Fireside chat with Robert Reid witnessed an informative presentation by Jamaica prime-minister office animation specialist Robert Reid who provided the audience with valuable information about the emerging Jamaican animation Industry.
Ried began his presentation with introducing the YEDAI (Youth Employment in the Digital and Animation Industries project) that aims at building up and kick starting the animation industry in Jamaica.
Shedding light on the emerging Caribbean market, Ried added, “The Caribbean is a cluster of islands with population of 44 million and it represents the large market for distribution of home-grown and local animation content.”
He called Jamaican country as a small village when compared to India. He said, “Jamaica is tiny country but believes that ‘Even though being small, they are the strong people with a strong brand.’”
Expounding the Jamaican film industry, Ried added, “In Jamaica we have thousands of film production and over 125 international film production has been registered in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, the film production community has contributed $10 million to local economy.”
He also added, “We have several animation studios in Jamaica, but they are considered as a small enterprises and there are no pungent of people working at studios when compared to India and North America.”
Listing the studio capabilities, Ried said, “Jamaican studios provide pre-production like illustrations, character designs, story boarding, storytelling and 2D and 3D animation services. They mostly produce commercial animations and live actions with some special effects.”
He also listed some studio names like Esirom Limited, Liquid Light Digital, Listenmi, Night Vision Media, Corretta Singer, George Hay Designs which offer freelance services to other countries.
Reid played a show reel featuring various animation projects of Jamaican studios, and gave a shout out to virtual audience stating, “One can make connect with Jamaican studios, illustrators, animators to explore possibilities of collaborations.”
Ried gave brief roles of associations which are working closing together to uplift the animation industry of Jamaica.
Describing the YEDAI project, Ried said, “YEDAI is supporting and creating jobs for youth in animation. The project is funded by World Bank with an investment of US $20 billion to kick start the animation industry.”
He further added, “The project also believes in building skills and capacity to enhance employability and entrepreneurship.” Ried also listed the training programs, curriculums and education highlights that are devoted towards the progress of animation industry.
Hope through this session, we will get to see collaborations taking place between India and Jamaica!