This unique course is designed to help you create animated characters and narrative that not only capture the imagination of an audience but have an awareness of the social and cultural place within that art form. From day one, projects focus on the specialist skills needed to create animated films.  3D stop-motion, model-making and puppet production, 2D cell, illustrative and computer-generated animation are covered. Opportunity for individuality and personal expression is provided throughout the course. At the end of the final year, work will be exhibited in a degree show screening. For the past four years UCLan students have been winners of Royal Television Society regional prizes and in 2010/2011 a UCLan student won the national final for best undergraduate film in the country.

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Course specific entry requirements
240 – 300 points and Portfolio Interview. 

All applicants will be invited into the School for an interview with a portfolio of work containing evidence of drawing ability and ideas.

Course Content

This distinctive course is run by professionals from the animation industry and is rooted in creative thinking and self expression accompanied by a good technical knowledge of current industry practices including script-writing, character design, storyboarding, animating, editing and sound design.  This unique course has fantastic facilities and studios catering for CGI, stop frame, 2D, illustrative, set building, model making and sound recording, editing, and sound design.  The students are given opportunities to work on individual projects as well as 'live' projects in groups for real companies.

Students from this course have gone on to win various awards including the Royal Television Society Award for animation for the last two years.  At the end of the final year, their work will be exhibited in a public degree show screening open to industry professionals.  Students from this course can go on to enjoy careers as animators, model makers, editors, directors, script writers, set designers, and sound designers.

Course at a Glance

Year 1

Introduction to Animation
Creative Thinking
Historical Contextual Studies
Plus one elective module

Year 2

Animation Exploration
Animation Production
Contemporary Contextual Studies
Plus one elective module

Year 3

Honours Project
Animation Research and Development
Animation Production
Contextual Studies - Design Futures

Links with Professional Bodies:

Course Leader Sarah Ann Kennedy recently judged Best Comedy Animation at the British Animation Awards; she was also the script advisor for the New Animator scheme.There are regular visiting lecturers from industry as well as projects linked with industry.

Assessment:

Assessment is 100% coursework including group work and formative assessment. The module culminates in a final assessment at which all work produced during the module will be presented.

Learning Environment:

Tuition is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and student centred practice within the workshops and filming facility. Staff contact time is 10 hrs per week per double module and students may access facilities from 8am to 8pm daily.

Careers:

Feature film production through to the manufacture of models, photo sets, computer generated images, art direction, commercial material, advertisements, design of CD-Roms, web pages. The Skills Set Agency has identified that there is currently a massive shortage in the amount of qualified and creatively competent animators entering the job market in the UK.

Fees and Finance

The standard fee for this course will be: £9,000 per year

For further information including the availability of bursaries/scholarships or student financial support please view our Fees and Finance pages.