BA (Hons) 3D Animation and VFX

AI Creative Practice

This module introduces you to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within contemporary creative practice. It is designed to develop awareness, confidence, and a basic critical understanding of how AI is used across creative disciplines. 

You will be introduced to the ways AI intersects with areas such as writing, media production, performance, audio, and visual design. Early teaching provides an accessible overview of key ideas including authorship, originality, bias, and ethical considerations. 

Following this, you will undertake an individual exploration into the use of AI within a chosen creative context or area of practice. This exploration may involve practical experimentation, comparison of outputs, or a combination of both. 

The emphasis of the module is on exploration rather than technical mastery. You will be encouraged to try out AI tools, observe their effects, and begin to recognise your own judgement in relation to the outputs you produce. 

Foundations of Screen Story 

This module introduces you to the fundamental principles of narrative design for the screen. Lectures and screenings deconstruct how stories are built, sustained, and resolved across a wide range of screen narratives and forms.  

You will learn the core underpinnings of screen story – character, structure, conflict, theme, and genre – while appreciating how different disciplines (production, directing, writing, audio, VFX, production design, editing, cinematography, etc.) contribute to and shape narrative meaning. Core focuses concern the nature and importance of creative collaboration, artistic vision and voice, and ‘influencers’ from the past and historical contexts. 

The module is not practice-based in production terms, but analytical and creative, encouraging a critical eye and a passionate engagement. It prepares you to write better scripts, shoot more purposeful coverage, design more expressive sound and visuals, and critique media more intelligently.

3D Foundation

This module aims to provide you with an introductory understanding of animation and asset creation, their many applications across the entertainment industries, and the boundaries of the disciplines within the field and their specific place in production workflows.

Through a combination of lectures, workshops, briefs and screenings, you will be introduced to industry-standard software, core creative and technical processes, and the specific skill sets required across the subject area.

The curriculum is designed to establish sound professional work practices, promote efficient working within a digital production pipeline, and develop a self-critical approach through iterative review, experimentation and productive failure within a safe creative environment. 

Compositing Foundation

This module aims to provide you with an introductory understanding of compositing and its role within contemporary screen-based production.

Through lectures, workshops, briefs and screenings, you will be introduced to industry-standard software, core creative and technical processes, and the principles involved in working with digital image-based material within post-production workflows.

The curriculum is designed to develop foundational knowledge of image construction, manipulation and integration, while encouraging you to engage with the visual and technical considerations involved in combining multiple image elements and working with live-action source material.

This includes an introduction to key image-based concepts that underpin effective compositing practice and professional working methods within a digital pipeline. 

Character Asset Fundamentals

This module aims to develop your knowledge and practical competence in the creative and technical processes involved in 3D character asset creation.

It builds upon skills established in previous modules by engaging you with a broad range of concepts and production techniques related to the digital asset creation workflow.

It also fosters professional work practices such as planning work, working iteratively, and operating cleanly and efficiently within a digital production pipeline.

The curriculum is structured through lectures, workshops and briefs. It includes the study of character and related prop design, the development of existing 3D modelling skills.

This progresses into look development through UV unwrapping and texturing, followed by rigging the model to enable presentation of a posed digital asset. Regular reviews support the development of your critical eye through discussion and critique. 

Character Animation Fundamentals

This module aims to develop your knowledge and practical competence in the creative and technical processes involved in 3D character animation.

It builds on skills established in previous modules by engaging you with a broad range of concepts, workflows and production techniques related to character animation, while also fostering professional work practices such as planning animation, working iteratively, and operating cleanly and efficiently within a digital production pipeline.

The curriculum is centred on the study and application of the 12 Principles of Animation through lectures, workshops and practical briefs, including exploration of squash and stretch, anticipation, ease in and ease out, timing, secondary action, and follow through/overlapping action, alongside the development of your critical eye through regular review and critique. 

Projects

The module provides a structured framework within which you will undertake a suite of specialist projects appropriate to your degree programme, developing independent working practices.

You will be expected to respond to multiple project briefs (typically 2-4) across two semesters, managing time, resources, and creative or research-based workflows. 

The projects support the development of discipline-specific technical, creative, and analytical skills to a standard appropriate for progression to major projects and career preparation. Most projects will require team/group work and collaboration, sometimes between degree pathways, reflecting industry practice wherever possible. 

You should engage with non-practical forms of inquiry (e.g., essays, reports, case studies, critical analyses) alongside practical production, fostering critical reflection and research literacy. 

The module prepares you to evaluate your own work against professional, academic, or audience-facing criteria, articulating strengths, weaknesses, and lessons for future practice. This will in most cases involve team/group work on the projects themselves, and working to fixed delivery deadlines across both semesters. 

Alongside the project(s) outcomes, be that written or practical, students document and critically reflect upon their research, creative influences, production processes, and final outcomes through a structured individual portfolio. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Previz

This module aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of core film-making concepts and the use of previsualisation as a tool for the preparation, development and pitching of creative visual projects.

It introduces you to the fundamental visual concepts and planning techniques that underpin the previz process, including camera angles and movement, shot sizes, continuity editing, staging, lenses, lighting, and visual design.

The curriculum is structured in three parts—research and analysis, ideas development, and application and presentation—and supports you in progressing from script analysis and the development of storyboards to the production of a fully previsualised sequence using industry-standard software.

Compositing Skills Development

This module provides you with an ongoing opportunity to continue the development of compositing skills established in previous modules.

Through a series of briefs that introduce new techniques and support the production, you will collate a body of work demonstrating increasing mastery of compositing workflows and practices.

Delivered through lectures, workshops and briefs, the curriculum supports the continued development of technical, creative and critical skills in compositing, with emphasis on iterative refinement, self-critique and professional studio-oriented working methods.

You will build on prior knowledge through a combination of practical camera sessions and computer-based workshops, with particular focus on working with live-action footage, for example, tracking, green screen compositing, and the integration of CG elements within digital post-production workflows.

Animation and Asset Skills Development

This module provides you with an ongoing opportunity to continue the development of skills established in previous modules through a series of briefs that introduce new techniques and support the production of a body of work demonstrating increasing mastery of relevant workflows and practices.

Delivered through lectures, workshops, briefs and regular screenings, the curriculum supports the continued development of technical, creative and critical skills within animation and asset creation, with emphasis on iterative refinement, self-critique and professional studio-oriented working methods. 

Motion and Performance Capture

This module introduces you to the principles and practices of contemporary motion capture production.

You will develop knowledge and practical understanding of motion capture workflows, including studio protocols, capture methodologies, performer requirements, and the translation of recorded movement into digital outcomes.

Through workshops and project work, you will engage with the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of motion capture production, contributing through technical, creative and performance-based roles as appropriate to the brief.

The module enables you to develop professional skills in planning, problem-solving, communication and the realisation of motion capture outcomes within a production context. 

Dissertation

You will undertake a substantial, self-directed project (group or individual) that represents the culmination of your undergraduate study.

It will require you to synthesise, where applicable, technical skills, theoretical knowledge, creative vision, and professional practices to produce a substantial piece of original work (group or individual) accompanied by an individual portfolio exploring research methodologies and underpinned by critical reflection. 

The dissertation is defined not by a single format, but by its significance, ambition, and rigour. You will propose and execute a project that aligns with your discipline while demonstrating an understanding of its context within the broader screen arts landscape. Unlike traditional written dissertations, this module accepts diverse outputs—from films and screenplays to audio dramas, sports documentaries, essays, media campaign analyses, or technical portfolios—as long as they are underpinned by systematic research and critical reflection. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Real-Time 3D Workflows

This module provides you with an opportunity to continue your skills development through the exploration of contemporary real-time workflows and their application within production contexts.

You will develop a body of work that demonstrates increasing command of creative and technical processes, while refining your practice through iterative review and critique. The curriculum focuses on the development of digital artefacts within real-time rendered content, the opportunities and limitations of these workflows, and their relevance to current industry practices. 

Facial Performance Capture

This module develops your knowledge and practical understanding of contemporary facial performance capture production.

You will engage with the principles, workflows and creative applications of facial motion capture, including performer preparation, head-mounted camera systems, facial tracking technologies, capture methodologies, retargeting processes, and the translation of recorded facial performance onto digital facial rigs.

Through workshops and project work, you will explore the relationship between performance, technical setup and postproduction practice, including the integration of facial capture with wider body-based motion capture workflows. The module enables you to develop professional skills in planning, problem-solving, communication and the realisation of facial performance capture outcomes within a collaborative production context.

Preparation for Industry

This module aims to build on the creative work you’ve produced over previous levels by supporting you in aligning your skills, creative practice and professional objectives within the contemporary creative industries.

The curriculum focuses on the planning, development and presentation of a creative portfolio of work, while encouraging you to examine current industry expectations, research studios and specific roles, and consider how best to position your skills and creative ideas in a commercial context.

Particular emphasis is placed on refining showreels and supporting materials, developing strategic awareness of career pathways, and enhancing your ability to target opportunities with an informed and professional approach.