Friday 11 December 2020

CR5001 Specialism Anim Starts 4 January 2021

Leopard animation by Daniel Amor
Module CR5001 "Animation Specialism" starts on January 4th 2021. 

The second year of animation studies at Escape Studios is where our students begin to focus on individual proficiency in the craft of animation.

The Specialism Module (Module Code CR5001) is a self-study module in which students must select an area of specialism and develop their proficiency in that area. CR5001 is worth 15 credits and runs for five weeks, culminating in a portfolio presentation.



CR5001-DF2CA Animation Specialism – 15 Credits
Animation Specialism is the third module in the 2019-20 academic year. In this self-study module, students to explore a subject specialism of their own choice. This could be character animation or creature animation, or even a related discipline such as storyboarding or character design.

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

Self Study
CR5001 is very much a self-study module; students identify their area of specialism and find learning resources to develop their skills, with support from tutors Alexander Williams and Amedeo Beretta

Preparation for Studio Module PR5001
The Specialism module is also where we get ready for the Studio Project PR5001 that starts later in the year, where 2nd year students begin to collaborate in teams, contributing their own unique skillset to the group project. 

Types of Specialism
Character animation by Chan Sagoo
We anticipate that most students will likely wish to specialise in Character Animation or Creature Animation, perhaps entering the 11 Second Club Competition, or choosing a line of dialogue to animate.

Character Animation at YouTube

Animation & Creature Animation at YouTube
To see some examples of animal and creature animation, follow this link to our YouTube Channel

Animation-Related Disciplines
Dinosaur animation by Edoardo Sartori

Other options might include animation-related disciplines such as:
Storyboards by Anastasia Gurova
Development and Pre-Production
There are many jobs to do on an animated film and we need many different skills in order to make them work successfully, such as storyboarding and 3D Layout.

CR5001 is an opportunity for students to find something that they feel passionate about and interested in, and specialise in that subject.

Concept Art by Francesco Leoni
CR5001 Self-Study Module
Each student will choose their own individual specialism, in a field of their choice. 

As a result, the focus of CR5001 is of necessity largely on self-study, supported where possible by tutorials and appropriate classroom teaching.

Students should not expect that the classroom teaching will necessarily map directly onto their chosen area of specialism. Most likely, it will not.

CR5001 - Student Work
Below are some examples of student work.

Character Animation by Maria Robertson
Maria Robertson chose character animation as her specialism. Maria is now working as an animator at Factory 42.



Above: Character animation for Specialism Module CR5001 by Maria Robertson


Cinematography by Sebastian Kuder
Sebastian Kuder decided to specialise in cinematography and 3D layout.  Today, Sebastian is a 3D Layout artist at The 3rd Floor.




Tutors
Iliana Franklin
This year, guest tutors include producer Steve Burch on producing animation, story artist Iliana Franklin on storyboardingMichael Davies on character rigging, Steve Sole on Character Design, and Steve Lall on motion capture.

Portfolio
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 (see below).



Experimentation
Specialism Module CR5001 is a great opportunity to try out different ideas, learn from a variety of guest tutors from industry, and explore a wide range of creative choices. It's where the focus of the course starts to change from "top-down" (do what you're told) to "bottom up" (learn to become a creative artist).

Vimeo Tutorials
Character animation by Paloma Zhu
We have hundreds of tutorials at our Vimeo channel to support our students. For example, for Motion Capture, Rigging and Dynamics, we recommend the following:

Schedule
Teaching starts on Monday January 5th 2021 and the module lasts for five weeks. See the calendar below for week-by-week details.



Assignment Brief
Sabre Tooth by Paloma Zhu
The Module Descriptor states: “The student will present a portfolio of evidence showing development in their specialisation in the context of the team studio project and established theory and practice. They should highlight where specific learning outcomes have been met. The Portfolio Review with a tutor will support this.”

In practice, this assignment involves submitting a short piece of work based on your chosen specialism. If the final piece is fully animated, it should be around 11 seconds long. If it is a storyboard piece, it should be around 30 seconds long. If this is a character design piece, it should include designs and turnarounds for 3-4 characters, a small Art Bible. 

Focus on your chosen area of specialism and produce a piece of work that helps you develop your skills in this area.

Character animation by Jamie Floodgate
Assessment Criteria
Creativity - 25%
Creativity, inventiveness, Imagination, Innovation

Development and Pre-production - 25%
How well was the project developed? Planning, exploration, design, storyboards, thumbnail sketches, animatic (where appropriate)

Production - 25%
Were appropriate techniques used, and to what standard? How well is it realised, does it meet the brief? Overall quality of animation or of the project work.

Post-Production - 25%
MoCap by Steven Lall

Texturing and Rendering, Music, Audio and Sound Effects (where appropriate)

Submission Deadline
The submission is due on Wednesday 3rd February 2021 at 11.59pm.  Presentations and Peer Reviews are at 9.30am on Thursday 4th February at 9.30am. Submission is via email to your tutor, along with a link to your work at your Vimeo Channel, website or blog. Note that there is no Retrospective due for this module.


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 2021, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.


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