Entry requirements

To join this course, all applicants must demonstrate extant creative aptitude for and interest in storytelling and its related digital mediums. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds and prior experiences, and have all demonstrated an excitement, aptitude, creativity and willingness to learn new skills. We actively seek a diverse and interesting group of people who have something new to offer the animation landscape. While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an equivalent life experience.

Specifically, all applicants must:

Be confident in the English language
Be 21 years or older
Be proficient in the English language
Be able to attend the NFTS in-person for the complete duration of the course
Have at least a basic computer literacy
Demonstrate a small portfolio of original work in any creative field

Months of entry

January

Course content

Become an animator for film or games.

Join our collaborative and creative community to become a creative technologist in animation and create award-winning work at one of the world’s best film schools. This practical 1-year MA programme explores the theory and craft of creating animations digitally for both games and film using industry standard software and technologies. You’ll bring scenes and characters to life using powerful content-creation software and real-time game engines.

On this course, you’ll learn how to breathe life into virtual worlds, producing computer-generated character performances, crafting sequences, and gameplay moments for the big screen, the next groundbreaking game, or immersive virtual production. Alongside mastering animation and game control for your digital characters, you’ll discover how to bring digital worlds to life with cutting-edge tools, from motion capture to AI-driven techniques.

You’ll develop both the craft and the conceptual insight that make ideas move – from acting and character psychology to key-framing, rigging, weight painting, and exporting assets into game engines. You’ll discover how timing, motion, and emotion combine to turn pixels into performance.

This is your opportunity to build the skills that fuel some of the world’s most exciting studios – the kind of work you’ll recognise from Pixar, Blue Zoo, and Locksmith in film, or Supermassive Games, Amanita Design, and Ustwo Games in gaming. With the NFTS’s unrivalled industry connections, you’ll be learning alongside professionals shaping the future of animation.

Through mentorship, industry collaboration, and experience within real-world studio pipelines, you’ll graduate not just with a strong demo reel, but with confidence, hands-on expertise, and a professional network to launch your career.

After graduating you’ll be prepared for such roles as:

Animator (film or games) – bringing characters, creatures, and monsters to life with digital artistry
Real-time Animator / Engine Artist – creating interactive or live visuals for games, virtual production, or XR
Character / Creature Animator – focusing on acting, performance, and nuanced behaviour
Technical Animator / Rigging Artist – designing rigs, deformation systems, and weight setups
Pre-visualisation / Story Artist – shaping motion, staging, and cinematic flow before full production
Freelancer / Hybrid Specialist – working across short-form projects, advertising, mobile games, VR, and AR experiences

Information for international students

This course is open to international students.

Fees and funding

The NFTS is committed to ensuring it is open to students of genuine ability, no matter what their background or financial circumstances, which is why we award more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK.

Qualification, course duration and attendance options

MA
full time
12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification

Course contact details

Name: Course Enquiries
Email: info@nfts.co.uk

Visit website

Animation for Film and Games