Course Description

NOTE: This Course is for Beginners.
The most common problem with amateur animations is that everything is covered from only one camera angle.
That is because they either don't know other options, or because drawing the different angles of a character can be challenging.
One thing is certain: Good cinematography pulls the audience into the story.
The objective of having awesome shots in your animation is to MAKE THE AUDIENCE FEEL.
How can you call yourself an artist if you're not making your audience feel?
There are basic cinematography concepts ignored by many animators, and that is because in animation, the priority is to make a character come to life, which is the foundation, but once you have that, you need to be able to communicate in another level, a level that makes people happy if you want them to, or sad, or angry, or scared.
Good cinematography can make a dramatic scene even more dramatic, or a strong character look even stronger, or a weak character look weaker.
You can help to create tension between two characters, and also, you can help the audience feel more attached to one character than the other. This 30 min course will explain the different concepts in cinematography.


  • Frame Compositions
  • Rule Of Thirds
  • Camera Angles
  • Blocking Your Characters
  • Dialogue Coverage
  • Panning and Tilting in 2D
  • Camera Movements
  • Parallax
And at the end of the course, you will learn how to bring everything together to improve a scene.

You will see 3 versions of it.

  1. The amateur version
  2. A More sophisticated version, which includes Over The Shoulder Shots
  3. The Best version that includes camera movements like push and pull.
This course will help animators improve their shots, making the audience feel something when they see the animation. All thanks to the basic cinematography language that any animator should know.

What are the requirements?

  • No prior knowledge is required

What am I going to get from this course?

  • Over 16 lectures and 33 mins of content!
  • Apply different cinematography concepts to their animation
  • Make the audience feel something
  • Improve their shots

What is the target audience?

  • Animators who want to learn the basics of cinematography

2D Animation 101

2D Animation 101 Courses

With a background of 10 years in the film industry at Autumn Leave Films, and with over 30 short films produced to this date, we are a group of animators who love to share everything we know about animation, from pre-production, animation, to post production. Our aim is to equip future animators with all the necessary techniques and tips to help them do better projects. Our courses will help beginners along with intermediate users. We have helped more than 14,000+ students to discover techniques and all the knowledge they need to start animating their projects.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Trailer

    • Introduction

    • Basic Concepts

    • Basic Concepts Review PDF

    • Basic Concepts Quiz
  • 2

    Static Camera

    • Frame Compositions

    • Rule of Thirds

    • Frame Composition and Rule of Thirds Quiz

    • Camera Angles

    • Blocking

    • Basic Dialogue

    • Static Camera Review PDF

    • Camera Angles, Blocking and Dialogue Coverage Quiz
  • 3

    Moving the Camera

    • Pan/Tilt: Moving the Camera View

    • Camera Moves

    • Parallax

    • Moving the Camera Review PDF

    • Moving The Camera Quiz

    • Improve Scene

    • Final Words