University of Hertfordshire

You dream of seeing your name in the credits of a Hollywood blockbuster

Whether it’s a feature film, cartoon series, commercials or idents, you want millions to see your work. You may want to pursue the creation of Pixar-style 3D animation. Or perhaps designing photorealistic visual effects for film and television is where your heart lies? Whether you imagine yourself as a creative artist or a technical director, you’re excited to gain the skills to master your dream. From character animation, cinematography and modelling to rigging and compositing, we have a lot to teach you. You’ll immerse yourself in our animation studios, which are kitted out with everything you need to bring your creations to life. Our Learning Resource Centre contains clones of our animation labs (software and hardware) so if you want to continue your animation studies late at night or during the weekend you can. Plus, you can use our motion capture suite, digital photography and filmmaking equipment to work on your own projects. Kickstart your future by graduating from an internationally renowned animation school. Our graduates include a BAFTA award-winning director, so you’ll be in excellent company.

You want to join a prestigious course in the No.1 Animation School in the UK and Europe (and No.3 in the World) as acclaimed by The Rookies Awards 2020.

This course is ranked 2nd in the world for production excellence, offering you a real-world studio environment. You’ll gain a thorough understanding of the production process to help you thrive in a demanding and exciting industry.  Our course is also in the top 7 for 3D animation courses in Europe. Our students have won Visual Effects Film of the Year at the Rookies, twice! Learn more about our Rookies ranking and view examples of our student work here. We’re also the only UK university to be shortlisted at the Visual Effects Society Awards in Los Angeles in the past 18 years (as of 2020). Our digital animation programme as a whole, is accredited by The Rookies, SideFX and CILECT. This means, you’ll be joining a department that’s gained international recognition for training the animators of the future. We run live projects with the major VFX and animation studios in London, giving future employers the chance to get to know you as you develop as an artist. By choosing Herts, you’ll benefit from our reputation, quality of teaching, outstanding facilities and links to industry.

You want to join an exciting animation community

You want to train under the guidance of experienced animators. To get career insights from staff who’ve worked on games, films, TV series and commercials. Our teaching team are known for their contribution to The Hobbit, Tintin and Harry Potter. We care about your projects and have experience to share. Develop your skills with confidence, knowing they’ll be relevant to the industry you’re going into. You’ll have the opportunity to work on live projects to gain a working knowledge of the industry and begin to build a network of industry contacts. When you graduate, we’ll invite you to join our active alumni community, many of whom have senior positions in the animation industry. Our graduates have worked on Oscar winning films and blockbusters such as Star Wars, Gravity, Jungle Book, Lion King, Inception, Avatar, the Harry Potter films, The Chronicles of Narnia and Game of Thrones.