Animation BA (Hons)

On this course you’ll be able to develop your skills and knowledge using up-to-date software, with the support and guidance from our experienced lecturers. You’ll also benefit from guest workshops and the opportunity to get innovating at our Pinewood Studio base, putting you right at the heart of one of the UK’s most important creative communities.Our creative briefs and projects will help you bring to life stories through the form of animation and upon graduation make your portfolio shine.**Why study this subject?**Whether it is 2D, stop-motion, 3D hand-drawn or computer-generated animation, a skilled animator can create the illusion of real life and all roles call for high levels of creativity and passion.The animation industry needs strong creative people with good team working skills. The UK is particularly renowned for stop-motion or stop-frame animation and children's animation and has a thriving computer games industry.Your skills will be valuable in any animation role, including commercials, games, web design, or any other situation that requires an animator.**Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?**- You'll get the best of the university and the industry with classes on both our High Wycombe campus and our Pinewood Studios base- You'll be studying a completely practical course – we focus on what you need to know for a career in animation; you’ll keep a reflective journal, and learn to give presentations like the professionals- Small class sizes mean plenty of contact with your tutors- The industry is all about teamwork; you will learn about industry pipelines and where animators can fit in- You’ll have access to our industry standard equipment, including a VR lab, renderfarm, motion capture studio, and state or the art face capture kit and Xsens suits.**What facilities can I use?**We’ve made sure you have access to industry-standard equipment. Our labs give you access to Maya, Nuke, Adobe Creative Cloud, Substance, Renderman and ZBrush. Most of our 3D animation is currently done in Maya. To combine live TV with computer graphics you will use VizRT. For modelling you’ll use ZBrush, Marvellous Designer and a range of other pieces of software commonly used in industry. We review the list every year.We have the latest equipment used in many films, TV shows and commercials. A motion capture studio, renderfarm, and even VR facilities for this increasingly important area in delivery and development. You’ll have access to a stop motion studio and up-to-date camera equipment.**What will I study?**You’ll begin the course learning the fundamentals of the animation, visual effects and games art industries. You will learn to animate in a believable manner and get a feel for pre-visual narrative and layout.On this course, you will also learn how to create detailed models from scratch through to lighting and rendering. You’ll start off at our High Wycombe campus, and spend a number of days visiting our base at Pinewood Studios. These will both inspire you and help you to understand what the industry of today is really up to.**How will I be taught and assessed?**We’ll arrange guest lectures and put you to work on live projects. With the busy nature of the studios, and London being so close, there will be a constant flow of talented animators for you to learn from.The animation industry needs strong creative people with good team working skills. So, we focus on the quality of your work and, along with our own detailed feedback, we will encourage you to learn to self-evaluate and self-improve through the use of reflective journals.Because exams are not very useful in assessing the artistic capability of an animator, we focus on portfolio-based coursework instead. To be well prepared for the demanding professional world, you will need