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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Animated Film |
| Unit code |
DRAM23137 |
| 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 |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Film and Television |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit explores the history and aesthetics of film animation. It examines: the work of influential and popular animators, such as Norman McLaren and Hayao Miyazaki; animation techniques and forms, such as stop motion and computer animation; animation ‘genres’, such as anime and children’s films; and approaches to understanding the place of animated films in film culture and society more broadly. Throughout the unit, animation’s relation to social, artistic and theoretical contexts will be explored. Moreover, looking at films produced in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Japan, the unit approaches animation as a decidedly international cinematic form. The unit includes a practical project where students make a short animated film. This will include structuring a narrative, developing a storyboard, constructing sets, designing a character and undertaking stop motion animation.
Aims
- To examine the history and aesthetics of animated film;
- To explore ways of historically and theoretically understanding the social and aesthetic potentials of the medium of animation;
- To situate animated film in wider contexts of film culture, society and art;
- To explore animation as a popular and international form;
- To create an animated work, from concept to final film.
- To explore critically a range of film practices.
- To develop appropriate critical and theoretical approaches to the chosen practices.
- To investigate in a chosen practical and creative manner one or more alternative languages of cinematic expression.
- To develop appropriate self-reflective analytical methods.
- To engage in research-based investigation of appropriate primary and secondary material.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- To develop an understanding of animated film’s history;
- To develop intermediate knowledges of the issues raised by film genres, and their place in historical and cultural contexts;
- To develop intermediate skills in formal analysis and close reading;
- To understand the process of creating animation, from storyboard to finished film;
- To develop an intermediate understanding of animation aesthetics in both theory and practice;
- To develop experience in undertaking the different stages of creating an animated film
- To demonstrate sound knowledge of key secondary literature
- To be aware of, and able to apply a range of established critical and theoretical ideas
- To present a clear and well-structured argument, supported by relevant critical and theoretical literature
- To present work that is consistently accurate in terms of its use of English and referencing
- To be able to communicate verbally key ideas based on secondary reading and relevant primary texts
- To demonstrate skills of time management
- To plan and execute a research project
Plus as appropriate to the mode of teaching, that is, the combination of seminar and practice-based workshop and/or presentations:
- To be able to write a reflective account of practical work
- To be able to work constructively and creatively in a group-based workshop
- To be able to work within the disciplines of production and project processes, working to deadlines and within production budgets
- To work independently and reach individual/personal judgements within a collaborative context
- To be able to reflect on individual work within a collaborative production context
Teaching Information
Seminars, workshops, screenings, as appropriate
Optional units may be taught according one of three models, depending on student numbers choosing the option and resource matters. Unit convenors will decide on teaching mode in consultation with HoE and with students in advance of advertising option year-on-year. Contact hours and assessment details will be mapped to teaching mode, as detailed below.
Model A is a seminar-based unit
Model B combines seminars with workshops encompassing an average 30-hour production period
Model C is taught through workshops encompassing an intensive 60-hour production period
Assessment Information
Model A:
3,000-word essay (50%) + student presentation (25%) + 1,500-word write-up (25%), or equivalent.
OR
Model B:
Essay [1,500 words] (33%) +
Workfile (22%): containing evidence to demonstrate student contribution to workshops / practical exercises; contribution to seminars Presentation/performance (22%) Critical analysis [1,500 words] (22%)
OR
Model C:
Workfile (33%): containing evidence to demonstrate student contribution to workshops / practical exercises; contribution to seminars, preparation & execution of technical production role Presentation/performance (33%) Critical analysis [1,500 words] (33%)
Reading and References
- Crafton, D. (1990) Emile Cohl, Caricature and Film, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Eisenstein, S. (2006) “On Disney” in The Eisenstein Collection, London: Seagull Books, 79-185.
- Leslie, E. (2002) Hollywood Flatlands: Animation, Critical Theory and the Avant-Garde, London: Verso.
- Napier, S. (2005) Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle, updated edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation. London: Routledge.
