CONTENT UNDERDOSE
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| TV SHOWS AIRED LOCALLY |
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Citizen, Good News Broadcasting, Kass TV (yes there is a station with that name….), Kiss TV (Confused station but still watchable)…and the list goes on.
Siri, Mheshimiwa, Tahidi High, Beba beba, Papa Shirandula, Hostel, Changing times……If you have a TV just fill in the rest.
Anyway in case you are wondering I just listed the above to put my point across clearly. We have a lot of TV stations and more are still to come if what we’re being told about the switch to digital TV is to be believed. We are also witnessing what we may refer to as a “surge” in demand for local content. My projections are that the demand will continue on an upward trend. Consumers will want more and one of the ways to meet that will be by merging 3d animation with our local productions……That’s how Nollywood got a foothold in the local industry I guess. Some young Kenyans huge aversion to Nigerian movie arises from the way they utilized vfx greatly in their productions to make witches ‘fly’, ‘heavenly lighting kill the wicked’, humans turn to dogs e.t.c amateurish to seasoned 3d animators but a huge scare show for a 13 year old. Visual effects set their stories apart since you didn’t just get a plain old good vs. evil storyline, but a ‘visually appetizing’(more like scary)…..and African movie.
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| some local Tv shows |
Anyway…..It’s time we joined the bandwagon, 2015 should find us making sci-fi movies and local TV series akin to Fringe or 24, so to all animators and aspiring 3d animators in Kenya…..getup…..model, rig, animate, composite…..and lets show the world that what Hollywood does we can do better…..Au sio?(Big up to Andrew Kaggia for blazing the way for us…His Wageuzi clip proves we can do it…and do it well)
The KFC’s mandate is to make Kenya a center of excellence in film production. This includes helping to create an enabling environment for the development of a vibrant local industry as well as marketing Kenya as a leading destination for foreign filmmakers
There have been several events in the country that focused on local animators in recent years. Some of them small some arguably large. It is however the Kenyan Film Commission which has undoubtedly been leading the way. Kenya Film Commission has been holding Animation Expos annually, the latest and last one was on Saturday March 19th 2011 at Sarit Centre Westlands.The purpose of the Animation expo is to establish a leading forum where animation artistes are able to showcase their work, network within the media industry, with financiers and receive information to build their business skills. The event was well attended and most first timers (myself included) were quite surprised by the number of exhibitors. There were even some local developers with flash games and Shang Tao College was also among the exhibitors. The bottom line is anyone who is in the animation industry or has an interest MUST make an effort to check out the next event which according to the Kenya Film Commission website is scheduled for March 2012. The exact dates will be communicated in due course. So jitayarishe……good luck.
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| Upcoming animation expo 2012 |
FILM AND ANIMATION EXPO 2012
The
long wait is finally over.The Kenya Film Commission has finally
released the dates of the 2012 animation expo.Unlike last year where the
event was held at the Sarit Centre in westlands,The event has this time
been shifted to the Prestige Palm, Prestige Plaza, Ngong’ Road and is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 31st March 2012, from 9.30am.This annual event is among the most awaited by animators in Kenya and is the only one of its kind.
On
another note,we hope that the organizers will also try and setup
similar events in other parts of the country,namely Mombasa and Kisumu
and probably even Nakuru to give all potential animators in Kenya an
equal chance at meeting,sharing ideas and taking the industry to another
level.
ANIMATION
WORKSHOP
Any Kenyan past ‘chewing gum’ age
knows that while attending any event, especially those that pertain
to government institutions, it’s best to expect the unexpected. So
there I was on a rather ‘cloudy’ Friday(23 March 2012) morning heading to an
Animation Workshop organized by the Kenya Film Commission in
conjunction with Multimedia University College.
Typical of the Generation Y, I had no
interest in the directions to the venue, emailed to me earlier. Why
memorise,when you got ‘satnav’.10 minutes past arrival time and
my ‘satnav’ phone with a screen the size of a ‘Britannia
biscuit’ was getting me nowhere. Fortunately my ‘mouthnav’
proved to be better at the job and after a few questions directed to
the ever helpful Nairobians, I found myself at ‘ground zero’.
Now, I’ve been to more government
institutions, parastatals and the likes than I would care to remember
and the KFC offices have got to be among the best of them. Unlike
typical government offices, KFC’s interior design radiates
creativity and artistry, achieved by skillfully mixing modernity
through the use of colour and African inspired designs through the
use of local art work. Stained glass artwork on the doors completes
the look with flair unlikely to be seen in few other offices if any.
Five minutes later at the reception and
my hosts through their representative, a lady by the name Irene
ushered me into the meeting room where, I found half the participants
already present. The other half turned up much later, probably severe
cases of ‘African timer syndrome’….
Possibilities of Animation was the
first order of business. Now before I go on I would like to ask our
sisters in the animation industry-How come you didn’t
toklezea??There were only 3 ladies present, the facilitator, a MissMwara (Multimedia University lecturer), our host-Miss Irene, and a
lady graphic designer by the name Vida (smooth huh!)Maybe it’s time
a ‘Beijing 2.0’ was organized again….seems like their mojo’s
wearing off…
Now Miss Mwara is a lady who exudes
the air of someone who ‘lives to animate’ and her passion for the
subject was quite evident throughout the session. A brief on the
history of animation was quite enlightening. I was quite surprised to
know that some animators used ‘sand boxes’ if I may call it that
and even pins, numbering thousands (a technique called pinscreen
animation) to create animations! Other forms include pixilation,
stop-motion, cut-outs and the usual suspects, 3D and 2D (Drawings)
animation. Just Google the above stuff for details.
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| Animators engaging in Knowledge transfer |
A few hours later having taken a tea
break,(and yes, real tea was present, not the usual ‘air burgers’
most Kenyans enjoy, not forgetting the doughnuts and the….you get
the picture)We were back at it discussing,watching,criticing the
animation productions, seeking to gain in-depth understanding of the
process from our fore-runners. This session was graced by Mr. Kwame
Nyongo, a pioneer in the local industry. You may not be aware but the
fellow has done a pretty nice 10 minute, Kenyan Animation by the name
‘LEGEND OF NGONG HILLS’ which he showcased during his
presentation.
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| Mr Kwame Nyongo engaging participants. |
In addition, there were other animation
shorts created between 2004-2007 by African animators all over
Africa, (Kwame being among them) under the UNESCO ‘Africa Animated’
project. I found one by the name ‘Down Rising’ quite commendable
(story about a lady whose body is switched ‘by accident’-literally
with that of a street boy, each taking the others lifestyle...)
Afternoon session was more of a
hands-on session that involved drawing (which I’m really not good
at) in order to gain a better understanding of animation principles.
All in all it was a good step by the KFC (read Gava…) towards
promoting the development of the local animation industry. Anyone
interested in attending similar events should keep an eye on the KFC
website. For now, continue modeling, texturing, animating-You are the
Industry.
ANIMATION EXPO
The event took place on 31st
Saturday,March 2012 and the venue to be was the Prestige Plaza,Ngong
Road.To say I loved the ideas being floated around by some of the
animators at the expo would be a gross understatement..People talking
of multi-player gaming(Virtual Designs game by the name TribalScars),feature length movies (Anto-Dezigns ,Animated Makmende
film in the pipeline) and even graphic novels(Chronicles of Piye) was
more than I expected.Kenyan animators seem to have put their foot
down and it’s either they push forward or push forward.The times
are indeed changing and my ‘cowrie shells’ indicate that
interesting times lie ahead in the local industry.
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| Chomoka Studios stand at the 2012 animation expo in Nairobi |
Exhibitors at the event included:
- IMMORTAL JELLYFISH ANIMATION STUDIOS
- MOJO PRODUCTIONS-Impressive productions,and it was quite evident they dominate the TV adverts.
- ARC ROTATE STUDIO
- SHOUT HUGE PRODUCTIONS-The company,founded by Harto, has produced a 10 min ,post apocalyptic 2D animation by the name Soul Lion where Kenya is the super power.I hope to watch it soon and give you my thoughts
- ANTO DEZIGNS- Have a Makmende feature film-animated in the works.
- IMMORTAL MEDIA
- SLEEK DIMENSION
- DIGITALL DEFINITIONS-Started an animation school in Nairobi
- VIRTUAL DESIGNS
- TAFSIRI ENTERTAINMENT
- N.I.T COLLEGE
And many more who unlike the ones in
the above list were more of film producers e.g Jitu Films
SIDE STORIES
It was quite interesting to note that
Mr.DNA yes,the one and only was present ,in the Digitall Definitions
stand,and no he was not rapping there(kwani unadhani kazi ya watu ni
kuimba tu eee??)but was actually part of the Digitall Definitions
crew.Mr Andrew Kaggia has also recently started an animation school
by the name NewBreed Academy of Digital Arts.
On another note Kenyan animators seem
to use a ‘spoonfull’ of 3DS MAX and AFTER EFFECTS for a great
part of their works,some ‘pinch’ of MAYA and CINEMA 4D and
‘sprinkles’ of BLENDER 3D (Balozi productions,nice work!).It was
quite evident that 3DS Max is the main tool used for 3D work whereas
most of the 2D work is done in TOONBOOM.I’ll be seeking insight
from animators on why this is so.
Blackouts which happened several times
marred the event,but this was a minor issue as the event proceeded on
quite smoothly still.
Lastly ladies need to step up their
game.The industry could sure do with some diversity apart from the
Sales/Marketing section.
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| Attendees checking out animators works |
All in all this years event was a great
step towards giving local animators the much needed exposure and networking venue.We will be interviewing local animation companies and practitioners to find out what makes them tick!Stay tuned.
