The animation course

First of all welldone for choosing to study animation!
Its hard work but if your dedicated and willing to put the time in you are going to learn alot and produce some very cool work.

the first thing you need to know is how your course works, its my belief that if you the student knows what the moderators and im looking for when we mark your work then you can work smarter.

the course your doing is the OCR level 3 Art and Design.
Because the course offers a lot of flexibility in what you do we can run it focusing on animation planning, designing and making.

below is a link to the exam boards website, this has the specification for the exam and also all of the different options that you can choose:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/nationals/art_design/l3/documents/index.aspx

Luckily you don't have to read it through as Im going to (try to ) explain whats needed in a simple way that lets you get straight on to whats required!

The Level 3 requires that you complete 6 units to pass the course. 4 of these units are mandatory, so you have to do them, if you want to see the unit specification for these ive added a link below from where you can download a pdf file for each of the units.

Unit 01 - Planning, researching and developing ideas for a specialist brief
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14829_unit_nationals_01.pdf

Unit 02 - Materials, techniques and processes
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14830_unit_nationals_02.pdf

Unit 03 - Realising an outcome to a specialist brief
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14831_unit_nationals_03.pdf

Unit 04 - Presenting, displaying, promoting and selling work
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14832_unit_nationals_04.pdf

the last two units can be any of a number of choices from a list, since we are doing animation the ones Ive chosen to do are.

Unit 17 - Understanding narrative images
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14845_unit_nationals_17.pdf

Unit 18 - Creating cartoons and producing animations
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14846_unit_nationals_18.pdf

I suggest you have a look through each of the briefs as they explain what im looking for when I grade your work and also the difference between getting a pass merit or distinction.


So what are we going to actually be doing!

Ive decided to briefly explain what you will be doing for each of the units, as we start actually working on them I will add new posts with more detailed explanations about what you need to do.

Unit1: This unit is all about researching and planning for an animation for a client, this will end up as a sketchbook of rough designs and research. at the end of unit 1 you will need to present 3 final ideas ready to be taken forward in unit 3.

Unit2: This is a research unit where you need to investigate the work on a variety of artists then experiment with different techniques and styles and design a short animated piece inspired by one of your artists.

Unit3: This is the second half of unit 1. after choosing your best idea from unit 1 you storyboard, character design and make the actual animation.

Unit4:This unit is about presenting yourself and your work this will include how to present your portfolio, making buisness cards etc and preparing for an exhibition of your animation and design work at the lincolnshire showground.

Unit5:This will be all about experimenting with narrative imagery and sequential design, so think comic books, graphic novels and animated comic stories.

Unit6: Designing cartoon characters and producing an animation.

So simple really when you think about it!

Mr Reynolds