Vancouver animators share $40,000 prize

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Vancouver animators share $40,000 prize
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Students at the American University of Beirut are liable to find small animations adorning the page corners of old math and history textbooks, courtesy of Vancouver Film School graduate Rani Naamani.

A transplanted native of Lebanon, Naamani says animation has been a lifelong passion that has led him to animate anywhere he could -- from textbooks to Post-it notes next his parents' phone.

"That's how I practice my animation," the 21-year-old said. "I couldn't get enough of it. Whenever I can find some pages I can turn around, I start to animate."

That zest to animate ultimately led Naamani to the Electronic Arts Great Canadian Art competition in Vancouver on Saturday where he and Percy Auto Fuentes both won $20,000 prizes for their animated works, respectively titled Defective and Zombie Oris.

The prizes were awarded by Electronic Arts Canada, a Vancouver-based video-gaming company.

The 25 finalists also received tours of the company's state-of-the-art development studios.

It's the first year the prize has been awarded.

Originally, $20,000 was to go to the winner and another $20,000 to their school. But with a tie between Naamani and Fuentes, the Vancouver Film School, from which both recently graduated, agreed to forego its portion of the money in favour of the co-winner.

Naamani says the win came as a shock.

"I was surprised. It's wonderful," said Naamani, who moved to Calgary with his parents when he was young before returning to his homeland to attend the American University of Beirut.

He laughs when asked if Electronic Arts offered him a job when he toured the production facilities. He said it was impressive but added he wants to eventually work in feature films rather than video-gaming.

"It blurs the line between games and movies," he said of the tour. "They're getting closer and closer all the time."

Fuentes said all the finalists were offered jobs by Electronic Arts.

The Regina native also wants to go into film but says video-game production holds some allure.

"There seems to be a little bit of a convergence going on," he said. "Video games are becoming a little more cinematic. I'm pretty sure they're hiring more filmish people.

"I know I'll end up going back to more independent films by myself but I don't see why I can't do games on the side," he said.

David MacWilliam, acting dean of Vancouver's Emily Carr College of Art and Design, said the competition is important to spur growth in the development of animation talent.

"The talent in this country is phenomenal," he said. "The EAC competition will help create the excitement needed to build the next generation of successful Canadian animators."

Naamani's winning film Defective is about two robots that wind up in a factory's defective bin because each has only one hand.

"They just find one hand. That's kind of the conflict," Naamani said. "They start fighting ridiculously about this one hand."

Fuentes also used robots in his film Zombie Oris, although there was a human element.

"It's about a guy trying to sneak into a robots-only drive-in," he said. "He dresses up in an awful, cheesy robot costume."

Electronic Arts Canada is one of the world's leading developers and publishers of video games with studios in Vancouver and Montreal and more than 1,500 employees.

Electronic Arts is headquartered in Redwood, Calif. In 2003, it has 27 titles that have sold more than a million copies.

[url=\"http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050503.gtanimation03/BNStory/AtPlay/\"]source: Globe Technology[/url]