About Animation Academy

Loughborough University’s School of Art and Design houses THE ANIMATION ACADEMY, a research group dedicated to animation research, scholarship, practice and exhibition, embracing tradition and progress, education and industry, art and commerce; and dedicated to excellence at a national and international level in all its activities.

The Animation Academy Research Group believes :

• Animation occupies a cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary space between graphic design, art-making and visual practices in production and exhibition contexts
• Animation is a versatile cross-platform medium, in feature films and TV sit-coms; cartoons and avant garde shorts; web-sites, ads and on mobile phones. This ironically, heightens its presence while diluting its profile.
• Animation has been misunderstood as a marginalised form and mainly as a children’s entertainment, when in reality, it is a radical and progressive art-form and practical application
• Animation is the only art to remain consistently and insistently experimental as it grows in mass popularity and acceptance
• Animation should be addressed through properly integrated methods of theory and practice, and include historical, critical and practical methodologies.

What We Do :

THE ANIMATION WORKSHOPS :
Maintaining the craft of animation in a changing technological and cultural climate. Winner of an Innovation Fellowship 2006.

Promoting state-of-the-art technologies.

Gaining an Apple ‘Profile in Success’ 2006 http://www.apple.com/uk/education/profiles/loughborough

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION :
Recovering the history, culture and significance of animation through critical analysis and theoretical enquiry. Linking to LUSAD’s established excellence in ‘drawing’ research present on the TRACEY website. First publications : Fundamentals of Animation (AVA 2006); Halas & Batchelor Cartoons : An Animated History (South Bank Books 2006); The AVA ‘Basics’ series including Scriptwriting for Animation; Digital Animation; Animation and Archives; Drawing for Animation and Re-Imagining Animation

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY ACCESS AND APPLICATION :
Testing the role, function and definition of animation in a range of research contexts and production environments ie design and technology; performance art; engineering and sport.

PRODUCTION AND EXHIBITION :
Revealing the process and outcomes of animation as an entertainment, an educator, an industrial model, and an art, using the on campus gallery, the Fairburn Building, and touring venues.
First productions : Animation Nation (BBC Productions); ‘Object React’ (onedotzero; ICA; V&A Museum);

THE ANIMATION ARCHIVE :
Preserving animation materials and artwork from ‘Animation People’, ‘Silver Fox’, Halas & Batchelor and the BBC for future generations of researchers and animation historians. Productions include The First Snows of Winter, The Forgotten Toys and William’s Wish Wellingtons.

FESTIVAL AND INSTITUTIONAL COLLABORATION :
Participating in the annual Animex International Animation Festival with our partners, the University of Teesside, engaging with the work of the world’s major animation companies and artists. Working as part of The British Cartoon Forum, the subject specialist network in the field. Invested in the Society for Animation Studies worldwide.

THE UK ANIMATION FORUM :
Creating a focus for the UK Animation industry and its educational providers, and currently working with colleagues across the country in collaborative curricula and research dialogues.

Staged The John Grace Memorial Conference : The Art of British CGI sponsored by Apple, Aardman Animation, AHRC ICT Methods Network, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, The Broadway, Nottingham, and LUSAD.

ANIMATED CONVERSATIONS :
Providing a critical forum for debates defining and progressing the field of animation through panels, seminars, and open lectures. Speakers include Peter Lord (Aardman Animation)

How We Do It :

• Postgraduate courses and Research opportunities
• Project development
• Commercial and Institutional research initiatives
• Externally funded educational projects based on Animation Workshops
  
  
  THE ANIMATION ACADEMY AT LUSAD
  Professor Paul Wells
  Director of Animation
  The Animation Academy Research Group
  School of Art and Design
  Loughborough University,
  Loughborough,
  LE11 3TU
  Tel : +44 (0)1509 228979
  E-Mail : P.Wells@lboro.ac.uk

Alistair Adams, Christin Bolewski, Julia Bracegirdle, Andrew Chong, Violetta Dajanev, Andy Davies, Ben Dolman, Simon Downs, Kerry Drumm, Johnny Hardstaff, Gareth Howell, Andrew Selby, Michael Shaw, Thomas Walsh, Ross Winning

© Animation Academy Researh Group, Loughborough University School of Art and Design 2008