Edinburgh College of Art

Integrated within the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) offers studio-based education in animation, film, and digital screen arts from its Lauriston Campus in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Tracing its lineage back to the 1760 establishment of the Trustees Drawing Academy, the college combines traditional fine art sensibilities with contemporary digital production techniques, emphasizing the development of individual artistic voice over standardized visual formulas.

ECA houses Scotland’s oldest degree-level Animation program, covering drawn 2D, 3D computer animation, and stop-motion workflows. Students work through hands-on production exercises that mirror full studio pipelines while retaining creative control over their own projects, balancing collaborative assignments with personal filmmaking. The animation department also maintains formal educational ties with the industry, including a partnership with the Aardman Academy and hosting the annual Education in Animation Day in conjunction with the Scotland Loves Anime festival, bringing international studio directors and artists onto campus.

In parallel, film study spans the undergraduate BA in Film and Television through to specialized postgraduate routes, including an MA in Film Directing focused on non-fiction storytelling and an MFA in Film Art taught jointly with the Paris College of Art. Practical cross-disciplinary collaboration is central across the visual disciplines, with animation and film students regularly teaming up with peers from the Reid School of Music for original scores and sound design.

Production Facilities

Practical work is supported by dedicated studio spaces and equipment suites at the Lauriston Campus:

• Animation Studios: Purpose-built production spaces overlooking Edinburgh Castle, housing lightboxes gifted from the production of The Illusionist alongside traditional capture gear, down-shooters, and motorized rostrums.
• Stop-Motion Suites: Dedicated dark rooms and set-construction workspaces equipped with DSLR setups and lighting rigs.
• Post-Production and Rendering: Networked Mac suites equipped with Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve, and Pro Tools, backed by a dedicated render farm utilizing Pixar's RenderMan.
• Screening Space: A private cinema linked directly to editing stations, enabling students to review stereo sound and color-graded work in an auditorium setting.

The academic year culminates in the annual Graduate Show, where studio spaces transform into a curated public exhibition and screening program attended by industry scouts, gallerists, and the broader public.