I got to sit in at the top 20 groups that were learning how to animate on the 7th September. The results of who would be in the top 10 would be on Saturday so this was just something all of them would get to at least experience. Like a taster on how animating would be like.
Also, I did get to go to the results for the top 10 so click the more cut to read the rest!
There were two sessions for all the groups there. They were either in the room where they would be learning Toon Boom, a software that is similar to Flash in which you can draw your characters on it and pretty much animate it all on the computer or they were in the other room learning stop motion.
This group was learning how to draw and paint using the software. Also, they were using Wacom tablets and I know those need time to get used to. I pretty much use them most of the time but my first time using it was pretty strange.
You need to practice and be used to it so that you can draw on the pad and look at the screen at the same time.
In the other room, the instructors were showing how the props of a stop motion animation were to look like. You need to draw each piece, the characters, the props and the background of the animation to do it.
This group had one hour to finish their props and characters. They had to draw them first and then outline them in marker so it would be easily captured by the camera. The set up for this is just a webcam attached to a tripod.
The tripod is taped down so that they wouldn’t accidentally hit and topple it. You need the camera to be stationary for the stop motion to work.
Well, since the students were occupied with their productions, us N.E.mation ambassadors were given paper to do our own animation! We present to you… THIS:
Ok, you might have checked the other ambassadors’ videos but I added some audio for this cause I could, HURRR. So that was it for the workshop. It maybe simple in theory to animate things but you got to do a lot of frames and hopefully without mistakes.
FAST FOWARD TO SATURDAY, 10 September… THE PITCH and RESULTS DAY!
Smile, smile while you can.
The students from the different schools had to pitch their idea to their judges.
Before they would enter the small lecture room, some of them were hanging outside making sure their materials were done and their props to be used in their presentation was all fixed up.
I managed to catch some pitches and was quite impressed. Only one group can enter the lecture room so all the student groups had their alloted time to show off their stuff to the judges. They were all so ernest in their presentations.
The students used props, drew their storyboards, sang or did little skits to illustrate how their short animation would be. I must say the default for Indian songs seems to be Munnaeru Vaalibaa for everyone, always.
You can tell the students were worried and in their own way, nervous as they answered questions from the judges. Considering they were students and not having an easy source to find facts, some of their details were wrong or they didn’t use the correct terms for what happened in national service.
At this point the judges also asked the groups why were there only three members if they were originally four. Some students from the various schools had dropped out due to unforseen circumstances and their own groups had to cut them out.
This is very risky for groups with three members for should one of them drop out in the middle of production, the whole group is booted out since you can’t make an animation with two people in that amount of time. Like, WILL THE JUDGES ACCEPT THEM even if they have three members? WAS IT A MISTAKE TO BOOT THEIR FRIEND OUT?
OH THE DILEMMA AND SUSPENSE!
When all the sessions ended, everyone was off to the bigger lecture hall.
We got to watch some animated movies while they tabulated the scores. Most of the students were either doing homework, playing their games or talking to each other while they waited though.
And then… the anticipation of either being in or out. The whole thing was like those reality TV shows in which the groups stepped forward or back including dramatic music.
Just minus commercial breaks.
Please imagine an opening theme song here. NA NA NAAAA WOOO NAAAAH. 100 teams got to the briefing, then only 20 teams made it past another round to the final 10 teams. To those who are leaving, you may take your photos with you, also the goodie bag with your certificate of participation and the memories and knowledge of what you have learned in the workshops.
Auf wiedersehen.
NA NA NAAAA WOOO NAAAAAAAAH.
And if you wanted to watch from the beginning to this episode, you can just watch the video above! There’ll more episodes of this if I’m voted the next top model top three ambassador so don’t forget to click vote on my picture above the latest topics on the right!
