Hey all.  Exciting news in from Animation 10.  The judging over, the awards have been given and it is a privilege to give readers an insight into one of the most prestigious Animation competitions across the world.

Credit to Manchester University for driving this great initiative in the UK.  Underpinning this competition is the desire to ensure that school children gain confidence with using computers and essentially learn how to have fun with technology.  Of course, the end product is the creation of compelling animated shorts.  Due to these great aims, EA is proud to be a title Sponsor, (thanks to EA’s Kate Booth of the Outreach team for driving EA participation). 

So what is Animation 10 all about?   UK schoolchildren aged 7-19 are invited to create an animated film using their computer, and submit it to the competition.  Entries can be from individuals, or groups (of up to 4 members) and should be about a minute long.  Animation 10 only accepts animations created using one of the following approved packages: Alice, Scratch, Greenfoot, Flash(includes pre-Adobe Macromedia Flash), or Serif.

To ensure all have a chance of being recognised against peers of similiar groups, different age categories are applied, including the following 8 categories:

• Age 7-11 (Key Stage 2) – individual or team
• Age 11-14 (Key Stage 3) – individual or team
• Age 14-16 (Key Stage 4) – individual or team
• Age 16-19 (studying in sixth form/college) – individual or team

After the closing date of the competition, each category & each entry was reviewed anonymously by the competition organisers, who award points based on the following criteria:

• Originality
• Creativity
• Technical quality, use of animation software features
• Relevance to the taught curriculum
• Overall directorial quality as a movie

Toby Howard, the excellent host of the day and driving force of the competition from Manchester University

So last week, the prestigious Lowry Centre in Manchester was packed full of excited schoolchildren, teachers and parents, eargerly awaiting to hear who had won.  To ensure a great day out for all, Manchester University provided a range of activities for the schoolchildren to enjoy and to ensure they embraced technology.

Eager schoolchildren await to hear the winners

 The agenda for the day was packed, with the awards in the morning and a fun afternoon of informative, engaging, interactive sessions. 

Morning Schedule

• 0900-1000: Registration
• 1000: Welcome
• 1015: Film Festival of winning animations, and prize-giving, part 1
• 1115: Morning break
• 1130: Matthew Jeffery, EA, ‘The Importance of Education’
• 11.40 Film Festival of winning animations, and prize-giving, part 2
• 1230: Lunch break (please bring your own packed lunch)

Afternoon Schedule

• 1315: Computer Science activities:
  • Computers and Brains, an inspirational talk by Prof. Steve Furber, CBE. (suitable for 11-19 year-olds).
  • Hands-on Computer Science workshop (suitable for all ages) including:
    • Enter new worlds with the BBC’s “green-screen” video technology
    • Find out and 3D, stereo computer graphics and how to make computers see
    • Fly your own plane in The University of Manchester’s Flight Simulator
    • Explore digital memories with Tales of Things
    • Find out about the magic of Computer Science with cs4fn’s Paul Curzon
    • Race your phone against “The Manchester Baby” – the world’s first computer
    • Experience the weird world of Augmented Reality
    • Virtual robot racing with Sodarace.
• 1530 – 1600 Finish

Matthew Jeffery of EA’s Global Recruitment team spoke on the importance of education to the audience.  Key points he stressed included reminding everyone how far the games industry had come in 25 years, from the graphical and animated simplicity of Pong, Pac-man and Space Invaders to the graphical and immersive mastery of games like FIFA, Medal of Honour and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.  Critically, Jeffery stressed that technology never stands still but neither should learning and education.  Inspiring the audience he informed them that some of the nation’s finest young animators were in the presentation room today.  Reiterating the aims of Manchester University, (whom he paid tribute to as one of the World’s finest Universities in the field of computing), he stressed EA’s involvement and support of Animation 10 was due to encouraging children of all ages to gain familiarity and not be scared of technology and to have fun with computers.

For Jeffery, fun and entertainment went hand in hand and he reminded the audience of a great quote from John Lasseter of Pixar:  ’‘Whether it is generated by hand or by computer, the first goal of the animator is to entertain.  The animator must have two things: a clear concept of exactly what will entertain the audience; and the tools and skills to put those across clearly.  Tools, in the sense of hardware and software, are simply not enough’.

To a buzz of excitement, Jeffery then asked the audience to look at the person sitting next to them and those around them and stated that the next Walt Disney, John Lasseter, Steven Spielberg, Will Wright or Miyamoto could be in the room today.  This resonated in the message, ‘Never give up on your dreams, always aim to touch the sky’.

Importantly for the audience, Jeffery stated that to be the best took hard work and hard effort at school.  He stressed the importance of core subjects like maths, english, computer science.  For those in the room coming up to select their Degree, a simple message was delivered: ‘There are so many degrees to choose from.  Some many be very appealing.  they may be fun subjects.  They may seem easy.  But choose your degree wisely.  It is the most important choice of your early years.  Never lose sight of the importance of core subjects’.  Jeffery cited the example of the video games industry in the UK which has seen many Universities clamouring to create courses based on video games but many were poorly thought through and did not set students up for the best success.  He concluded that students needed to consider what was the purpose of a Degree.  And concluded, it was to put the student in the best possible position of competing to get a great job and build a career.

You win!!!

The list of the winners can be found here on the Animation 10 site.  Look out over the next few days as all photos, winning videos and information is uploaded.  Very cool.

EA has two special Awards at the ceremony…….

As a title sponsor, EA had the priviledge to have two special awards.

The first award:  EA’s ‘One to Watch’.  This was targetted at the best animation from schoolchildren aged 12 and under, (Key Stage 2 ie 7-12).  This was won by the superb video, ‘The School Trip’ by Harvey Rothman and Sam Futcher ,who both won Nintendo DSi’s plus a game.  Here’s Harvey holding his prize and certificate with EA’s Matthew Jeffery.  Nice work Harvey & Sam.  A bright future lies ahead in animation

The other EA sponsered prize was the EA ‘Hollywood Beckons’ Award.  This went to the animation which was deemed the best of the whole show.  This was won by Hal Coley for his short ‘Success’.  Hal won a Playstation 3 and a copy of FIFA World Cup2010.  Congratulations to Hal….look forward to seeing your entry next year.

Winners then went on for a VIP lunch to meet with other competition winners and organisers/special guests.

Completing this great day, after lunch, schoolchildren attended great talks and a room full of activities to inspire them in the future of technology and stimulate their hunger to learn.

Congratulations again to Manchester University, all the winners, all the entrants, Kate Booth and too many names to list here….so all involved.  Animation 11 looks to be even bigger, bolder and better.

EArl

Here’s a montage of activities that Manchester University laid on for the schoolchildren to enjoy. 

© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

You can sense the excited tension at Animation 09 as schoolchildren wait to see if they are a winner

Hey all.

Just back from judging Animation 10.  Wow the standard is high this year.  There is no shortage of animation talent lining up for jobs in the years ahead.

As EA are title sponsors again, we are very proud of this event and the effort that Manchester University goes to in ensuring it is a great success. 

596 schools registered from all  across the UK – from Cornwall to Shetland, with 1234 entries. A total of 36 prizes awarded to 28 winners.

As a reminder of what Animation 10 is all about:

-   UK schoolchildren aged 7-19 are invited to create an animated film using their computer, and submit it to the competition.

-   Entries can be from individuals, or groups (of up to 4 members).

-   All entrants receive certificates, and winners will receive prizes ranging from laptops to gift vouchers.

-   Winners will be invited to the exciting Animation Festival and Prize Giving day at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester.

-   Entries are submitted in 4 age categories (KS2, KS3, KS4 and 16-plus).

-   The maximum duration of an entry is one minute.

-   Animations must not be interactive – they must run as standalone animations.

-   Entries must be created using one of the following programs: Alice, Scratch, Adobe Flash, Serif, and Greenfoot.

As you can see the goal is to ensure that schoolchildren see that using computers can be fun.  Manchester University has the vision that capturing children’s imagination through competitions like this, will result in more children wanting to study Computer Science at University in the years head.  This is a primary reason for EA’s involvement in this great competition. 

Well, all the winners are now picked.  But I am sworn to secrecy.  But what I can say is that it is great to see so many children, particularly at Key Stage 1 and 2, really flourishing in the course of a year.  That really gives a great deal of confidence about talent in the future.

So what happens next?  The Awards…….

EA have two major awards this year:

-    ”Hollywood beckons” ie Overall Best Animated Film

-    ‘The one to watch’ ie Best Junior entry (under 12)

Matthew Jeffery of EA Speaking on the future of Animation at Animation 09

So what does Awards day look like?

After an eventful day of festivities hosted at the Museum Of Science and Industry in Manchester (MOSI) in 2009, the Animation10 Awards Festival and Computer Science Day promises to be yet another activity-packed event at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester, on Friday 9 July 2010.

In the morning, all winning animations will be featured in the Animation10 Film Show followed by the Awards Ceremony, at which the winners receive their prizes. Last year 42 awards were won by both groups and individuals. See the 2009 winners in the Animation09 Winners Gallery.

In the afternoon, there’ll be exciting hand-on activities to inspire children about Computer Science (see below for details).

All Animation10 prize-winners will be invited, and may bring their teachers, family and friends.

The event is also open, free of charge, to all schools, subject to space. An on-line booking form will be available shortly.

What’s happening on the day?

In the morning:

• - 0900-1000: Registration opens
• - 1015: Film Festival of winning animations, and prize-giving
• - 1115: Morning break
• - 1130: Film Festival of winning animations, and prize-giving
• - 1230: Lunch break (please bring your own packed lunch)

In the afternoon:

• - 1315: “Computers and Brains”, an inspirational talk by Prof. Steve Furber, CBE (suitable for 11-19 year-olds)
• - 1315: Hands-on Computer Science activities workshop (suitable for all ages), including: BBC-21CC green-screen technology; meet RoboThespian; University of Manchester Flight Simulator; cs4fn presents “Computer Science and magic”; Tales of Things; Augmented Reality.
• - 1415: The above two activities are repeated, so everyone has the opportunity to attend both activities.
• - 1445: Finish

 EArl

Hey all.

As you will remember, EA SPORTS & the Tiger Woods PGA Tour Development team have been running viral video competition with a top prize of $50,000.  The team have been overwhelmed.  Thanks to everyone who submitted a video entry.  The team had a lot of great videos to chose from… but only 5 could make the final voting stage. The team have posted the 5 videos up to choose from.  Now the Tiger Team want YOU to get involved and vote for the video you like the best. Once votes are tallied and they’ve made a decision, the $50,000 winner will be announced September 23. Voting ends on August 31 so get started! Good luck to all the finalists!

We are carrying the videos here to show how cool they are….BUT please go to this site and vote, (all the rules and regulations are found at this link).  http://tiny.cc/cQiNh

The Caddy

EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

 Pull a Tiger

EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

Out of the Box

EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

In the Game

EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

Controller

EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

Please go and vote now:  http://tiny.cc/cQiNh  All the details and everything you want to know is here.

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 Viral Video Challenge

You’ve seen Walk On Water… You’ve seen Square Peg, Round Hole – now here’s a chance to create your own viral phenomenon!

EA SPORTS is looking for the next great Tiger Woods PGA TOUR viral video, and we’re giving away $50,000 to the winner.

So, think you can beat us at our own game? Let’s see it!

HOW TO ENTER:   http://tigerwoodspgatour.easports.com/contest.action  (Official Competition site)

An asset pack is available here to get you started. All we ask is if you use in-game footage, please have it be from Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10. 

Submit your video to http://tigerwoodspgatour.easports.com  by August 3. 

 You must have approval to use everything in your video, and your video should be no more than two minutes in length.

See the OFFICIAL RULES for all the details on your video, and our FAQ for more general details, (via the link above).

‘Square peg, round hole’

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners