CARIMAC (Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication) is getting their
head in the Animation Game!
On Wednesday February 12th 2014 they’ve graduated their first
officially freshly baked batch of students from their Animate Jamaica Certificate
programme from University of the West Indies Western Jamaica Campus as stated
in “More
production studios, professionals needed for local Animation industry”,
published Friday February 14, 2014 by
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
This marks the continuation of the very same Animate Jamaica Certificate
programme that was launched after the successful launch of KingstOOn, the two (2) day Animation
Conference and Festival held at the UWI Mona Visitors' Lodge & Conference
Centre in Kingston, Jamaica on June 20th-21st, 2013 as
reported in my blog article
entitled “Inaugural
KingstOOn Animation Competition a boost to local Animation Industry - State
Minister Julian Robinson give Graphic Artists the chance to Feel this Moment
Pitbull and Christina Aguilera Style”.
This is also the very same
Animate Jamaica Certificate programme for which the Governor General Sir
Patrick Allen’s Charity organization, the “I Believe Initiative” that
sponsored 15 Visual Arts Students from the County of Surrey on Wednesday July
10th 2013 as outlined in my Geezam
blog article entitled “KingstOOn
Animation Festival and GG’s “I Believe in Jamaica” Animation Training – Genesis
of Animation Outsourcing”.
The graduates, 13 males and one 24-year-old female, are a follow-on to a
previously minted batch of 29 who graduated from the University of the West
Indies, Mona Campus on Saturday February 8th 2014.
This most recent batch is notable in that there's a girl in the group, a
BSc Graduate named Ashley Anguin. Interesting to note this, as Animate Jamaica
certificate programme doesn’t recognize age or any other factors against
becoming an Animator, save for a need to have a creative spirit, which explains
why Martin Thomas, who's autistic, was also a graduate in this batch of
Students.
This is all happening on an as-needed basis, which should be sweet relief
for CEO for Reel Rock GSW Wayne Sinclair, as CARIMAC is gearing up to train
another fifty (50) Animators by March 2014. So says the Director of CARIMAC Dr.
Hopeton Dunn, quote: “We are at a stage where we are renewing another round of
training for 50 additional students who will commence in March”.
This must be fantastic news for Reel Rock GSW as they are in need of
another 80 animators to start production of fifty two (52) episodes of Disney
Channel/Nickelodeon Cartoon series “Lucky
Fred” by March 2014 as explained in my blog article entitled
“Animation
after KingstOON - Reel Rock GSW reveals that the Imira Entertainment of Spain
Contract is for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon's Lucky Fred”.
Animation Money Machine –
Cultural Shift, Legislation and Broadband Internet Required
MINISTER OF State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce
Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, who was in attendance, made some interesting points,
as most Ministers are wont to do at these occasions:
1.
10 Animation studios with a Minimum staff of
fifty (50) needed to boost Jamaica's Animation Capacity
2.
US$68 billion is the estimated size of the
Global Animation Outsourcing Industry
3.
12.5% is the year-on-year growth rate of the
Global Animation Outsourcing Industry
Not so crazy about these estimates, as they seem to change whenever these
Ministers speak and get reported in the Newspaper. Also, despite assistance
from the World Bank and Canada's ToonBoom in empowering Animate Jamaica
Certificate, all this is for naught if there is no Broadband Internet to power
these Fifty (50) Animation Studios, many of which will have no choice but to be
located in Kingston.
This will take them away from the rest of the island, where the raw talent
in Visual Arts may be located. These talented individuals would be greatly
inconvenienced in terms of Travel and accommodations to work in this burgeoning
Industry. People who work in the creative Industry work best in their home
town, where they draw spiritual energy from their familiar and comfortable
surroundings.
I’m also surprised that the Edna Manley College of the Visual and
Performing Arts got the snub, as they aren’t named as being a part of the
Animate Jamaica initiative as listed in my original Geezam blog article entitled “KingstOOn
Animation Festival and GG’s “I Believe in Jamaica” Animation Training – Genesis
of Animation Outsourcing”. Hopefully this oversight will be corrected soon.
A Cultural Shift among Jamaicans is needed as well, as the perception still exists in the general populace
that this is an Upper St. Andrew “Thing” that’s not accessible to all Jamaicans
from all walks of life. This Cultural Shift is best achieved via Jamaicans
being made to realize via a GOJ PR (Public Relations) Campaign to sensitize
them to the earning potential of Animation and those who pursue the Visual Arts
whose Talents are needed to power Jamaica’s fledgling Animation Industry.
Worse, the Computer Requirements may be out-of-reach of the typical
Jamaican as noted in my blog article
entitled “Animation
after KingstOOn - How to get free Video Editing Tools to breathe life into your
Animation Project”. At least the Video Editing software can be easily
obtained for Free, with other resources providing Software for Image Editing.
This is the kind of Projects that you can get as you’ll have to freelance
as a photographer until Animation gigs e.g. Commercials, Illustration work as
explained in my blog
article entitled “Animation
After KingstOOn – Free Photo Editing Software and How to get a copy of Adobe
Photoshop CS2 absolutely Free” come rolling along.
The GOJ (Government of Jamaica) needs to get hopping on getting the New
Telecom Regulator and the Regulatory framework in place to facilitate FDI
(Foreign Direct investor) Telecom Providers coming to Jamaica to do 4G LTE
(Long Term Evolution) as described in my blog article
entitled “New
Telecom Regulator finally coming by July 2014 - New Telecom Provider looking
for stability in the Jamaican Telecoms Market post-LNP and MNP by May 2014”.
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