Saturday 15 July 2023

CR6001 Specialism Module Starts Sept 2023

Frog by Bonnie Duncan
Module CR6001 "Specialism" forms part of the Third Year of Studies at Escape Studios. 

CR6001 is worth 30 Credits and starts on 18th September 2023.  It is a long module that runs over the course of the year. 

The Specialism Module (Module Code C65001) is a largely self-study module in which students select an area of specialism and develop their skills.  

CR6001 culminates in a portfolio presentation in May 2024, in which students present the work they have done over the previous year.  


CR6001 - Specialism – 30 Credits
Dragon animation by Shauna Ludgate
The Specialism Module forms part of the Third Year of Studies at Escape Studios. In this self-study module, students explore a subject specialism of their own choice. 

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

Animation Specialism
For animators, this could be character animation or creature animation, or even a related discipline such as storyboarding or character design. 

Choose Your Specialism
Creature animation by Shenaaz Suliman
The choice is yours, but our students generally choose from the following list:
  1. Character Animation
  2. Animal & Creature Animation
  3. Games Animation
  4. 2D Animation
  5. Character Rigging
  6. Cinematography
  7. Storyboarding
  8. Production Design
  9. Motion Capture
  10. Editing and Sound Design
  11. Producing Animation

Preparation for Studio Module PR6001
The Specialism module helps students contribute their own unique skills and talents to the 60 credit Studio Project Module PR6001, in which our third year students collaborate in teams, contributing to the group project. 

Types of Specialism:
Character animation by Chan Sagoo

1. Character Animation
This involves the creations of a short piece of character animation, with our without dialogue, 7-11 seconds long, most likely entering the monthly 11 Second Club Competition.


Maria Robertson chose character animation as her specialism; see her submission below. Maria is now working as an animator at Factory 42.





Aaron Hopwood also chose character animation as his specialism (see below).  Aaron is a working as an animator at Chinese Room in Brighton.




2. Animal & Creature Animation 
Students wishing to specialise in Animal & Creature Animation will bring animals and creature to life. Usually this specialism will involve the use of live-action reference.  To see some examples of animal and creature animation, follow this link to our YouTube Channel Animals & Creatures Playlist. 

Dinosaur animation by Edoardo Sartori
3. Games Animation 
Students wishing to specialise in Games Animation should animate around 7-11 seconds of a character doing some kind of physical action, or a series of physical actions.  Games animators tend to animate looping cycles and character actions, such as stunts, and combat moves.

4. 2D Animation 
2D Animation can be done in Adobe Animate (formerly Flash) or Toonboom Harmony - we have licenses for both.  Students wishing to specialise in 2D Animation should animate around 7-11 seconds of a character doing some kind of physical action, or perhaps delivering a line of dialogue, most likely entering the monthly 11 Second Club Competition. 

5. Character Rigging & Product Visualisation
Character Rigging is an important skill and vital for any project that seeks to create bespoke character rigs. We have a number of videos on character rigging at our Vimeo Channel. For some examples of character rigging, see this link to our YouTube Channel.  Below is a submission for Rigging and Production Visualisation by Escapee Jack Thompson.




6. Cinematography
A Cinematography Specialism also encompasses 3D Layout and Previsualisation. To see an example of what a submission in Cinematography might look like, see the video by Sebastian Kuder below. Cinematography is all about the art of animating movie cameras, using the camera to tell a visual story. 




Storyboarding is one of the most important skills needed for the creation of out short films.  A submission in this are will include the creation of a storyboard animatic, including sound effects, narration (where needed) and music. To see an example of a successful storyboard animatic, watch Brodiaga by Anastasia Gurova below:

"Brodiaga"

 

 

8. Production Design
Concept Art by Xu Xing
Production Design is another skill that is vital to the making of short films.  The Production Designer or Art director will create mood boards, and (later) concept art and colour keys, which will establish the look and feel of the project. 

Is the style realistic or cartoony? Graphic or stylised? What is the colour palette, and what is the camera style? The deliverable for this specialism will include an Animation Bible.  To see more about design at Escape Studios, follow this link.

9. Performance Capture Animation (MoCap)  
MoCap is a large and growing part of the animation pipeline. The deliverable for this specialism would be a finished, polished piece of motion capture animation around 7-11 seconds long.  For more on motion capture and how to specialise in this area of animation, read this blog post about our new tutorial by Amedeo Beretta.  

10. Editing and Sound Design
Every short film needs an Editor. The Editor is responsible for cutting and timing the edit, working with the director to tell the story. A good editor gathers up the animator's shots at the end of every day and cuts the new shots into the reel, adding sound effects, foley, narration and voice over to bring the project to life.

11. Producing Animation
Producing Animation is about project management, including the use of software such as Excel and Shotgun. Producers have to manage the team stay on schedule, and make sure the project gets over the finish line. This specialism might suits students who are well-organised with good people skills.  To see more detail on what might be involved in the Producing Animation Specialism, follow this link.

Concept Art by Francesco Leoni
Self-Study Module
CR6001 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.   Each student will choose their own individual specialism, in a field of their choice. 

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

Portfolio
The module culminates in the presentation of a portfolio of work in the student's chosen field. 

Experimentation
Specialism Module CR6001 is a great opportunity to try out different ideas, 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 Tutorial Channel to support our students. For example, for Motion Capture, Rigging and Dynamics, we recommend the following:

Schedule
Teaching starts on Monday 18th September 2023 and the module runs for the whole year until May 2024.

Tutors
Third year Animation and VFX tutors
CR6001 is taught by our third year animation and VFX tutors, all of who have extensive experience of working in industry:

1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th years at Escape Studios
To see what's in the first, second, third and fourth years at Escape Studios, follow the links below:

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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