Work integrated learning
Your Massey studies will see you involved in industry partnerships, such as teaming up with Wētā Workshop.
Choose your career
Study in this area leads to many career options including director, producer, cinematographer, screenwriter, animator and more…
Fab first
Our Fab Lab is Australasia's first digital fabrication laboratory – affiliated to MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Global top 100
Get creative at Massey. The only New Zealand university to be ranked by QS in the top 100 for art and design.
Overview
Lights. Camera. VR goggles. Action! Where better to study than in Wellywood, New Zealand's capital of animation, CGI, and making movies and TV shows.
Learn from award-winning staff and industry experts. Discover new ideas in areas such as cinematography and 3D modelling. Master new skills using our state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including a gear library stocked with cameras, lighting and VR/AR kits.
Film, animation and VFX is a good fit if you:
- do well in design, visual arts (ngā toi) or technology (hangarau)
- want to tell stories and harness new ways to
- like creative thinking and making things.
Animation and VFX courses
Gain skills to create fantastic characters and scenes, using advanced technology and traditional techniques for cartoons and model-making.
Animation and VFX courses may cover:
- 3D modelling
- animation techniques such as texturing, rigging and compositing
- CGI including motion capture and green screens
- character design
- storyboarding
- VR, AR and MR (mixed or hybrid reality), also called immersive design.
Animation and VFX at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi
Film and TV courses
Gain skills to tell compelling stories on screen – factual, fictional, or creative non-fiction.
Film and TV courses may cover:
- camera operation
- cinematography
- editing
- lighting, sound and post-production skills
- screenwriting
- story and concept development.
Film and television at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi
How to study film, animation and VFX
Discover what we offer if you’re interested in film, animation and VFX – whether you’re coming to university for the first time, changing direction or returning to advance your study or career.
Undergraduate study
Bachelor's degrees
Media Studies – Bachelor of Arts
Interested in television and popular culture? Social media and fake news? Filmmaking and cultural theory? Media studies can help you unlock your creative potential and develop practical skills to excel in your career.
Media Studies – Bachelor of Communication
Discover how the media shape our identities and our world. Massey will help you create, critique, and connect with the media world, building skills to understand and make media for a wide range of professional communication roles.
Bachelor of Creative Media Production – BCMP
Realise your vision in interactive and digital media, and get ready for a career in the global cross-media world.
Undergraduate bachelor's degrees with honours
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours – BFA(Hons)
Discover how to produce work that makes people think and feel, act and react. Whatever your mode of art-making is, we’ll help you find and develop your own creative voice.
Visual Communication Design – Bachelor of Design with Honours
Visual communication is one of the most universal forms of design. It is at the heart of how our world works; guiding, informing, persuading, and inspiring us every day.
Relevant undergraduate subjects to major or specialise in
When you apply to study at Massey, for some undergraduate qualifications you can choose what subject you’d like to specialise in. You can usually change your mind after you get to university, depending on the courses you enrol in.
- Media studies within the arts
- Media studies within communication
- Visual communication design
Postgraduate study
Postgraduate bachelor's degrees with honours
Bachelor of Creative Media Production (Honours) – BCMP(Hons)
Push your creative skills by producing your own creative media project from conception to completion.
Master's degrees
Master of Creative Enterprise – MCE
Combine research and practice to give you the skills you need to make your mark in the highly competitive creative industries.
Master of Design – MDes
In the Master of Design, you’ll produce innovative and responsive design work that is thoroughly grounded in design research methodologies and expertly realised, with the option to work with industry leaders at Weta Workshop.
Time to complete 12 months full time
Credits 120
Location Massey University and Wētā Workshop, Wellington, New Zealand
Undertake your own research and design project, exploring how Entertainment Design works as a tool for creating compelling characters, engaging worlds, and incredible stories. The programme culminates with a written research component presented alongside a body of concept design work.
Students will have access to Massey University workshop, studio, teaching, and library facilities.
Master of Fine Arts – MFA
Embed yourself in a rich dialogue about your creative practice in Massey’s transdisciplinary Master of Fine Arts qualification, for artists and designers.
PhD and other doctoral degrees
Doctor of Philosophy – PhD
A prestigious research qualification that demonstrates your ability to carry out independent and original research in your chosen field.
Our facilities
You'll have access to a wide range of first-class facilities when you study with us.
Virtual and augmented reality
A specialised room where students can explore and prototype virtual spaces and experiences, or create virtual artworks or designs using virtual reality and augmented reality equipment.
Film production facilities
Our facilities are among the best in Australasia and include:
- colour grading suites
- editing tools
- lighting gear
- green screen
- motion capture suite, including 24 camera Vicon motion capture array.
Plus borrow high-end equipment for your projects.
Location: Wellington campus
Toystore
The Toystore offers a wide range of audiovisual equipment for design students to borrow, as well as access to large format printing and technical support.
Fab Lab
Fab Lab Wgtn is Australasia’s first digital fabrication laboratory (Fab Lab) affiliated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Fab Lab's capabilities include: A computer-controlled laser cutter; numerically-controlled milling machine; a sign cutter; a precision milling machine to make three-dimensional moulds; surface-mount circuit boards; and small 3D printers, for fast production of 3-dimensional forms.
Jobs in film, animation and VFX
Storytellers wanted. In this booming industry, demand is high for those with vision, with an appetite for experimentation and embracing new technologies and forms of expression.
Careers in film, animation and VFX include:
- animators, including 2D, 3D and motion capture
- concept and storyboard artists
- camera operators
- cinematographers
- film and TV directors
- lighting designers and lighting technicians
- prop makers and modellers
- sound designers and sound engineers
- visual effects specialists.
Salary ranges for jobs
- Advertising specialist – $42,000 to $150,000
- Animator or digital artist – hourly rates of $20 to $75
- Art director – pay rates vary
- Director – pay rates vary
- Film and video editor – $42,000 to $100,000
Salary ranges disclaimer
Indicative pay rates are:
- in New Zealand dollars
- based on careers.govt.nz data.
Which film, animation and VFX qualification?
Examples of where our qualifications may take you.
| Jobs | Examples of what you could study |
|---|---|
| Animator or digital artist |
Bachelor of Creative Media Production Bachelor of Design with Honours (Visual Communication Design) |
| Concept designer or costume designer |
Master of Design Master of Design, Wētā Workshop Bachelor of Design with Honours (Concept Design) |
| Director or cinematographer |
Master of Design Master of Design, Wētā Workshop Bachelor of Creative Media Production (Honours) |
| Producer | Bachelor of Creative Media Production (Honours) |
Accreditations and rankings
QS Ranking - Art & Design
College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi ranks in the global top 150 for art and design by QS World University Rankings.
Red Dot Design ranking
Ranked 1st in Asia-Pacific by International Red Dot Design Awards, the only design school to be ranked in New Zealand and Australia. This significant achievement recognises the high calibre of our teaching staff and the exceptional quality of our students' design concept work.
NASAD
Massey's College of Creative Arts is New Zealand's only art and design school granted “substantial equivalency” — an international benchmark of quality — by the United States National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Get an information guide
Download our guides to find out more about studying film, animation and VFX at Massey.
Related areas of interest
