Animation with Foundation Year

Animation combines artistic vision with technical craft to bring characters, worlds, and stories to life through moving images. It is a discipline with an extraordinary range of applications, from feature films and television series to video games, virtual reality, advertising, and scientific visualisation. What makes animation such a demanding and rewarding field is the animator's fundamental task: to understand movement, timing, weight, and emotional expression well enough to make an audience believe in the reality of something that does not physically exist.

At Derby this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, which gives you a preparatory stage to develop your artistic and technical foundations before you enter the main degree. Across the degree you will experiment with the latest digital animation software alongside traditional animation methods, developing an understanding of the core principles that underlie all effective animation regardless of technique or medium. You will produce your own animated films as a central form of creative output, developing a distinctive visual voice and building a portfolio that demonstrates your creative range and technical capability to future employers.

A sandwich year and a year abroad are available within the programme, and work placement experience is embedded throughout. These features give you the opportunity to develop professional skills in real industry contexts, to build connections within the animation and wider creative industries, and to broaden your perspective through international study.

Graduates move into careers in film and television animation, visual effects, game design, motion graphics, commercial animation, and digital media production. Many build portfolio careers combining commissioned work with personal creative projects. Postgraduate study options include specialist programmes in animation, visual effects, or immersive media.