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Animation

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MA (eca) Animation - 1 Year (Full-time)
Fees
MFA Animation - 2 Years (Full-time)
Fees

Information on fees & costs

Individual programme fees are linked above. For detailed information on fee status, policies, payment and funding opportunities see:

Contact information
ECA Graduate School
Phone: +44(0)131 651 5736
Email: ecapgtdegrees@ed.ac.uk
Jared Taylor (Programme Director)
Phone: +44(0)131 651 5964
Email: Jared.Taylor@ed.ac.uk
Address: Edinburgh College of Art
The University of Edinburgh
Evolution House, Grassmarket
Edinburgh
EH1 2LE

Entry requirements

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent. Any appropriate professional experience will also be considered.

This programme requires the submission of a portfolio and study proposal. Find out more about how to apply:

International students

All applicants must meet our general entry and language requirements. Detailed advice for international students is available here:

Programme description

Animation is a fantastically diverse medium, and its possibilities are expanding continually. Animators are dealing with new platforms for delivery, new technologies for production, and new audiences as the theories and contexts of animation are being developed and understood. Animation has become an integral element of most feature production via VFX pipelines, documentary production through the use of data visualisation and improved compositing techniques, and a vital part of any interactive production.

In order to address this wide range of potential interests within the discipline of animation the postgraduate animation courses at ECA are non-prescriptive in terms of methodology, and of output, and a large part of your research work on the course will relate to both your chosen way of working and how to position yourself in the wider milieu of animation.

The courses are absolutely NOT a substitute for previous animation experience or education; animation is a discipline in which there are no shortcuts. What they are designed to do is to enhance and supplement a previous specialisation, whether that was in animation, or not, with an awareness of how to affect dynamic transformation and movement, whether it’s upon a product, an environment, a data set or a narrative, and in order to achieve the above, you will be required to be resourceful, critical, and above all independent.

We are not analogue, we are not digital, we are not practice, we are not theory. We are all those and more, we are a synthesis, we are a hybrid, we are animation…

Programme structure

The main focus of your programme will be the production of a short animated film; although there is no set limit, most students produce a piece of between five and 12 minutes in length. This will be part of a substantive body of practical and written work that will also be submitted for assessment.

While the MA can be completed as a standalone degree in one year, the MA and MFA programme streams are interlocking and continuation to the MFA is possible.

Both programmes include a combination of practical studio work, theory, written studies, professional practice preparation, and a lecture/seminar series, which explores the wider context of your discipline.

Career Opportunities

Our graduates have an increasing set of opportunities to consider upon leaving us. Our graduates find work in four main arenas:

These areas of employment are all expanding, the entertainment sector usually expands in times of recession, and as people feel the need to analyse and understand what is happening in that recession then the opportunities for data visualisation similarly increase.

There is a strong tendency towards independence in our graduates, many of whom have gone on to careers as award winning independent filmmakers. Those who have followed the studio route have ended up working at a variety of commercially important companies such as the BBC, Channel 4, Rushes, Aardman, Laika, Passion Pictures, Blue Zoo, Tiger Aspect, KoLik, and Nexus Productions, or with directors such as Tim Burton and Sylvain Chomet.

Funding

Edinburgh College of Art are offering scholarships to applicants for postgraduate programmes in our five schools:

Please see Scholarships and Student Funding Services for other funding opportunities:

Further Information

This article was published on Apr 25, 2013


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