Animation Studio Partners With University to Test Generative AI in School Films
VANDAL, an animation studio, is collaborating with the University of Technology Sydney to explore how generative AI can work within animation production. The partnership will produce a series of animated science films for schools, with work beginning immediately under an Australian Research Council Discovery Project.
The project brings together VANDAL's production experience with UTS faculty, including Professor Rachel Landers and PhD students from the animation, media arts, and music design programs. The first output will be a suite of animated films that introduce children to notable scientists and their discoveries through character-driven storytelling.
How the collaboration will work
Rather than using AI to replace animators, the partnership will test how generative tools can extend creative options during production. VANDAL will help develop a hybrid workflow where AI functions as an image-making tool alongside traditional animation craft.
The focus stays on human authorship and artistic intent. Students will create foundational work, then explore where AI can accelerate or expand visual development without diminishing the artist's role.
Chris Scott, executive creative director at VANDAL, said the partnership puts emerging technology "in the hands of curious, ambitious creative people" rather than as a standalone solution. "This collaboration with UTS is about helping emerging creatives build that fluency early, so they can approach new tools with confidence and critical thinking, while maintaining a strong sense of creative authorship."
VANDAL's track record with AI
The studio has spent four years testing generative AI across live projects. Recent work includes An Impossible Life for the Sea Turtle Foundation, which used AI to visualize unseen stages of a sea turtle's lifecycle based on scientific data. Other projects include animations for Lendlease, CommBank, and the City of Sydney.
Across these projects, VANDAL applied AI as one element within broader creative direction, design, and storytelling.
Professor Landers said the partnership creates space to "connect UTS's research and teaching practice with VANDAL's industry-leading expertise in generative AI and hybrid animation workflows," while exploring how emerging tools can support creative work and help young audiences engage with science.
For creatives exploring generative art and production workflows, the partnership offers a practical model: one that treats AI as an extension of craft rather than a replacement for it.
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