ID405
Abstract Storytelling in Motion
Faculty
Daniel Savage
Independent Designer and Director
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
This course helps you see the world through a different lens. Students learn to tell stories without conventional characters, plots, or dialogue, instead exploring texture, movement, and material. The goal is to look at an ordinary object until it stops being itself and becomes something else.
Students work across animation and live-action, experimenting with physical materials and everyday objects as a way to express themselves and their ideas.
By the end, students will have made a handful of short films and developed a way of seeing in which nothing is ever only what it appears to be.
Learning highlights
- See your surroundings with a fresh eye, turning ordinary objects into material for storytelling.
- Tell stories without conventional characters, plot, or dialogue.
- Understand pacing and rhythm to guide the viewer's eye and create compelling images.
- Work hands-on with a range of animation, live-action, and material-based techniques.
- Find your own way to express your ideas and take creative risks.
Course outline
15 classes
Session 1
- Course overview and what abstract storytelling means
- Examples
- Exercise: find and photograph ordinary objects as characters
Session 2
- Lecture and examples on building images from physical materials
- Demo: scanning and photographing materials
- Workshop: experiment with materials
Session 3
- Demo: assembling material into a sequence
- Start Materials film
- Production time
Session 4
- Production time
- Progress check-ins
Session 5
- Screening of Materials films
- Group critique and discussion
Session 6
- Lecture and examples on motion and replacement animation
- Demo
- Exercise: replacement animation
Session 7
- Lecture and examples on pacing, rhythm, and guiding the eye
- Demo: how timing changes a sequence
- Start Replacement animation film
Session 8
- Lecture and examples: the mirror, photographic narrative
- Demo
- Workshop: experiment with live-action techniques
Session 9
- Replacement animation production time
- Check-ins
Session 10
- Screening of Replacement animation films
- Group critique and discussion
Session 11
- Lecture and examples on developing a personal way of seeing
- Discuss each student's idea for the free-form film
- Plan and start production
Session 12
- Production time
- One-on-one check-ins
Session 13
- Production time
- One-on-one check-ins
Session 14
- Production and editing, focusing on pacing and polish
- Final refinements
- Small-group feedback
Session 15
- Final screening of all free-form films
- Full group critique and reflection on the three weeks
Methodology
The course combines short lectures and screenings with hands-on workshops and individual project work. Each week introduces a set of techniques through demonstration and examples, then students put them into practice by making a short finished film. Every week ends with a group screening and critique.
Grading
Daniel Savage is an artist, illustrator, and motion designer with 20 years of work across editorial, commercial, and luxury brands. Through his own practice he creates work for clients including Hermès, Burberry, Universal Music Group, and the Premier League. His work earned a place in NYT's "40 Best Illustrations of 2025" and ADC's "2026 Best in Show: Animation & Illustration." He has taught at NYU and SVA.
See full profileApply for this course
Abstract Storytelling in Motion
by Daniel Savage
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Nov 30 - Dec 18, 2026
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
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