Skip to main content

Unit information: Animated Film in 2021/22

Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.

Unit name Animated Film
Unit code FATV20010
Credit points 20
Level of study I/5
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. Moen
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

DRAM11007 Production Skills or FATV10001Film Fundamentals

Co-requisites

None

School/department Department of Film and Television
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit explores the aesthetic forms and thematic concerns of animated film. It examines this through the study of: influential and popular animators, such as Norman McLaren and Walt Disney; animation techniques and forms, such as stop motion and cel animation; animation ‘genres’, such as narrative and abstract animation; and approaches to understanding ways in which animated films resonate with wider issues of culture, art and society. The unit develops an exploration of animation around a practical project where students make a short animated film. This will include structuring a narrative, storyboarding, designing and animating.

The units aims are:

  • To understand and employ the aesthetics of animated film;
  • To situate animated film in wider contexts of film culture, society and art;
  • To explore the artistic and thematic potentials of animation;
  • To create an animated film, from concept to final film.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1) demonstrate an understanding of animation as an aesthetic and cultural form;

2) identify and employ different aesthetic, conceptual and cultural aspects of animated film;

3) demonstrate a detailed knowledge of how animated films are constructed, from storyboarding and design to animating and postproduction;

4) work with the materials and approaches used in prominent modes of animated filmmaking;

5) display advanced skills in the development of a practical project.

Teaching Information

Weekly 2 hour seminar/workshop (in the first four weeks of the unit), weekly 3 hour screening (in the first four weeks of the unit), production tutorials, production workshops, practical work (both independent and supervised in scheduled sessions outside of regular class time).

Assessment Information

Animated film lasting approximately 1 minute per animator (50%) ILO 1-5

2500 word reflexive account of planning for practical work (50%) ILO 1-3

Films can be made either individually or in groups, at the unit convenor’s discretion. The required length of the film will vary, depending on the number of students involved and the specific nature of the project. Films made in groups will be awarded a single grade.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FATV20010).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

Feedback