Built upon the fundamental skills delivered by the long-established Animation MA, the Experimental Animation pathway explores making animated films and expanded moving image projects and encourages the development of creative and critical thinking, research skills and expanded discipline expertise. Our students challenge the boundaries of traditional animation and moving image in their practice in process, aesthetic expression, variation on (non-)narrative forms, representation. Others pursue interests in exploring alternate screen platforms or installation and exhibition. The works produced by students span a continuum of genres and approaches, from the more traditional, narrative to experimental, VR and more expanded forms of animation. The pathway benefits from connections with the Narrative Animation and Documentary Animation pathways, as well as other programmes in the School of Communication.

Artistic media in this year’s Graduates’ works run the gamut from the materiality of egg-based paint and hand drawing or family photographs, to highly refined digital creations that originate in physical performance and environmental sculpture.

Their animated worlds are lush in their experimentation, potent and captivating. Some are visualisations of unseen, but felt, personal experience or speculative and imagined U- and Dystopias, others treat love and regret creatively, and some are compellingly weird and wacky.