Friday 14 September 2018

What's in the 2nd Year at Escape Studios?

In the second year of studies our animators develop their animation skills, start to specialise in their chosen field and also tackle their first group projects.

For our animation students, there are four modules in the second year: AN5001 (character animation), AN5002 (creature animation), CR5001 (specialism) and PR5001 (Studio Project)

Character Animation by Chan Sagoo
2nd Year of Animation at Escape Studios
The second year of animation study at Escape Studios involves four modules, which run consecutively:

2nd Year of VFX at Escape Studios

VFX work from VX5001 and VX5002
The second year of VFX study at Escape Studios involves four modules, which run consecutively:
  • VX5001 - 3D VFX - 30 Credits
  • VX5002 - 2D VFX - Compositing - 30 Credits
  • CR5001 - Specialism - 15 Credits
  • PR5001 - Studio Project - 45 Credits

120 Credits
Second year animation from PR5001
The second year is worth 120 Credits in total. Students must pass all four modules to progress to the third year, and the year is overall worth 20% of a student's final degree classification.   

AN5001 Computer Animation Pro – 30 Credits
This is the second animation module (in the first year, students tackle AN4001; Animation Core), in which students tackle character actions, pantomine, acting, performance and dialogue. The module culminates in an entry in the monthly 11 Second Club competition. In 2018 five of our students placed in the top twenty entries in the competition (below is an entry by Maria Robertson). In 2019 two our students placed 3rd and 4th respectively.

To see more about AN5001 Computer Animation Pro, follow this link. 




Bear animation by Amanda Costa
AN5002 Computer Animation Advanced – 30 Credits
AN5002 is a six week module, which usually finishes just before the Christmas holidays. Students tackle animal and creature animation, including quadruped locomotion and performance.

Much of the animation industry in London focuses on realistic animal and creature work, achieving photorealistic levels of quality, so it's important that we tackle head-on the precise and demanding nature of this kind of work.

Creature Animation Demo Reel
Check out some of the excellent work done by our second year animators below.



To see more detail on AN5002 Computer Animation Advanced, follow this link.


Motion Capture Animation by Steven Lall
CR5001-DF2CA Animation Specialism – 15 Credits
Animation Specialism is the third module in the 2018-19 academic year, allowing students to explore a subject specialism of their own choice.  This could be character or creature animation, or even a related discipline such as storyboarding or character design.

CR5001 is a specialist module, as we bring in guest tutors to deliver different areas of teaching, allowing students to push their creative skills and explore a wide range of creative choices.

Guest Tutors
In previous years, tutors have included producer Steve Burch on producing animation,  story artist Iliana Franklin on storyboarding, Ash Ellis on Lighting for Animators, Michael Davies on Character Rigging, and Steve Sole on character design.

The module culminates in the presentation of a portfolio of work in the student's chosen field. For example, Aaron Hopwood chose character animation as his specialism (below).



To see more detail about CR5001, the 2nd year Specialism Module, follow this link.

PR5001 Studio Project – 45 Credits
The year culminates in the PR5001 Studio Project, where students collaborate to work together to a brief, designed as closely as possible to simulate working on a live client project. The Studio Project runs for 12 weeks, with a week off for Easter. The Studio Project is broken up into two projects, giving students the chance to practice digital film-making twice in a short space of time. This allows our animators to learn from their mistakes and develop a much more efficient work flow.

Project 1 - A Teaser/Trailer for an animated film, game or TV Show  



Little Wing, by Aaron Hopwood (Writer, Director, Editor ),  Piotr Noworyta (CG Supervisor), Maria Robertson (Producer), and Nichole Gonzalez (Storyboards). Little Wing was animated in Maya and rendered in Arnold.

Project 2 - An animal or creature documentary 



"Planet Mars", a documentary created and animated by 2nd year animation students at Escape Studios. Directed by Sebastian Kuder; Katerina Zacharakis - Producer; Stephen Mealand – Storyboards; Maria Robertson –Storyboards, Nichole Gonzalez – Writer.  Planet Mars was rendered in Unreal Engine and has made the official selection for many film festivals around the world.

The Studio Project takes us up to the end of May and is the final project for the academic year. It also involves entering the "Rookies" annual contest.

Vimeo Tutorial Channel
Vimeo Tutorial Channel
Finally, don't forget our Vimeo Tutorial Channel, which has hundreds of tutorial videos on all aspects of animation and related disciplines.

Internships
We also encourage all our students to start thinking early about the kinds of companies they might like to work for, and consider internships over the long summer vacation. A successful internship can be a powerful stepping stone to a job at the end of the final academic year.

2023-24 Animation Schedule
To see the 2023-24 Schedule for Animation (still subject to change), see the calendar below:

Term 1 - September to December 2023


Term 2 - January - March 2024


Term 3 - April to May 2024




1st, 3rd and 4th year at Escape Studios
Follow the links below to see more about the undergraduate experience at Escape Studios:
The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2023, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.


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