naija comics & cartoons

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

3D BOOTCAMP

DESIGN AND DREAM ARTS (DADA) ACADEMY

 

3D BOOTCAMP

      August – September 2011

Design And Dream Arts (DADA) Academy, presents a 4 Day 3D Bootcamp scheduled for four weekends between August and September 2011.
Course content: The workshop course content will cover introduction to the creation and manipulation of 3D models with the Bonzai 3D interface, including understanding of texturing, and the principles of lighting, rendering, and project workflow.
This intensive training is ideal for beginners, proficient 3D artists who would like to switch to the Bonzai 3D interface, as foundation training for those interested in architectural visualizations, character modelling and animation and as foundation training for more advanced 3D training, especially with Form Z- an industry standard 3d modelling and animation programme from the same manufacturers as Bonzai 3D. Reference will be made to other 3D software like Maya, 3D Studio Max and Revit, however, Bonzai 3D, a lighter and exciting 3D programme with a shorter learning curve from Auto-des-sys will be the training platform in focus.
Participants will be provided with lecture notes, training software, training videos, and internet resources. Lunch will also be provided on the four days.
Facilitator: The training will be led by Nnamdi Akubuiro, a director of Mind’s Eye Ltd, Nnamdi Akubuiro studied architecture at the University of Lagos and founded Mind’s Eye – an architectural visualization company - in 1998 with a couple of colleagues. Since then, the company has grown to be an industry leader in Nigeria in the field of architectural visualizations. He has over 12 years experience in the field and is proficient in the use of Sketch-up, Autocad, Bonzai 3D, Revit, 3D Studio Max, Mental Ray and V- Ray. He has worked on projects for top architectural firms and advertising agencies in Nigeria.
Details:
Dates:    Batch 1:  20-21 August (modeling & texturing)
                         27-28 August (lighting, rendering & project workflow)    
            Batch 2:   3-4 September (modeling & texturing)
                               10-11 September (lighting, rendering & project workflow)       
Venue: CORA House, 1st Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.
Time: 9am – 6pm each day + 1 hour lunch break.
Participation Fee: N40,000 only.*
* Participants are expected to come with their own Laptops.

Contact for registration:
Dream Arts & Design Agency
CORA House, 1st Flr, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.
Telephone: 017451990, 08033000499.

Send an e-mail to: dreamarts.designagency@gmail.com for a registration package or
Visit:  http://www.dadaenterprises.net/dadaacademy.htm for more information and to download the registration form.
Procedure: Fill the form, make the payment as directed, (scan) and mail back the form together with evidence of payment and you will be contacted with confirmation of your registration. 

Account Details: Guaranty Trust Bank
Account Name: Design And Dream Arts Enterprises
Account Number: 213772344110 (NUBAN No: 0008250008)

Limited spaces available. Get your 3D Groove on!
System requirement for a laptop:
- Operating System: (at least) Windows XP / Mac OS X
- At least 10 GB of free HD
- At least 1024 MB of Ram
- Graphics Card: ATI Radeon Family, Intel Graphics, Nvidia Geforce
- 3 button optical Mouse

Software: Quick Time 7.1 or greater, VLC player, Acrobat reader, Photoshop / Coreldraw



This training programme is organized by DADA Academy, a training division of the Dream Arts & Design Agency with the support of the Committee For Relevant Art (CORA), Positive Development Foundation (PDF) and Architects’ Collaborative Enterprise (ACE). A percentage of the fees will go to the Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) and Positive Development Foundation (PDF) in support of their art and culture and technological education advocacy efforts.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Professional Portfolio Review for Young Comic Artists at the 4th Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival



The Centre For Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA Lagos) will be facilitating during the 10th Lagos Book and Art Festival an interactive session and creative exchange for young cartoonists and comic artists with visiting comic professionals from Africa and Europe at the 4th Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival. This programme is part of the educational component for the Picha. African Comics, an international touring exhibition featuring 19 comic artists from all over Africa opening at CCA,Lagos on the 8th of November and continues to 20th December 2008.

Young cartoonists and comic artists are invited to come with their portfolios to the main exhibition hall, by Entrance 'C' of the National Theatre Iganmu, Lagos, venue of the 4th Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival (which holds from the 7th till the 9th of November 2008) on Friday 7th November 2008 from 3pm till 6pm.

Two of the artists Kola Fayemi (Nigeria) and TT.Fons (Senegal) with curator of Picha Joost Pollman (Holland) and Caroline Vedhuizen (Holland) will take turns reviewing and discussing individually the works of the young cartoonists and comic artists in attendance after which will be held an interactive session with the general audience. This is a capacity building / cultural exchange initiative from the CCA in collaboration with the Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival and the Committee for Relevant Art.

The Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival (LC3) is an annual self styled ultimate gathering of admirers, lovers and downright fanatics of comics, cartoons and animation, organized by Revolution Media with the support of the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA). It is held within the annual Lagos Book & Art Festival organized by Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and is designed to reflect Revolution Media's passion for youth empowerment through creativity. CCA,Lagos's facilitation of this interactive session for young artists (alongside their hosting of an African Comics Exhibition) is thus well sited within LC3.

Thanks to the Prince Claus Fund and NCDO Netherlands.

To Register Free and For further information, please contact:

Phone: 234-803-3000-499, 234-806-7421-215
Email: revolutionmedia@yahoo.com,lc3_05@yahoo.co.uk
url: www.naijacomics.blogspot.com
Secretariat: CORA House, 1st Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.

The 4th Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival




The Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival is a self styled ultimate gathering of admirers, lovers and downright fanatics of comics, cartoons and animation. The 4th edition of the Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival holding at the National Theatre, Iganmu Lagos from the 7th – 9th of November, 2008 as a part of the 10th Lagos Book & Art Festival organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and is themed: Youth and the Creative Revolution.

Youth and the Creative Revolution
This year’s theme captures effectively the mandate assumed by LC3’s organizers to harness the creative energies of young people towards positive development particularly through socio-cultural and economic empowerment. In that regard, this year, we have tagged on to the ever vibrant, ever youthful and ever revolutionary hip-hop movement in our programme for the LC3 through our different collaborative activities which we have lined up with our partners for the three days.
PROGRAMME

Day One (Friday 7th November 2008)

8:00 am – 9.00am: Participating exhibitors / collaborators set up their stands.

10:00 am – 10.30am: Official opening of the 4th Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival.

10.30 am - 3.00pm: Graffiti workshop and talks on creativity and the environment. Organized in collaboration with The British Council Lagos, Children And The Environment (CATE), Dream Arts & Design Agency and the African Artists’ Foundation. School children will get to practice their hands at graffiti under the guidance of visiting international graffiti artists and their home based peers.

3.00pm – 6.00pm: Interactive sessions / exchange for young artists with International Comic Book Artists from France and across Africa facilitated by the Center for Contemporary Art.

11.00 am – 6.00 pm Screening of animated short flicks will hold for older folks who are not engaged with the children. Participants will talk shop on the screened flicks and the talks will be moderated by leading lights in the industry.

Day Two (Saturday 8th November 2008)

8:00 am – 9.00am: Participating exhibitors / collaborators set up their stands.

10:00 am – 4.00pm: Words and Pictures (WAPI) The free expression event organized by the British Council Lagos will berth at LC3 with a major focus on hip-hop and its influence on comics, cartoons and animation.
Day Three (Sunday 9th November 2008)

8:00 am – 9.00am: Participating exhibitors / collaborators set up their stands.

10:00 am – 2.00 pm: Fashion show in collaboration with Kowrie Kreations Media featuring the works of young Nigerian designers and of course, costumes inspired by comics straight out of Nigeria. All attendees are encouraged to wear the costumes of their favourite local / international super-heroes.

2pm – 4pm: Music, dance, networking till close.

What interested participants should do:

Comic / cartoons publishers and artists are encouraged to book stands to exhibit their comic books, cartoon collections or portfolios by contacting us through the email addresses / phone numbers below. Networking is key to LC3.
Artists who are already involved / who have interests in comics and cartoons are invited to bring their portfolios on Saturday the 8th of November for the Interactive sessions / exchange for young artists with International Comic Book Artists from France and across Africa facilitated by the Center for Contemporary Art where they will have one-on-one interaction with these facilitators.
All lovers of comics, cartoons and animation – children and adults alike- are encouraged to wear their favourite super-heroes’ costumes on Sunday the 9th of November for the fashion show. Home made costumes are also most welcome and the most ingeniously dressed attendees will get to strut their stuff down the catwalk, right on television!
Spread the word.


CONTACT US

For further information, please contact us though the following means:

Phone: 234-803-3000-499, 234-806-7421-215
Email: revolutionmedia@yahoo.com,lc3_05@yahoo.co.uk
url: http://www.naijacomics.blogspot.com/
Secretariat: CORA House, 1st Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.

Monday, May 19, 2008

RevolutionMedia unveils its VisualAsylum

RevolutionMedia, one of Nigeria's most dynamic media companies, is set to unveil its VisualAsylum, a series of multimedia workshops aimed at equipping participants with critical, cutting-edge knowledge and skills in areas like 2D animation, 3D communication, desktop editing and general visual communication. The inaugural edition will take place from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June at the Julius Berger Hall of the Engineering department, University of Lagos.

"RevolutionMedia has always been about youth empowerment", offers RevolutionMedia's CEO, Sewedo Nupowaku, "and this initiative is no different. If we can train more young people to be adepts in these areas, it can only help them take their financial destinies in their own hands. In many other countries around the world, visual design and communication is almost the exclusive preserve of young people".

This particular installment will feature classes in Disney-style 2D (two dimensional) animation and 3D (three dimensional) design and animation, both spanning 3 days of intense training. Ibrahim Ganiyu, lead animator on Lagbaja's groundbreaking, animated music video amongst other works and Deji Victor, a director of ImageStudios, based in Cape Town , South Africa will handle the 2D and 3D classes respectively. The 2D class will cost N15,000 and the 3D class will cost N20,000 only per participant.
"We are aiming at building capacity in this country through these series, adds Nupowaku. The fields of marketing communications, especially advertising, architecture and indeed Nollywood, stand to benefit with more people becoming more knowledgeable in these areas. More advertising agencies will be able to produce more high quality 3D jobs here in Nigeria rather than spending a fortune outsourcing abroad. As for Nollywood, it can only help drive its cultural imperialism imperative across Africa".

This workshop will however, be the second in a series of collaborative capacity building projects between Revolution Media, Image Animation Studios and Committee for Relevant Art (CORA). Participants will be provided with course materials, refreshment and a cetificate of participation at the end of the workshops and are expeced to come with their own laptops of the following recommended specifications:

System requirement for laptops-
Operating System: windows XP / Mac OS X- At least 10 GB of free HD- At least 1024 MB of Ram- Graphics Card: ATI Raedeon Family, Intel Graphics,Nvidia Geforce- 3 button optical Mouse. Software: Quick Time 7.1 or greater, VLC player, Acrobat reader, Photoshop

These workshops are strongly recommended for students and professionals of the mass communication, creative arts, architecture, engineering, advertising and motion picture industries who have aspirations towards cutting edge visual communication.

Payment details:

GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 213-769902-110
ACCOUNT TITLE: REVOLUTION MEDIA LIMITED
BRANCH: SURULERE, LAGOS, NIGERIA.

Contact for registration:
Revolution Media, CORA House, 1st Flr, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.
Telephone: 017416644, 017451990, 08067421215.
Email: revolutionmedia@yahoo.com, revolvingmedia@gmail.com
url: www.naijacomics.blogspot.com

Friday, April 25, 2008

Meet the Animator.


He has lived the dream that remains in the realm of wishful thinking for many of his generation, training as an animator and working with some of the best in the industry.
Oladeji Victor Bamidele studied Civil Engineering before signing up at the Media Village, Kalk Bay, Cape Town to train in 3D communications as an animator. After working on several projects with South African animation houses like Character Matters Animation Studio, Ambient Animation Studios, Telegenic Production amongst others, Deji- who has been privileged to work with the likes of Tom Roth (from Disney) and Eric Lessard (Dream works) among other South African animators- came back to Nigeria for the first time in three years in January to run some workshops in 3D communication and to create awareness for his training programme in Cape Town –Animation for Africa - whose six months training and internship programme at Image Animation Studios has kicked off this week with four Nigerians in attendance.
With intelligence reports indicating that he’s keen on cooking up a storm on these shores, the design sleuth tracked down the mild mannered animator for questioning while he was on a cross country awareness / training tour of duty before heading back to Cape Town.
Ayo: What are the early influences that led you down the path of animation?
Deji: As a Kid I used to be fascinated by cartoons like Voltron, Ninja Turtles; Tom and Jerry; they were so captivating that I would remain glued to the TV for hours watching them...growing up; then life became more interesting with the introduction of video games and 3D cartoons like The Incredibles, and Toy Story. I was always wondering how those things were created...and why there wasn’t anyone in Africa producing the movies…so, I decided to take a dive into the world of 3D.
Ayo: Despite your training as an engineer, you still went ahead to learn to be an animator, has the career change been worth it?
Deji: I feel fulfilled and excited; frankly speaking I think its related; because the work of an engineer is related to creating things and making them work; the difference would just be that as animator we do everything on our computers. Animation gives you more flexibility to express your creative ideas which could be easily viewed around the world, thanks to the power of media. However, my background as a Civil Engineer has really been helpful in working in 3D space, drawings and modelling.
Ayo: The animation industry in South Africa is fairly young isn’t it? So Why Cape Town?
Deji: When I was leaving the country (Nigeria) in search of an animation school, I couldn’t find any in the country; my search led me to some schools in the UK, United States (of America) but they were quite expensive. I then started looking for options in Africa. When I discovered that Cape Town was offering some affordable animation courses, and that most of our good visual effects or animated commercials where done in Cape Town, South Africa, it became my natural choice.
Ayo: Talking about Cape Town, does the city really live up to its billing of being one of the finest in the world? What do you think gives Cape Town its edge…the natural scenery or the design scene out there?
Deji: Hmmm…believe it or not, its one of the most beautiful places in the world; I mean the combination of white sand beaches and lovely mountains just make it a place to visit. And for a fact, it’s one of the floral kingdoms in the world; nice scenery; certainly a great place for animators.
Ayo: In what ways would you consider 3D modelling and animation to have contributed significantly to the growth of critical design in fields outside of the film industry like engineering, architecture, product design and even graphics design globally?
Deji: Tremendously. It has now become a language; its the best way to communicate to clients, I mean you can walk through your structure before it’s built; it has also given artists confidence in their creative licence...today if you can imagine it, you can create it, then see it. That’s why we can talk about and design futuristic structures and models. It has taken the world of design to a new level.
Ayo: The 3D fever has really caught on in Nigeria over the past few years, but 3D Max has been the benchmark platform to work with for most modellers and animators. You on the other hand work with Maya. What are the features that make Maya so unique?
Deji: I have also worked with Lightwave for my modelling and Messiah for animation. They are all good software, don’t forget it’s not the software; it’s the artist; the man behind the software that makes the difference. It’s like your preference for different cars, someone might prefer a Benz to BMW; its all about the artist choice and what he/she is comfortable with but my preference in based on the fact that Maya is the industry standard; it’s quite robust; from animation to visual effects it’s just excellent; it’s an oscar award winning software; which is evident on works like Spiderman; Happy Feet, and Final Fantasy....another reason any one might want to work with Maya is the fact that you can hardly be stranded using it because of tons of tutorials and materials available online.
Ayo: With your experience in South Africa and having worked with animators from frontline American animation studios like Dream Works and Disney, what future do you see for animation in Africa, especially when you consider the infrastructural and technological challenges - like poor power supply and ICT facilities - faced in these climes?
Deji: We will take the world by storm; because Africans are hardworking; we are about to join our colleagues in the rest of the world but our greatest challenge now is more of the infrastructural than the technological side of things because we have the resources to acquire any technology we want; but we cant go any where without constant and stable power supply. God- the first thing He created was light...it’s the beginning of everything. We need electricity; once we get it right in this sector; the opportunity will naturally roll in; it will change the face of Africa.
Ayo: Bringing it home to Nigeria now, knowing that animation is a particularly laborious, time consuming and expensive art form, whether 2D or 3D and keeping in mind the path the film industry in Nigeria has taken in finding the fastest and cheapest techniques to tell our stories, what chances do you see for the evolution of a cheaper and faster style of animation in Nigeria that makes it easier for the African story to be told to the global audience by Africans themselves?
Deji: Usually when you opt for fast and cheap techniques; you end up compromising your quality; if we must make impact on a global scale then we can not afford to rush our productions; believe me it always reflects in the work of the artist or producer- those times of research, bringing in a talented crew, right setup and fine tuning. We must put in those quality hours to get the desired quality out; which translates to good wealth. We are at an advantage because we have the stories that the world is waiting to hear; and the only way we can attract a global audience is to push up our quality. I look forward to a time when our movies will première in about 3,000 cinemas in the US and Africa while yet produced locally, mind you, it’s already happening in South Africa. The last movie I worked on - Lion of Judah, you can check it out on www.lionofjudahthemovie.com - will be showing in about 2,000 cinemas in the US because of the quality of work we put into it. It’s taken us about 2 years to produce, so we must look at the big picture and go all out for it.
Ayo: Where do you see the animation industry heading to globally in the next twenty years?
Deji: Wao! It’s going to be crazy and scary; photorealism and hyper realism will be the order of the day; we would have found cheaper and efficient ways of doing things; the motion capture technology would have been perfected; and I think traditional animation would also return; we would see combination of 2D, Stop Frame, 3D animation in a single shot; and a lot of African countries would have joined in the global trend of events.
Ayo: Where do you see Oladeji Victor Bamidele in the next twenty years and what would he most likely be doing?
Deji: By God's grace; I would be concentrating more on family and purpose; developing other areas of my life to full potential.

-Ayodele Arigbabu.
dreamarts.designagency@gmail.com

Monday, February 11, 2008

Application form for Animation Training in Cape Town










To 'download' form, right-click on image and select copy and paste in a folder of your choice. You may then print the three pages, fill and mail back to the appropriate addresses.










Saturday, February 09, 2008

animation training in cape town

Animation for Africa
Calling all aspiring animators.
Announcing a six months intensive training and internship programme in Cape Town, South Africa.
RevolutionMedia, conveners of the annual Lagos Comics and Cartoons Carnival are proud to announce a call for applications for a six months intensive training and internship programme for aspiring Nigerian animators to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, organized by Animation for Africa with support from Image Animation Studios (SA) and Committee for Relevant Art (CORA). Coming on the heels of the highly successful 3 Day workshop in 3D communication that held in January in Lagos, the six months training programme in Cape Town which is being coordinated by Oladeji Victor, (a director of Image Studios, Cape Town, S.A. and founder of Animation for Africa- an initiative geared towards training hundreds of Africans in visual effects and animation by the end of 2010) is the next phase in a three phase plan that will culminate in a media institute that offers specialized courses in 2D, visual effects and 3D animation.
Deji has worked on several projects and adverts with Character Matters Animation Studio, Ambient Animation Studios, Telegenic Production and some of his work can be found in Issues of Faith - a television Magazine program on SABC 1, a TV commercial for Bank PHB, TV Commercial for Kenyan Power Authority, SABC 1 Anthem, and Cosmopolitan - Fashion Video amongst others. The workshop course content will cover introduction to 3D modelling with the Maya interface, understanding of textures, bump maps and the Photoshop workflow, lights and rendering, principles of animation and project workflow. His most recent work has been on the feature movie "LION OF JUDAH" which is still in post - production and is expected to be out in America this summer. He has been privileged to work with the likes of Tom Roth (from Disney) and Eric Lessard (Dream works) among other South African animators.
This initiative is aimed at opening up the 3D animation industry in Africa (Nigeria in particular); so that it can compliment and service the home videos and the visual effects industry worldwide while growing the capacity to produce (Nigerian) animated feature films. Animation for Africa’s mandate of empowering African animators is already bearing fruits with their training programme at the media village in Kalkbay, Cape Town where they have just graduated a batch of students and will be taking on a fresh batch in February 2008. The programme is designed to involve three months of intensive training and three months of internship with an established animation house in South Africa at a highly subsidized rate, much cheaper than what obtains in Canada, the United States of America or India for that matter where they have partners. Already, four Nigerians have benefited from this arrangement and Animation for Africa hopes to increase that number by ten fold in the present year.

TRAINING SCHEDULE

The training programme is designed to encompass a module of six months of intensive training and internship, however, applicants who are in paid employment or are already engaged in other institutions of learning that will make an absence of six months difficult might be interested in an alternative module that allows for two months of intensive training in Cape Town to be augmented with one extra month training and a balance of three months internship to be done by correspondence with Animation for Africa instructors via the internet. Please note that both modules will be intensive and deep passion and dedication will be required from all applicants.

Premium Module

Duration: April – September 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa.
Participants will undergo three months of intensive training in 3D modelling, application of textures, bump maps, lights and rendering, the Photoshop workflow principles of animation and project workflow in Cape Town; followed by three months of internship with an established animation house in South Africa.

Training Cost: N640,000.00
Inclusive of tuition, accommodation and feeding for the six months stretch plus a brand new laptop. This fee has been subsidized by about 40% for Animation for Africa by its partners.


Alternative Module

Duration: April – May 2008 + June – September 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa. Correspondence
Participants will undergo two months of intensive training in 3D modelling, application of textures, bump maps, lights and rendering, the Photoshop workflow principles of animation and project workflow in Cape Town; to be complemented by one more month of training via correspondence and three months internship also by correspondence.

Training Cost: N500,000.00
Inclusive of tuition for the six months stretch, accommodation and feeding for the two months to be spent in Cape Town plus a brand new laptop. This fee has been subsidized by about 40% for Animation for Africa by its partners.

Air fares / Visa applications

Applicants should have an extra budget of up to N200,000.00 for air fares and visa applications.

General Course Content

Introduction to Maya - This topic deals with the basic tools available in Maya and its capabilities, while learning to create an effective work flow for every project.

3D Modeling – Welcome to the world of 3D; as participants begin to create their world, with the use of polygons, they will be guided through the creation of models.

Texturing and UV's – Texture application is an important part of 3D communication, the aim of this course is to explore the variety of ways for wrapping a texture round a model; Participants will also be taught the different types of light and their effects.

Kinematics and Animation – The focus of this topic is to be able to animate a camera through motion paths to walk around the scene. This topic will be dealing with cameras and their various attributes.

Lights and Rendering – This is the outputting of the final work. Participants will be guided through the various ways of achieving photo realistic images and the various formats of the rendered images or files.

Certificates

For both modules, certificates will only be issued upon satisfactory completion of the six months training and internship periods.

Instructors’ profiles

Rudi Durand- He is currently the director of Ambient Studio in Cape Town, South Africa. He has worked with several leading studios such as Video Lab and Condor. He was head of commercial department at Character Matters Animation Studio, and spent 8 years in production and training at Media Village. As a visual artist, some of his fingerprints can be found in commercials like MTN, JNB and Pfizer to mention a few.

Oladeji Victor Bamidele - Has a Degree in Civil Engineering before venturing into media; as graduate of 3D Communication, Media Village, Kalk Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, as an animator, he has worked on several projects and adverts with Character Matters Animation Studio, Ambient Animation Studios, Telegenic Production. He also worked on over 40 mins of the previz for the LION OF JUDAH (first animated feature film in Africa). Oladeji has a passion for training and is currently working with in Animation for Africa as the Technical Director.

Martin Studnicky- He has been working for 5 years, teaching 3D animation at the University of Nations, making use of the award winning Autodesk Maya, and with 5 years of research and testing on 3D softwares. He is presently working for an architectural company doing 3D visualization of buildings.










Application / Payment / Resumption

Application forms can be downloaded from www.naijacomics.blogspot.com and can be picked up at RevolutionMedia, 1st Flr, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos. Completed forms may be submitted at the same address or sent by email to revolutionmedia@yahoo.com on or before Wednesday 27th of February 2008.

Success applicants will be notified and informed of payment details by Wednesday 5th of March 2008. Success applicants will be expected to fill a comprehensive registration form upon payment of a non refundable registration fee of N2,000.00 only and will be required to proceed with visa applications immediately.

All successful candidates are expected to be at the media village in Kalkbay, Cape Town, South Africa by Thursday 3rd of April 2008.


About Cape Town
Cape Town is a city in southwestern South Africa, the legislative capital of the country and the capital of Western Cape province. Cape Town is one of three national capitals, along with Pretoria (the executive capital) and Bloemfontein (the judicial capital). It is situated at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, about 50 km (about 30 mi) north of the Cape of Good Hope. The city has a spectacular setting, cradled by the steep slopes of Table Mountain to the south, Devil’s Peak to the southeast, Lion’s Head to the southwest, and Signal Hill to the west. Table Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, lies to the northwest. The site of the first European settlement in South Africa (founded in 1652), Cape Town is today a major port, an industrial hub, and a center of culture and tourism. The city has a Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
Cape Town and its surrounding areas also hold many recreational attractions. The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront on Table Bay, revitalized in the early 1990s, contains many shops, pubs, and restaurants. Canal Walk, located in a part of Cape Town known as Century City, is a modern, multistory shopping complex complete with stores, cinemas, restaurants, and a children’s science center. South of Table Mountain, the Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens were a gift to the nation from British colonial statesman and financier Cecil Rhodes. There are many walking trails on Table Mountain, which is also served by a cable car, and in the mountains of the Cape Peninsula. The peninsula also contains numerous wineries and many protected areas, including the 7900 hectare (19,400 acre) Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Table Mountain Nature Reserve is the natural habitat of the silver tree, a species native to this area.
Cape Town has a municipal Symphony Orchestra, and the ARTSCAPE Theatre Complex stages operas, plays, ballets, and concerts. Culled from Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation.




About RevolutionMedia
Though incorporated in 2006 as RevolutionMedia, this media and entertainment company has existed as Evolution Media since 2002 and has made brave inroads into theatre, publishing, film and marketing communications within the past five years. Fashioned primarily as an avant-garde media and communications company with keen interests in creating state of the art media content, RevolutionMedia depends upon its uncanny capacity for channeling cutting edge creativity and talent in refreshing directions and hopes to ignite an entertainment revolution of no mean proportions. RevolutionMedia is the creator and coordinator of the annual Lagos Comics & Cartoons Carnival. The company which is currently developing a dedicated television programme for comics, cartoons and animation called Action TV is proud to collaborate with Animation for Africa in facilitating capacity building programmes for the budding animation industry in Nigeria.

Contact

For submissions and enquiries:

Sewedo Nupowaku
Ayodele Arigbabu
RevolutionMedia
1st flr, 95 Bode Thomas Street,
Surulere, Lagos.
234-01-7416644, 2348033000499, 2348067421215
revolutionmedia@yahoo.com, revolvingmedia@gmail.com, www.naijacomics.blogspot.com

Friday, January 04, 2008

From Cape Town to Lagos, Animation blossoms.


Revolution Media, conveners of the annual ground breaking Lagos Comics and Cartoons Carnival have announced their plans in collaboration with Image Animation Studios- A Cape-Town, South Africa based powerhouse for multimedia communications to present a 3 Day workshop in 3D communication from Friday 18th January till Sunday 20th January 2008. The workshop is being supported by the culture activist organisation- Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and stage design and lighting maestros- Total Consult Ltd.
The training will be led by Oladeji Victor, a director of Image Studios, Cape Town, S.A. and founder of Animation for Africa- an initiative geared towards training hundreds of Africans in visual effects and animation by the end of 2010. Deji has worked on several projects and adverts with Character Matters Animation Studio, Ambient Animation Studios, Telegenic Production and some of his work can be found in Issues of Faith - a television Magazine program on SABC 1, a TV commercial for Bank PHB, TV Commercial for Kenyan Power Authority, SABC 1 Anthem, and Cosmopolitan - Fashion Video amongst others. The workshop course content will cover introduction to 3D modelling with the Maya interface, understanding of textures, bump maps and the Photoshop workflow, lights and rendering, principles of animation and project workflow.
Oladeji, a representative for Autodesk will be launching a campaign in Nigeria later in March 2008 to create awareness about the latest Autodesk products. His most recent work has been on the feature movie "LION OF JUDAH" which is still in post - production and is expected to be out in America this Summer. He has been privileged to work with the likes of Tom Roth (from Disney) and Eric Lessard (Dream works) among other South African Animators.
“Participants will be provided with lecture notes, Maya PLE 8.5, Training DVD’s, Software, and free Registration for internet resources”, he says, “We are planning to open up the 3D animation industry in Nigeria; so that it can compliment the home videos and service the visual effects industry worldwide while we produce our own (Nigerian) animated feature Films”, he explains further.
Towards this end, training and internship programmes are being planned through the year in a three phase plan that will culminate in a media institute that offers specialized courses in 2D, visual effects and 3D animation. Animation for Africa’s mandate of empowering African animators is already bearing fruits with their training programme at the media village in Kalkbay, Cape Town where they have just graduated a batch of students and will be taking on a fresh batch in February 2008. The programme is designed to involve three months of intensive training and three months of internship with established animation houses in South Africa at a highly subsidized rate, much cheaper than what obtains in Canada, the United States of America or India for that matter where they have partners. Already, four Nigerians have benefited from this arrangement and Oladeji hopes to increase that number by ten fold in the present year.
Sewedo Nupowaku of Revolution Media is particularly excited about this collaborative effort at the very start of the year and is convinced that it portends an exciting year for the entire industry. His media and entertainment company had made efforts to stand in the gap as regards capacity building for the animation industry in November 2007 by holding an introductory workshop on animation at their 3rd annual Lagos Comics and Cartoons Carnival which exposed the wide enthusiasm people had for animation. “Now through this collaboration with Image Animation Studios, we can take that initiative to a whole new level and quicken our dreams for mass empowerment”.
The three day workshop will run from the 18th till the 20th of January 2008 at the CORA House, 1st Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos and will cost N15,000.00 per participant. “Interested participants may mail revolutionmedia@yahoo.com, revolvingmedia@gmail.com or call 017416644, 017451990, 08067421215, 08033000499 for more information”, Nupowaku, who’s company is currently developing a dedicated television programme for comics, cartoons and animation called Action TV, reeled off with gusto, “This workshop will be the first in a series of collaborative capacity building projects between Revolution Media and Image Animation Studios”, he offered, grinning from ear to ear with infectious enthusiasm.

-Ayodele Arigbabu.
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