Art and design higher education curriculum design: integrating a lost stop motion method in higher education

This piece discusses considerations for what might inspire Art and Design higher education curriculum design as well as published concepts that argue potentially unavoidable considerations. A unique case study is then offered to reflect upon these discussions. The case study will reflect on integrating a lost animation method referred to as ‘shooting blind’ in Level four teaching, implemented over five academic years. A history of the shooting blind method helps us understand why this method was replaced after eighty years of utilisation before being forgotten by both industry and education. Methods of creating animation inevitably evolve when technological advancements offer a simpler, quicker, more cost-effective route for animation production. 3D Animation methods update almost yearly with this animation discipline relying heavily on software and technology for its own existence. 2D Animation diversified with the development of screen-based graphics tablets able to recreate the visual aesthetic of previously utilised ‘traditional’ hand drawn methods. Stop Motion animation currently utilises a mixture of both software and technology that offers enhanced workflows replicating previous utilised methods. In my opinion animation methods that were replaced, methods that were practised for decades, and their inherent potential were forcibly lost in an ever changing digital and advancing technological landscape. The simpler, quicker, more cost-effective benefits of current methods utilised by industry seem to be believed to outweigh all benefits of the methods that they replace. However, I believe that there are uncharted educational benefits which have been left undiscovered with these lost methods of animation.