The Signal School · mass media, journalism & screen
Animation & Motion Graphics
Making still things move — timing, spacing, weight, and the old rules that govern every frame.
The Disney-era fundamentals that still hold — squash and stretch through appeal, drilled with a bouncing ball onward.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — Motion Basics
Timing and spacing: the whole trick · The bouncing ball, honestly mastered · Ease in, ease out, and arcs
Unit II — Weight and Force
Squash and stretch without rubber · Anticipation and follow-through · Overlapping action and drag
Unit III — Performance
Staging: one readable idea per pose · Straight-ahead versus pose-to-pose · Exaggeration, solidity, and appeal
Making a drawing think — walk cycles, weight shifts, and performance choices that read from across the room.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~30 hours
Unit I — The Body
The walk cycle: personality in eight frames · Weight shifts, balance, and force · Runs, jumps, and physical comedy
Unit II — The Face and the Take
Expression change: the thought before the move · Lip sync: shapes, not letters · The take, the double take, the slow burn
Unit III — Acting
Filming reference without copying it · Playing the scene's intention, not the words · Two characters: staging a relationship
Design that moves — animated type, transitions, and the choreography of information on screen.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — Design in the Fourth Dimension
Keyframes, curves, and the graph editor · Easing as a design decision · Hierarchy over time: what enters first
Unit II — The Working Repertoire
Animated type that stays legible · Transitions: cuts the eye forgives · Explainer structure: script, boards, animatic · Rendering, codecs, and delivery
The animator's half of the 3D pipeline — posing rigs, splining, and cleaning curves until the motion sings.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~30 hours
Unit I — The Pipeline and the Rig
Where animation sits: model, rig, animate, render · Controls, constraints, and what not to touch · Blocking in stepped mode
Unit II — Splining
From blocking to splines without mush · The graph editor: reading motion as curves · Polish: arcs, overshoot, and moving holds
Unit III — Shots
A weight lift: force made visible · A simple body-mechanics shot, start to finish · Playblasts, dailies, and taking notes
The most patient art form — armatures, sets, and the small daily miracle of a puppet that appears to breathe.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — The Setup
Camera lock-down and consistent light · Puppets: wire armatures and clay · Frame rates: ones, twos, and choices
Unit II — Shooting
Increments: how far to move between frames · Onion skinning and checking your work · A ten-second shot, planned and finished