Course Goals

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should have developed:

• Understand animation across history and media. Develop an understanding of animation as a global, evolving art form—from early experiments and “cinema of attractions” to contemporary digital, hybrid, and platform-based animation across film, television, games, and emerging media.
• Apply critical analysis to animated form. Analyze how animated works construct meaning through motion, timing, transformation, design, sound, and narrative structure, using key concepts from animation studies.
• Examine animation as a cultural and technological practice. Explore how animation reflects and reshapes cultural values, labor systems, industrial histories, and technological change, including the shifting boundaries between animation, live action, and digital performance.
• Create original scholarly and/or creative work. Research, design, and execute a substantial final project—either a scholarly research paper or a creative work (such as a script, pilot concept, video essay, or other approved format)—that engages animation studies and/or public-facing critical discourse, demonstrating awareness of connections between genre, media aesthetics, animation techniques, and audience impact.
• Experiment with contemporary animation practice (optional). For students who choose to pursue it, explore introductory animation workflows and 3D principles using guided tools (including Autodesk Maya) as a means of deepening conceptual understanding of animated form, space, and motion.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

• Analyze animated works critically: Apply key theories, terminology, and concepts from animation studies to analyze animated films, series, and media across different historical periods, cultures, and aesthetic traditions.
• Interpret animation in context: Explain how animated works reflect and respond to broader cultural, technological, political, and industrial conditions, including shifts in media platforms and audience experience.
• Engage animation as a mode of thinking: Demonstrate an understanding of animation not only as a genre or technique, but as a way of constructing meaning through motion, transformation, time, and abstraction.
• Communicate ideas effectively: Produce clear, well-structured written and oral arguments that integrate close analysis, theoretical insight, and evidence drawn from animated texts and scholarly sources.
• Collaborate and synthesize: Work collaboratively to research, design, and present critical interpretations of animated works, integrating theory, formal analysis, and peer discussion.
• Explore animated practice conceptually (Optional): For students who choose to do so, apply introductory animation or 3D principles, such as timing, motion, spatial design, and transformation, using guided tools or workflows (including Autodesk Maya) to support critical and creative inquiry.