How about studying abroad in CalArts experimental animation? CalArts, as a top animation school with high reputation in the United States and even the world, was once called "the best animation school on the planet" by graduates, and was also considered the birthplace of Disney animators. Almost all students who choose the animation direction use CalArts as their Dream School. Today, we will focus on the most famous MFA Experimental Animation project in CalArts animation major. Through the analysis of this major, we will reveal the "style secret" of American Animation Academy to students.

　　 How about studying abroad in CalArts experimental animation?

CalArts' experiment Animation major study abroad The School of Film/Imaging, affiliated to the school, is also paralleled by another animation major in a different direction - character animation. From the name, we can see the focus of two directions. Character animation majors mainly focus on training experienced animators, so there are only undergraduate courses. Experimental animation majors are more inclined to cultivate innovative artists in the animation field, and set up BFA and MFA courses at the same time.

Home page of CalArts experimental animation project

On the professional homepage, the school summarized the core of the entire experimental animation course as "the principle and practice of art". In fact, this is quite different from the popular impression of the commercial assembly line animation style in the United States. We can also see that CalArts' experimental animation majors value students' "artistry".

In the detailed explanation of the course, the college official generally compares their entire experimental animation project to a "framework" that provides students with personal direction exploration and development, and this framework will provide students with intellectual, technical and aesthetic support for animation work creation.

CalArts Experimental Animation MFA Course Overview

The further refinement of MFA courses has higher requirements for students' personal creativity. We can see that CalArts' postgraduate courses in experimental animation are divided into two-year and three-year programs, of which two-year programs are for students who graduated from bachelor's degree in animation and have other relevant experience in BFA. Apart from the basic animation courses, there is no essential difference between the two, so today we will take the three-year courses as an example.

In CalArts' MFA course of experimental animation, in addition to the comprehensive expansion of basic knowledge related to animation, more emphasis is placed on encouraging students to explore relatively abstract humanities concepts such as lyricism, freehand brushwork, and narrative logic, and apply them to the production of animation. CalArts' requirements for graduates of MFA Experimental Animation also clearly stated that it is not only to cultivate excellent animation producers, but also to make constructive contributions to the development of animation worldwide.

It is also worth mentioning that although colleges and universities have highly emphasized the importance of animation artistry, students can still fully understand and become familiar with the world's major film festivals and their work submission processes, participate in the parties and activities of relevant animation film associations, and even become members of them in the CalArts MFA experimental animation course.

CalArts Experimental Animation Student Work Display

So in fact, we previously analyzed that CalArts is different from the commercialization of American animation style in our impression, and more emphasis is placed on art. But in fact, it has not given up its unique advantages in the direction of commercialization. In addition to academic experimental research in art, it can also provide students with a lot of experience in animation commercialization.

Further detailed into the curriculum, the three academic years of CalArts Experimental Animation MFA are basically project oriented. Students need to complete a complete animation project in the first year, and the goal of the second year is to produce an animation project proposal in the form of a paper. The third year is devoted to the output of the graduation design project.

This can also reflect that CalArts relatively attaches importance to the role of practice in the teaching process of experimental animation MFA project, and has a high requirement for students to output their creativity as finished animation projects. (Due to space constraints, the detailed curriculum schedule for each academic year will not be posted here. Interested students can call our homepage in the background to learn more about CalArts experimental animation MFA)

In addition, it is worth mentioning the "interdisciplinary" research listed separately on the front page. CalArts particularly encourages MFA students to participate in interdisciplinary animation academic practice Not only are elective courses (4-14 credits) arranged for students each academic year, but also students are encouraged to try and explore various carriers in digital media.

From the student works exhibited by CalArts MFA, we can also see the shadow of a large number of multimedia interdisciplinary practices. In addition, the styles of students' works are diverse and the concept is avant-garde. It can also be seen that CalArts experimental animation MFA majors focus on and choose between the two directions of art and commerce.

More articles on animation from CalArts College:

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