It’s boom time for UAE’s animation industry

Although the Middle East’s animation industry has been developing rapidly in recent years, experts say it is yet to find its feet in terms of producing world-quality content with international audiences in mind. The shortage of top talent is another challenge, coupled with a lack of proper investment in local productions.

“In order to see the industry grow to its true potential, it is important to get to a point where content developed in the region works around the globe in a similar way to shows created in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan,” says Adam Khwaja, creative director at Cartoon Network Studios Arabia. “Similarly, TV, film and games animation businesses need to produce content that travels widely in order to build IP into commercially successful franchises.”

Natalie Habib, GM and executive producer of Dubai-based Blink Studios agrees that there is a huge gap in the regional market for well-trained animation talents, but she also notes that investing in locally produced animation is not a priority for broadcasters, producers and general investors.

“Buying ‘off-the-shelf’ readymade content dubbed into Arabic makes up most of the animation content that is viewed across Arab screens,” she claims, stressing that local content has what it takes to travel worldwide.

“There is no reason why local content cannot be produced and be successful,” Habib adds. “We at Blink Studios have already created and developed several series that have enjoyed international appeal and have been recognised by international broadcasters at various points in their development. Our first taste of it came through the production of our first short film, ‘Ostora’, which received festival nominations across the US, Europe and Asia.”

Others are seeing the potential if the right infrastructure and right talent are in place. “The region’s talent pool is still growing and the natural talent we see, in terms of visual artistry in particular, is generally of a high standard which shows a promising future for the industry,” notes Khwaja.

While both Egypt and Jordan were among the first Arab countries to make successful animation films and series, the Gulf region, led by the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, is taking some bold steps towards creating a pool of talented Arab animators who have an international focus and local values.

“Abu Dhabi has the ambition to become a centre of excellence for innovation and creativity, whether it's animation, TV production, movies, or the digital gaming industry,” notes Khwaja.

This ‘ambition’ is what also prompted TBS Arabia (Turner Broadcasting Systems Arabia), a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, to launch Cartoon Network Studios Arabia at Abu Dhabi’s twofour54. The company also partnered with twofour54 to open the Cartoon Network Animation Academy.

Cartoon Network Arabia was launched in October 2010 and broadcasts free-to-air programmes in Arabic across the entire MENA region, delivering a wide range of international and locally-produced kid's entertainment including: ‘Ben 10’, ‘Adventure Time’, ‘Generator Rex’, ‘Powerpuff Girls’, ‘Dexter's Laboratory’, ‘the Smurfs’, ‘Ben and Izzy’, ‘Freej and Skatoony’.

The Cartoon Network Animation Academy, located at twofour54 Tadreeb, celebrated the inaugural graduation ceremony last September for the animation production class of 2010/11.

The academy offers academically intensive animation courses delivered by expert instructors that have worked in some of the world’s biggest animation studios, such as Warner Bros Animation, Turner Studios, and Walt Disney.

“The Cartoon Network Animation Academy is doing a fantastic job in developing very talented animation artists with a working knowledge and experience of all the essential principles of animation,” Khwaja stresses, noting that Cartoon Network Studios Arabia offer internships of up to three months for talented graduates to work on CN’s latest shows that are either in the development or production stages.

“This year, they have been able to offer six extended internships and eight shorter ones which has been a great opportunity for the graduates to gain invaluable working experience on real Cartoon Network projects,” he adds.

Oliver Acker, head lecturer at the Cartoon Network Animation Academy said that the academy, which accepts 12 students each year, employs a thorough process to choose the students.

“We go through every individual application and sometimes we meet with the applicant to know why he or she wants to join the academy,” he explains. “We are mainly looking for two elements, passion and talent; sometimes the talent doesn't show right away so we ask them to do a test and send it back to see how serious they are about their job and future.”

Once they have been accepted, things go more smoothly. “We see ourselves as guides to the students more than teachers; we’re helping them bring their ideas to life, and it’s not about right or wrong,” he adds.

When asked to reflect on working with Arab students, he said, “the communications between me and them is awesome – they are friendly, demanding, driven and competitive but in a friendly way. From my experience in Singapore, for example, the students only listened, but here they ask why we have to do this in this way, which enriches the conversation. That is what I love about this region”.

Besides the CN Academy, the Abu Dhabi government-backed media and entertainment hub, twofour54, signed a partnership with the Digital Domain Media Group (DDMG) in May of this year.

As per the agreement, DDMG will establish an animation, visual effects, and motion capture studio, and Digital Domain Institute media school in Abu Dhabi. DDMG will begin production of visual effects and animation in studios in twofour54 at the beginning of 2013, with plans to immediately recruit and hire staff from both local and international talent pools.

DDMG will also develop a purpose-built 14,000 square metre state-of-the-art entertainment production complex, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2015.

The French gaming giant Ubisoft also teamed up with twofour54 to open a development studio in Abu Dhabi. The two companies will work together on the launch of the twofour54 gaming academy, aimed at creating up to 100 jobs in the industry, specifically for local talent.

In August 2011, twofour54’s investment arm, Ibtikar, signed investment deals worth $2.5m with two online gaming firms, as well as taking minority stakes in Arabic online games companies Tahadi Games and Jawaker, in deals expected to create a large number of new jobs for local youth.

“The platform that Abu Dhabi has created for the media industry in the region has proven to be one that is quite influential in allowing room for all the various forms of animated productions to grow,” says Habib.

“We are the first animation studio in the region to be contracted by twofour54 to deliver work to the BBC. We already carried out the regional adaptation of season 1 of the CBeebies hit ‘Driver Dan's Story Train’ and we were tasked with both adapting the whole series for the Middle East, and animating 20 episodes out of the 52 episodes for season 2 for the BBC,” she added.

When asked about which sectors within the region’s animation industry are growing the fastest, Habib said that the online sector is growing quickly due to the flexibility of producing one-offs/shorts for regional animation artists.

“Online offers them the freedom to circulate their productions without the hassle of having to convince major investors and/or broadcasters to pay the budgets for a full series, feature or high tech games,” she argues. “Apps, on the other hand, are a growing sector mainly due to the ease of funding them and the distribution platform.”

Khwaja notes that the market is seeing a shift towards longer forms of original content for TV, film and gaming. “We are beginning to see high quality 2D and 3D TV shows, games and films being developed and produced in the Middle East. For this reason, major studios such as Cartoon Network Studios Arabia and other international players including Digital Domain and Ubisoft are opening studios here in Abu Dhabi.”

While Khwaja notes that the buoyant animation industry is leaning towards the high-end, family feature film market, he is also seeing a general decline in traditional TV viewing across the board in the children’s sector, primarily because of the expansion of the video device market.

“Animation has also recently penetrated the commercial regional realm with more brands looking to associate themselves with content,” Habib concluded. “Yet is it still tricky to look into that sort of streaming unless the studio/artist has a clear understanding of the brand’s positioning and current market requirements, and meets them through a creative content platform.” 

By Badar Salem, Cherbel Gabro - Published in Variety Arabia