By Sheona Burns
When 16-year-old Lavinia Manea thinks of her life in Ottawa, she envisions skating on the Rideau Canal, visiting the National Gallery of Canada and shopping in the ByWard Market.
Soon, her ideas will be incorporated into a five-minute animated film called Animate Ottawa.
“I’m so excited,” says Manea, a visual arts student at Canterbury high school. “I’m proud to be involved in something that reflects my community.”
The project, hosted by the Ottawa International Film Festival, is a part of a new incentive to introduce Ottawa youth to the art of animation.
“We just wanted to do something positive for the community,” says Kelly Neall, managing director of the festival. “It’s in our mandate to educate the public so this workshop is perfect.”
Twenty-five Ottawa teens, aged 14 to 19, submitted an animation idea with the theme of life in Ottawa.
The group will gather for two days in February, when they will learn the technical basics of animation and produce 30 seconds of animated film about everyday life in Ottawa.
The submissions ranged from children running through a field of tulips to graffiti splattered across brick walls.
“We really had a wide range of ideas,” says Neall. “They all reflect a personal vision of the city.”
Chris Robinson, one of Canada’s leading animation experts and art director of the Ottawa International Film Festival, says he hopes the workshop will bring recognition to Ottawa’s thriving animation community.
“Animation is a huge thing in Ottawa,” he says. “A lot of people still aren’t aware of that.”
The Ottawa International Animation Festival, which ran this past September, is the largest animation festival in North America and the second largest in the world.
The biannual festival attracts big-name entertainment companies such as MTV, Warner Brothers and DreamWorks.
But Robinson says animation is more than entertainment. It’s also a prestigious form of art.
“Animation isn’t just a Disney product,” he says. “Some animators are brilliant artists just like Picasso or Michelangelo.”
Both Neall and Robinson say they hope the workshop will help teens appreciate the artistry involved in animation.
“Producing ‘Animate Ottawa’ is our way of reaching out to the Ottawa public,” says Neall. “We hope to enhance the profile of animation in Ottawa.”
Animate Ottawa will make its debut at the National Archives of Canada during the Ottawa International Animation Festival in October.