Digital Animation for Film and Games

Master of Arts

MA - 1 Year Full-time

Main Campus In person

Application deadline 25 Sep 2025

Apply now for Beaconsfield

Digital Animation for Film and Games

COURSE OVERVIEW

Train to become 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 explores the theory and craft of creating animations digitally for film and games, using industry standard software and technologies. You’ll bring scenes and characters to life using powerful content-creation software and real-time game engines.

Digital set creation

“This exciting, new MA course empowers students to become creative technologists. The comprehensive curriculum helps you tell compelling stories by developing cutting-edge digital skills across the contemporary animation pipeline.”

Alan Thorn
Alan Thorn, Senior Course Tutor

Content Tabs

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, cutting-edge course will teach you how to create digital animations for both film and games. You’ll be introduced to 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. 

You will learn how to be an animation practitioner 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 looking to understand the foundation of digital animation using industry-standard tools across filmmaking and games. This could include:

  • Animation Directors wanting to upskill practically for real-time workflows
  • Those preparing for the Games Design and Development MFA, Visual Effects MA and Directing Animation MFA in future
  • Technical specialists seeking to better understand animation practice
  • Animation generalists wanting to specialise further in software and tools
  • Undergraduates looking to enter games or virtual production as animators 

Graduates from the NFTS 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. All production costs and use of equipment is included in your tuition fee.

Funding Available

The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.

Tutors

image of animated dog with festival names layered over the top