Sara is an animation artist, storyteller, poet, and art therapist. She holds a BA in Visual Communications and an MA in Animation from Tehran University of Art, and a Graduate-Level Diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. She has been a longstanding faculty member in the MA Animation program at Tehran University of Art. Sara has supervised more than 70 practical and theoretical animation theses. She has directed short animations, written scripts, and contributed to numerous animation projects and workshops.
Research Interests
Sara’s research explores the theory and practice of creative storytelling and narratology, ranging from classical three-act drama to experimental and avant-garde practices, including improvised and spontaneous forms of expression and their therapeutic applications. She has shared her research at Society for Animation Studies conferences in Canterbury, Singapore, Montreal, and Pittsburgh, as well as at other international venues. Her topics have included improvisation, experimental animation, drama therapy, short animation, comedy, animation narratology, and Aristotelian studies. Sara has served as an Advisory Board Member for the Bloomsbury Film and Media book series Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers. An important part of her academic foundation stems from her MA thesis, A Kinetic Study of Single-Shot Animation. She is interested in long-take cinematography and how narrative design, long-take mise-en-scène, and story-world interact with animation, foregrounding their empathetic and sensuous dimensions. As an art therapist, she is actively exploring interdisciplinary connections among process-based animation, narrative, and therapeutic approaches.
Courses
Course Name
Department
Course Code
Term
Animation
ANIM 223
27/SP
Description
In this course, students explore the
fundamentals
of character design for animation, working with
the elements of characterization, design,
performance, movement, appeal, and anatomical
structure in the creation of their own characters.
Dimensional and flat stylizations are examined
through construction of structural drawings and
shape-based techniques. Through practical
application, students contextualize the impact of
body language and facial expressions on character
design. Research and discussion consider the
differences between concept art and production
artwork, the basics of colour theory, the
development of design styles in animation history,
and the role representation.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Animation
ANIM 223
27/SP
Description
In this course, students explore the
fundamentals
of character design for animation, working with
the elements of characterization, design,
performance, movement, appeal, and anatomical
structure in the creation of their own characters.
Dimensional and flat stylizations are examined
through construction of structural drawings and
shape-based techniques. Through practical
application, students contextualize the impact of
body language and facial expressions on character
design. Research and discussion consider the
differences between concept art and production
artwork, the basics of colour theory, the
development of design styles in animation history,
and the role representation.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
2D Animation
2DAN 310
27/SP
Description
Students will undertake the production of a
semester-long animation project, either
individually or as collaborative teams. They will
be involved with the creation of "junior short
films", or variations thereof, to be produced over
the duration of the spring semester. This project
may be based on narrative and concept explorations
developed through the course 2DAN-300. Students
will carry their project through the stages of
pre-production, production and postproduction,
creatively and practically engaging their
animation skills and advancing the level of their
craft. Students will present their progress
regularly in class and participate in peer reviews
in order to give and receive feedback on
production progress, artistic direction, and
technical details of their work.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Illustration
ILUS 208
26/FA
Description
This course varies in topic from section to
section, and is repeatable for credit so long as
the thematic topic has changed. This course will
introduce students to illustration methodologies
and develop a capacity for critical discourse
concerning the content of imagery in applied art
practices. This will be achieved through an
iterative process that maintains a continued
focus on a specialized skill set. Topics might
include: Colour Theory, Digital Illustration, and
Perspective, among others. As an impressively
diverse field that spans print, screen, objects,
and environments physical and virtual,
Illustration increasingly necessitates
versatility in both material process and
problem-solving skills.
Each section of this course runs with a
different topic. See
here
.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Animation
ANIM 223
26/FA
Description
In this course, students explore the
fundamentals
of character design for animation, working with
the elements of characterization, design,
performance, movement, appeal, and anatomical
structure in the creation of their own characters.
Dimensional and flat stylizations are examined
through construction of structural drawings and
shape-based techniques. Through practical
application, students contextualize the impact of
body language and facial expressions on character
design. Research and discussion consider the
differences between concept art and production
artwork, the basics of colour theory, the
development of design styles in animation history,
and the role representation.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Illustration
ILUS 208
26/FA
Description
This course varies in topic from section to
section, and is repeatable for credit so long as
the thematic topic has changed. This course will
introduce students to illustration methodologies
and develop a capacity for critical discourse
concerning the content of imagery in applied art
practices. This will be achieved through an
iterative process that maintains a continued
focus on a specialized skill set. Topics might
include: Colour Theory, Digital Illustration, and
Perspective, among others. As an impressively
diverse field that spans print, screen, objects,
and environments physical and virtual,
Illustration increasingly necessitates
versatility in both material process and
problem-solving skills.
Each section of this course runs with a
different topic. See
here
.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Animation
ANIM 223
26/FA
Description
In this course, students explore the
fundamentals
of character design for animation, working with
the elements of characterization, design,
performance, movement, appeal, and anatomical
structure in the creation of their own characters.
Dimensional and flat stylizations are examined
through construction of structural drawings and
shape-based techniques. Through practical
application, students contextualize the impact of
body language and facial expressions on character
design. Research and discussion consider the
differences between concept art and production
artwork, the basics of colour theory, the
development of design styles in animation history,
and the role representation.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Animation
ANIM 300
26/FA
Description
This course explores the principles that give
short animated film stories cohesion, structure,
meaning and the power to communicate, with the
goal to enhance the telling of the students' own
stories through animated film. Students undertake
creative and critical methods to engage various
approaches to story development. The course
explores traditional and non-traditional story
forms, while exploring the relationships of
message and audience, genre and structure,
character and performance. Story-making
approaches include storyboarding, beat boards,
research, observational journaling, proposal
writing, pitches, and assorted experimental
approaches such as flow charts and mapping.
Students gain the ability to employ various
structures, genres and methods for the purpose of
crafting effective stories for short animated
films.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Animation
ANIM 339
26/FA
Description
Through presentations, workshops and
assignments, students apply an advanced
understanding of animation principles to
explorations with experimental animation, using a
variety of techniques: drawn animation,
under-the-camera methods like collage, cutout,
and paint-on-glass, puppets, etc. Students have
the opportunity work with digital-based software,
as well as 16-mm film. A particular emphasis is
placed on design for animation. This course
provides support for fourth year graduation
projects.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
Film + Screen Arts
FMSA 350
26/FA
Description
This studio course offers students the
opportunity to develop projects around a proposed
topic that responds to contemporary film and/or
media arts. The course offers historical,
theoretical, technical and craft insights into a
range of practices associated with the topic.
Students learn how to position their work in
relation to relevant discourses and cultural
frameworks. Depending on the specific instructor
and subject area, the class may participate in
field trips, group critiques, discussions of
readings, individual and collaborative film and/or
media arts creation, and craft or technical
workshops.
Pre-requisites
No prerequisites.
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