SCAD so far

Well my first week of the fall quarter at SCAD is complete, and I must say I am enjoying all my classes! My first class is an introduction to 2D animation. I have done 2D animation before at GMU, where I used After Effects to animated a bouncy ball, a scrolling background, and even a walk cycle. Problem is, it taught me next to nothing about actual animation. The computer did almost all the work. I just told it what key frames to use and it did the rest. In the real world of animation, if you don't have a solid foundation in hand-drawn animation, you aren't going anywhere. This week, we've already drawn a swining pendulum. This was a simple timing exercise but it is essential for new animators to learn how to time an animation and how to make something flow smoothly. It wasn't as much work as I was expecting it to be, but I did have experience in animation, music, and timing before.
I've had a great time drawing it out, and once I grab a copy of the simple pencil test animation I did from the computer at school, I will post it here.
My next class is an introduction into screen design, aka making it look good. This is about the layout of objects on a screen, how to make a cinematic experience really work, and the rules of camera work and so on. We are studying movies and animations to get an idea of how to make a scene logically flow, as well as the tips and tricks film makers use to achieve the desired effect. Watching the opening scene of Laputa, Castle in the Sky, we learned in the first class how important these tools are, and how effective.
Finally, the history of animation class finishes my day. Literally.. all my classes are the same day, and give me almost no time between them. Nonetheless, I finish up with history of animation which is fascinating and has more to do with film and actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd than you'd expect.
I will be viewing the Lion King later, and will post something reviewing the new Stereoscopic version in theaters this week.

ADIOS!