Contest Specifications

This summer we are introducing a new kind of Indiana Uploaded contest type called a series competition. A series competition will consist of multiple skills contests over time that eventually make up a final creation. Each student who wishes to win the series must compete and submit work to each of the individual contests in the series. The only additional requirement to this competition is that you must share a minimum of 5 critiques on current or past submissions on the site to be eligible. Here's how the first contest will work:

The 2011 "Sharpen Your Skills" Summer Series consists of three individual competitions that will span over the course of the summer and is sponsored by Wiley Publishing. All competition prizes for this series will be your choice of books from the tecnhnology section of www.wiley.com. Only one contest will be open for submission at one time, but you are encouraged to think ahead of each step and work ahead in order to keep in mind the series final. In this case, a short animation will be the outcome of your hard work throughout the summer. And we cannot wait to see what you all come up with! Below is the schedule for the summer.

1. Character Design (open June 1 through June 21)

• 1st Place: 2 books from Wiley

2. Environment Design (open June 21 through July 11)

• 1st Place: 2 books from Wiley

3. Short Animation (open July 11 through August 8)

• 1st Place: 3 books from Wiley
• 2nd Place: 2 books from Wiley
• 3rd Place: 1 book from Wiley

Character Design Description

The first of the three contests for the Summer "Sharpen Your Skills" Series is the character designs for your short animation. These can be created in 2D, 3D, stop motion, or any other medium you desire, just make sure you can display your work in an appealing and presentable way.

Remember, you are going to use the character(s) and environments created during the series to complete the last competition, which is a final short animation of any theme of your choice. We're giving you creative freedom on this one, but we suggest you consider the following pre-production steps when starting to make sure you have a creatively strategic process for your masterpiece:

Brainstorm
Figure out what type of film you want to make (genre and medium). Think about your characters and environments in relation to the plot of your story and how they will interact with one another. You can use the following sites (and others) for inspiration and benchmarking:

http://bit.ly/maOIs7
http://bit.ly/l5YXid
http://bit.ly/kPkRNF

Script
Summarize your ideas and document them in chronological order. Rough out the dialog between your character(s), or just list out each action your character(s) will perform. Be sure to include everything you can. Every detail matters. 

Character Profile(s)
List traits and any details you can about each specific character. Make sure to keep in mind how your character's attitudes affect the plot and how they will be interacting with the other elements of your story. Here are a few resources to use while profiling your characters:

http://bit.ly/jivSfT
http://bit.ly/kjVpBj
http://bit.ly/iiqbQb

Storyboard
Blue print your animation and dialog into rough boards, like hand-drawn comic frames for your film. Visualize the type of shots you want at each moment and how you want to compose each of those shots.