Overview

Our course combines academic excellence and professional practice, with a focus on producing festival-ready animation, building an online presence and creating an industry- standard showreel to prepare you to work in the industry.

We encourage you to be innovative, creative and push the boundaries of storytelling and artistic style. You will receive a grounding in the fundamental skills of animation, with the opportunity to develop more specialist skills from the second year of study.

You will develop your own distinct style and voice, as well as enhancing your technical and creative knowledge by studying modules such as 2D Animation, Critical Studies and Visual Communication.

Our excellent facilities include dedicated animation, recording and sound studios, graphics studios, computer suites and a suite of Cintiq stations. You will be supported to master professional tools, such as TVPaint, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Our supportive and collaborative studio culture creates a nurturing atmosphere that aims to encourage professional development. Teaching is delivered primarily through demonstration and practical workshop sessions, providing hands-on experience in drawing, script writing, idea generation, visual communication, pre-production, audio production and digital 2D animation practice.

Key features

• Prepare for a rewarding career in the animation industry. Recent graduates are working as animators, VFX technical directors, lead technical runners, compositors, modellers and designers, with companies such as Brown Bag, Studio SOI, Cloth Cat, RJDM, Double Negative and Disney.
• Access one-to-one support from the  Leicester Media School Drawing Centre  to perfect your drawing skills and meet like-minded artists.
• Work on a major project tailored to the animation industry, which will give you the chance to enter national and international competitions and festivals.
• Exhibit your work at the week-long DMU Degree Show, one of Leicester’s biggest art and design shows, where final-year students have the chance to meet talent scouts and win industry prizes.

• Enjoy developing your skills in a vibrant studio culture and preparing for a future in the animation industry by using our specialist facilities and software.
• Add an international experience to your CV with our DMU Global programme. Previous trips have seen Animation students draw inspiration from dramatic city skylines and urban environments in New York, Berlin and Hong Kong.

Animation graduate Lucy Crewe was commissioned by the crew of Doctor Who to animate the story behind its series 10 promotional poster. During her time at DMU, Lucy developed her classical animation and video editing skills, and gained experience of working a live professional brief with the Phoenix Cinema and the Leicester Comedy Festival.

She said: “With access to industry-standard tools and software, tutorials, specific literature and databases in the library and a network of professionals I learned a lot.” Read her full story.

Structure and assessment

Course modules

Year one

2D and Experimental Animation 1

Instils fundamental animation principles and support students in practicing 2D digital animation. Character movement is examined and implemented in short projects. Audio techniques are introduced to enhance the animation experience.

Critical Studies 1

Encourages students to examine storytelling devices, narrative structures, audio soundscapes, the language within cinema and the visual arts. Students will engage and incorporate these languages into their practice through practice-based projects.

Animation Production 1

Demystifies the complexity of the tools and techniques needed to create animation. It introduces instruction on the creation of 2D characters and utilises industry standard software tools and techniques. Students will develop 2D animation and explore character movement and action.

Visual Communication 1

Focuses on improving students’ confidence in creating digital and manual drawing. Investigating and introducing stylisation techniques to expand visual language. Introduces pre-production techniques enhancing the visual impact of animation.

Year two

Critical Studies 2

Builds upon the core concepts explored in Year 1 (Critical studies 1) and examines both classic genres within cinema (animation & film) and representation of the human condition. Students have the opportunity to explore and investigate these themes within practice based projects.

2D and Experimental Animation 2

Uses acting and performance as the catalyst guiding students towards an engaging visual narrative in animation development. A series of short, quick punchy animations give students the time to reflect and improve.

Animation Production 2

Introduces more sophisticated animation techniques such as lip sync focusing on character performance and acting. Students can consolidate their year 1 skills in more substantial animation projects. This project provides students with the opportunity to reflect on the direction of their final year aspirations.

Visual Communication 2

Introduces a range of art techniques to advance the sophistication of students’ artwork. Encourages confidence in creating a personal visual language. It explores concepting for animation and pre-production, improving character design techniques and producing environment for animation.

Year 3

Professional Brief

Year 3 allows students to undertake professional based projects ranging from production of festival ready work to commercial-based briefs, set by industry. This module allows students to engage fully with rigorous industry-based practical work whilst having the freedom to challenge themselves creatively.

Final Major Project

The final year project is an opportunity for students to set their own creative objectives and explore themes they are passionate about. Students are actively encouraged to publish their completed projects and enter contests and festivals.

Teaching and assessments

Teaching is delivered primarily through lectures and practical sessions, with access to keynote lectures and support from industry mentors. Practical classes provide hands-on experience of both drawing, idea generation, pre-production and digital 2D animation development. Tutorials are used to provide feedback and a framework for ensuring you see improvements in your work. Additional learning materials are also offered online.

Assessments include regular screenings of artwork and reports for peer, tutor and industry critique. You will be encouraged to produce festival ready animation and a showreel for employment, guided by experts from the animation industry and the teaching team. Industry representatives make regular visits to give presentations and review showreels.

You will normally attend around 12-16 hours of timetabled taught sessions each week, and are expected to undertake at least 24 further hours of directed independent study and assignments as required.

Facilities and features

Animation Studios

We have excellent specialist facilities including industry-standard animation, recording and sound studios, editing suites and dedicated graphics studios, computer suites for lectures and practical workshops, screening rooms for viewing dailies and presentations; exposure to the latest software to ensure you achieve the skills required to go out into the industry.

You will also benefit from our dedicated suite of Cintiq stations

Opportunities and careers

Graduate Careers

Our graduates are working as animators, producers, high-flying VFX technical directors, lead technical runners, compositors, modellers and designers working on TV series and films. They are working with international companies like Double Negative, Ubisoft (Shanghai), Jagex, MPC, The Mill, Blue Zoo, Character Shop, RJDM Animations and Ragdoll Productions and have worked on major films including ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Rises’, ‚Les Miserables’, ‚Superman Man of Steel’, ‚Thor: The Dark World’, ‚Ex Machina’, ‚The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ and ‘Total Recall’.

#DMUglobal

This is our innovative international experience programme which aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons – helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world.

Through #DMUglobal, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

Our #DMUglobal High Flyers Award offers students a discount of up to £1,000 towards a #DMUglobal opportunity (terms and conditions apply).

Placements

Work-based placements are one of the best ways to boost your skills and experience, and can often lead to your first graduate role.

They are the perfect means of discovering how your studies relate to the real world, and provide an opportunity to improve your confidence and make contacts to help you get ahead in the job market.

DMU’s dedicated Placements Teams can help you by providing access to hundreds of opportunities, giving one-to-one CV advice and interview preparation, and offering training sessions and support from a dedicated tutor.

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