ANIMATION PRACTICE - 2026/7

Module Overview

Animation is the essential precursor of live action film, and indeed of all of contemporary moving image media. With the explosion in 2D and 3D CGI, photoreal VFX and digital moving image synthesis, all of which are based on animation's core principles, understanding of the techniques and practices of animation has become an essential part of the digital media and games design armoury. It is also an inspiring and supremely creative artform - an intricate and exacting pleasure in which this module invites you proudly to engage. Animation Practice is, then, an intensive industry-standard animation package. Students, having acquired a solid foundation in 2D and 3D modelling, as well as animation basics in their first year, will progress in this module to more advanced animation techniques, applications and practices, including advanced pose and gesture and movement and timing techniques, animation pipelines and experimental animation.

The animation assignment involves a good deal of work by the students, as they make use of everything they have learned. The end result is an impressive themed scene, rendered from multiple different viewpoints and put together in one animated production. Animation Practice, along with other digital arts and games design modules in the second year, will connect to specialised and more broad modules in these areas in the first and final year of the programme. It also contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills in the second year of the degree, including specialist skills in 3D modelling and animation using, for example, tools such as Blender, Maya, Reallusion, C4D and Unreal Engine.

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

MOONEY Stephen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Keyframe Animation


• Character Design and Development


• Pose and Gesture


• Movement and Timing


• Narrative Structures and Story Forms


• Experimental Animation


• Storyboarding for Animation


• Animatics: Shots and Timings


• Graph Editing & Path Animation


• Fluids and Particles


• Lights and cameras


• Rendering techniques


• Integration of character animation software with video game pipelines


• Staging & Art Direction


• Sound


• Editing and Montage


• Putting it all Together

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• their understanding of animation production techniques, compositional skills, and how these are used in digital media arts industries


• their knowledge of, and skills with, animation practice technologies and the production of animation


• subject knowledge relating to the close analysis of form, meaning and context


• cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking


• professional/practical skills in communicating ideas in moving visual form that will feed forward into their future careers in the games and creative industries and beyond


• creative engagement with the opportunities and limitations of particular modes of animation and animation practice, skills that will feed forward into their modules in future years of the degree, including their major project in their final year


• creative engagement with the themes discussed on the module, which may include sustainability and global cultural awareness matters


• an ability to locate their own creative work fruitfully and articulately in relation to existing animation and animation practice and art traditions and the contemporary field of visual production as part of their journey to hone their contextualising skills through their degree

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Creative Project Portfolio with Reflective Critical Commentary (1500 words) 

This summative assessment represents a culmination of the module's output with students presenting a significant creative project demonstrating their skills in animation practice. They will also submit a reflective critical commentary on the project (1500 words)

Formative Assessment & Feedback:

• Coursework-in-progress: the portfolio consists of a modelling project and reflective journal commentary to a brief set by the module convenor.


• The module includes weekly exercises covering the animation skills, approaches and techniques required for each of the briefs


• Continuous formative assessment is given through timetabled group critiques and individual tutorials. Work-in-progress presented will be given direct feedback regarding its quality and standard at these times.


• During the 2 workshop or scheduled critique sessions held the week prior to submission of assessed works, students are given individualised technical support and immediate feedback on their works in progress.

There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as workshop or scheduled critique contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• introduce students to the principles, controls and workflow inherent in building, texturing, animating and rendering 3D models in a professional 3D modelling package
• enhance students' knowledge of, and expertise in, digital graphics in the gaming industries, the wider creative industries and beyond
• provide students with support to further develop their animation creativity and production skills
• guide students in understanding how digital media arts are used within industry
• provide students with experience of 'real world' industry briefs
• support students in focusing and developing their professional animation practice
• further develop students' reflective writing and analytical skills and confidence in relation to their studio-based activities

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• develop more advanced technical and composition skills in ways that facilitate creative independence and an ability to continue learning processes outside the classroom through the use of online tutorials, books, etc., providing an overview of digital and media arts production techniques and pipelines


• cumulatively develop both conceptual and practical animation skills, knowledge and understanding through a series of workshops and exercises


• allow students to understand how any compositing skills introduced in Level 4 are combined and used in the 3D Modelling and Animation industries. The students will build on these skills using professional 3D software and techniques


• facilitate students' continued productive reflection on their creative work and connect this to critical approaches encountered on the module


• hone and develop further students' writing skills in academic writing by developing an awareness of the application of their creative practice in informing their critical thinking, and vice versa, and in further developing workshopping and editing skills through in-class discussion and sharing of experience alongside study of critical and source materials


• further develop students' grounding in resourcefulness and resilience as developing digital artists by giving them the freedom to experiment with form and style in response to form-based exercises, and by providing them with the supportive and encouraging safe space of the workshop within which they can develop further their skills in receiving and giving constructive critical and creative responses to their own work and those of other students and to develop a more developed awareness of their creative process in relation to the technology, animation practice and game design


• enhance students visual communication and production skills that are so valuable in the games industries and related creative industries (and beyond) through the editing and feedback process engendered though the exercises and the workshopping process in tandem with an emphasis on seeing alongside designing as a critical tool in developing artistic skills

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures and demonstrations


• Tutorials and open-ended tasks


• Critiques and individual tutorials

Sessions are taught in small groups in bespoke labs. Cameras are supplied by the university; lab computers are equipped with suitable editing software. Students may also use their own equipment as desired.

Students will also engage with preparatory reading. Designed to help students reflect on and apply their learning to creative and critical outputs, the workshop environment acts as a safe space for developing and exchanging ideas, support and observational and animation practice and design skills.

Varied learning materials such as lexical texts, visual materials, sculptural objects and other physical material prompts, video and sound objects, games and gamified texts are designed to increase student accessibility and will present them with a range of interpretive materials and approaches with which to work and develop their own thinking and creative responses.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: DMA2015

Other information

The School of Arts, Humanities & Creative Industries is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: this 2^nd year module further explores digital animation practice and the and the production of animation not just in relation to games and the games industries, but beyond to a whole host of industries and fields that utilise these skills, techniques and technologies, such as film, tv, interactive art, music and many other industries by providing up-to-the-minute knowledge and understanding of tools and techniques used every day in these fields at professional level. In this module, students are exposed to, and develop expertise in, key digital animation skills, such as

keyframe animation, animatics, graph editing and path animation, rendering techniques, editing and montage, developing the sorts of proficiencies and abilities that will facilitate your practice as a professional digital visual arts practitioner. The skills and aptitudes developed in this module will connect to the visual arts and design modules throughout your degree, such as advanced character design, complex digital environments, visual narratives and virtual production.

Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of ‘personability’: so that employers, collaborators, funders and commissioners want to work with you.

Digital Capabilities: this module, and the programme as a whole, is built on the very latest digital techniques and technologies developed and employed by not just the games industries, but the wider creative industries and beyond, thus ‘digital capabilities’ is at the heart of your learning in Animation Practice. Students hone and develop their proficiencies in techniques and skills such as

digital character design and development, movement and timing in digital games, experimental animation practices, integration with video game pipelines, and more. In addition, the opportunities and challenges posed by generative AI will form part of the skills development of students. Appropriate use of digital media and communication platforms is increasingly important for visual arts and creative industry professionals and students will gain and develop those invaluable skills as part of this module.

Digital animation is an inherently ‘digital’ activity, and this module engages at all levels with technology and digital skills. As part of the module workshops, you will also be encouraged to communicate with one another and to work on some exercises using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other digital and file and output sharing platforms, skills will be carried forward to other modules across your degree and beyond.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Visual arts and digital animation are fields that reach out to all parts of the human experience and all parts of our global cultures. Digital animation and visual art also play a very important recording and preservation role in narrativising and keeping alive and vibrant different identities, cultures and experiences, especially those that might otherwise be silenced or endangered. The weekly workshop sessions give students the opportunity to present your own visual work and to experience and respond to those of others in a friendly, constructive and open forum. Games Design students will be exposed, throughout their degree, to a wide range of approaches, textuality and visuality from all over the world and students are encouraged to bring this knowledge into their animation, visual arts and design practice right from the beginning of their study of image creation.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: this module, through the shared experience that comes about from sharing work with other students will help equip you for the real world setting of your current and future digital visual art practice. You will benefit from the experience of your peers (a really important group, as you will be the digital visual artists of the future), from your tutors who are all have professional digital visual arts skills and from periodic guest speakers attached to the Games Design programme as you progress through your degree.

This module provides students with a number of challenges which reflect the current state of the art. Students need to respond to these with inventiveness and flexibility and are often required to research and develop their own solutions to given problems. This module also helps set the stage for more detailed discussions in later visual arts and design modules on your degree about your practice as an artist, the practicalities of building a portfolio of work and a profile as an artist in the games industries and beyond.

Sustainability: Students are made aware of sustainable practices around the production and presentation of digital graphics, animation and visual art. Furthermore, students may choose to produce creative work that directly addresses environmental and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. Teachers across the School also work closely with the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.