Animation (MA)

Ma animation supports the development of an individual practice informed by a culture that values research and collaboration. Research is seen as integral to the act of critical making through experimentation with physical, digital and virtual tools and technologies embracing a diverse range of multidisciplinary approaches. 

Why choose this course?

• The MA Animation programme at Kingston School of Art takes a creative and director-led approach to interdisciplinary moving image production. This course will give you the skills and attributes to thrive in a professional environment shaped by rapid cultural and technological change. It will introduce you to a wide range of interlinked and adaptable technologies and methods including 2D and 3D animation, virtual reality and augmented reality. You will use animation methods to interpret knowledge, stories, ideas and data into visual or experiential outputs that communicate complexity with empathy.
• Through tutorials, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you will gain the critical tools, knowledge and confidence needed to contribute to the development of the subject and its practice. Every student will have the opportunity to complete an extended research project, typically a film.

Reasons to choose Kingston

• You will be given creative agency to develop an individual and critical approach to advanced animation practice.
• An interdisciplinary approach is valued and promoted through shared modules and collaborative projects that ask you to look beyond disciplinary limits.
• The curriculum is designed to support you gain 'Future Skills' and attributes such as creative problem solving, reasoning, and emotional intelligence.

The Art School Experience

• As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.
• Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.

What you will study

• Through tutorials, field trips, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you will gain the technical skills, critical tools, knowledge and confidence needed to contribute to the development of the subject and its practice. You will be asked to examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods, which will then be developed by introducing discipline specific notions of rigour, originality, ethics, positioning and inclusivity. Modules have been designed and aligned to ensure that students are able to make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. In doing so, this programme prioritises the development of an individual practitioner and their creative work.
• There is an emphasis on independent and self-directed learning where students are given autonomy to develop a practice that supports their aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis provide you with the tools necessary to make decisions about you practice and learning trajectory. Students are provided with the opportunity to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project), typically a film, that is ambitious in scale and scope. Studio modules include development of animation skills, concepts and practice through project work and utilise the studio as a site for making. Reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically. Presentation modules orientate students within a professional landscape and include preparation for employment through development of future skills and career planning. The three Studio modules are specific to MA Animation and the Reading and Presenting modules are shared with MA Illustration and MA Graphic Design programmes.

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Year 1
Core modules

• Studio: Critical Making for Animation
• Reading: Critical Positions
• Studio: Situating Practice for Animation
• Presentation: Future Directions
• Studio: Extended Research Project for Animation

Optional placement year

• Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.

Module

• Professional Placement

Teaching and assessment

• Students will benefit from a variety of different learning and teaching approaches including brief-led project work, workshops that encourage creative experimentation and individual critical reflection. MA Animation embraces this approach through a peer-led learning, collaborative approach to animation production and discussion groups and seminars. We take a dialogic and discursive approach to learning and teaching, through peer-led learning, collaborative approach to animation production and discussion groups and seminars as well as opportunities to co-construct the curriculum. An elective range of assessment strategies and methods allows students to take responsibility for their own learning.
• Kingston School of Art has an established an ethos of Thinking Through Making, underpinned by a policy that supports equal access for all students to the 2D and 3D workshops. Students are encouraged to explore new and unfamiliar processes and techniques and use these to experiment and innovate within their own disciplines and individual creative practices

Facilities
You will benefit from:

• Well-equipped lecture theatres, seminar rooms and workshops
• The library's extensive book and journal collection, including over 150,000 slides and visual references dating back to the 1600s
• The dedicated Graduate Centre on campus – including IT facilities, seminar rooms and social spaces.

The University has its own on-site galleries, including:

• Dorich House – home of the sculptor Dora Gordine
• The Stanley Picker Gallery – featuring exhibitions of contemporary art.

There are also the following facilities to augment your studies:

• Moving Image Workshop
• Digital Media Workshop
• Printmaking, letterpress and book arts
• 3D workshops
• Photography workshop
• The Eadweard Muybridge Immersive Lab

After you graduate

Graduates from the Illustration Animation Department permeate the animation industry all over the world.

• They direct animation, motion graphics, adverts, pop promos and instructional educational films that engage hugely diverse audiences.
• They are directors and showrunners on animated series for Netflix and Cartoon Network, Aardman, Nexus, Buck in New York and LA.
• They start their own animation studios, such as Moth and Blink/BlinkInk, Catfish Collective or Arc. They also work together as small collectives often in turn employing our graduates.
• They can be found in visual effects houses like Framestore and Moving Picture Company. By using interrelated skills they work not only as animators but also art directors/designers/storyboard artists for the live-action film industry.
• They also teach and lead higher education initiatives, in the UK and internationally, that develop the potential of how visual moving image can contribute to global culture and societies.