Animation

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Start date: September 2024

Deadlines for on-time applications

2024 entry application deadlines

For courses starting in 2024 (and for deferred applications), your application should be with us at UCAS by one of these dates – depending on what courses you apply for. If your completed application – including all your personal details and your academic reference – is submitted by the deadline, it is guaranteed to be considered.

16 October 2023 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – any course at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or for most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science, and dentistry. You can add choices with a different deadline later, but don’t forget you can only have five choices in total.

31 January 2024 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – for the majority of courses.

Some course providers require additional admissions tests to be taken alongside the UCAS application, and these may have a deadline. Find out more about these tests at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/admissions-tests

Check course information in the search tool to see which deadline applies to you at the application weblink below.

Apply as soon as possible: Student funding arrangements mean that as offers are made and places fill up, some courses may only have vacancies for students from certain locations. It’s therefore really important that you apply for your chosen courses by the appropriate deadlines mentioned above, as not all courses will have places for all students.

All applications received after 30 June are entered into Clearing - find out more about Clearing at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing

Overview
Animation at Ulster is a studio focused, highly creative course, specialising in computer animation for games, VFX, feature and TV animation.

Summary
Animation has become in integral part of the film, television, games and design industries – from Jurassic Park to Avatar, Angry Birds to Call of Duty, Xbox to mobile. The field of animation has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. With new distribution methods and technologies, your work will have many paths to reach a worldwide audience.

During the course you will study drawing, the principles of animation and design, storytelling and narrative, design and the history, practice and theory of screen production. You will gain an understanding of creative and technical process using industry standard software in order to create interactive designs and computer animations.

As animation is a highly collaborative environment you will learn the principles and practices through teamwork, while developing your individual professional practice. The course enables you to enter the industry with a range of exciting and rapidly evolving platforms as well as facilitating numerous opportunities for employment in a rapidly growing area at an international level.

This course aims to provide you with specialist knowledge and skills necessary to develop and adapt your chosen career in the diverse creative practices associated with animation. The course aims to contribute, through the education of its students as adaptive and resilient designers, writers and thinkers, to the local, national and international practice of design in its current and future forms.

Please note: The course is currently being revalidated and the content is subject to change. Please get in touch with the course team or the admissions team for further information.

Foundation Year
A foundation diploma year gives you the opportunity to explore a range of art and design approaches and disciplines to help you choose your undergraduate specialism.

About
BDes Hons Animation aims to provide you with specialist knowledge and skills necessary to develop and adapt your chosen career in the diverse creative practices associated with interactive design and animation. The course aims to contribute, through the education of its students as adaptive and resilient designers, writers and thinkers, to the local, national and international practice of design in its current and future forms.

The aims of the course are to:
• Enable you to acquire a high degree of knowledge, understanding and experience through the practice of animation; and to acquire a high level of practical, conceptual and aesthetic skills and the critical means to integrate them in design problem-solving;
• Enable you to pursue a high level of intellectual enquiry, independence, and critical awareness through academic conventions and through the creative practice of animation;
• Offer the opportunity to work collaboratively, on live projects, industry generated initiative and competitions, in order to gain essential work based learning experience and develop the transferable skills essential to succeed in the creative industries;
• Enable you to acquire experiences, skills and knowledge appropriate to the professional contexts of design interaction and animation.

For students on the Diploma in Professional Practice (DPP) International (DPP) programme:
• Enhance an understanding of professional practice;
• Develop personal and professional skills.

For students on the Diploma in International Academic Studies (DIAS) programme:
• Enhance an understanding of another cultural educational environment;
• Develop self-reliance and independence.

Structure & content
You will work both collaboratively and individually in an immersive studio environment on a wide range of animation based projects. Students will have the opportunity to develop your own specialist skills or study a range of areas to develop a wider understanding of the subject.

First year provides you with the opportunity to work together on a range of projects designed to introduce them to the broad range of artistic and technical opportunities within the subject area. Creative problem solving and visual thinking are central in year one where you develop new world concepts, which become fertile ground for design thinking and creative experimentation. Students develop the skills and thinking to create 2D and/or 3D computer animated films and interactive designs using the latest industry standard technologies.

Second year will cultivate an environment where each student can experience a wide range of facets within the spectrum of animation. Greater emphasis will be placed on the individual’s role within teamwork, mirroring the collaborative nature of the digital creative industries. You are encouraged to become increasingly aware of your strengths and how they align to roles and opportunities within industry.

After successful completion of Year 2 you can opt to undertake a placement year. Many students avail of this exciting and valuable opportunity and see a great benefit when they return to study in their Final year.

The final year focuses on students building a body of work in preparation for entry to the professional arena - this usually takes form through the development of a range of skills on both individual and group projects. Opportunities exist to embrace group projects to develop innovative outcomes with potential for commercialisation beyond the course through the Masters pathways on offer, which potentially integrate with the undergraduate programme.

The final year also engages students with a range of industry led projects and international competitions designed to showcase your abilities on a world stage amongst your peers. These include D&AD Young Blood; YCN (Young Creatives Network); ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) and other competitions as appropriate.

Please note: The course is currently being revalidated and the content is subject to change. Please get in touch with the course team or the admissions team for further information.

Modules
Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.

Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.

Year 1
The World of Animation
Animation Studio
3D Digital Literacy
Animated Narratives

Year 2
Animation Discourse
Animation Strategies
Animation for the Creative Industries
Character Creation

Year 3
Placement - Optional
International Academic Studies - Optional

Year 4
Animation Dissertation/Report
Creative Futures
Major Project

Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes. You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.

Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.

Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.

Award: Bachelor of Design with Honours

Associate awards
Diploma in Professional Practice DPP
Diploma in International Academic Studies DIAS

Work placement / study abroad
Students are strongly encouraged to undertake an optional work placement and/or take advantage of the excellent study abroad programme leading to the award of a Diploma in Professional Practice or Diploma in International Academic Studies. The DPP is generally European-based and studio orientated. The DIAS allows for further study at an institution in either Europe or in the USA, under the Erasmus scheme, the Study USA scheme or the Year abroad scheme. You will obtain the appropriate award in addition to your degree's classification on successful completion of your Final Year.

Ulster University,
2-24 York Street,
Belfast
BT15 1AP
T: 02870 123 456