Essay

student number g07r1272
An animation scene:

Blogs are a Web 2.0 phenomenon which is most closely likened to an online diary. On a blog the blogger is able to make numerous posts over a span of time with regard to whatever they feel that others should or would be interested in. These blogs are accessible to anyone on the internet, and also allow the viewer to post comments on the blog. The blog has furthermore been used by companies, bands, and in this case a class to discuss subjects, promote themselves and inform the internet community. Anyone with access to the internet and is computer literate is able to create a blog about anything they would like.

This essay shall discuss three blogs, from South Africa, Africa and the World, which all look at animation from the African continent with respect to the blog itself, and how the blog can be used as a tool for self, and company promotion. When one thinks of animation the first things that come to mind are Walt Disney Pictures, Mickey Mouse, the Warner Bros. and Loony Toons and more recently Pixar Animation Studios with films such as Finding Nemo, and Up. When it comes to South African animation, there really hasn’t been much to see, other than what we might see on television, no major productions have been made that we as South African could say we are proud of. Work such as The Tale of How by the Blackheart gang is most definitely something to sing about, but in terms of commercial animation, films that have a distinct African quality and are produced here, we seem to have been lacking in this respect for some time.

The South African blog being discussed is that of an animation company called Triggerfish Animation Studios, based in South Africa.Triggerfish Animation Studios have been responsible for much of the animation for Takalani Sesame, advertisements for Royco potato bake as well as Plascon Woodcare. They have recently been hard at work on Zambezia and Khumba, animated films which have Southern African characters and are based in the plains of Zimbabwe and the Karoo respectively. The films also feature South African voices, such as Freshly Ground’s Zolani Mahola and SA Comedian of the year 2008, Nik Rabinowitz.

The animation scene in South Africa is primarily white, and the need to address empowerment and transformation has become a project for the Triggerfish team. With the development of the Animation SA website and the animationXchange program which has been set up in Johannesburg and will be coming to Durban and Port Elisabeth soon, has kick started the task of getting animation in South Africa moving to wider audience’s and animators alike. Animation SA is akin to a community where animators can join up and exhibit, comment, and discuss as well as finding jobs, and be informed about upcoming events, in short this website offers the burgeoning animator the chance to see what’s happening on the South African animation scene. So promotion of animation in South Africa is a big part of this blogs purpose. The company has also managed to get international funding and connections, and the blog will help in keeping the sponsors and clients informed. The blog speaks of a professional company who care about their image and promotion.

The Triggerfish blog offers all its posts categorized into easy to find headings which also show the number of posts within the category, for example we can find all the posts on the films Zambezia or Khumba with one click. Other categories include: stop frame animation, studio, jobs and Sesame Street. The posts are clearly separated from the blog add-ons. The blog is bright and has many pictures in the text which helps create interest. One can also search the posts by date, which spans from the present to the year 1997. The blog also provides links to the triggerfish website as well as the Khumba and Zambezia websites.

This is obviously a company blog where the company is keeping any interested parties aware of the developments and goings on in the company. The posts which are exhibited are all about the company and the projects that they are working on, which allows the viewer to see what the company can do and how efficient they may be. This is a good way to keep current investors and customers well informed as well as having an accessible way for prospective clients to observe what the company has to offer.

The blog from the greater world is an individual’s blog, called African Animation. Paula Callus, a lecturer in animation in the United Kingdom, doing her PHD on African animation, created this blog which showcases anything on the animation scene in Africa. Her blog shows bits of the most recent posts in order of date on the home page, with the personal profile of the creator on the left. We immediately know what the blog is about and that it is not just someone waffling on about their personal life as many bloggers’ tend to do. We know that the blog is about African animation and is written by an intellectual. This blog is less colourful a little sparse on the visual side but is to the point with regard to its subject matter. You can access previous posts by date and can search the blog for topics you would like to find, there are also links to relevant sites such as: Africa in Motion, Edinburgh, African Movie Channel: nollywood, artspeakafrica, Berlin Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, gado's toonz, kenya animation blog, kwame nyongo's kenyan animation, and The South African Animation Directory.

This blog is bringing the viewer interesting, intellectually based articles about a certain subject, informing the viewer. This is different to the Triggerfish blog as the Africa Animation Blog is not promoting a product to the viewer but rather bringing together a forum of interesting media about a certain subject for those who wish to be informed about that subject specifically. The Triggerfish blog is promoting the product, which is the company, in a way in which is interactive with the client or prospective client. The Africa Animation blog is only supplying what is on the blog, there is no other product behind what is seen, unless you consider the blogger and her knowledge as a product.From the African Animation blog we learn that the continent of Africa is not as far behind as one might think in terms of its animation. For example the Kenyan television show, The XYZ show, by Kenyan cartoonist Gado, which uses puppets to critique their local government in a satirical way, has been hugely successful, even getting an article on BBC. ZNews, a similar production, produced by cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro and former television executive Thierry Cassuto in South Africa, has not been allowed to air nationally in South Africa.

The last blog we shall look at is the Kenyanimation blog. In the authors own words this is a blog that is “A place for a few young Kenyan animators to share information, opinions and their work. A space for everyone else to join in the conversation, too.” Set up much like the Triggerfish blog, this blog has all past posts available by date as well as other interesting and related links. It also has the contributors’ information available. This blog has a number of different posts ranging from reviews, interviews and thoughts from the blogger’s. The blog is simple in layout and colouring, not as colourful as the Triggerfish blog, and not as informing as the Africa Animation blog, but to its purpose of providing a forum for animators in Kenya it is functional enough.

The Kenyanimation blog is more of an interests' blog like that of Africa animation’s blog, concentrating on the animation of Kenya specifically. This blog shows us that the animation scene in Africa is not so sparse and is growing in size and reputation in many African countries, the blog allows the animators to come together in a forum where their interests are important and can be discussed with others who have the same interests. This allows for the continual growth and development of the animation scene in Kenya through a way other than the printed media and organizations dedicated to animation could produce.

As we can see from the examples of the Triggerfish, Africa Animation and Kenyanimation blogs the blog is an interesting application which has been used not only as a personal online diary but as a way to promote various subjects, companies, and people. The example that blogger’s all around the world including, the ones we have just discussed, shows us how we can use Web 2.0 to our advantage, as a forum, a promoter of sorts for the self as well as causes and companies or products. The web has opened so many pages to the public with regard to opportunities, resources and information. A blog, although regarded as a personal page, is open to so many people all around the world, being able to get input and comments from complete strangers is a new and novel way to conduct your life or company, and also letting the connections and links to a wider discussion create more opportunities for the blogger to widen their perspective.