Framestore signs off on our new course

Head of Animation at Framestore Kevin Spruce has signed off on our new course at Bucks. We're thrilled that Framstore have OK'ed our course outline, and especially the module which focuses on creature animation, preparing students to be able to animate animals and creatures to a professional level, and preparing our graduates for work in the expanding animation and visual effects industry.

We hear a lot about skills shortages in industry, but there is no substitute for speaking to leading figures at our best companies to find out what skills they need, and where the shortages are. For many years animation schools have focused largely on character animation - that's the Pixar-style stuff, teaching students to give a character performance.

Creature work is a bit different. Companies like Framestore have to be able to re-create lifelike and photo-real animal and creature performance and then - and this is the really tricky bit - layer in a character performance on top. Think of the armoured bears in Golden Compass, animated by Framestore, and you start to get the idea of how difficult a task this can be.

We're aiming to give our students a solid grounding in this kind of animal and creature work, so that our graduates can take aim at the best visual effects houses in Soho, find employment, and build themselves a satisfying career.

---Alex