ANIMATION

$40-million local animation industry poised for growth
Training new animators seen as key to regaining "world's animation capital" tag


(Manila, Philippines, December 28, 2005) - One of the most established outsourcing sectors in the country, the local animation industry ranks high in terms of revenue-generating potential. "There is enough business for everybody," said Joy Bacon, executive director of the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI), "including the 25,000 new animators we hope to produce and train over a five-year period through 2010."

Lack of work has never been a problem for local animation studios since they first rose to prominence in the 1980s. Back then, the Philippines supplied 90% of worldwide outsourced animation work. "That was the time when the Philippines was called the animation capital of the world," said Bacon. A number of Asian countries have since started competing for a share of the market, with most setting up using hired Filipino talent.

The $40-million animation industry experienced a setback when local animators - the sector's most important resource - began leaving for opportunities overseas. "There was one batch of about 200 animators who left for Fox Animation in Los Angeles during the '80s," Bacon recounted, adding that there were other batches that followed, which the Council was unable to keep track of. As a result of the talent drain, the industry's workforce dwindled to about one third of its original number.

Boosting the industry's workforce with fresh animators to enable studios to meet global demand is the most formidable challenge the industry faces. It has also become one of the most important ACPI advocacies. The 22-member organization is pushing to institutionalize animation education in the Philippines, and getting the message across that there is a lucrative career in animation.

To achieve this goal, ACPI has launched a series of programs to promote animation education. "Aside from studios that offer short courses on animation, such as Navel Academy for Digital Arts and Artfarm Asia before that, there are only three major schools offering animation: Ateneo de Naga, which offers a four-year course in computer animation; College of St. Benilde, whose Multimedia Arts Center has a one-year animation program; and Mapua IT Center, which also offers a training program in animation," said Bacon.

"We want to increase the number of schools offering animation courses. To do this, we are partnering with the government and educational institutions, through the regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), to communicate the attractiveness of a career in animation," she explained.

However, the ACPI believes their task involves more than just producing graduates with basic animation skills. "There is a gap between industry requirements and academic courses. As a result, graduates are not work-ready when they leave their schools," said Bacon.

To bridge this divide, ACPI has tied up with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to provide industry-relevant regulatory standards for academic requirements associated with two-year animation courses or less.

"We have finished drafting the training regulations, and are now hard at work finalizing the courseware. After that's done, we will work on assessment tools, which will measure the capabilities of the graduates from those schools that eventually adapt the curriculum," Bacon said. The training regulations and courseware will be implemented by TESDA for schools looking to offer animation courses.

It helps, too, that graduates of technical education courses can now pursue higher education with the implementation of Executive Order No. 358, which institutionalizes a ladderized interface between technical-vocational education and training and higher education. Under the Order, TESDA and the Commission on Higher Education have developed unified qualification and articulation mechanisms that allow the transfer of credits from TESDA courses to a four-year degree course.

"We hope to reach that point where we can certify animators. It will definitely be an edge for us if we can boast of industry-certified animators. Studios will be confident that the people they are hiring are industry-ready and require little or no additional training," Bacon said. "Clients will be confident that they are getting no less than Class A animators when they hire a local firm.

"But our efforts in promoting the industry to the rest of the world amount to nothing if we don't get potential animators interested," said Bacon. This is where the government, specifically the DTI and its export promotion agency, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), is providing much-needed help.

ACPI sees the upcoming e-Services Philippines 2006, an annual IT and outsourcing exhibition and conference, as a strategic venue to promote the industry. "ACPI is actively participating in the upcoming ESP 2006. We are holding an animation conference on the second day of the event, which runs from February 16 to 17, 2006. We are getting clients from Japan, France and the U.S. to speak about local talent and capabilities, as well as one local school to present their animation education blueprint, and a foreign school to show us how they were able to promote animation education successfully," explained Bacon.

"We will also exhibit the finalists in the 4th Animazing Shorts animation contest during the conference. The contest runs until May 2006 and is open to both professional and amateur animators," Bacon reported. "We are hopeful that through this joint effort, we will be able to entice potential artists and animators, and lead the industry to further growth," Bacon concluded.

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