by Gliceria N. Cademia | Services Division | DTI-Export Marketing Bureau

04 April 2018

Published also in Business Mirror

THE Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), in collaboration with the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), held the “Information Session on Visual Development for the Animation Sector” at A. Venue Hotel, Makati City, on March 27.

EMB Assistant Director Anthony B. Rivera, in his welcome remarks, underscored EMB’s aggressive support of the animation industry all throughout its value chain.  “We would like to see our animation sector level up in a very sustainable manner. We proactively work hand in hand with the private sector to develop more talents in the country, strengthen our capabilities and ultimately generate more jobs by progressively engaging in global animation and content opportunities not only as service providers but also intellectual property [IP] asset owners,” he said.

The animation sector is one of the priority sectors for global competitiveness under Philippine Export Development Plan (PDP).

“The DTI, with its programs, is in full support of the development and promotion of the animation sector where Filipino creativity and talents are highlighted. We have seen and heard many success stories in this particular sector and we value their contribution in generating employment opportunities and in making the Philippine brand known to the rest of the world. As we aggressively advance our strategy to make growth truly inclusive and innovation-led, we are rooting for the Filipino animation sector and our private-sector partners in leading many of our entrepreneurs and talents in making it big in to the global market through knowledge sharing and coaching,” DTI’s Trade and Investments Promotion Group Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado said.

EMB hired the services of Armand Serrano, a Filipino-American animation artist known for his works at Walt Disney Animation Studio and Sony Pictures Animation, to conduct a seminar for the Philippine animators.

Serrano shared his experiences on conceptualizing and animating international films, such as Surf’s Up,Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Arthur Christmas, Hotel Transylvania, Planet Earth, Animal Crackers, Hero 6, Zootopia, Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear, among others. The making of these movies took five to 10 years each.

Serrano also does game-concept designs and storyboards for TV commercials with clients that include Blizzard Entertainment, Blur Studio, Fisher Price, Reel FX, Laika House, Big Red Button, Charlex and 321 Launch.  He showed how he did his commercial for a cereal crackers and its final outcome.

He has also been training Filipino visual artists personally and on line.

Serrano said Walt Disney allows him and other animators to do their work using its facilities and sell it to competitors like Dreamworks Animation provided they do it outside office working hours.

He provided tips and advice for Filipino visual development artists:

Animators are hired for their skills, ideas, strength of the artwork, and for what they can bring into the company.

An artist must do research.  They eliminate what does not work.  Their concepts and ideas must be consistent.

It is important to think inside before outside the box and make sure that “inside the box” does not work anymore before taking on something different with  less resources and information, the more creative an artist should be.

The artists should know their weakness and spend time working on them.

Participants should be wary of contests and other offers that will just steal their ideas. Contests must be government-or DTI-sanctioned and organized by legitimate organizations.

On stylization, the ideal artificial to reality percentage ratio is 30:70.

He discussed composition, the heart of design, which includes perspective (camera); staging; values (light); and color. Color can represent emotions and time of the day.

At present, there are schools that support traditional animation (2D). They require students to produce 99.9 percent 2D animation before they can graduate.  2D is still the soul of 3D animation.

A demonstration of a virtual reality (VR) and panoramic videos was presented.  He showed techniques on doing VR, panoramic videos and uses of lasso tools.

In conclusion, Serrano said animation is a team effort and the products depend on how the team works together.