Animation
Entry requirements
Pass in the QAA accredited Access to HE Art and Design course with at least 15 credits in Art and Design at merit. English GCSE required as a separate qualification as equivalency is not accepted within the Access qualification. We will normally require students to have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
including Art and Design at higher level grade
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Art and Design BTEC National Diploma/ Extended Diploma
T Level
UCAS Tariff
from at least two A-levels or equivalent, with Art and Design at grade C or above
You may also need to…
Present a portfolio
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
We encourage you to be innovative, creative and push the boundaries of storytelling and artistic style. You will receive a grounding in the fundamental skills of animation, with the opportunity to develop more specialist skills from the second year of study.
You will develop your own distinct style and voice, as well as enhancing your technical and creative knowledge by studying the modules within this programme.
Our excellent facilities include dedicated animation and sound studios, graphics studios, computer suites and a suite of Cintiq stations. You will be supported to master professional tools, such as TVPaint, Maya, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Substance Painter and After Effects.
Our supportive and collaborative studio culture creates a nurturing atmosphere that aims to encourage professional development. Teaching is delivered primarily through demonstration and practical workshop sessions, providing hands-on experience in drawing, script writing, idea generation, visual communication, pre-production, audio production and digital 2D and 3D animation practice.
**Key features**
- Prepare for a rewarding career in the animation industry. Recent graduates are working as animators, VFX technical directors, lead technical runners, compositors, modellers and designers, with companies such as Brown Bag, Studio SOI, Cloth Cat, RJDM, Double Negative and Disney.
- Access one-to-one support from the Leicester Media School Drawing Centre to perfect your drawing skills and meet like-minded artists.
- Work on a major project tailored to the animation industry, which will give you the chance to enter national and international competitions and festivals.
- Through block teaching, you will focus on one subject at a time instead of several at once. This means that you will be able to focus closely on each subject and absorb your learning material in more depth, whilst working more closely with your tutors and course mates.
- Exhibit your work at the week-long DMU Degree Show, one of Leicester’s biggest art and design shows, where final-year students have the chance to meet talent scouts and win industry prizes.
- Enjoy developing your skills in a vibrant studio culture and preparing for a future in the animation industry by using our specialist facilities and software.
- Add an international experience to your CV with our DMU Global programme. Previous trips have seen Animation students draw inspiration from dramatic city skylines and urban environments in New York, Berlin and Hong Kong.
Modules
**Year one**
Block 1: Introductory Sessions
Block 2: Animation Principles
Block 3: Visual Thinking and Communication
Block 4: Project 1
**Year two**
Block 1: Look Development
Block 2: Fundamentals of Movement
Block 3: Acting
Block 4: Project 2
**Year three**
Block 1: Project Ideation, Concept, Script
Block 2: Script, Storyboard, Animatic, Design Layout
Block 3: Production
Block 4: Post-Production
Assessment methods
On this course, you will benefit from Education 2030 - DMU’s new way of delivering courses. Through block teaching, you will focus on one subject at a time instead of several at once.
Teaching is delivered primarily through lectures and practical sessions, with access to keynote lectures and support from industry mentors. Practical classes provide hands-on experience of both drawing, idea generation, pre-production and digital 2D animation development. Tutorials are used to provide feedback and a framework for ensuring you see improvements in your work. Additional learning materials are also offered online.
Assessments include regular screenings of artwork and reports for peer, tutor and industry critique. You will be encouraged to produce festival ready animation and a showreel for employment, guided by experts from the animation industry and the teaching team. Industry representatives make regular visits to give presentations and review showreels.
You will normally attend around 12-16 hours of timetabled taught sessions each week, and are expected to undertake at least 24 further hours of directed independent study and assignments as required.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Leicester Campus
Computing, Engineering and Media
What students say
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How do students rate their degree experience?
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Cinematics and photography
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
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Cinematics and photography
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Cinematics and photography
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£20k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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