SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS
OVERVIEW
AGE : 10+
FALL 2024: September 7th - December 14th
WINTER/SPRING 2025: January 11th - May 24th
TIME: Saturdays 10am - 12pm
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Saturday Morning Cartoons is an exciting program for aspiring animators to explore and develop their skills in 2D classical animation and other media.
The program includes both an individual component and opportunities for collaboration with other participants. Participants may choose to work independently on personal interest projects, creation challenges or inspiration themes that focus on developing specific animation skills through the exploration of different techniques used in the medium. As a fun collaborative option, we always have several group projects on the go, where participants can contribute to fun tandem animation exercises as well as re-animate and remix selected scenes from popular culture!
Animators will share the studio and virtual space with mentors and will be encouraged to share their screens and their work with their mentors and the group to walk through and troubleshoot technical issues as well as provide feedback and advice on how to hone the animation skills they are exploring.
Saturday Morning Cartoons is a fantastic introduction to animation, helping participants foster artistic, technical and social growth.
SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS PLUS
Need a little extra help to develop a project or a new skill? We have a PLUS option that you can add on to any of our core programs (Production Club, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Advanced Saturday Matinee Cartoons, Creative Media Lab, Behind the Camera Club). Sign up for extra ONLINE individual sessions once or twice weekly, and sit down with a one-on-one mentor who will guide you in the completion of your individual projects.
Signing up for Plus is a semester-long option.
REQUIREMENTS
First and foremost, we want to see a desire to explore animation in any of its forms.
Second is a desire to work in a room full of others excited about creating.
DAILY SCHEDULE
10:00am weekly presentation of Animation theme, principle, and creative prompt
10:15-10:50am animation exploration
10.50-11:00am break, animation short screening
11:00-11:45am animation exploration
11:45am animation progress showcase
12.00pm end of day.
“Spectrum benefits my son on several levels. He loves learning the making of cartoons and short films. This has motivated him to ensure his household responsibilities are planned around attending his group. He has met new friends with common interests. He learned the metro map to be sure he can get there autonomously. Although the principle goal is to animate, the learning ripples to many other areas. The best thing about Spectrum is the community building!”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What’s going on?
A: Saturday Morning Cartoons is a collective of participants developing their very own animated classics that will be released and promoted through Spectrum Productions’ own social media platforms!
Q: I can’t draw. Can I still come if I want to make an animation?
A: No. Just kidding! Animation can take many forms. Stop motion and image manipulation just to name a few. There are many creative ways to tell a story and Saturday Morning Cartoons is a place to explore different approaches to the art form.
Q: What do i need to participate online?
A:
Smart phone or tablet with a camera
Computer, laptop or tablet with animation program installed
Email address
Zoom account
Registration for Google Classroom
Q: Doesn’t animation take a long time? What if I don’t finish my project in a session?
A: All of our media is saved and archived so that you can return for another session to finish your project.
Q: I have an idea for a 3 hour epic! I got the story all up here (points to head). So how long will that take? Two weeks?
A: Whoa, whoa, easy there, partner! Animation is a fun but time-consuming process. We encourage our participants to focus on animated shorts ranging from 5 seconds to 2-minutes. If you have a larger idea, think of creating a shorter version as your “proof of concept” to showcase your imagination.
Q: Do you give homework? I got so many classes already.
A: Nope! Just come in and work on your animations!
Q: How do I sign up?
A: We typically have an intake process and a meeting at the studio with a questionnaire interview. From there, you can inform us of your intention to enroll in our programming and we will respond with the registration information, whether you are in the program or on the waiting list in the event that the program is full.
Q: How many participants are in the program at a time. I don’t like big crowds.
A: The capacity for the Saturday Morning Cartoons program is currently 12 participants and growing as we grow as an organization!
Q: What do you use to animate? Like AppleMovies or something?
A: Our staff are trained in a multitude of industry standard media programs such as the latest editions of Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and AfterEffects in the Adobe Creative Cloud. As well, we animate on Toon Boom Harmony Essentials and Storyboard Pro for 2D animations and for stop motion animation we use DragonFrame. Finally, there are a number of accessible apps on our 5 Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablets such as the popular FlipaClip, Stop Motion Studio, Pixel Animator, and are open to exploring more!
Q: Do I need to be diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum to attend programming?
A: It is our mandate to be accessible to autistic creators but, providing space in the program, we have never turned anyone away. All you need is the motivation to make animation.