Melvyn F Ternan FHEA

Melvyn joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2009 as an Associate Lecturer teaching across many modules on the Animation and Animation and Visual Effect courses. In 2012 he became a full-time lecturer specialising in Animation, after which he became a dedicated Senior Lecturer for the Animation course in 2014.

Prior to this Melvyn predominantly worked in the animation industry, across many different animation disciplines. In 2001 he co-founded Collision Films in Bristol, specialising in animation-based music videos, after which in 2003 he co-founded the Paradise Pictures studio, specialising in animated idents, music videos, short films and animation workshops. In 2006 Melvyn set up his own freelancing business Melmation, working on over 150 different client based animation projects. In 2013 his first book, Stop Motion Animation, was published by Barrons educational books and translated into six different languages for sale around the world.

He has a very strong passion for animation as a creative art form and whilst all areas of animation interest him, stop motion and mixed media are where his main passion and expertise reside.

Since working at Sheffield Hallam, Melvyn has realised a hidden passion for teaching animation, for helping others grow in their understanding and development of this creative art form.

His constant belief is that every student has a unique voice, a unique creativity that can be enhanced and developed to go forward and influence the future of animation in a positive way.

Specialist areas of interest

Pre-Production for Animation
Stop Motion Animation
Visual Techniques within Animation
Post-Production for Animation and Animation Project Management

Melvyn also enjoys studying idea genesis, technique identification and enjoying the freedom of his motorbike.

Subject area

Creative Media

Courses

Animation

Modules

Stop Motion Animation Foundation

Stop Motion animation Project

Pre-Production for Animation

Final Animation Project

Preparatory Animation Project

Conference papers

Ternan, M. (2015). "Environmental impact on idea Genesis" or "The idea of Ideas". In Where to? : Steps towards the future of walking arts symposium, Falmouth University, 16 April 2015. http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/whereto

Books

Ternan, M. (2013). Stop motion animation : how to make and share creative videos. US: Barron's. http://barronseduc.com/1438002556.html

Media

Watson, A., Lee, J., Gent, S., Ternan, M., Parkin, M., Robinson, A., & Robinson, S. (2015). Showreel for Media Arts Walking Research Group. [DVD]. Sheffield Hallam University: http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/whereto

Presentations

Ternan, M. (2019). Say What? Dialogue animation by hearing-impaired students: challenges and opportunities. Presented at: Educating Animators Conference 2019, Salford, UK, 2019

Ternan, M. (2019). Pedagogical benefits of discontinued animation methodology. Presented at: LTA Conference 2019, Sheffield, UK, 2019

Ternan, M., & Fedotova, O. (2018). Anticipatory Action in Creative Media Education - Dialogue Animation by Hearing Impaired Students. Presented at: MES18, Hong Kong

Ternan, M., Doncaster, A., Powell, A., & Jones, M. (2016). When these university staff utilised Facebook for an entire year - no one expected what happened next. Presented at: 2016 Learning and Teaching Conference, Sheffield, UK, 2016

Ternan, M., & Bacchus, D. (2015). Traditional Animation Principles within Mobile App Development. Presented at: LTA Conference 2015, Sheffield, UK, 2015

Posters

Ternan, M. (2018). From reasonable adjustment to anticipatory action: engaging hearing impaired students into dialogue animation. Presented at: RAISE, Charles Street Building, Sheffield, 2018

Watson, A., Lee, J., Gent, S., Ternan, M., Parkin, M., Robinson, A., & Robinson, S. (2015). Poster for Media Arts Walking Research Group. Presented at: Where to? Steps towards the future of walking arts, Falmouth University, 2015