BA (Hons) Animation

Year 1

The first year provides a grounding in the craft, skills and conceptual thinking required for the art of animation. You will be introduced to the core underlying principles of animated movement, the disciplines of cinematography and storytelling and engage with the pipeline of a collaboratively produced animated film. You will also engage in contextual practice to support understanding of wider creative fields relevant to your development as a creative practitioner.

Core units
 

• Animation Principles
• Production Techniques And Practice 1
• Animation Design And Practice 1
• Exploring And Making Animation
• Co-Lab 1
• Co-Lab 2

Year 2

Building on Year 1, you will continue to work in a collaborative context. Acquiring further skills and making use of further opportunities, students will continue to prepare for a potential future working in the animation industry through the production of animated content. Further experiences in collaborative projects are offered whilst underpinned with contextual practice to support understanding of wider creative fields relevant to your development as a creative practitioner. Students will start to build a body of work to develop a wider professional engagement both within and external to the School of Digital Arts. 

Core units
 

• Animation Design And Practice 2
• Funding, Marketing And Production (Animation)
• Production Techniques And Practice 2
• Animation Practice, Industry And Community
• Co-Lab 3
• Co-Lab 4

Year 3

In the third year, you will have the opportunity to be a key part of two major animations, which will showcase your groupwork and individual talents as part of significant productions, including pitching ideas to industry professionals. The final pieces will be displayed at our graduation showcase as well as students being encouraged to submit to Animation Festivals and competitions. Previous projects have been awarded prestigious prizes in Animation and Production Design. 

This course offers you the opportunity to apply for a placement year option which can be taken in Year 3. During the placement year, you will be supervised directly by the company you are employed by, and you will also be allocated an Academic/Placement Tutor. They will provide support and guidance, and assess your progress during the time you are away from the University.

Where a placement is not undertaken, you will study the following final year units. If you have completed a placement in Year 3, you will study the units outlined in Year 3 in a fourth year.

Core units
 

• Community And Industry Research Project
• Creative Practice Collaborative Project 
• Creative Practice Individual Project
• Personal Research Project

UK

UCAS Tariff points
104-112

SPECIFIC GCSE REQUIREMENTS
GCSE grade C/4 in English language.

Equivalent qualifications (e.g. Functional Skills) may be considered

International

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE POINTS
IB Diploma with minimum 26 points overall or 104-112 UCAS Tariff points from Higher Level. If you plan to meet the Level 2 course requirements through your IB Diploma you will need to achieve Higher Level 4 or Standard Level 5 in English

IELTS SCORE REQUIRED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
6.0 overall with no individual element below 5.5

FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS
UK and Channel Islands full-time foundation year fee: £9,250 per year for the foundation year. This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation and may increase each academic year in line with inflation or UK government policy for both new and continuing students.

UK AND CHANNEL ISLAND STUDENTS
Full-time fee: £9,250 per year. This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation and may increase each academic year in line with inflation or UK government policy for both new and continuing students.

The move of the BBC and ITV children’s departments to MediaCityUK has enhanced an already strong children’s media ecosystem in the North West. Skilled talent in animation is necessary not only for high-profile animation programming and filmmaking, but also for the myriad of agencies that produce high-end animated content for gaming, marketing/advertising, e-learning, publishing, visual effects, augmented reality, architectural visualisation, heritage and gallery content production, app development, prototyping, live events, etc. There is an ever-growing demand in Manchester for this type of talent, which makes SODA’s focus on future animation so timely and exciting. Our students will find multiple opportunities as animators, character designers, concept and storyboard artists, colourists, riggers, modelers, puppet makers, set designers, prop makers, producers, etc.