Its on

As I type this the first episode of Tinga Tinga Tales goes on air in the uk. C-beebies, weekdays. 4.30 p.m.

 

I gave a talk to USIU students a few weeks ago about the business of animation. That went well and has led to more invitations so…

I will be doing a stop motion demo at an all day seminar on the 6th of December, 2008 at Sarit Center organized by the Kenya Film Commission in conjuction with Majiqmud and Mo productions. Read more about that here.

Then on the 9th, I will be talking to Design Students at the University of Nairobi on animation, design in general, skills required by professional designers and why they are extremely lucky to be alive at this time.

 

The Damage(d) Report 6

No damage. But I have a story to tell. I was ready to buy two red-reads this month to work with the green screen. The lights (according to the shop attendants) cost thirty thousand a piece. I had exactly 60, 000 shillings and was about to pay for two lights when the shop owner walked in. He said that thanks to a spike in the dollar rate. He would be literally killing himself if he sold them at 60, 000. He wanted 66,000. I didn’t have it and was rather disappointed at the fact that i faced paying almost an extra hundred dollars over the eight hundred. So I left.

 

CNBC Interview

I will be interviewed by CNBC Africa next Thursday morning (16/10/2008) on The Business AM Show. The discussion will be centred on the developing of the animation industry in Kenya. Tune in from 7.15 to 7.30 (East African Time). A lot of progress has been made over the past eight years and the efforts of those that paved the way is beginning to pay off. However, these are critical times for us, because we are at a point where we are in the process of defining how the animation business is going to be run in Kenya and this will affect the careers and livelihoods of the people who will join the industry over the next few years.

I will also touch briefly on the other project I’m working on called TINGA TINGA TALES and how that project is helping in the development of a skilled resource base that will be of great value in future.  Click HERE for an article about Kenyan animation by Carol Kimutai. See you on Thursday.

 

The Damage Report 5

…just a technicality. No damage last month. Very embarassing.

 

The Damage Report 3

…minimal damage this past month. I just can’t do without professional lights and the green screen, so i have to re-organize the production. I plan to buy lights in the coming week and figure a way to green / white screen my characters without having to spend hundreds of dollars making a screen. I have been doing tests in blender and they are phenomenal so far. I have also been spending time cleaning up some of the shots and doing basic composites, so it hasn’t been a total loss.

 

Blender Training in Nigeria

The Blender Foundation conducted a seven day introductory training
workshop in Nigeria. Blender, for those who don’t know is an open source (read free) fully fledged 3D animation software. It has pretty mean capabilities as evidenced in their latest animated short Big Buck Bunny. I will be using it to make backgrounds for the film and for special effects.

It has a huge learning curve, but is a very effective tool once mastered. But then again-which serious 3d application is easy to master?

Find out all about the Nigeria workshop here. I wonder if they would consider sending a few guys down to Kenya? Hmmm….

 

Things I Have Learned in the Past Few Months

1. Peace and Stability are fragile things
2. I do lousy voice overs (tried to VO Olokut’s character and fired myself)
3. I am lousy at updating my blogs (thanks to terrible internet connection)
4. Making an animated movie that is longer than a minute takes really hard work.

I am still at it though.

 

Why the Silence?

All has been quiet on the production front for the past two months. There is a good reason why. Click here for details. Olokut will resume production in October. Stay tuned…

 

Bring the Noise

Before I commence sharing with you my joys and frustrations with the animation production process, an announcement:

Bring the Noise is a project that The British Council in the UK is coordinating that will involve musicians and visual artists from East and West Africa. Selected artists will attend a 2 week residency in London where they will create material to be used in public performances over the next few months, beginning with the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kampala, Uganda in November.

The pluses are that selected artists will be paid professional rates during the residency period and will take a free trip to London, complete with accommodation for two weeks. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The minuses are…

…none. This would be a major career booster for any artist.

The Kenyan BC office is keen on having a CG animator as a representative, so I am attaching this call for entry so that interested parties may apply. Please do so-and do us proud. Application deadline is 7th July 2007 so chop chop.

End of announcement. Normal programming will resume shortly…