This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
Animation is a term covering a diverse range of forms, and this module introduces cel-
animation, stop-motion puppetry, abstract animation, as well as computer-generated cartoons and features (including animated documentaries) to explore the animated form. The first section of the module introduces different styles through a study of Disney and Warner Bros cartoons, the stop-motion animations of the Quay Bros, TV Anime, abstract music animation and web-based animation. The second section of the module uses a range of critical approaches to explore contemporary feature length animations from different national contexts.
Total contact hours: 50
Private study hours: 250
Total study hours: 300
Assignment (2500 words) (40%)
Essay (3500 words) (60%)
Crafton, Donald, Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-Making in Animation (Berkeley: University of California Press) 2012
Kriger, Judith, Animated Realism: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Animated Documentary Genre (Oxford: Focal Press) 2012
Lamare, Thomas, The Anime Machine (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009).
Napier, Susan, Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) Second Edition 2005.
Telotte, J.P. The Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology (Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2008)
Wells, Paul, Animation and America (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2002).
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
- Have a systematic knowledge of different kinds of animation in a world context, based on a study of animation shorts and features;
- Understand the different modes of analysis made possible by key methods of enquiry and be able to demonstrate their relevance to an understanding of animations created in different national, historical and industrial contexts;
- Devise a discussion of animation through a sustained engagement with key methods of enquiry based on a synthesis of historical, theoretical, and aesthetic approaches;
- Develop a greater understanding of the interplay between aesthetic choices, technological innovation, and animation techniques through their research into relevant scholarly literature.
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