AIB Animation: WHY is it so awesome?

"John, why is animation at AIB so awesome?"

I hear you ask. That's the aim of this post. Being here a whole two weeks now, I think I have the ammunition to properly gun this one down.* No, this post doesn't have any pretty pictures or moving drawings attached. I'm sorry. Next time, I promise.

* Excuse me. I don't know where that came from.

First of all, the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (heretofore known as AIB), is a three-year university that offers both BA and MA courses. Before entering first year, there is a foundation year which has more general study, like freshman year at MICA. But unlike MICA, after foundation year at AIB, students have a Foundation Diploma, which acts sort of like an Associate Degree (AA). If they leave AIB after foundation year, they still have the Foundation Diploma, which makes it easier to get into another university. After foundation year, the students enter their respective pathways.

That's where it gets intense. Once in a course, that's all you do for the next three years. Unlike MICA,* there is no option for concentrations or minors, and there is little to no inter-departmental interaction. Animation kids know animation kids, unless they live with someone else. In order to understand what goes on during the three years of undergrad, I have to briefly explain the way the courses are structured. It's very different from the US. At MICA, John Q. Undergrad has a smorgasbord of classes to choose from. He can take** Prehistoric Art, Painting I, 2D Animation, Life Drawing, and Western Thought all in the same semester. If he doesn't like Western Thought, he can switch it for The Way of Tea. It's all fine, as long as it works out in the end, and he'll still have a BA in animation.
* And indeed US schools in general. I will use MICA/AIB for sake of consistency.
** Or, more often than not, has to take.

Not so for Roland D. Chumsfanleigh* over at AIB. Once he decided that he wants to be an animator, he is placed on the first** floor of the Arts and Media building to meet his compatriots for the next three years. Life drawing and various other additional courses are part of the deal, but they are organised by unit, and the units are part of Year 1 Animation. You can't pick them. A year at AIB has three terms: October-Christmas, January-Easter, and April-June. They are about 12 weeks each. In total, there are 40 animators in the course.
* Pronounced Chuffley. It's not his fault.
** Still have to go up one flight of stairs, remember.

But where AIB lacks in variety, it makes up for in quality. The animation course meets Monday - Friday at 9:30AM straight through the term. The first years start by doing exercises designed to break them into the world of animation: bouncing ball, flag wave, sack drop, walk cycle. This is the first term. Second term, first years are introduced to the third year films. The directors show animatics and any other relevant product, and then proceed to "hire" the first years to work on their film. The first years obviously do mostly simple things: background animation, layout, backgrounds, whatever the director needs. In the third term, they pick up more complicated character-driven exercises, like a jump, a stretch and a yawn, while working on the third year films. All the while, there are tutorials and lectures on relevant information, like layout, design, and drawing for animation.

I don't know a whole lot about second year, but they also work with third years on their films, and during the year develop ideas and necessary product for their own films, which they pitch in the third term. The whole year gathers and with the appropriate tutors, pitches their idea, and votes on which films will be produced. On average AIB produces 10-12 films a year. This year, there are 16 because it is a a large class. Those whose pitches get chosen become directors, and those who didn't make the cut disperse and form teams around the selected films.

Third year is the big one, but also very simple to explain, at least as far as I know. The whole year is spent producing your film. First term is about story, design, storyboards, and animatics. At the start of second term, they show the animatics and take on board a slew of first years. Production and post-production go until the end of May, when the complete package is due for the exhibition and commencement (I don't know what they call it here) at the beginning of June.

So, the whole deal is very technical and industry-driven. There is not a whole lot of tutorial, and most of the learning comes from individual experimentation and, of course, working closely with second and third years on films. Over the course of three years, students work on three different films, filling different roles as their experience permits, and by the end of the road, they've done pretty much everything. The biggest complaint that I've heard from animators at AIB was that they wish they had a more traditional education. They envy MICA's foundation and wide range of skills taught. There is some life drawing embedded in the course, but they wish they had a more direct tutorial-based class, like most of the classes in the US tend to be.

So where do I fit in all this? Wherever I want. Skill-wise, I'm about at a second-year level, but I've been hanging around the first years because they seem to have more free time for studio work. Plus, they're all in the same area, so it's easier to get to know them. I'm attached to two films right now, and I plan to spend my term doing animation for the two of them and helping out to make a "for real" animation, which will be entered in festivals and all sorts of good stuff that doesn't happen at MICA. I get a bit harsh towards MICA animation when I compare the two, but AIB is one of the top animation schools in Europe (and the world) and very well-respected. MICA, as far as animation goes, is not. The UK and the US ways of doing things are very different, and I'm eternally grateful that I have the experience to work in both surroundings.

Well, I think that about wraps it up. Hopefully you have a sense of how AIB does things, and what I'm in for over the next ten weeks. There will be a project-based post in the future with some animation that I've been working on, and when I feel up to it a Throwdown: MICA vs AIB post comparing the two schools. But most of that will come through in general posts anyway, so it probably won't be as impressive as all that formatting would have you believe.

Until then, stay frosty!