Animation & Games
Entry requirements
UCAS Tariff
Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 104 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio as we are in seeing your grades.
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About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience.**
In May 2022 we were awarded the **Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards**, coming top in a list of well-respected specialist UK universities, based on unbiased and honest reviews from students across the UK, in a category that highlights the quality of our provision as a specialist creative university.
**A successful career in animation or games requires a highly creative mind, a strong knowledge of the creative software used to create new realities, and th ability to imagine within the constraints of a particular narrative. Graduates from this course are working in animation, video games, film and television, with leading roles in these industries.**
A degree in BA (Hons) Animation & Games prepares you for today’s highly competitive market and rapidly expanding environment in the entertainment industry. Through storytelling, prototyping and problem-solving, you will create and lead in interdisciplinary contexts, gaining knowledge that will be valuable whether you work for a multinational organisation or a small studio. With courses in animation and games, and other content linked to entertainment designs, integrated studies and the humanities and arts, you will develop a comprehensive and sustainable approach for creating dynamic and engaging animations and games.
The objective of the course is to prepare each student to join a studio, having observed and practised the numerous phases required in the production of animated features and game development, including writing, concept art, storyboarding, art direction, animation, editing etc. During the first year, a significant part of the course is devoted to fundamental drawing practice such as: anatomy, characters, posing, animation etc. Then your skills will be developed further through working with the digital tools that are widely used within our focused industries. The yearly projects give students the opportunity to apply academic knowledge, project-based skills, and team/project management focus.
The primary focus is on concept art and visual development towards outputs such as: characters, worldbuilding and asset creation. These are the kinds of creative skills required by artists working in the entertainment sector; during their second year, students will be able to select either an animation or games career development specialism. The animation path develops students in the disciplines of character animation, storyboarding, modelling, art direction and the principles of 2D and 3D lighting. The game arts path prepares students to create and communicate visual concepts through 3D and 2D prototyping, iteration and production.
Modules
In your first year, you’ll explore all aspects of animation through a range of short projects, covering key production skills such as narrative development, storyboarding and character performance.
You will learn technical production skills in 2D, CGI and stop-motion methods of practice, giving you an opportunity to see which way you would like your own work to develop.
Your second year is more focused, with an emphasis on production team working, as you share skills with others while you develop your own specialism. You will be supported in progressing your animation career path through professional development modules.
In your final year, you’ll put your own stamp on a dynamic and professional showreel, which will demonstrate your production skills to the industry and associated sectors that use animation as a creative medium.
You will have focused lectures on marketing and distributing your work either to the independent film sector or to the commercial end of the animation and games industries.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Arts University Plymouth
Arts, Design and Media
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
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)
Computer games and animation
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
We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.
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.
£13k
£16k
£18k
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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Post-six month graduation stats:
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It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
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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