CR5001 Specialism Module Returns 13 Jan 2025

Leopard animation by Melissa Coarezza

Module CR5001 "Animation Specialism" starts on January 13th 2025 (you can see our 2024-25 term dates here).  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 largely self-study module in which students select an area of specialism and develop their skills.  CR5001 runs for five weeks, culminating in a portfolio presentation.  The final deadline for submission is Wednesday 8 February 2025. 

Video Introduction to Specialism Module CR5001

CR5001-DF2CA Animation Specialism – 15 Credits

Dragon animation by Shauna Ludgate

Animation Specialism is the third module in the 2024-25 academic year.  In this self-study module, students to explore a subject specialism of their own choice. 

Find Your Passion

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

This could be character animation or creature animation, or even storyboarding or character design. 

Tutor

CR5001 Tutor Kevin Richards.

CR5001 is taught by animation veteran Kevin Richards.

Choose Your Specialism

This is largely a self-study module and students are free to choose their specialism. Suggestions include: Character Animation, Animal & Creature Animation, Games Animation, 2D Animation, Character Rigging, Cinematography & layout, Storyboarding, Production Design, Editing and Sound Design, Producing Animation.

Preparation for Studio Module PR5001
The Specialism module helps students get ready for the Studio Project PR5001 that starts later in the year, where our second year students collaborate in teams, contributing their own unique skills to the group project. 

Types of Specialism:

1. Character Animation

Character animation by Rich Jeffery

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.

To see some examples of successful character animation at our YouTube channel, follow this link to our Character Animation Playlist. 

2. Animal & Creature Animation 

Students wishing to specialise in Animal & Creature Animation will create a short piece of animation 7-11 seconds long, bringing an animal or 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. 

3. Games Animation 

Dragon by Tim Golton

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.

5. Character Rigging & Product Visualisation

Production Visualisation by Jack Thompson

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.  

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. 

Today, Sebastian is working as a 3D Layout artist at The 3rd Floor.

7. Storyboarding. 

"Brodiaga" by Anastasia Gurova

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 on the right:

 

8. Production Design (Concept Art)

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

Creature Animation by Shenaaz Suliman

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
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.   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. Most likely, it will not.

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:

• Using and Adapting Motion Capture Animating with Motion Capture data by Steven Lall  https://vimeo.com/album/5605446 For more on the Motion Capture tutorial by Steven Lall, read this blog post. 
• MoCap Retargeting. MoCap retargeting with Amedeo Beretta https://vimeo.com/356232162. Formore on MoCap retargeting, read this blog post.
• Technical Animation & Dynamics Dynamics, Particles, NCloth and Hair  by Michael Davies
  https://vimeo.com/album/5399143  
• Character Rigging Introduction to Character Rigging
  by Michael Davies  https://vimeo.com/album/5399149

Schedule
Teaching starts on Monday January 13th 2025 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) 

Retrospective

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 apply for one of our courses, follow this link.