Class Content: Amazing.
Grading Style: High Stakes, Beware.

Lecture style: Watch animation clips in between professor's lectures.

TA's: Not really the teaching assistants you are used to. Only 2 of the 4 actually spoke during the entire class, and it was during the review session. The two tried hard, but they didn't seem to have taken notes during the lectures. Not sure what happened there.

Grading: 10 % participation via sign in sheet (some people come in, sign in and leave, or sign each other in); 90% final (professor tells you over and over that the final will be general and cover your understanding, only to give you a final that is much more specific). TAs might hint the final is easier as long as you know the material and support your argument. Don't take that to mean it will be easy.

Study hard, and consider yourself lucky if you get an A.

I sincerely studied for this class, went to all but one lecture, transcribed the professor's lectures, made a study guide, and got a B-. I learned a lot though, and was able to recognize the significance of the names in the credits of Monster's University.

A classmate slept in the class/missed classes, or went to lectures only to sign in. He got an A-. I later found out that he plagiarized the final exam. I don't know why the professor and the TA's were reading books during the final instead of walking around.

Bottom line: Content great, TAs not effective, Grading not structured well.

If you take this class seriously, you are not guaranteed an A, but you may learn a lot.

Class is not exactly what you call an easy A, despite the grade distribution. It's easy in the sense that there are absolutely no assigned readings or homework for you to worry about during the quarter. This was both good and bad, but more so bad because I felt I was extremely unprepared for the final. The final is worth 90% of your overall grade (other 10% is attendance) and the format is to choose 2 essays to write out of 12 possible prompts. My tip to prepare for the final is to choose and study 2-3 major topics (Disney, computer generated images, etc).

I found Solomon's lecture style very dry. He'll scribble down the last names of animators/producers/etc on the black board, vaguely mention them, and then comment on how "lavish the watercolor background" were in the clips. Just make sure you try to stay awake and take good notes...

All 4 of his TAs were absolutely not helpful. We had a final review session and they knew nothing. For every other question that was asked, they couldn't provide a clarification and just kept telling us to refer to our notes. I don't know why Solomon needed 4 TAs... all they did for the 10 weeks of class was turn on/off the lights, doodle on the attendance sheet, fix Solomon's mike, and update the clips onto the blog site. (This is surely something that doesn't require 4 TAs, imo.)

I still recommend this class, (especially to graduating lazy seniors and Disney fanatics). It's a chill class that allows you to step away from reality and go back into to your childhood. Find some friends to take it with together, so you guys can study together..!

He's definitely into Animation. His dry humor and witticisms are amusing because of how flat they fall onto the class mostly composed of jokers and halfwits who just want to watch cartoons and get credit for it.

Solomon definitely knows the history and he is pretty lax. You can either write an essay or do a final exam, with 10% factored in for participation.
Every day, he passes around a noteboard for signing in, so there's your participation grade.

He doesn't teach you how to actually animate. The class itself is pretty cool though.