Glamorgan Animation: Specialisation and Collaboration

The Research output took the form of a 15 min Powerpoint Presentation as part of the Academic Forum at The Skillset Animation and VFX Showcase in Soho, London and centered around methods used at Glamorgan to encourage specialisation in industry-facing skills areas and ways to promote collaborative projects and teamwork amongst students. The talk focused on the developments made within the Division of Animation at Glamorgan to increase students’ skills and employment prospects over the last 10 years. Ultimately the goal being to create as authentic, professional and studio-based a working environment as possible within and Academic framework. Amongst several others, an animated T-rex VFX project was used to illustrate the "high water mark" that has been achieved after 10 years of effort to focus on specialisation and collaboration. Plus another 5 years of effort encouraging students to do more work involving VFX and CG Animation composited with live action footage which has been achieved in collaboration with the Motion Design course at the ATRiuM. Other Speakers during the session included: Gregor White – Director of Academic Enterprise, Abertay University; John Rowe, Head of Visual Effects and Special Effects, National Film and Television School; Helen Nabarro, Head of Animation, National Film and Television School. All Speakers also then took part in a 10 min QandA session with the audience. The audience was principally made up of Academic representatives from the UKs leading University courses for Animation and Visual Effects, plus industry representatives from the Animation, VFX and Computer Games industries. The assembled audience found the talk extremely informative and there were many interested parties enquiring about Glamorgan’s innovative approaches to teaching and collaboration afterwards. The quality of the animated VFX work was a particularly noteworthy progression for both Glamorgan and for student work in the UK.