BA (Hons) Animation

Our ba (hons) animation course brings together key aspects of contemporary professional animation practice to help you prepare for an exciting range of careers. As an animation student you will be part the school of digital arts (soda), a vibrant community that offers the chance to explore every aspect of what it means to work in the digital arts. 

• With a toolkit that mixes the creative and the technical, an animator does all this and more. Whether working in the artistic or commercial worlds, animators produce the moving images for anything from film and broadcast media to digital platforms and video games.
• You will work across a range of creative practices – just as the professionals do – to collaborate on cross-disciplinary group projects, alongside photographers, sound engineers, filmmakers, games and media students. And, just as we mirror industry practices, we also work with industry-standard tools – learning within a brand new, purpose-built building that comes equipped with the latest emerging technologies for animation, filmmaking and more.  
• Manchester offers an ideal setting as an animation student. A global, creative city, it has a long-established history of animation and is home to Cosgrove Hall Films – creators of numerous children’s animations and whose company founders were both students of Manchester Metropolitan University. Today the city has a thriving industry, with a significant TV, film and digital production presence at MediaCityUK, which is home to the BBC, ITV and a host of independent media companies, all of which offer you some inspiring opportunities. 
• With a course that’s built on our local heritage and that makes the most of our industry links, you’ll have the chance to develop the skills, build the network and gain the experience that rewarding careers are made from. 

Features and benefits

• The programme has excellent links with industry, which offers opportunities to access industry professionals through varying means such as live briefs, panel events, portfolio reviews and/or university projects. These will vary. 
• As part of the School of Digital Arts you will be encouraged to innovate through interdisciplinary study and collaboration to become a highly creative and employable professional to allow you to compete successfully in this rapidly growing field. 
• You will be offered opportunities throughout the course, to contribute to the production of an animated film allowing you to develop core creative, design, narrative and cinematographic skills desired by potential employers in the animation industry.  
• The course is designed to allow you to specialise, if you so wish, in one specialist area of the animation process allowing you to collaborate with others refining your individual artistry.
• You can, through the production of individual films, develop an understanding of authorship, in combination with collaborative partnerships across the school, in support of directorial skills.
• You will have access to professional creative studios containing industry standard software, hardware and making facilities supporting 2D hand-drawn and rigged, 3D and stop motion techniques. All students will be offered the opportunity to try each of these, prior to specialising.
• Scholarships: This course has a scholarship available for 2024 entry. The PlayStation Career Pathways Scholarship offers a £15,000 cash bursary, to support students who: are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background or have a household income of £25,000 or less. To find out more click here.

Course information

• With a wide variety of modules, on this course you will explore techniques, approaches and styles, as well as delving into the practicalities of working in the creative industries. You will have a mix of taught sessions and practical assignments, giving you the opportunity to work with a variety of digital artists and creative specialists – not only helping you develop your skills, but also your industry network. The course also features a series of guest lectures, letting you hear from high-profile professionals from a range of animation practices as well as the wider field of digital arts. Offering a window into professional practice, these lectures give you the chance to develop industry-relevant understanding and insight drawn directly from seasoned professionals’ extensive experience. 

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 modules

• Animation Principles
• Exploring and Making Animation
• Animation Design and Practice 1
• Production Techniques and Practice 1

Option modules

• Co-Lab 2
• Co-Lab 1 (Animation)

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 modules

• Production Techniques and Practice 2
• Animation Practice, Industry and Community
• Animation Design and Practice 2
• Funding, Marketing and Production (Animation)

Option modules

• Co-Lab 3 (Animation)
• 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 modules outlined in Year 3 in a fourth year.

Core modules

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

Option modules

• Creative Methodologies (Animation)
• Co-Lab 5 (Animation)

Study and assessment breakdown

• Ten credits equates to 100 hours of study, which is a combination of lectures, seminars and practical sessions, and independent study. A three-year degree qualification typically comprises of 360 credits (120 credits per year). During the course, you are likely to be required to engage in collaborative projects, group work activities and to give presentations to your peers/tutors. Some or all of this work may be formally assessed, depending on the course you are studying. The exact composition of your study time and assessments for the course will vary according to your option choices and style of learning.

Placement options
SODA Placement Year

• As part of your studies with SODA, you may have the chance to take a year working on placement within the industry. During your year, you will spend at least 36 weeks working within an organisation in the industry, developing workplace skills, practical understanding and genuine industry experience.

SODA Study Year Abroad

• You can choose to spend an academic year studying with an approved partner university overseas, developing your core skills while demonstrating your initiative by engaging with a challenging curriculum at a foreign institution. This offers practice credits from the host university, after you’ve completed Level 5 of your SODA programme. 
• If you take the four-year placement route, Year 3 will be spent on placement.

Taught by experts

• Your studies are supported by a department of committed and enthusiastic teachers and researchers, experts in their chosen field.
• We often link up with external professionals too, helping to enhance your learning and build valuable connections to the working world.

Career prospects

• 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.