Animation and VFX courses

David Mattock of Full Rotation design and animation studio presents his top UK courses for VFX and animation, and tells us about his background.

VFX and animation continue to reach new heights year on year, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved further and further. Even non-fantasy films involving creatures or other worlds are increasingly adapting backgrounds and other elements, placing post production imagery that viewers would never notice was not real.

The United Kingdom has a booming scene with studios such as MPC, Framestore, Dneg, Passion Pictures and many more – even Industrial Light & Magic set up shop in London to work on Star Wars – attracting UK and international graduates.

To help with the huge task of choosing not only the right course, but what city students can start their journey in, I’ve created a list of the top Universities and colleges in the UK to launch students’ careers in animation or VFX. Many of these universities are members of the AOI.

I interviewed the best courses to find out what their students went on to create post graduation and include a showreel to give a sense of the type of imagery they are working on.

See the list here

AOI: What motivated you to compile this list for those looking at animation or VFX as an area to study in?

David: I’m only a small company but I get a lot of emails from students wanting advice, help with feedback and a number of parents on behalf of their children looking to get into animation. So as someone who went back to study on an intensive course to shift from my graphic design career then never stopped learning I thought why not get a helpful guide all in one place that future animators could go to, and maybe the good karma would produce some awareness for Full Rotation at the same time!

Was studying graphics at Plymouth College of Art a good springboard for your career?

Oh definitely it gave me the skills to be a good designer, not matter what technical skills you still have to leant to “design”

Back then there weren’t any really animation and VFX courses – I discovered this path much later.

What’s your opinion on the quality of animation or VFX talent coming out of UK universities?

One word… awesome. Nowadays students can get a taster in any field of animation, and the technology is powerful.  Many of the colleges I interviewed their students had gone on to work on big feature films and projects not long after graduating.

Escape Studios
UCA – farnham
University of Falmouth
University of Hertfordshire
UWE Bristol
Teeside University
University of Dundee
Central St Martins
UAL London

Bournemouth
UCA – Rochester
Middlesex
Solent Southampton
Kingston
De Montfort University
University of Edinburgh
Ravensbourne University London

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