Call for animators to apply to incubator programme

Source: www.pixabay.com

Offering hopefuls the opportunity to learn and grow from industry leaders, the incubator will give eight aspiring South African creatives the chance to finetune their pitching skills across eight weeks and learn to effectively sell their concepts and creations. As pitching is the first step on any creator’s journey, the programme will lay down the basics, and develop the skills of the participants.

Equal opportunity

Taking the form of four masterclasses and four feedback sessions, this after-hours programme will give students, employed individuals, and freelance creators an equal opportunity to learn and grow through interactive sessions as well as assignments given throughout the incubation process.

The shortlisted candidates for this once in a lifetime opportunity, will be announced at Comic Con Cape Town later this month, and will showcase the work of local creatives to industry leading professionals and mentors including Nathan Stanton, who is known for working as the head of story, as a Storyboard Artist and a Story consultant, is best known for his work on Luca (2021), The Incredibles 2 (2018), Finding Dory (2016) Brave (2012), and Monster Inc. (2021) just to name a few. Stanton’s focus will be the visualisation of the story, development of beat boards and to look at the structure of the story, making sure it’s told in an impactful and interesting way.

Joining forces

This year the Cape Town International Animation Festival also joins forces with the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct (Tshimologong) and the Durban Film Mart Institute (DFMI) to launch the third edition of the six-month Road to Annecy Animation Incubation Programme at the festival in April. The main objective of the incubation programme is to create a platform where animation creatives develop high-end, commercially viable pitch bibles that can compete on the global stage. The end-goal is to provide emerging creatives with access to markets where they can connect with intermediaries and raise financing for their productions.

The incubation programme is facilitated by the Mollo Animation Academy and Studio (Mollo) and Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival (Fak’ugesi). The programme was officially launched two years ago with the support of National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). From the 135 applicants from the last two years, the programme has successfully incubated eight emerging studios through a rigorous development process. Overall, the past two years of Road to Annecy campaign was a roaring success.

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The Programme of this year’s Animation Festival features various opportunities for youth development across the four days of the show. Offering visitors the opportunity to gain a leg-up in the industry by avoiding any pitfalls and gaining insight from the session entitled Hindsight: Things I wish I knew before by Annike Pienaar, an animator that has made waves internationally at studios like Illumination. What Broadcasters Want You to will highlight what TV and film production studios look for in pitches from creators, presented by industry expert Ariane Suveg.

The Making of The Smeds and the Smoos will unpack the creation of the story of two young aliens from warring families who fall in love and run away, where The Making of the Gale of the Cape offers a behind the scenes peek into the process of creating the trailer.

Chocolate Tribe's Tiaan Franken discusses the workflow behind the creation of photo realistic creatures, and audiences are taken behind the scenes with directors Marc Moynihan and Dylan McGarry of the film Indlela Yokuphila/ The Soul’s Journey. Create Your First Cinematic Shot with Unreal Engine is a five and a half hour introductory training course that is targeted at animation and film-making enthusiasts and will accelerate their transition to Unreal. During the course, attendees will learn how to create a stunning cinematic animation scene in Unreal Engine, from beginning to end. Then, Future proof your workflow with ShotGrid will demonstrate how to use this industry-standard production management solution to support creators through the next decade and beyond.

Modelling, Rigging, Animation, Automation highlights new features and improvements to the latest releases of Autodesk Maya and Bifrost. A special addition is a toolset for Bifrost that enables the procedural creation of polygon objects, like automatically produce complete cities in game development. Physical Theatre Masterclass with Rob van Vuuren equips attendees to shoot reference for animators. Physical theatre principals include precise gestures, body language and much more.

You can apply here.

Deadline is 23 April 2023.