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30th June 2005 - The fourth edition of AniMOweb opens and the theme is about peace
Press Conference
Let's start again!
The theme of the 4th edition of aniMOweb, conflicts, war and peace
How to take part
Sponsoring institutions
Prizes
Festival, first notes
Splash intros
Press Conference
Thursday, 30th June a.m. the press conference, which officially opens the 4th edition of aniMOweb on the conflicts and themes of peace and war, takes place at 11.30 in the Palace of Modena Province. The contributors are the Councillor for Culture Beniamino Grandi and the representatives of CSV (Centro Servizi Volontariato) of Modena together with the editorial staff of aniMOweb, Andrea Cavazzuti and Cristina Poppi.
Let's start again!
The 4th edition of aniMOweb announces itself as extremely interesting and carries a horde of novelties, as well as some certainties inherited from the previous editions.
Among the novelties, the most obvious is related to the times of the event, totally changed in comparison with the three previous editions.
The concluding festival is planned for the month of February 2006, while the deadline for the submission of works is due for 30th November. Web creative people (animators, graphics designers, programmers) wishing to participate have then 5 months of time. If the time to create even complex intros is relatively short, much more time is needed to create short animated films or video games.
AniMOweb is also particular for the assigned theme. This difference with respect to the contests or festivals with a free theme is a further reason for leaving a longer time to authors, who might have work plans or personal projects to carry on.
The reasons why an author might find advantageous to take part in aniMOweb are:
- the opportunity to win one of the official money prizes or the prizes offered by the sponsors
- the participation in an event and meeting, which has been made possible with the contribution of web artists from all over the world and the resulting visibility of one's work
- to see one's work published not only on the official site of aniMOweb, but also in the final DVD (edited by Modena Province) and in the CD Rom of the magazine Computer Graphics and Publishing by Gruppo Editoriale IHT
- to see one's work performed in public on several occasions, such as the film review at Truffaut Cinema in Modena during the concluding festival, or the prize awarding ceremony at Teatro San Carlo, or the numerous presentations of aniMOweb on the part of the editorial staff or the sponsors. Even TV passages are possible.
These are some of the certainties aniMOweb has been progressively able to guarantee in the three previous editions, and that it intends to re-propose in this fourth edition.
For aniMOweb team the number of participants in the contest remains a mystery till the very last days and only after the deadline of 30th November, will they be able to make a first report.
The successfulness of the contest depends also on the theme, on whether it is able to stimulate the curiosity and the imagination of the potential contestants. It also depends on the number of events that are organised.
AniMOweb editorial staff again prefer to distinguish aniMOweb as a Festival based on the assigned theme and on Flash (from the point of view of technology). The final output of works remains the SWF file to be viewed with Flash Player. Flash animation is widespread in the web and the supporters of usability of webdesign no longer oppose it, while Flash Player, in comparison with the other plug-ins, is the commonest instrument on Internet browsers for all operating systems and platforms. This does not mean that the submissions for the contest have to be created with Flash (increasingly employed also for animation TV series, video games for mobile phones, etc.) or with other software like Digital Video, TheTab or Swift 3D, which can be imported directly into the SWF format of Flash. Other animation techniques can be employed, from the so-called traditional ones (like plastic composition used by Pulcini Gialli, winners of the 1st prize in the second edition of aniMOweb) to the widespread 3D, since software instruments to export to Flash format are not lacking.
Although aniMOweb site is unchanged, it has some novelties. One of these is the flash news section, aiming at presenting information on web animation festivals and web inter-activity, with a special attention to the authors who took part in aniMOweb. We are ready to receive any information (to the address info.animoweb@provincia.modena.it ) about the selection or prize awarding in other festivals of works submitted for aniMOweb. Authors can also inform us about other events that can be interesting for the visitors of our site, like courses regarding our field of interest.
The theme of the 4th edition of aniMOweb, conflicts, war and peace
AniMOweb's theme for the 4th edition is perhaps the most important possible theme. Conflicts and wars have always existed since mankind populated the Earth, even when human beings were not able yet to communicate through language. Wars are in the nature of man: race, culture, ideology, religion differences, the fight to get the best position or the most precious resource and lately even the so-called exportation of democracy with bombs have always represented sufficient motives to shed blood and destroy.
In 2005 the 60th Anniversary of the launch of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an opportunity to remind us that mankind was very close to self-destruction during the time of the Cold War. It is enough to think that about 69.000 nuclear warheads were ready to be launched with a potential quantity of 3,6 tons of TNT for every human being...
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, which signified, in a sense, the fall of the ideological wall between Communism and Capitalism and the end of the direct opposition of the two blocks, some hopes for a better world were nourished, as well as the possibility to prevent or at least limit conflicts through more positive international relations. Since 1989 four large scale wars have taken place (Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq twice), as well as the massacre of entire populations (Bosnia, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan, Chechenia, etc.), an indefinite number of remote and forgotten wars, of biblical exoduses and unpunished crimes, obviously with some millions of deaths (more than 90% civilians) and a large quantity of deportees and refugees, not to forget the destruction of facilities, the pollution of entire areas, etc.
After the end of 2nd World War UNO should have been the only possible solution to establish the current system of nations. However, what this institution has been able to do has proved ineffective, powerless. The paralysis and the incapability of preventing and solving the conflicts that have become wars is a result of that.
The current scene of the system of nations remains discouraging if one realises that, on one hand, many developing countries regularly spend more money for buying arms than for social welfare and education, while, on the other hand, to complete a vicious circle, the most important nations, belonging to the Security Council of UNO, and the richest nations are the top sellers of arms and weapons. If these are good examples...
Conflicts and violence do not only take place between nations. If this scene is enriched with the increase of social and economic disparities between human groups also within the different nations, the fostering of hate on ethnic, cultural, religious bases, one well understands how establishing peace relationships between human beings becomes difficult. It is not necessary to go far away or to watch television to see conflicts resulting in violence, our everyday life in families, in schools, in work places, even in leisure time places (like soccer stadiums) is pervaded by it.
To build cultural bridges, to demolish cultural barriers, to work for social justice and for the acknowledgement of human rights, to inform in a fair way, to work for an equal distribution of resources, to decrease economic differences between people who earn too much with all possible privileges and people who live with 2 dollars a day (some billion people): these seem to be the only possible ways for human beings to prevent innate conflicts and violence. If these principles were applied to everyday life, perhaps the ideal links between the small conflicts and the big conflicts resulting in violence and war would become apparent.
AniMOweb asks participants to express their point of view with images, animation, games and interactive applications. They have always talked about war and peace. TV has always been showing photographs and films. Films and video games are teeming with simulated violence. However, the language of imagination has been rarely employed to communicate on such themes. In some cases only for propaganda during 2nd World War.
The power of animation, using paradox and exaggeration, is enormous in showing what one feels but cannot describe in words, in expressing intuitively through images mind associations of great impact, in conveying ideas in a simpler way than books or newspapers. Animation can create imaginary worlds and impossible situations, which, however, seems so real.
On the other hand, the power of video games and inter-activity consists in increasing the impact of visual language and animation with the subjectivity of the user's action. The user has a more active attitude than the simple viewer, as long as he/she is able to build up his/her own course of learning and/or leisure.
AniMOweb authors are invited to tackle this difficult communication task. We wish everybody, apart from prizes, can enjoy this experience as an opportunity of personal growth, not only from a technical point of view, but also for the cultural contents proposed and shared with the other authors and the public.
How to take part
In order to take part in the contest authors should download and read carefully some documents: the contest regulation, the guidelines, the application form. The guidelines are almost concluded: the reference text and the images will be published by the end of July. At the moment, to get information about the theme, the previous paragraph or the news with the title "4th edition of aniMOweb on the themes of war and peace" can be read.
The main source for the images of the guidelines has always been Modena Province Photographic Archive. Unfortunately, it has no photographs about the theme of this year. Unless we are able to use other sources freely, we run the risk of having only a few images available, including Modena Province logo. On the other hand, we hope authors will be able to create a representative iconography of the theme with stylised animation and graphics.
For section C, the only restriction is the consistency with the theme, although the reference text is useful to get information and ideas. Unlike the other sections, it is also possible to submit movies created before and independently from the contest, provided that they are consistent with the theme. In this case, the jury will be asked to pay special attention to the original works: if two movies score equal, between a short film produced for the contest and one not produced for aniMOweb, the first will be preferred.
Each author can submit 1 work for section A, 1 for section B and up to 3 for section C.
For each category, some limits in the dimensions of the files are established: 300 Kb for intros, 2 Mb for the games, 10 Mb for short animated films.
The deadline for submissions to the address concorso.animoweb@provincia.modena.it is 30th November 2005. Information can be requested writing to the address info.animoweb@provincia.modena.it, while questions and answers of general interest are published in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
The sponsoring institutions of the 4th edition of the contest are still being defined. 4 are certain.
First of all Modena Province, who has been sponsoring the contest since 2002 and has been supporting it with its staff and sometimes external co-operators.
The main co-sponsor is CSV (Centro Servizi Volontariato) of Modena, an organisation supporting and qualifying the activities of volunteers, providing services for associations of volunteers of the Modenese territory (promotion of the activities, assistance, consulting, training, documentation). Voluntary service, disabled people, elderly people, drug/alcohol addicts, families, training, solidarity and peace are the key words representing CSV and the related associations.
From a technical point of view, the sponsor renewing its collaboration is the Roman software house Digital Video. They produce world leader applications for cartoon animation, like Toonz. TheTab software for web animation, successful product of this company, has an important role in the 4th edition of aniMOweb because it is the protagonist of the traditional animation "marathon" with the student and teacher (Antonella Battilani) of Istituto d'Arte Venturi in the concluding week of the festival. Students will use TheTab to create aniMOweb trailers on the theme of the contest, and this one-week "marathon" takes the name after it. TheTabAnimathon will be held by experts of the software from Digital Video.
As for publishers, the agreement with IHT Gruppo Editoriale has been renewed. IHT has been distinguishing itself for the quality of its publications since 1986. They have edited books (information science, science and technology, economics), periodicals (Commodore Gazette, Arte in Video, CG Computer Gazette, Computer Graphics & Publishing and eMotion), videos and TV programmes (Informatica VideoMagazine and Technology Channel). Gruppo Editoriale IHT, managed by Massimiliano Lisa, is publishing aniMoweb films in the CD-Rom enclosed in the magazine Computer Graphics and Publishing (presumably in the March-April 2006 issue).
Prizes
The official prize budget is € 8.800 for a total amount of 14 prizes. Winners for section A and B will receive the following: €1.500 to the 1st, € 700 to the 2nd and € 300 to the 3rd place winners.
Winners for section C will receive € 1.500 for the best absolute film (independently from the nationality of the author), 2 2nd prizes amounting to €700 each (one for short film by an Italian author, the other for a short film by a foreign author), 2 3rd prizes amounting to € 300 each (with the same criterion as for the 2nd prizes of this section).
Furthermore, an audience prize of €100 for each section has been established for the favourite works of the aniMOweb site visitors.
The organisers might decide to establish new official prizes on special occasions.
Prizes offered by the sponsors will be added to the official prizes or will replace them, if they have at least the same value. Currently, both prizes by Digital Video - with some copies of TheTab software - and by IHT Gruppo Editoriale - with annual subscriptions for a magazine of the group or the publication of an article on one or more winners - have been decided. The criteria for assigning these prizes will be illustrated in the future news of this site and in the newsletter.
Festival, first notes
The dates of the concluding Festival of aniMOweb have not yet been decided, but will be concentrated in a week of the month of February 2006. The peculiarity of aniMOweb is to be a festival revolving around the assigned theme and animation, video games, and Internet interactive applications. The events and appointments of the previous editions are repeated: the animation film review, the animation "marathon" TheTabAnimathon with the students of the school for arts, the seminars, the meetings with the authors, the special guests of the festival among the members of the jury. Finally the official prize awarding at Teatro San Carlo, Other events could be organised, while the schedule will be published in the news of the next months. It will be worthwhile to travel to Modena to attend the festival.
Splash intros
Some special intros, the splash intros, have been created freely by some authors of the last edition, in order to promote aniMOweb. They are loaded in a random way in the splash page of aniMOweb and will be the introductory card of the contest in this 4th edition. They will be seen first in the DVD of aniMOweb, in the CD-Rom of IHT and in the official presentations of the contest. They also will be printed in the advertising postcards of the contest.
AniMOweb editorial staff wish to thank the authors who produced these jewels, which could have well been submitted for the contest. They are only an anticipation of what might be the final result after 30th November. We hope many authors will take the challenge and contribute to making this event unforgettable and unmissable.
Title: Make it bigger
Author: Luca Frattini
Title: The new soldier
Author: Hermes Mangialardo
Title: Dove
Author: Alice Bevini
Title: RU stoopid, Man?
Author: Fabio Pin
Title: The contrasts
Author: Dmitry Zheltobriukhov
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