As invited guest at the University of Southampton ‘s School of Law\u2019s 2023 Away Day, Senior Learning Designer Dr Melanie Seddon took the opportunity to showcase the work of the Digital Learning Team to gathered faculty members. The range of support and expertise offered by team members drew positive responses and concrete outputs. Following the event, Dr Stephanie Law, postgraduate course leader approached Digital Learning with an exciting commission: a series of animations that capture the essence of the modules offered across the LLM programmes. The purpose of the animations was to support postgraduate students to better plan their programme path and choose modules effectively at their annual Options Fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step in this ambitious project was to determine the priority of modules to be animated. For each LLM programme, students follow a total of eight modules (120 CATS) over the academic year. Some modules are offered in multiple pathways. These modules were grouped into three equal groups, and eight modules were identified as high priority for the initial phase of animation development. Joe Brett was chosen as the Media Producer who would work on the project due to his expertise in animation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A comprehensive project scoping document is essential to outline any project’s objectives, timelines, resources, and deliverables. Joe and Melanie created a document which served as a blueprint for the project, detailing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The document was reviewed and signed off by Dr Law, the lead stakeholder from Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the scoping document in place, the next step was to choose the graphic style for the animations. Joe selected a range of potential styles for Dr Law to review, choosing options that were engaging, modern, and reflective of the School of Law’s prestige. After careful consideration and a couple of feedback rounds, a clean and professional 2D animation style was selected. The chosen style balanced simplicity and sophistication, ensuring clarity and visual appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collaboration with experts was crucial to ensure that the content of the animations accurately represented each module’s core themes and learning outcomes. As postgraduate course leader, Dr Law was well-placed to liaise with the module leads to verify the key concepts and objectives of each module and identify the most important information to be included in the animations. Joe and Melanie then worked with these key concepts to develop concise scripts that would guide storyboard creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the scripts were finalised, the storyboarding process began. Storyboards are visual representations of the animation sequences, breaking down each scene by scene. In this phase Joe\u2019s sketched out each scene based on the scripts and carefully mapped out the flow of information to ensure a logical and engaging narrative for each of the animations. When the storyboards were completed, they were sent to Melanie and Dr Law for feedback and approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With approved storyboards in hand, we moved into the animation production phase. This involved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The animation rough cuts then went through a thorough review process, involving the Digital Learning Team Media Producers, and Law stakeholders. Feedback was gathered and incorporated into the final edits to ensure accuracy and effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This collaboration between faculty, the Senior Learning Designer and the Media Producer resulted in a series of high-quality animations that effectively captured the essence of the LLM programme modules. These animations now serve as valuable tools for students, helping them navigate their programme choices with clarity and confidence. The success of this project underscores the importance of innovative educational tools in enhancing student learning experiences and sets a precedent for future initiatives within the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are interested in commissioning animations or trailers for your programme please contact us at digital-learning@soton.ac.uk.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\u201cIt has been incredibly helpful for us to work with Joe and Melanie and the entire Digital Learning Team, and engage with their expertise in the design process, developing scripts and implementing graphic design and animation to develop short videos for our LLM modules. We hope to be able to use these videos to further inform current LLM students, and potential applicants, of the range of law modules that we offer, our academic expertise and teaching interests. I\u2019d like to thank the Digital Learning Team for taking the lead in this undertaking and sharing their expertise with us. \u201c<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Dr Stephanie Law<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n