Point slides, facts, and figures to create purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Among his techniques: * Capture your audience’s attention first, fast and foremost * Motivate your listeners by demonstrating authenticity * Build your tell around “what’s in it for them” * Change passive listeners into active participants * Use “state-of-the-heart” technology online and offline to make sure audience commitment remains strong To validate the power of telling purposeful stories, Guber includes in this book a remarkably diverse number of “voices” —master tellers with whom he’s shared experiences. They include YouTube founder Chad Hurley, NBA champion Pat Riley, clothing designer Normal Kamali, “Mission to Mars” scientist Gentry Lee, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, former South African president Nelson Mandela, magician David Copperfield, film director Steven Spielberg, novelist Nora Roberts, rock legend Gene Simmons, and physician and author Deepak Chopra. After listening to this extraordinary mix of voices, you’ll know how to craft, deliver—and own—a story that is truly compelling, one capable of turning others into viral advocates for your goal.

Apply universally accepted cinematic techniques to your Flash projects to improve the storytelling quotient in your entertainment, advertising (branding), and educational media. A defined focus on the concepts and techniques for production from story reels to the final project delivers valuable insights, time-saving practical tips, and hands-on techniques for great visual stories. Extensive illustration, step-by-step instruction, and practical exercises provide a hands-on perspective. Explore the concepts and principles of visual components used in stories so you are fluent in the use of space, line, color, and movement in communicating emotion and meaning. Apply traditional cinematography techniques into the Flash workspace with virtual camera movements, simulated 3d spaces, lighting techniques, and character animation. Add interactivity using ActionScript to enhance audience participation.