Sacrificing their sleep and their holidays, 20 teams of students have worked hard to try to create this year's best animation clip.
The N.E.mation competition, now in its 12th year, saw 13-to 16-year-old students creating 30-second clips based on the Total Defence theme "Together We Keep Singapore Strong".
Organised by Animagine and Nexus, the Ministry of Defence department overseeing Total Defence and National Education, the competition also saw members of the public - aged between 17 and 35 - pitch story ideas for its pilot Youth Crowdsource category.
"Previously animation just focused on secondary schools... but we wanted to expand the competition because we think that the youth beyond secondary schools have got interesting stories and ideas to tell too," Nexus' director, Colonel Joseph Tan, said at the student-category open house yesterday.
Ten of those ideas were selected and passed on to students in Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP) School of Interactive and Digital Media as well as ITE College Central's School of Design and Media.
Students from NYP's Diploma in Animation course, for example, spent a month making the film Everyday Heroes, highlighting teamwork and unity in a time of crisis.
"The main message is that we may be regular people, but each of us can play a big part to help, with all our unique qualities," said Vivian Lim, 18, one of three girls in Team Lynda.
Teammate Nur Khairina Asmi, 20, said that coming together as animators with individual styles proved to be a struggle.
"The two of them could maintain a similar style, but I couldn't," she said, to laughter from Vivian and Yeon Hui Shan, 19.
Feedback and pitch sessions were "nerve-racking" as they viewed their and other teams' progress.
It was a good process overall because they could learn from each other, said Khairina.
Two months went into producing the film Beneath The Shadows for ITE College Central Nitec in Visual Effects students Abdul Hadi Mulia Abdul Malik and Jasmine Lee, both 18. They also worked with digital animation students from the school, who could not attend the open house.
"We wanted to show people that the kampung spirit is still here. So we used different silhouettes to symbolise unity," said Hadi.
Winners will be determined equally by public voting and a panel of judges comprising industry professionals, academics and government agencies.
Champions in both categories will get to visit renowned animation studios overseas next year. Previous winners have visited Walt Disney, Pixar, Sony Pictures and Dreamworks animation studios.
Those who submitted stories for Youth Crowdsource will receive CapitaLand vouchers worth $200 each.
Clips will be broadcast nationwide on television as well as in cinemas, and may be picked up by supporting agencies as well.
The public can vote for their three favourite clips via Facebook, SMS or at https://nemation.sg. Voting begins Jan 20 and ends Feb 11.
