Every Friday, Chris Robinson unleashes improvised and hastily scribbled cheer or loathing on the animation community to be digested, swallowed or... expelled. Today, he laments the state of Canadian student animation films.
Canadian animation is among the most celebrated and respected in the world. Aside from a bevy of innovative short films and new technologies, many successful children’s TV shows, video games, music videos, and commercials are produced here. Canadian studios (e.g. Nelvana/Corus, NFB, DHX Media, Guru, Head Gear, Global Mechanic) have all achieved success while schools like Sheridan, Seneca, Algonquin, and the Vancouver Film School, to name a few, have consistently provided talent to the North American animation industry. American studios have even moved here to snare those Canadian talents (ok…and, truth be told, to take advantage of the Canadian dollar and Government tax credits).
That’s all fine, but the one area where Canada has been frustratingly inconsistent is student short films. Sure, every so often we get some strong festival worthy work out of Sheridan, Emily Carr and especially Concordia University, but for the most part, Canadian student animation films lag behind the rest of the world. Every spring for the past twenty-five years or so, I’ve seen consistently intriguing work from the US, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Japan and other countries. Canadian schools, by comparison, might produce a festival film every 5 years or so.
I just don't get it.
Is it a problem with students or teachers (I do notice that almost none of leading Canadian animators teach) or is it just case of schools having different priorities... or are Canada’s busy studios driving schools to push students out as fast as possible?
I honestly don’t have an answer. It’s quite mystifying to me.
Now, I’m not saying that Canadian schools are just churning out terrible films. Concordia frequently produces intriguing short films with an indie touch and Sheridan students primarily make solid ‘calling card’ films to showcase to studios. That’s fine. That’s the mandate of Sheridan and they’ve proven to be very good at that. But, overall, Canadian student work feels rushed and incomplete. It would be nice if schools put more time and resources into making short films. Festival attention aside, even Canada’s animation industry – which desperately needs original content - would benefit enormously from taking more time to nurture and encourage young creative talent.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
