Our first year at Escape Studios is the same for all our undergraduate students, whether they are studying animation, games, or visual effects.
That means that in the first year of studies ("Level 4"), all our students study a broad, flexible curriculum, enabling them to understand the whole animation, games and VFX pipeline before committing to one specialism in their second year.
Three "Art of" Courses - One Curriculum
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| First Year Animation by Sam Baker |
A single curriculum also ensures that all our students get a broad grounding in the overall digital pipeline, which is important for a deep understanding of how the creative industries work.
The First Year at Escape Studios is worth 120 credits.
The year starts with a week of Introduction To Maya, the main software that students at Escape Studios will encounter over the next three years. You can also find our Intro to Maya tutorials at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel.
CR4002 – Creative Foundations - Craft (30 Credits)
CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft is, as the name suggests, a foundation course in creativity and creative thinking. Some software, such as Photoshop, is taught in this module; and students are encouraged to explore creative ideas and creative ways of thinking. You can read more about it here. CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft includes within it a number of "mini-modules":
PR4001 – Creative Foundations - Project (2 week group project) (30 Credits)
In PR4001 Creative Foundations - Project, students take the skills they have learned in CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft and complete a team project. In the case of our undergraduate animators, their task is to create an animatic for a proposed animated TV series. For many of our students, this will be their first experience of a team project, working together in groups - just like in industry. You can read more about PR4001 here, and see an example below:
"Alpha Lighthouse at Whale's End" Credits: Paloma Zhu: Director, story, concept art. Morgan Mda: Storyboards and concept art. Konrad Peczkowicz: Editor, sound design. Callum Wylie: Producer, post-production.
Christmas and New Year Holidays
Following PR4001 students have a roughly 2-3 week break over the
Christmas and New Year holidays, and then return to Escape Studios in the second week of January.
Directed Study Week - January
During their first week back at Escape, students have a "directed study week", which involves some online training to get students up to speed with the basics of Maya. The idea is to get used to the Maya interface before formal teaching begins. To see what exactly is in Directed Study Week, follow this link.
AN4001 – Animation 1 (15 Credits)
AN4001 is a four week animation module in which students explore the basics of animation, from a bouncing ball through to sophisticated motion. Assignments include walks, runs, jumps and the use of live action reference to animate complex action.
AN4001 Demo Reel
GA4001 – Games (15 Credits)
This 4 week games module introduces students to the basics of creating 3D assets for games (using Maya), and integrating them into the game engine - Unreal Engine. Core skills include modelling, texturing and lighting, skills which are also transferable to other disciplines, such as animation and also VFX. The module builds up to an industry brief - creating a "health pickup" for a game.
VX4002 - 3D VFX (15 Credits)
VX4002 is a four week module that introduces students to the basics of the 3D pipeline. Students learn 3D modelling, texturing and lighting in Maya for the 3D VFX pipeline, aiming at the kind of photorealistic style which dominates work in the visual effects industry.
Grand total: 120 Credits
The first year is worth 120 credits. However, though students must pass all the modules to progress to the second year, the first year grades do not count towards students' final degree classification.
Tutors
Credits
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| First Year Animation by Maria Robertson |
Grand Total: 120 Credits. Follow the links above to see more about these modules.
Year One Showreel by Daniel Beeching
To see some student work from the first year, watch Daniel Beeching's reel below:
First Year - Level 4
The first year of study is known as "Level 4". At Escape Studios, this involves six consecutive modules, running one after another.
Intro to Maya
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| Intro to Maya tutorials |
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| First year artwork by Ronnie Kaye |
CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft is, as the name suggests, a foundation course in creativity and creative thinking. Some software, such as Photoshop, is taught in this module; and students are encouraged to explore creative ideas and creative ways of thinking. You can read more about it here. CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft includes within it a number of "mini-modules":
- Movement and Narrative, 2 weeks exploring the basics of creativity, storytelling, design and acting. To see more about this mini-module, follow this link. This mini-module is taught by Aardman storyboard artist Clara Cornish.
- Photography and Composition Taught by photographer Michael Hunter, this mini-module explores traditional photography skills including an understanding of composition, lenses and the art of the still image. To read more about Photography & Composition, follow this link.
- Cinematography and Lighting. Taught by Clement Gharini, our in-house Director of Photography, this mini-module introduces students to the art of moving cameras and green screen photography. To see more about Cinematography & Lighting, read this blog post.
- Art Foundation. The Art Foundation mini-module is taught by Lorenzo Mannicia, and explores artistic research, mood boards, art bibles and "photobashing". You can read more about Art Foundation here.
PR4001 – Creative Foundations - Project (2 week group project) (30 Credits)
In PR4001 Creative Foundations - Project, students take the skills they have learned in CR4002 - Creative Foundations - Craft and complete a team project. In the case of our undergraduate animators, their task is to create an animatic for a proposed animated TV series. For many of our students, this will be their first experience of a team project, working together in groups - just like in industry. You can read more about PR4001 here, and see an example below:
"Alpha Lighthouse at Whale's End" Credits: Paloma Zhu: Director, story, concept art. Morgan Mda: Storyboards and concept art. Konrad Peczkowicz: Editor, sound design. Callum Wylie: Producer, post-production.
Christmas and New Year Holidays
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| Student work from VX4002 |
Directed Study Week - January
During their first week back at Escape, students have a "directed study week", which involves some online training to get students up to speed with the basics of Maya. The idea is to get used to the Maya interface before formal teaching begins. To see what exactly is in Directed Study Week, follow this link.
AN4001 – Animation 1 (15 Credits)
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| Animation from AN4001 by Kam Pranckunaite |
You can read more about AN4001 here. The principal software we teach is Maya, but our 2D animation students can animate in Toonboom Harmony. To see more detail about what's inside AN4001, take a look at this blog post.
AN4001 Demo Reel
GA4001 – Games (15 Credits)
This 4 week games module introduces students to the basics of creating 3D assets for games (using Maya), and integrating them into the game engine - Unreal Engine. Core skills include modelling, texturing and lighting, skills which are also transferable to other disciplines, such as animation and also VFX. The module builds up to an industry brief - creating a "health pickup" for a game.
VX4002 - 3D VFX (15 Credits)
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| Student work from 3D VFX Module VX4002 |
VX4002 is taught by Federico Arculeo. You can read more about VX4002 here.
VX4001 - Compositing for VFX (15 Credits)
VX4001 is a four week module which introduces students to the basics of compositing, using Nuke to combine elements in a visual effects environment.
VX4001 - Compositing for VFX (15 Credits)
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| Student compositing work from VX4001 |
Students learn a variety of skills including colour correction, 2D Nuke camera tracking and 3D projections to create a composited environment.
Grand total: 120 Credits
The first year is worth 120 credits. However, though students must pass all the modules to progress to the second year, the first year grades do not count towards students' final degree classification.
Tutors
There are many tutors for the First Year at Escape Studios. The overall co-ordinating tutor is Lorenzo Mannicia.
Summary
The first year at Escape Studios is very varied and diverse, and offers our students many opportunities to practice their creativity and pick up new skills. By the end of the year, students will be ready to move into their specialist area, and dig deeper into their specialist skillset.
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year at Escape Studios
To see what's in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year at Escape Studios, follow these links:
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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| Golden Acorn - directed by Maciej Osuch |
The first year at Escape Studios is very varied and diverse, and offers our students many opportunities to practice their creativity and pick up new skills. By the end of the year, students will be ready to move into their specialist area, and dig deeper into their specialist skillset.
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year at Escape Studios
To see what's in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year at Escape Studios, follow these links:
- First Year at Escape Studios
- Second year at Escape Studios
- Third year at Escape Studios.
- Fourth and final year, (integrated MArt)
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