Abu Dhabi Week meets the new generation of animators saving the world, one superhero at a time …

Rida, a twelve-year-old schoolboy, is trying to convince his best friend Khalil to take a peek at the exam answers. Khalil can’t figure out how to pull this off while the teachers are still in the room.

Rida hisses “Did you forget you’re a zombie!” And with a quick jab of a finger he pops out Khalil’s eyeball and rolls it into the staff room – problem solved!

Not your typical schoolyard hi-jinks, but then again this isn’t your typical school. Zombiyat is just one of the projects on offer from the students at the Cartoon Network Animation Academy.

Growing demand from local networks for more regional television content helped foster the partnership of Cartoon Network Studios Arabia with the tadreeb training arm of twofour54 Abu Dhabi in 2011. The goal? “To develop original productions with the ambition of taking the finished product across the whole region and where possible, to global audiences,” says Adam Khwaja, creative director of Cartoon Network Studios Arabia.

Hani Kichi, animation producer and director of regional animation studio Blink Studios, emphasises the significance of Arabic and Emirati content. “At the end of the day, all the animations coming from around the world don’t carry the traditions or the values of this region.

“It’s really important to have regional writers put their ideas into forms of animation so kids can learn about this part of the world.”

Khwaja believes there is a lot of untapped creative potential in the region. “The partnership with twofour54’s Cartoon Network Animation Academy is preparing talented individuals for work in a region where the industry is still quite new,” he says.

The year-long course means students participate in the entire production process for an animation feature. They develop projects and pitch their ideas to a jury of industry professionals from the region.

“This is not to judge but rather give them commercial feedback. It’s more of a screening actually, where students can get exposure for their projects with other organisations,” says Oliver Acker, head lecturer at the Animation Academy.

Three projects are then selected to be further developed in the final trimester of classes. Students refine an eleven-minute episode of their concept and create what is called an animatic.

“This is a very common tool in the industry and helps demonstrate the concept being pitched,” says Acker. Students have to come up with a pilot with the most important elements in the episode animated fully to suggest what the show would actually look like if it were produced.

“Basically, this is what we are all about – content creation. When we create content, we hit two birds with one stone – students go through the whole pipeline process but at the same time, we actually do have some projects we can maybe commercialise in the future. Our job is not just to create animators but also to build the industry. It gives students the opportunity to display their work in a format that people understand, not just the audience but producers and potential investors. We really try to cover it all!”

The diverse class of 12 is not shy when it comes to expressing themselves and their animations. These young adults in superhero T-shirts, abayas and chunky spectacles are serious about cartoons. And for a lack of a better word – they certainly are very animated.

Animation lecturer Badruddin Badruddin adds, “What we offer here is mentorship. We function as a school, but often we function just like a studio and treat our students as artists in that studio. We guide them and give them support, both technical and moral, to get through their projects. We don’t like to give them solutions straight off, discussion and collaboration is a big part of it. It’s a combined effort.”

Back in the classroom, we can’t help but be caught up with the cartoons acted out on screen in this student workshop. With thick black lines and sketches illustrating the characters movements and speech, the storyboard comes to life as penciled cartoon characters move along the screen.

The classroom’s walls are covered in sketches and drawings of cartoons in a variety of styles, ranging from realistic to fantastic to the famous (we can’t help but smile at the Powerpuff Girls charging into the ceiling).

Each group presents their concepts and the progress they’ve made so far. Keen for suggestions and advice, the students are open to collaboration. From a family of undead to a flying ladybird living in a broccoli tree and a man living inside a cup of tea, each concept is clearly thought out, skillfully drawn and surprisingly funny. In fact we can’t remember a class in our uni where we spent so much time laughing.

Badr Al Kaabi learned about the Academy after interning with Blink Studios. After doing character design for the animated short film Ostoura the 21-year-old Emirati says, “I actually understand how the industry works and I know how to be part of the production pipeline. I plan on going back and getting a bachelor’s degree in 3D animation. I say sign up, cross your fingers and hope you get in because it is amazing!”

Soft-spoken Resa Pulvera, 20, came from the Philippines to study at the Academy. “I was in nursing school for two years but I didn’t feel like it was for me. Fortunately I found the animation school. This is a big dream and a great opportunity.” When we ask her for any last words she smiles before saying, “animate your life.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

Sawaiba Khan