U.K. powerhouses join forces to develop home-grown industry talent.
Bristol -- Following the success of last year’s inaugural Certificate in Character Animation, Aardman and the NFTS are running the course again this year to meet the growing demand for animators in the U.K.
The three-month Certificate in Character Animation course will be taught by industry professionals and led by Loyd Price, head of animation at Aardman.
The 12-week intensive course, an initiative partly funded by Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Funds, will take place at Aardman’s Bristol headquarters and provide the core practical skills needed to become professional animators. The majority of the course is practical with participants working on animation exercises to improve their skills, knowledge and experience. This will also be supported by animation theory. It culminates in a short character animation sequence -- pre-planned and boarded -- to showcase the skills learnt during the course.
To further enhance the experience, Aardman has secured a number of industry partners who have signed up to offer workplace internships, which is fundamental part of the investment in and development of animation talent in the U.K. Following completion of the course, students will be given the opportunity to apply for practical placements within some of the country’s leading animation and post production companies, which include MPC (Life of Pi, Godzilla, Man of Steel, Guardians of the Galaxy), Factory Transmedia, Lupus Films and Jellyfish. Following the 2013 course, Aardman hired five of the graduates in a variety of different animation roles and hope to have the same caliber of graduates again in 2014.
“The first course that we ran here proved very successful with many of the students going on to find work, both here at Aardman and at other U.K. animation companies,” said Aardman’s head of animation, Loyd Price. “We are now starting to see more animated productions happening in the UK, in both stop-frame and CG and we are continuing to develop the course to allow students to take advantage of the opportunities that this will offer.”
Source: Aardman Animations
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
