Digital Animation for Film and Games

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Film and Television

Application deadline 25 Sep 2025 Do you want to be an animator for film or games? Join our collaborative and creative community to become a creative technologist in animation and create award-winning work at one of the world’s best film schools. This practical 1-year MA programme explores the theory and craft of creating animations digitally for both games and film using industry standard software and technologies. You’ll bring scenes and characters to life using powerful content-creation software and real-time game engines. The NFTS is world renowned for being one of the most dynamic and creative places to study in animation - well known and respected across the Industry for its imaginative narratives and rich variety of visual techniques. With our unrivalled industry connections and a proven track record of success, your next big step into the animation industry could be just around the corner! This new and cutting-edge course is a comprehensive, technical and practical 1-year MA programme, exploring the theory and craft of creating animations digitally for both film and games using industry standard tools. It introduces many technical aspects of animation, including mechanical and organic animations, rigging and weight painting, sequencing and storytelling, as well as exporting animation to real-time tools, such as game engines. Students will learn how to be animation practitioners by bringing scenes and objects to life digitally through established animation techniques that incorporate timing, motion, and emotion. This course is intended for both students and professionals seeking to understand the foundation of digital animation using industry-standard tools across filmmaking and games. Specifically, this course is for: - Animation Directors seeking to upskill practically for real-time workflows - Those seeking preparation for the Games Design and Development MFA, Visual Effects MA and Directing Animation MFA - Technical specialists seeking to better understand animation practice - Animation generalists seeking to specialise further in software and tools - Undergraduates seeking to enter games or virtual production as animators - Graduates from the School have become creative leaders in their field, with their work being recognised with awards globally and at major film festivals including BAFTA, Annecy, Cannes and Sundance. Course Facilities As an NFTS student, you have 24/7 access to the Digital Animation Lab at the NFTS, Beaconsfield. In these dedicated studios you will have your own desk with a dual monitor setup, powered by Alienware Aurora development workstations and built around the latest AMD Ryzen and Nvidia RTX technology. All workstations are fitted with industry standard software such as Unreal Engine, GitHub, Adobe Creative Cloud, Reality Capture, Blender, Houdini, Maya and ZBrush. Additionally, you will have access to VR headsets, drawing tablets, and game controllers and more.

Course details as published by the university. No graduate-outcome statistics are published for UK postgraduate courses, so none are shown.