Sean Lawrence

    Dear Community, In the mid 2000s, the pioneers of social media hailed their new platforms as a way to bring humanity closer together and to keep us better informed about the world around us. In more recent years, social media has come under fire for significantly widening the fractures and divisions our society — and for completely blurring the lines between fact and fiction With this context, we asked some of the highly talented speakers for the  2023 Conference  whether social media is any better equipped to handle misinformation and manipulation now than it was eight years ago, when Donald Trump's command of this form helped propel him to the White House. Candice Digby  -  Design Community Meet Up : I haven't seen convincing evidence that it is. While these platforms have dedicated full teams to finding misinformation and labeling it, the amount of content to review, and the lack of efficacy of the warning labels for people who already support and be...

  Week 2 Assignment- Momentum   (OPTIONAL) ( Due: Sun, 10 Apr | Status: Not Completed ) Assignment: Creating Momentum in Act Two Assignment Goal: Scripts often breakdown in the middle, losing focus and/or forward motion. Looking at Act Two of your script ask yourself: • Does your story use some of the action points discussed, or is it relying on dialogue to advance the plot? • What kind of action points have you used in your script? Obstacles? Complications? Reversals? Twists? • Are the obstacles in your script arranged with increasing difficulty and danger, both physically and emotionally? • Are there scene sequences in your script? Could you regroup some scenes or expand a scene to create a sequence that gives life and energy to your st ory? Instructions: Rewrite scenes from Act Two of your Thesis script. Choose one of the following: 1. Create a scene sequence for your Thesis Project. This can be for any part of your script. It should be a mini-story with a beginning, middle...

 Week 2 Assignment 3 -- The Outline ( Due: Sun, 13 Feb | Status: Not Completed ) Assignment Goal: The outline is the last critical stage before writing the script. Focus on telling your story in the major scenes or beats and summarizing the action. Include some key lines of dialogue that help make your outline lively and interesting to read, but avoid including blocks of dialogue. Focus on what the main characters want and setup all major characters and the conflict early in the outline. While the outline is a required step for most animation assignments, it is also the writer’s best friend when it comes to actually writing the script.  Instructions: • Write a three to four page outline for an animated short or the first act of a half-hour television animation. • Your outline should come from your premise.  • Use the Jackie Chan Adventures “Queen of the Shadowkhan” example on p. 134-140 in Wright as a format model for this assignment.  • You can also use slug lines s...

Creative Writing Portfolio I - Online :: Activity Week 2 Assignment 3 - Portfolio Script ( Due: Sun, 10 Apr | Status: Not Completed )   Assignment 3 Instructions:   Submit your Thesis Script or Project as a zipped file to the assignment window.   Part of this assignment is to proof your script thorugh Act II or page 60 for typos and garmmar errors. I am sending everyone a copy of the CWMFA Style Guide. Use this in helping you spot errors and correcting them.     Reflection Paper: Also submit a 200-400 word paper reflecting on your progress as a writer in the program so far. ·       Write a half-page summary of your story or project. ·       Tell me two areas or aspects of your Thesis Script or Project you want to further develop. ·       What two questions do you have about your project that you want ask your Professor in Portfolio 2. ·    ...

  Week 1: Assignment 1--Character Profiles ( Due: Sun, 06 Feb | Status: Not Completed ) Character Development Assignment: Two Character Profiles Assignment Goal: The goal of this assignment is to develop two characters for animation. Get to know your characters so that they have strengths, weaknesses, fears, loves, and desires. Discover what motivates and drives your characters. Once you know this, conflict and story follow. Use the Character Profile in Wright as the starting point for this assignment, but you also want to learn to use your own personal experiences, observations, and imaginations to create and develop characters. Instructions: Write a Character Profile for two animated characters using the questions on pages 62-65 in Wright. These should be new characters. They should not be characters you are using in your Thesis Project or that you have developed for previous courses. You don’t have to answer every question, but you must tell us what the character wants, fears, l...

  Week 1 Springboards & Premises Instructions ( Due: Sun, 06 Feb | Status: Not Completed ) Springboards & Premises 1. Watch Keynote: Springboards & Premises 2 . Read Ch. 8 in Wright 3. Read Gene Deitch’s online article “Story—What’s It All About” http://www.awn.com/genedeitch/gene-deitch-how-succeed-animation/part-one-how-you-should-do-it/chapter-7-story-whats-it- 4. Questions to consider: a. How do character flaws lead to springboard ideas? b. How do dramatic images lead to springboard ideas? c. How can you combine striking images and character flaws to create springboards? d. How can focusing on what the main character wants lead to writing a successful premise. e. How can you setup characters and conflict early in your premise so that you foreshadow plot twists and unexpected endings? f. How will envisioning the climax of your story help you write the beginning and middle of your story? How can you use this method to write your premise? 5. Understand the following co...

  Week 1 Readings ( Due: Sun, 06 Feb | Status: Not Completed ) Readings 1. R ead Ch. 1 in Wright “Introduction to Animation” 2. Read Gene Deitch’s “Ch. 2 Animation—What the Heck Is It?” http://www.awn.com/genedeitch/gene-deitch-how-succeed-animation/part-one-how-you-should-do-it/chapter-2-animation-what- Consider: How does Deitch add to Wright’s and the Keynote presentation’s definition of animation?