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Postgraduate

MA Animation Online

Work by Jennifer Escudero (still image from animation)
MA Animation, London College of Communication, UAL
College
London College of Communication Start date
September 2024 Course length
2 years (90 weeks)

MA Animation (online) explores both the theory and practice of animation across a broad range of experimental visual media.

Applying for more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3. Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Why choose this course at London College of Communication

  • Design is taught as a key skill that informs all aspects of your subject knowledge and technical expertise, enabling you to express your creative ideas and develop a unique personal animation style.
  • Building on your create skillset, you'll be supported to develop an advanced animation practice that engages critically with your audience.
  • Industry-standard digital approaches are taught as tools that underpin traditional and experimental animation.
  • Collaboration is facilitated across course, programme and School communities, reflecting the collective nature of the animation workflow.
  • Studying online will enable you develop as a resourceful animation practitioner who can take advantage of the materials and opportunities around you.
  • This version of MA Animation is offered entirely in online mode. Alternatively, you may be interested in applying to an in-person version of the course.

Open Evenings

The next Open Evening for this course will be announced soon.

Course overview

As one of the fastest growing disciplines in the creative landscape, animation continues to expand across fields ranging from advertising and games to film and television.

MA Animation (online) will provide you with the latest knowledge and approaches to build your animation, design, and creative direction skills. Through a journey of experimentation, you’ll explore animation techniques and digital technologies to help you develop your own tone of voice, and have the support and freedom to specialise in your chosen direction.

You’ll also join an inclusive online community that promotes cultural and international connections between members who share your interest in animation.

Throughout your studies, you’ll engage in academic discussions, develop critical thinking skills, and communicate sophisticated concepts around political, ethical and social issues.

This course is ideal for graduates, animators, and artists who wish to gain additional knowledge relevant to their profession, and for those who prefer to study remotely. You might also be a professional wishing to change careers, or someone without much direct experience of animation practice who wants to learn more about the subject in one of the top universities in the field.  

What to expect

  • You’ll develop accomplished skills in various animation practices, with a special focus on digital animation due to the online nature of the course.
  • You'll attend online classes, participate in academic discussions, and develop a deeper knowledge of the theory underpinning your own practice.
  • With opportunities to test creative ideas within a critical framework, you’ll also learn vital teamwork skills which reflect the workflows of professional practice.
  • You’ll be given free access to software such as Toon Boom, After Effects and Maya, although you may need to purchase other programmes at a reduced educational price.
  • As an MA Animation (online) student, you’ll be expected to have access to a computer, drawing tablet, camera, microphone and good internet connection.
  • You’ll learn through online and distance learning platforms, where you’ll use your camera and microphone for a more direct and engaging learning experience by participating in activities and group discussions.

Industry experience and opportunities

Enterprise and employability are central to the design of the course, enabling you to develop and apply your creative, technical and academic skills to your own creative practice.

You’ll have opportunities to take part in projects such as live briefs and industry partnerships, where you’ll work with teammates on client briefs before presenting your work-in-progress and final outcomes. You’ll also be supported to develop professional self-presentation tools such as CVs and showreels, make industry connections, and explore industry opportunities on both local and international levels.

Mode of study

MA Animation Online is in part-time mode which runs for 90 weeks over 2 academic years. You will be expected to commit 20 hours per week to study.

Course units

In response to the Climate Emergency, UAL has embedded responsible practices within the curriculum. We shaped our courses around principles of social and racial justice, and environmental sustainability that ensure learning outcomes reflect the urgent need to equip you with the understanding, skills, and values for ethical practice and empower you to work towards an equitable future.

This MA course is divided into five units. Each unit is credit-rated. The minimum unit size is 20 credits. The total credits for this course is 180 credits

Year 1

Experiment: Creative Practice (20 Credits)

In Term 1 you will explore a range of technical and conceptual approaches to animation by producing short-form animation tests. This unit aims to support the development on your individual voice as an animation practitioner.

You'll engage in experimental animation process and practice, developing your distinct visual voice. This is underpinned by critical study that significantly expands your understanding of the themes animation can address in a critical context, and by a technical programme that ensures you are able to experiment widely with various animation techniques.

Analyse: Informed Practice (20 Credits)

In this unit, you will engage in a programme of theoretical seminars that explore the specific cinematic underpinning of animation culture and practice. This forms the technical and conceptual basis for the subsequent units of the course.

Collaborative Unit (20 Credits)

You’ll have the opportunity to engage in a specific collaboration with a related course or an external partner. Collaborative partners may include fellow postgraduate students at LCC or UAL, postgraduate students at other Higher Education Institutions, and external organisations such as companies, cultural institutions, community groups, NGOs and charities. 

Create: Personal Project (60 Credits)

In this unit, you'll develop and produce a short animation or a body of experiments that form a coherent project - exploring a range of technical and conceptual approaches to the workflow of professional animation production.

Working from concept, research and development to pre-production, production and post-production, you'll outline a critical idea or theme that draws reference to a range of contemporary, personal, social, ethical, cultural, political religious and/or environmental issues.

Year 2

Create: Personal Project (continued)

Propel: Professional Futures (60 credits)

You’ll bring together the knowledge, skills and experience gained on the course to produce a self-directed, collaborative project and associated critical investigation.

If, during the course of your studies, you are unable to continue and you decide to exit the course, you may get one of these two possible exit awards:

  • A Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded on successful completion of the first 60 credits.   
  • A Postgraduate Diploma will be awarded on successful completion of the first 120 credits.

 

Learning and teaching methods

Online:

  • Lectures/large group learning and peer learning
  • Workshop and seminar learning
  • Co–creation seminars
  • Academic tutorials
  • Individual and group critiques 
  • Individual project work
  • Self-directed learning
  • Assessed assignments
  • Technical workshops
  • Demonstrations

Online Open Day

(Recorded June 2023)

Course Leader, Manos Kanellos, give an overview of what it's like to study MA Animation (Online) at London College of Communication.

MA Animation (Online) Showreel

Staff

Fees and funding

Home fee

£5,335 per year

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£11,430 per year

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

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Entry requirements

An applicant will normally be considered for admission if they have achieved an educational level equivalent to an honours degree in either animation, illustration, visual communication, graphic design or closely related subject, and present a portfolio of moving-image work. However, we do not exclude candidates who have graduated from other less strongly aligned disciplines.

This educational level may be demonstrated by:

  • Honours degree (named above);
  • Possession of equivalent qualifications;
  • Prior experiential learning, the outcome of which can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required;
  • Or a combination of formal qualifications and experiential learning which, taken together, can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

If you do not meet these entry requirements but your application demonstrates additional strengths and alternative relevant experience, you may still be considered. This could include:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • OR a combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit. We cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English language requirements

  • IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) is required, with a minimum of 5.5 in each of the four skills.

All classes are taught in English. If English isn’t your first language, you will need to show evidence of your English language ability when you enrol. For further guidance, please check our English language requirements.

Selection criteria

Offers will be made based on the following selection criteria, which applicants are expected to demonstrate:

  • Sufficient prior knowledge and experience of and/or potential in animation practice to be able to successfully complete the programme of study, and have an academic or professional background in a relevant subject
  • Knowledge of visual culture and an ability to engage in critical discussion

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio deadline

Round 1:

7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request

Round 2:

7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio deadline
7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request
7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply to UAL

Start your application

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio deadline

Round 1:

7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request

Round 2:

7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio deadline
7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request
7 days after digital portfolio and/or video task request
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply to UAL

Start your application
or

Apply with a UAL Representative

Based across the world, our local UAL representatives can support you with your application from your home country. Check to see if there is a representative available in your country currently.

Find your representative

How to apply

Follow this step-by-step guide to apply for this course

Step 1: Initial application

You will need to submit an initial application including your personal statement and CV.

Personal statement advice

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • your reasons for choosing the course
  • your current creative practice and how this course will help you achieve your future plans
  • any relevant education and experience, especially if you do not have any formal academic qualifications.

CV advice

Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If you have any web projects or other media that you would like to share, please include links in your CV. If English is not your first language, please also include your most recent English language test score.

Step 2: Digital portfolio

We will review your initial application. If you have met the standard entry requirements, we will ask you to submit a digital portfolio.

You’ll need to submit this via PebblePad, our online portfolio tool

Digital portfolio advice

Your portfolio should consist of recent work that reflects your creative strengths.

It should:

  • include the follow 2 pieces of work only. Both pieces must be created by you as an individual, not as part of a group.
  • feature 1 complete animation that showcases your best animation work and/or narrative skills.
  • feature 1 animation, image or alternative medium that employs the technique and/or theme that you wish to approach during your MA studies. This work can be a fragment, a test or a completed animation.
  • be clearly labelled with titles and dates
  • be uploaded directly onto PebblePad as video or image files. Accepted file types include avi, mp4, mpg, mpeg, mkv, mov, wmv for video files or jpeg, png for imagery. Please do not include any links to websites.

For more support, see our Portfolio advice and PebblePad advice.

Step 3: Interview

You may be invited to an interview following our review of your application. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes.

For top tips, see our Interview advice.

You also need to know

Communicating with you

Once you have submitted your initial application, we will email you with your login details for our Applicant portal.

Requests for supplementary documents like qualifications and English language tests will be made through the applicant portal. You can also use it to ask questions regarding your application. Visit our After you apply page for more information.

Applying to more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3 courses. You need to tailor your application, supporting documents and portfolio to each course, so applying for many different courses could risk the overall quality of your application. If you receive offers for multiple courses, you'll only be able to accept 1 offer. UAL doesn't accept repeat applications to the same course in the same academic year.

Visas and immigration history check

All non-UK nationals must complete an immigration history check. Your application may be considered by our course teams before this check takes place. This means that we may request your portfolio and/or video task before we identify any issues arising from your immigration history check. Sometimes your history may mean that we are not able to continue considering your application. Visit our Immigration and visas advice page for more information.

External student transfer policy

UAL accepts transfers from other institutions on a case-by-case basis. Read our Student transfer policy for more information.

Alternative offers

If your application is really strong, but we believe your strengths and skillset are better suited to a different course, we may make you an alternative offer. This means you will be offered a place on a different course or at a different UAL College.

Deferring your place

We do not accept any deferral requests for our postgraduate courses. This means that you must apply in the year that you plan to start your course and you will not be able to defer your place to start at a later date.

Application deadlines

For postgraduate courses at UAL there are 2 equal consideration deadlines to ensure fairness for all our applicants. If you apply ahead of either of these deadlines, your application will be considered on an equal basis with all other applications in that round. If there are places available after the second deadline, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Careers

Graduates of MA Animation (online) are equipped to work in an increasingly technologically informed and interdisciplinary design world, with in-depth skills across areas such as:

  • animation and animation production
  • 3D and 2D visual communication
  • narrative and sequential image making
  • typography
  • time-based design.

Throughout your time on the course, you’ll build a portfolio of personal work that will enable you to pursue a successful career as a commercial animator, animation director or other related roles within the field.

London College of Communication

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 6500

Address

Elephant & Castle

London
SE1 6SB