Welcome to your Animation course - University of Staffordshire

Welcome to Animation at Staffordshire University.

Thank you for choosing to join our vibrant ever-growing community of students, alumni, and animation professionals.

Just like you; everyone here is passionate about animation and performance. We look forward to seeing you grow and develop creatively, and as a person, over the following years.

This friendly and enthusiastic environment will take your artistic potential and help you see new ways to push your skills and build a portfolio of animation that will prepare you for work.

Your staff team

We want to make sure you know some of our team before you arrive. Hopefully this will help you recognise us and ensure you know who you can contact if you need any additional help and guidance.

Robin Heap

Lecturer

Robin is an animation filmmaker who specialises in stop motion animation development and production.

Robin's profile

Daryl Marsh

Senior Lecturer

Course Leader for BA(Hons) Animation with long term professional animation experience in London, Manchester and Copenhagen. Specialisms include CGI, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality. Researching immersive experiences and emerging technology.

Daryl's profile

Dr Monireh Astani

Senior Lecturer

Dr Monireh Astani is a researcher and practitioner invested in the interdisciplinary, audience-oriented, creative practices of animation, visual design, and VR/AR.

Monireh's profile

Jack Woodvine

P/T Lecturer (Hrly) - Animation

I am a 2D animator, specialising in 2D digital animation. My main interest in this field is the creation of 2D digital rigs within Harmony, using the various tools available to create digital puppets with believable movement.

Jack's profile

Course delivery

We believe it is important to experiment with all types of media to truly find your artistic voice. And that this process should always be fun, challenging, and dynamic.

Typically teaching sessions will be two to three hours long – with a mix of presentation, demonstration and practical exploration of techniques and processes. Our dedicated technician will be on hand to assist in some sessions and afterwards becomes your go-to person for additional help with both traditional practical work and software-based work.

After the initial explorative semester that looks at all types of animation you will be able to focus on your own pathway of either 2D Digital, 3D Digital or Stop Motion animation. From this point you can concentrate on one type of animation to maximise your time and strengthen your skill base. However, if you choose to change pathways or want to continue experimenting with different media, we will support that too. This is all about finding a balance between giving you time to focus your skills while also giving you space to creatively explore. Hybrid animation which combines more than one pathway is becoming more popular and we support that too.

You will often be given take-away tasks that are designed to push what you learnt further in your independent study time.

Class sizes vary between 25 to 30 in an all-level session and 5 to 15 for a pathway-based specific techniques. Small groups of 2 or 3 also happen in areas that benefit from small groups, for example VR or resin casting.

Module Assignments are broken up into milestones throughout the semesters to help us keep you on track throughout the year.

Semester one activities

In the first few weeks you will be introduced to the wide range of animation techniques and experiences that will start to shape your personal creative journey.

You will also start to think about the historical context of animation and how the artform has changed.

Before you start

We encourage you to do some background research.

There is a wealth of material available to you on-line and You Tube has many making of films by renowned studios. For example, this behind the scenes look at the Spiderverse films;

https://youtu.be/j_x4sHWZqvg

And in books we recommend starting with:

THE ANIMATOR’S SURVIVAL KIT by Richard Williams

Also keep watching animation; this is primary research. It gives you an introduction to the context of animated work and helps you to identify your own goals and future direction.

Equipment and software

As an Animation student you will have great studio resources available to you, and even though all the software and hardware is available to you on campus, you may choose to invest in certain pieces of kit at some stage in your student career.

However, we suggest that you hold-off making any decisions about further investments until you are settled into the course and know what is available to you and where your future pathway may lead.

Once enrolled, you will have access to download a range of software free of charge from the University.

Download software

Course Trips

Throughout your time with us there will be opportunities to travel to locations in the UK or far beyond for both animation events and cultural enrichment.

We will attend the Manchester Animation Festival in November of each year as a valuable induction to the wider industry of animation in its many forms.

Visit festival website

Social groups

There are loads of Student clubs and societies for you to join whilst studying at Staffs, and you might also find the following interesting

www.staffsunion.com/getinvolved/clubsandsocieties/ to give you an idea of what else is on offer!

Academic skills

Whether you're joining us from school or college, or you're returning to education after some time away, everyone can benefit from the Academic Study Skills resources provided by the University library.

The Academic Skills team is here to support you throughout your academic journey and to help you gain the skills you need to reach your full potential. They can assist with academic reading and writing skills, give advice on how best to plan assignments, and help improve your time management.

The library's Academic Skills Guides offer the key information to make studying easier and give a comprehensive guide to the learning resources and services we offer.

Staffs CampusConnect

Staffs CampusConnect is our student-led community app for new students. Connect with other people from your course, hometown or country, and even those with similar interests.

To register, please ensure you use your Applicant ID (Student Number) that you received in your offer letter, and the email address you used in your application to us.

Register for CampusConnect

Welcome website

Our welcome website will provide you the link to your new student life. It's all about how you find your place at university, including everything from how to meet friends, feel confident in doing your academic work, being a member of your Student Union and getting involved in Union Societies, Academic Societies, Sports, Volunteering or representing your peers in your School.

Part of this Welcome Week - we have an exciting program of University and course level activities planned for you for your first week in September. We are also building an extended program for you to join a series of events throughout the first half of the autumn term. Further details will be shared with you via the Welcome website and Students' Union pages over the coming weeks.

Welcome website

Campus map

Use our campus map to familiarise yourself with our campus before you arrive.

Campus map (PDF)

Check your email

Please make sure you check your personal email account regularly over the next few weeks. We will be sending you lots of information about Welcome Week.

Finally… if you have any questions about joining the Animation course, any aspect of Welcome Week – or just want to say ‘Hi’ - please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We look forward to welcoming you in September.