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Permalink Reply by 9jabook.com on December 30, 2008 at 5:29pm

Below's news information on an afrikan CG animated feature in the works.

http://www.sunrisecorporation.net/african_tale.html

An African Tale

'An African Tale' is a CG animated feature scheduled for worldwide theatrical release in the second half of 2009. Pre-production is set to begin in March 2007, production will commence in January 2008, with post production starting in January 2009 for a completion date of April 2009.

The entire production will take place in Cape Town, South Africa with various voice, sound and post production elements being handled internationally. The project will consist of a healthy mix of very experienced, super talented international animators and designers as well as a number of super talented and super eager local South African talent!

Director's Comments
We asked writer/director Brent Dawes "What is 'An African Tale'?"

'Besides being Africa 's first theatrical CG animated feature it is a return and a home coming. A return to the days when story was king. And a home coming in that finally a movie about Africa will be told by those who know and love her most!

"An African Tale" is a story that speaks of the state of the human heart and offers hope even when it seems we are our own worst enemies.

It is an exciting time to be involved in a project like this. We are embarking on it at a time when the technology really can serve the story; it is a wonderful thing to have a vision which can be realistically brought to life in our chosen medium. It seems the industry is in a bit of a state at the moment unsure of what the audience really wants to see. Is it ground-breaking visuals? Is it big name voice artists? Is it quick, flashy, bouncy, stretchy characters? Is it zippy, choppy editing and impossible camera moves? In fact the industry has been in that state since it began, a state of "Who knows?!"

So instead of trying to guess what people want why don't we open our eyes to the fact that we are the people, we are the audience? Let us make a movie that we would want to sit down in a darkened room and give a couple of hours of our lives to watching. A movie that we can watch with our families that makes us laugh, makes us cry, makes us feel and finally makes us believe! And that's where you come in. We'll only pull it off with the super human effort of a group of like-minded individuals with the skill and passion to see it done. We go into this as the underdogs, but we're determined to take hold of it like Pit-bulls and not let go until this movie is all we believe it can be.

Producer's Comments
Phil Cunningham, producer of "An African Tale" adds;

'Our passion is story!! Africa is our birth place- a continent of beauty, tragedy and mystery. It captures your heart, seeps into your blood and inspires the imagination. A land of wide open savannahs, grand, sweeping skies, rich colors, earthy scents, thundering storms, the cry of a fish eagle, the night roar of a lion.

As a young boy I canoed the Zambezi time after time feeling the warm African sun on my back, the scent of rain on the breeze and watching the river banks slide slowly by. Hippos snorted and sprayed, crocodiles slid into the passing current and elephants plucked branches from the flood plain trees. I could feel it then and can feel it now, this is the most wonderful backdrop to tell an epic story.

We want to tell an epic story, a timeless story, yes a fun story but also one that energizes and inspires children and adults to dream big dreams. So Africa is our setting and digital animation is our paint brush. What a zenith! What a medium! It crosses the barriers of age, culture, race and religion more than any other! This project has captivated us, pulled us in, its like surfing, we don't make the waves, we just catch them and feel the thrill of the ride!! 'An African Tale' has started and we are paddling hard to catch the ride of our lives, join us!! , if you like surfing that is.'

Permalink Reply by 9jabook.com on December 30, 2008 at 5:36pm

Hi folks,

Please, am interested in animation. What software would be easy for me to use to start learning; I saw one software online, anim8or. been hearing of 3d max, maye and all. which do u advise i use to start learning?

Thanks.

Divine, this is a very tricky question and honestly, barely anyone can give you a honest answer. There's the issue of people recommending their favourite application without bearing in mind the priorities of the person asking the questions. Nearly every 3D application has a fully functional trial version but 'test driving' all of them will only confuse you.

Since you've heard of Maya and Max, I suggest you start from there but you must stay away from the fundamental mistake made by 'newbies' (trying to learn 'eleventeen' applications at once and mastering none). Maya has a personal learning edition you can download and use (free of charge). I will provide you the links other software (I assume you're already familiar with Max and Maya). Check out everything and pick only ONE (ie between Lightwave, Softimage XSI, Cinema 4D, Maya nad Max). When you've mastered one application, transition to a different app won't be a pain since they follow the same principles.

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/
http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/
http://www.maxon.net/pages/products/cinema4d/cinema4d_e.html

Take your time and read/research on all the five (Lightwave, Softimage XSI, Cinema4D, Maya and Max) and choose only one to begin with. Whatever you pick at the end of the day, make sure you arm yourself with training videos, these will get you up and running in no distant future and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! There's no end to it. You have to be dedicated to get things done otherwise you're bound to crap out after a couple of months.

Do some reading on general principles of animation, it will help you as you translate that knowledge to the 3d world. Finally, pay no heed to people telling you software "x" is the only way forward, they are 3D zealots and unrepentant 'fan boys'. Make you shine eyes well well. Once you've mastered one software, transition to others will be a breeze. I started with lightwave back in 2003, it took me just about a week to start modeling in Luxology Modo and roughly two months to rig, animate, texture and render in Max. When I moved all my character animation projects to Softimage XSI, I was up and running in less than a month, all because I focused on Lightwave and pushed it to the lim

Permalink Reply by 9jabook.com on December 30, 2008 at 6:15pm

http://www.realize.co.za/
http://www.cornerhouseproductions.co.za/


http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/3/prweb361327.htm


The following are excerpts from a very informative article I found online about the

South-African animation industry. You can read the full article at:

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2127


AFRICA ANIMATED! -- INITIATIVE FOR AFRICAN CARTOON PRODUCTION

Africa Animated!� a UNESCO led initiative to support the production of animated cartoons in

Africa. This project has brought together the African artistic community and the audiovisual

industry to create audiovisual media products made by Africans with African creativity,

imagery, dialogue and music.

UNESCO through Africa Animated! has successfully conducted training workshops since 2004 and

is currently launching a permanent Animation Training and Production Centre in Nairobi,

Kenya.

Phase I of the project consisted in the development of a ground-breaking intensive five-week

training curriculum which has been put in practice to train 40 animators. It has also been

used to produce 20 short animation films, some of them award winning in different Animation

Festivals throughout the world.

Phase II is intended to strengthen the training component and provide job opportunities for

Africa Animated! graduates through the launch of training, production and development

activities.

Learn more about this initiative, here: http://www.africa-animated.org/


http://www.3dnigeria.com/


http://www.cgtalk.com/


www.mayhemproductions.org !!!!! check out grafikdons movies awesome !