Course Overview
This is the only two-year specialist Directing Animation MA.
The Directing Animation MA at NFTS is a globally acclaimed course that offers an unparalleled creative and dynamic learning experience in animation. If you have a flair for visual storytelling, this course equips you with the necessary skills to bring your creative passions to life on the big screen and enables you to evolve as a filmmaker, achieving your aspirations.
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Our program encompasses both the artistic and commercial worlds of animation - our grad films have won some of the most prestigious festival awards or been developed into world-renowned TV series.
All forms of visual storytelling are nurtured across traditional and digital media, including drawn 2D, CGI, stop-motion and life-size pixelation. You will feel empowered to push your creative boundaries and discover your unique voice while exploring new animation techniques and storytelling approaches.
Led by some of the most talented artists from across the animation industry, the course combines art school philosophy with state-of-the-art film school facilities. You'll work on projects within a workshop environment that encourages experimentation and innovation and will give you the skills needed to write, direct, and animate films.
WATCH: Sam Gainsborough explains the creative process of his graduation film Facing It. (YouTube).
During your time at the school, you will collaborate with all the other key departments, including Screenwriting, Editing, Composing, Sound Design, Production Design, Cinematographer and Producing, giving you insight into their practice and how they can take your creative vision to new heights. Upon completing the program, you will have led a complete production team and amassed an impressive portfolio that exemplifies your skills and prepares you for a successful animation career.
WATCH: Micky Wozny explains the collaboration process in his graduation film Something Borrowed. (YouTube).
COURSE FACILITIES
Creative Space - As an artist, you'll have access to our facilities that help you grow and develop. During your first year, you'll work in our first-year base equipped with all the necessary art materials to explore visual storytelling with your classmates. Each student gets their own desk area complete with a computer, Cintiq, camera rostrum set up, and all the software you need to get started.
In your second year, you'll have your own office to use as a production base to lead your team, as well as the use of the school’s shooting spaces if needed.
Collaboration is the key to succeeding in the world of animation and it is also central to the ethos of the course and the NFTS. Collaborative workshops with many other filmmaking disciplines across the School fosters a strong team spirit and are an essential tool, enabling you to better understand the role of each crew member and develop expertise across the whole of the production process.
The first year builds a solid foundation across all aspects of animation. It is filled with inspiring workshops, including improving your animation skills, writing better narratives and developing fresh approaches to design and techniques.
In the second year, you will develop, produce and direct your graduation film, leading a fully crewed team who will enable you to bring your vision to life.
The professional pipeline of making films at the NFTS will prepare you to be ‘job ready’ upon entering the highly competitive field of animation while the creative freedom the course gives will help you steer an industry that thrives on innovation in new and pioneering directions.
At the NFTS you will get far more time learning directly from tutors, in industry standard production facilities and on real projects, than in the vast majority of film schools or universities.
The specialist nature of our courses mean that you’ll gain the relevant skills and experience you need to go straight into the industry.
You should have a strong desire to tell unique stories and can embrace alternative and imaginative approaches to visualisation and narrative construction. The ability to clearly articulate your ideas and work well as part of a team is a must due to the collaborative nature of the course and the animation industry.
All applicants must show a passion for visual storytelling through their portfolio of work. While a background in animation is desirable, successful applicants have come from many creative environments such model-making, comic books and dance.
While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, in a relevant subject, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
International students Visa and English language requirements
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- A Portfolio of Animation/Moving Image with a maximum running time of 20 minutes. Your submission must include a complete film created by you. It can be either a personal or commissioned project, but it should be more than a simple exercises done on a previous course.
- A Portfolio of Still Images. This can include illustrations, sketchbook work, digital artwork, photography of puppets and sets that you have made or anything you think will be suitable for your application.
Applications open 8th January 2025. We are happy to receive applications from 8th January until the midnight of the application deadline date.
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
Student Showcase
Dragfox (trailer)
2024 graduation film
Director/Animator - Lisa Ott
Producer - Owen Thomas
Screenwriter - John Cooney
Sam's search of identity gets interrupted by a mysterious neighbourhood fox. Together, they embark on a magical journey to the attic to discover the surprising things they might have in common, and how to celebrate the ways in which they differ.
Dragfox is a finalist at the 2024 Student Academy Awards
A Film About A Pudding
2021 graduation film
Annie Awards - Best Student Film Nominee
Director - Roel Van Beek
Producer - Jack Pollington
After Ronin neglects to clear up her dropped groceries, they start to mix and bubble, transforming into a small pudding that slowly grows into the size of a city.
Watch it on our NFTS YouTube Channel
A Love Story
2016 graduation film
BAFTA Winner
Director - Anushka Naanayakkara
Producer - Khaled Gad
Two creatures fall in love, weaving a colourful world together. but when darkness threatens to consume one of them, the other must fight to stay together or risk being torn apart.
Watch it on our NFTS YouTube Channel
Facing It
2018 graduation film
Animafest Zagreb - Best Student Film Award
Director - Sam Gainsborough
Producer - Jimmy Campbell-Smith
As a man anxiously awaits a meeting in the local pub, he is forced to explore his own difficult memories and relationships in an evening that will leave him changed forever.
Watch it on our NFTS YouTube Channel
Hill Farm
1989 graduation film
BAFTA Winner and Oscar Nominee
Director - Mark Baker
A country couple and their shepherd endure drought, flood, a monstrous bear, hunters and tourists during a somewhat odd few days in their normally quiet life.
Watch it on Mark Baker Films' official YouTube channel
Graduate Success
NFTS animation graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. It's great to see the diverse activities that our students engage in, such as starting their own animation companies, forming collectives, directing for both terrestrial and streaming television, creating personal short films, directing music videos, commercials, and even animation feature films!
Graduate credits include...
Scale
Director Joseph Pierce. His new animation, funded by Melocoton and BFI, is an adaptation of Will Self’s short story and is screening at festivals worldwide. Discover More… https://josephpierce.co.uk/
Graduate Success
NFTS animation graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. It's great to see the diverse activities that our students engage in, such as starting their own animation companies, forming collectives, directing for both terrestrial and streaming television, creating personal short films, directing music videos, commercials, and even animation feature films!
Graduate credits include...
The House (Part 3)
Writer/Director Paloma Baeza.
Graduate Success
NFTS animation graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. It's great to see the diverse activities that our students engage in, such as starting their own animation companies, forming collectives, directing for both terrestrial and streaming television, creating personal short films, directing music videos, commercials, and even animation feature films!
Graduate credits include...
Farmageddon
Director Richard Phelan - who also works at Aardman as a lead story artist.
Graduate Success
NFTS animation graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. It's great to see the diverse activities that our students engage in, such as starting their own animation companies, forming collectives, directing for both terrestrial and streaming television, creating personal short films, directing music videos, commercials, and even animation feature films!
Recent graduates include...
Sam Gainsborough - Director for Blinkink
Sam has worked on various projects, including a recent B&Q advert. Discover More… https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/sam-gainsborough
Graduate Success
NFTS animation graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. It's great to see the diverse activities that our students engage in, such as starting their own animation companies, forming collectives, directing for both terrestrial and streaming television, creating personal short films, directing music videos, commercials, and even animation feature films!
Graduate credits include...
The Rubbish World of Dave Spud
Creator/Writer/Director Ed Foster. Ed turned his NFTS grad animation into an award-winning children's TV series. Now in its third series with over a hundred episodes! Discover More… https://www.davespud.com/
