Ann Owen

My passion for animation production lies in stop-motion, a form of animation that I have practiced since completing my own degree. I also run the history and theory elements of the course and my research interests include examining the relationship between the mechanisms of visual perception (in the human brain) and animation spectatorship and production.  

I graduated from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design (now called the University for the Creative Arts) in 1999 with a first class BA(Hons) in Animation. Following this I stayed on at the college working as a research assistant in the newly formed Animation Research Centre. In 2000 I moved to Manchester to work as a stop-motion animator on children’s television show Bob the Builder. This was an amazing and invaluable experience. It provided me with an insight into the television animation industry and allowed me to perfect my stop-motion skills whilst working on an award winning show. Following this I returned to Surrey and took up a position at my former college teaching stop-motion animation and puppet-making to the students on the animation course. During my six years teaching at Farnham I taught on almost every area of the course (and on one or two other courses) eventually specialising in the history and theory of animation. In 2007 I moved to Cornwall and took up a position as senior lecturer in on the newly formed BA(Hons) Animation & Visual Effects course, which is now a well-established degree whose graduates are finding success in all areas of the animation and VFX industries.

During my time at Falmouth I have had the opportunity to develop my research portfolio, specialising in neuroanimatics. This approach utilises advances in neuroscience and neuropsychology to further our understanding of what goes on in the human brain when we watch, and when we create, animation. This is a very new and very exciting approach to animation scholarship and I am very pleased to be playing a leading part in its global development. I have led panels and presented my research at international conferences in Athens, Los Angeles, Toronto and Canterbury. I have been able to build this research into the teaching program at Falmouth, which provides students on the course with a unique insight into this amazing aspect of animation theory.

I am currently writing a chapter for a book on Coraline, to be published by Bloomsbury in 2019,  and an am active member of the Society for Animation Studies.