MCCI urges the academe to offer animation courses

Aside from strengthening the pool of qualified call center agents or eReps, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) is currently talking with the academe sector to quantify the good animation talents in Cebu.

MCCI vice president for external affairs Emma Ramas said that MCCI already had an initial discussion with the University of San Carlos (USC) Architecture and Fine Arts departments for a possible establishment of College of Animation in the school.

According to Ramas, it is high time for the schools or universities to introduce animation skill as a course to capture this growing multi-million dollar industry that is part of the huge Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Animation is the process of giving the illusion of movement to cinematographic drawings, models or inanimate objects, through 2D or 3D. Digital animation is the oldest, yet one of the most profitable outsourced services in the country.

According to Ramas this should be maximized by Cebu, especially the academe sector.

"Lack of awareness regarding the prospects and huge potential of the skill is one of the reasons why we could not quantify number of world-class animators in Cebu," Ramas said.

Already, the Philippines animation industry is a major service provider to Japanese (Anime), American (Walt Disney) and European and Australian companies.

Top production outfits that have currently depended on Filipino animators included Warner Bros, Hannah-Barbera, Cartoon Network Inc. and bestsellers such as Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Mask, and Addams Family.

Recently, Filipino animators were able make the successful "Finding Nemo" and the "Incredibles" cartoon movie hits.

Ramas said the animation sector would continue to attract more investors as long as the availability of skills will be quantified and promoted very well.

Board of Investment (BOI) record showed that a global industry target of animation industry is US$50 billion from US$16 billion by the end of 2005.

This 18-year old animation/creative outsourcing sector currently employs around 3,000 animation artists. There are approximately 23 firms, 11 of which are direct exporters, operating in the animation/creative sector in the Philippines.

Early this year, VersaGrafx Designs Philippines Inc., has opened its first facility outside of United States in Cebu at the Asia Town IT Park.

The company establishes a conceptualization and design facility for cinema standees, and other promotional collaterals for Hollywood movie production companies in Cebu.

VersaGrafx president Larry Collins said the good pool of talented people in Cebu, especially the high-skilled designers pushed him to initially invest about US$250,000 to set up the facility in Cebu.

The company's designing process will involve a review of cinematographic materials and on-location shoots and still photographs to be used in the conceptualization and design.

The finished products will be the visual and construction designs of the cinema standees and DVD tower casings in electronic files and the movie webpag designs.

On the other hand, Ramas said the industry is facing challenges, such as the exodus of animators to other countries like India.

India has the biggest volume of software development and BPO services contracts.

Because of talent migration, Philippine animation industry is losing an average of 150 to 200 digital animators annually. Some Filipino animators are now based in Hollywood.