Animation

In the first and second years the students work in small groups to create a short Stop Motion Animation using Dragon Frame software and then on their own to make a Digital animation using After Effects, Photoshop and Animate. The students explore their interests and experiences, while learning how to communicate those ideas or tell narrative stories which have the potential to be universally understood.

The third-year project gives the students a longer timeframe to allow more autonomy in the making of a three minute animation that originates from their own research and experimentation. The students can choose to utilise any combination of analogue and digital working methods to create films that are ANIMATION not restricted by the real-world laws of time, space, and gravity. They work on narrative, storyboarding, design, audio and of course, animation. The process is time-consuming, so planning, research and experimentation are built into the process before production begins.

Workshops in movement and acting help build confidence and believability into the worlds being created. Sound can help set a scene, heighten suspense, or can act as a counter to the visuals, so students learn how and when to add ambient or narrative sounds or collaborate with sound artists. Work created in this way can’t help but reflect the students – diverse, occasionally intense, often funny, sometimes sad, tender, or vulnerable, and ultimately up-lifting.