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Animation and VFX (Full-time) (BA Hons)

Swansea
3 Years Full-Time
120 UCAS Points

Bringing amazing visions roaring to life!

Our Animation and VFX programme considers the creative and technological developments in the inclusion of animated and virtual production design elements. You will have more opportunities to build a strong portfolio of studio production work and Animation and VFX-focused work thanks to this degree, which will also increase your chances of landing a job in the field.

With the help of this curriculum, you will be able to efficiently manage the entire production cycle of digital animation and visual production artefacts by expanding your practical and intellectual knowledge of it.

You will have the opportunity to explore contemporary opportunities in Computer Animation and VFX creatively and imaginatively while acknowledging the social and cultural context in which they communicate.

The growth of intellectual skills like analysis, inventiveness, critical assessment, and others will be a theme throughout your formal classes and learning process. The purpose of lectures is to examine ideas and theories while gaining knowledge to support enhanced artistic and technical abilities.

Course details

Start date:
Study modes:
  • On-campus
  • Full-time
Language:
  • English
  • Bilingual
Institution code:
T80
UCAS code:
AVF1
Course length:
3 Years Full-Time
Entry requirements:
120 UCAS Points

Tuition Fees 2023/24 and 24/25
Home (Full-time): £9,000 per year
Overseas (Full-time): £13,500 per year

Why choose this course?

01
We have the only simulated production environment in the UK that connects Animation to Film and Music Tech and Performing Arts — all under a singular studio pipeline, replicating animation productions made in Hollywood!
02
We task you to you create for your industry - and for your audience, with live briefs for film, television and beyond.
03
A connected, collaborative creative environment. Industry-facing projects, all stemming from some twenty year relationships with a community of artists, animators and digital artists.

What you will learn

  • Classic animation techniques
  • Technology harnessed designs
  • Skills surpassing breakthroughs

We are all about breathing life into your art. You get the opportunity to kindle your imagination or treasured storylines, to see your dreams alive on screen.

We love story. We love production design and conceptual work. We love animating. Whether 2D, stop frame, 3D — it’s all-immersive in digital animation.

It’s rare to have so much class contact time at University these days. Our staff live for art and animation, creating our own work. We provide the best support to make your reels stand out.

This is a course forged to help you. You find what you love — in film, conceptual design, in modelling, in anything animated, in any form – and we help to realise your dreams.

Our dedicated Computer Animation facilities include a large computer lab with hardware featuring all of the software needed to produce models and animations (e.g. MAYA, Z-Brush, Unreal, etc.).

Workshops are regularly held to help to underpin work covered in class, and on a variety of production stages, (e.g. post-production editing and camera work, often via friends on the FILM degree).

Visual Studies

(20 credits)

Introduction to Virtual Production

(20 credits)

Introduction to Character Animation

(20 credits)

Environment Design

(20 credits)

Academic and Professional Development

(10 Credits)

Introduction to 3D Modelling

(10 Credits)

Animation Insights and Perspectives

(10 Credits)

VFX for Positive Impact

(10 Credits)

Advanced Character Animation

(20 credits)

Visual Effects for Animation
Sound Design for Screen

(20 credits)

Body Mechanics and Creature Animation

(20 credits)

Virtual Production Design

(20 credits)

Evolving your Creative Craft

(20 Credits)

Experimental Animation Techniques

(10 Credits)

Independent Project

(40 credits)

Emerging Trends

(20 credits)

Advanced Character Performance

(20 Credits)

Personal Portfolio Development

(20 Credits)

Advanced Lighting and Rendering

(20 Credits)

Course Page Disclaimer

  • We listen to student feedback and insights from industry and from professionals to ensure that course content is high-quality and up-to-date, and that it offers the best possible preparation for your future career or study goals. 

    For this reason, there might be modifications to the content of your course over time, to keep up to date with changes in the subject area or in the sector. If a module is no longer running, we’ll make sure to keep you informed, and work with you to choose a different suitable module.

testimonial

Staff

Our People

You will be taught and supported by a wide range of professional staff and teams here to help you get the university experience you are looking for. Our teaching staff were ranked 2nd in Wales for assessments and feedback (NSS 2023) meaning the comments you get back from your work will help you learn. Our commitment to your learning has seen our students us as Top 10 in the UK for Lecturers and Teaching Quality. Find out more about our academic staff who teach across our courses. 

Accommodation

example of student bedroom

Swansea Accommodation

Swansea has a huge student population, and the variety of accommodation available will leave you feeling spoilt for choice. Various purpose-built student accommodation providers provide accommodation in Swansea, and the accommodation team can guide you through your options. It will offer ongoing support throughout your time as a UWTSD student.

Further information

  • We are interested in creative people that demonstrate a strong commitment to art and/or design and therefore we welcome applications from individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. To assess student suitability for their chosen course we arrange interviews for all applicants at which your skills, achievements and life experience will be considered as well as your portfolio of work.

    Our standard offer for a degree course is 120 UCAS tariff points. We expect applicants to have a grade C or above in English Language (or Welsh) at GCSE level, together with passes in another four subjects. Plus we accept a range of Level 3 qualifications including:

    • Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, plus one GCE A-Level in a relevant academic subject
    • Three GCE A-Levels or equivalent
    • BTEC Extended Diploma in a relevant subject, with minimum grades of Merit
    • International Baccalaureate score of 32
    • Other relevant qualifications can be considered on an individual basis

    Qualifications are important, however, our offers are not solely based on academic results. If you don’t have the required UCAS points then please contact the courses admissions tutor or email artanddesign@uwtsd.ac.uk as we can consider offers to applicants based on individual merit, exceptional work, and/or practical experience.

  • A lot of the briefs and coursework and submissions ask you to create something fresh, new, inspiring — and all industry leaning. You have creative input on new worlds and imaginings.

    Visually enriched tutorials, lectures, presentations, overviews and exercises — always with an eye on concept; always thinking on how to extend this work for showreels. Feedback can often be illustrated and/or filled with more visual tips and guides to help with alternative designs, movements, narrative structure, etc, etc.

    We ask you to engage with some amazing kit. We harness technology — we control it - via drawing, cintiqs, model-making, 2D and 3D software, production techniques and skillsets.

    We provide a lot of the basics, with specific challenges to get you off the ground  — and in HE — ask you to fly high.

  • Our students have access to a diverse range of equipment and resources, which in most cases are sufficient to complete their programme of study. We provide the basic materials necessary for students to develop their practical work within our extensive workshop and studio facilities.

    However, it is likely that art and design students will incur some additional costs to extend their investigation of their personal practice. For example, purchasing their own specialised materials and equipment, joining in optional study trips, and printing.

    Students are expected to bring their own personal art and design equipment with them when they commence the course.  We can advise on the correct equipment needed for your programme of studies and signpost appropriate suppliers if you wish to purchase essential items before or during your studies.  

    A basic ‘art and design kit’ will cost approximately £100 but you may well already have much of the equipment required so check with us first.  Also, although we have extensive dedicated digital design studios (PC and MAC) for you to undertake your coursework you may wish to bring your own digital devices, again check with us first before making a purchase.

    Depending on distance and duration, optional study visits can vary in cost from approximately £10 to visit local galleries and exhibitions to £200+ for overseas visits – these costs cover things like transport, entry to venues and accommodation and are normally at reduced rates for our students.

  • You may be eligible for funding to help support your study. To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities that are available, please visit our Bursaries and Scholarships section.

  • Students can also take up the opportunity to study a semester in the USA and Canada.

  • Stepping stones to industry!

    An animation degree under your belt allows you to think about a lot of different industries — and you will have transferable skills to make these moves. Some of our graduates have their own games, visualisation or production companies. Some work as entrepreneurs on their own animation brands. A lot find work on some outstanding projects, feature films and in production houses.

    Graduates have gone on to work in Oscar-winning teams and on the feature films

    • Boxtrolls
    • Captain America
    • Chronicles of Narnia
    • Fantastic Beasts
    • Guardians of the Galaxy
    • Hotel Transylvania
    • Iron Man 2
    • Jungle Book
    • Kubo and The Two Strings
    • Man of Steel
    • Prometheus
    • Skyfall
    • Thor
    • World War Z

    and many, many more.