Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: Two years (60 weeks) Extended full-time
MA Character Animation at Central Saint Martins is a practical course that also encourages research and contextual thinking. We will teach you how to make your characters do much more than move – we will teach you to make them perform. You will learn timing, software, storytelling, character design, film language and take life drawing lessons. Alongside this, you will also explore historical and critical approaches to animation.
Animation is a powerful medium used extensively across a wide variety of fields. Increasingly, it is being used to amplify marginalized voices and engage with diverse social and cultural contexts, empowering meaningful communication and change. At the same time, the expanding range of media and platforms present fresh ethical challenges for animators. Animators must critically engage with issues of representation, equity and environmental responsibility, ensuring their work respects and celebrates cultural diversity while addressing urgent global changes.
The technologies used to create animation are evolving at a rapid rate – programmes dominate the market one year and then are obsolete the next. Rather than encouraging dependency on specific software, MA Character Animation fosters universal techniques and sustainable application through practice-based knowledge. You will learn skills which can be applied to different software packages, technical processes, creative approaches and distribution technologies in the future.
Animation is a universal medium. It can communicate concepts and narratives without the use of spoken language. Reflecting multi-cultural visual and storytelling traditions, MA Character Animation attracts applicants from a wide range of practices and cultural backgrounds. Studying on the course offers an exciting opportunity for you to learn about other cultures and develop international diverse networks. You will be encouraged to investigate, experiment and apply a range of different visual and performance approaches to your own work.
We select applicants according to potential and current ability in the following areas:
We are seeking imaginative, resourceful individuals who are committed to exploring and developing a strong individual visual language.
Our graduates have worked with companies like BBC, Studio AKA, Cartoon Network, Chase Animation Studios, Cinesite, Dreamworks, EA Games, Framestore, Michael Dudok de Wit, the Mill, Moving Picture Company, Passion Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, Tiger Aspect, Unit 9, Golden Wolf, Strange Beast, Blink Ink, Kong Studios, Rare, Aardman, The Line, Pic a Life LTD, Blue Zoo, Cartoon Saloon, King, Final Frontier.
MA Character Animation develops both creative and technical skills. Learning to animate is about much more than software. At the core of effective animation is an understanding of motion, characterisation and the portrayal of performance. On the course, we specialise in a hands-on, practical approach. We will encourage you to create innovative, animated characters which can move convincingly and perform with emotion and psychological nuance.
Through lectures and critiques, you will examine key areas of the theory and context of character animation. MA Character Animation works closely with the other courses in the Performance programme, offering an unparalleled application of performance methodologies to the practice of animation. The course team believe that since animation is the representation of performance, all animators benefit from studying movement and acting. Consequently, the course emphasises the analysis of characterisation through acting and motion through observational drawing. Animation classes are supplemented by life drawing sessions and you will also have workshops in relevant software techniques.
Throughout the course, you will apply your knowledge to new areas of professional practice. You will be expected to keep a personal animation journal from the start of your studies, in which you document your work and reflect on your evolving practice. You will also be encouraged to develop your skills in problem solving, project management, planning and communication. We promote a networking environment through collaborative team projects, group critiques and peer-to-peer and alumni support. Our aim is to help you become a reflective, innovative practitioner able to locate yourself within the animation industry.
Unit 1 will provide you with a set of practical tools for critical and creative exploration. You will be able to orientate your direction and your work within the field of animation. We will cover life drawing, character design and development, anatomy, locomotion, motion analysis and performative approaches to animation.
Unit 2 encourages you to become a self-sufficient, critical practitioner, confident to pursue your own goals. The unit focuses on two in-depth performance-driven pieces. These are designed to consolidate and expand your individual and collaborative animation practice.
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