Course summary

While teaching you all the essential skills you need to work creatively as an animator - including visual thinking, model-making, 3D design, digital illustration and time-based media – this wide-ranging course also gives you the confidence to respond to briefs, create independent projects and work collaboratively within the creative industries. Our Animation BA (Hons) is based in narrative and storytelling for short-form film, the moving image industry and communication design. Students work on live briefs, submit for national competitions and work on projects with our expert academic team. You learn your craft through practical workshop sessions, sustained practice in the studio, some work-related learning opportunities with ‘live briefs’, one-to-one tutorials, seminars, demonstrations and independent research. All your instruction takes into consideration professional and work-related practices. In the first year, we introduce the key skills in animation, building a close relationship between practice and theory. In your second year, you work more independently, taking ownership of your creativity and its outcomes. At the end of the course, you take on a creative project of your own, demonstrating your insight into the critical, cultural and professional contexts in which your work is placed. Why choose this course?

• It enables you to study, develop and apply critical enquiry skills to a wide range of key ideas and contemporary professional practice

• Practical learning activities give you the opportunity to tackle visual problems and explore ideas relevant to animation

• It builds your understanding of animation’s different contexts, and its wider global impact on social, environmental and political issues

• It equips you with the knowledge, experience and understanding of design environments you need to communicate and present ideas and work to audiences in a range of situations

• It gives you the skills to work effectively with others, through collaboration, collective support and negotiation

• It offers insights into professional practice that will prepare you for a future career in the creative industries as well as the world of work generally