Some success stories
Students graduating from this course are now working for some of the biggest names in the business, and we don’t mind telling you that we’re pretty proud of them.
Sandro Henriques worked on King Kong for Weta, the production company that made Lord of the Rings. You can see a full list of Sandro’s credits on the International Movie Database IMDb
James Fleming works at Framestore and has credits as a digital artist on X-men, The Queen and Superman Returns. Again, look up his full list on IMDb
Other graduates are working at The Mill, The Moving Picture Company and other prestigious games, Internet and production companies. Students have formed their own production companies and are producing animations for broadcast and music videos.
And we look forward to being able to add your name to this list!
About the course
Love animation? Think you can tell a good story? Ever wondered how you break into the business? Well if you think you are creative then join us here on the Digital Animation Degree at TVU and we’ll show you how.
Digital Animation is used everywhere in Media, having a profound effect on the way things look, the way things work and on the way we live. With the unstoppable rise of visual effects in films, advertising and the Internet there really has never been a better time to study Digital Animation.
This course is designed to teach you everything you need to know about the animation principles, current techniques and industry so that when you leave us after three years you’ll be fully primed to go out there and make your mark in this exciting new world.
The thinking behind the course
The aim of the Digital Animation course is to teach you how to take traditional animation skills and creatively apply them to digital media. It is a course that fuses cinematic storytelling with digital technology, and supports students in finding their creative voice.
The content of the course ensures that a solid grounding is given in the language of the moving image, and traditional animation: These skills are transferable and do not have a limited shelf life, so by emphasising traditional skills as core elements to Digital Animation, the course aims to prepare you for professional practice and to be able to cope with future technological developments as they impact on your profession. This course aims to educate you in, and enable you to apply, current key theories and practices of digital animation, to design and create digital animation in contemporary media using relevant technologies and techniques.
Traditional skills taught are Life Drawing, Film Language (editing, lighting camerawork), Use of Sound and Music, Storyboard and Narrative, Character Design, Acting for Animation, and the Production process of Animation. These skills are taught alongside Digital Technology skills in areas such Web and Game Design, Design for Interactive Media, Compositing, Mixed Media and Character and Experimental use of 2D and 3D.
The Course also includes general educational aims: the development of a student’s intellectual and imaginative powers; their understanding and critical judgment; their problem-solving skills; their ability to communicate; team and group working skills and the student’s ability to synthesise learning gained across modules, in order to be able to pursue a chosen career path.
We like to think that we will have prepared you as thoroughly as possible for any one of a range of career choices including 3D animator, 3D modeller, artist/animator, character designer, storyboard and concept artist, teacher, mixed media animator, producer, compositor, to name just a few. And as you might expect we give you all the facilities you could possibly want. We have up to date computers, wacom tablets, industry standard software, digital cameras and digital editing facilities. We’ll give you all the equipment and all the spaces you need. You will also have access to the full facilities of the Faculty of Arts and on top of all this the whole of TVU is at your disposal!
