Phase 1a: Due (before) Friday, April 12
You must have a project defined. You must have chosen your partners.
On Friday, April 12, I will meet with each group. We will schedule these in class on Wednesday, April 10th.
If you’re making a movie:
- your group must have at least a rough idea of what the movie will be, and what the look/feel will be (so you need a synopsis, and a sense of the visual development)
- each person must have identified the technical component that they want to implement, with an idea of what they want it to be.
If you’re doing a purely technical project:
- you must have an idea of what the technical piece is
- you must have an idea of what you want to have when you’re done (what the final demo will be)
For both a technical component of the movie, and a technical project you must:
- have an idea of what the general topic is and the specific approach (I am willing to help you define the latter – but you need to ask for help BEFORE Friday)
- have an idea of what you need to learn/do in order to achieve it
- have a plan of how you will get there (see the schedule on the FPPP)
- Have some idea of what you are going to read (even if you don’t use it directly in the project)
Before 6pm on Thursday, April 11th, you need to send me an email giving me a sense of the answers to all of the questions above, so that I can be prepared to meet with you. Each person must do this separately. (hopefully, each member of the group will say things that are similar). But be sure to be specific about what you intend to do. A sentence or two for each of the questions is fine. Clarity is important.
Phase 1b: Due (after) Friday, April 12
You must write a planning document explaining what you are going to do. Hopefully, our meeting will have helped with this. Your actual document (preferably as a PDF) should be uploaded to the Moodle Assignment. Again, each person must do this. In your document:
- If you’re doing a movie, give a short description of it (both in terms of story and look/feel). Explain how your technical piece will fit in.
- Basic Idea. What are you going to do? What methods are you going to use to do it?
- Expected Result. What do expect to have at the end? What will you expect your system to be able to do?
- Success Criteria. What will we see at the end to know you’ve succeeded. This might describe some specific demos, or maybe what kinds of things you’ll be able to say in the writeup.
- Foreseeable risks. What could possibly go wrong
? Are there particular things that you think could send this off track? What might you do to to know if these are problems early (so you can work around it or solve it). - Evaluation criteria. How will we decide whether you’ve done a good job at the end? How will we decide if you are making good progress at the checkpoints?
- Plan:
- what are the first steps?
- what do you expect to have done by the 4/19 checkpoint?
- what do you expect to have done by the 4/26 checkpoint?
- How will the 2 weeks between 4/26 and 5/10 go?
Note: this is a plan, not necessarily a contract. We’ll revisit the plan on 4/26 to make adjustments.
Look at the rest of the schedule (below) to get a sense of the pacing.
Phase 2: First Checkpoint
One week after planning (Friday 4/19), I want to check with everyone to make sure that things are underway. This will be as simple as sending me an email describing your progress.
Phase 3: Signs of Life Checkpoint
On 4/26, we’ll evaluate the plans. I will meet with each group to see what you’ve done, and to provide feedback. (if you run into trouble, or want advice before this, be sure to ask!) Part of this will be for you to create a new version of your plan document. Details will be provided closer to the date.
If you’re making a film, you should have a story board (and maybe some initial pre-vis). Also, you should describe your asset needs, and how you expect to fill them (if you need models, music, …)
For your technical components, you should have some initial demo to show that things are coming together.
Phase 4: Last Checkpoint
On 5/3, I’ll again ask for a status update. At this time we’ll be thinking about setting handing expectations.
If you’re making a movie, I will hope to see a rough-in (an animatic), and maybe a frame or two (to make sure elements are coming together). You should also be clear that you have the assets that you need.
Phase 5: Official Due Date!
Officially, the project is Due on May 10th.
Since May 10th is the last day we can meet as a class, you will need to have something to show. You can present your movie (even if its not final), or give a demo (even if it’s a work in progress).
You will need to turn in:
- A reading list an annotated bibliography. Each person must read at least 3 things related to their project. Even if they don’t actually get used.
- A project writeup (this is per-person, and focuses on your technical piece)
- Self-Evals, Partner Evals, and Peer Evals
Each Group will need to turn in:
- the actual project artifact
- a writeup
I will grant extensions beyond the official due date, but I would strongly prefer if your demo/film that you show in class is final (and all that will come late are the documentation parts). More details as we get closer to the end.
