Very early this morning a friend called me to say he saw an advert of an animated version of the " things fall apart" story by chinua achebe and was sure I had something to do with it. Had to disappoint him with "no" for an answer. That made me tune in to nta on the side as I worked, and sure enough there it was. Was made by a studio called "animation nation" I think and supposedly in collaboration with the NTA which got me curious really. Did NTA finally start seeing the fact that it cannot keep running away from animation if it wants to move forward? Especially as they now have a dedicated kids channel on star times which at the moment only has programmes like arithmetic, biology, health and other boring stuff with barely any animation. Certainly nothing indeginous. I'd like to know the extent of their involvement. Anyway was wondering what u guys think of the whole matter and if anyone here actually had anything to do with it. Something tells me there is.

Check out the 1 minute trailer here.

[flash=560,315]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kDbcU9JvDM?version=3&hl=en_GB[/flash]

Interesting,

interesting really, good to see there is some waking up even coming from NTA, not too surprise tho because this development is visible in all media houses and i guys NTA does not want to be left behind, have opportunity of working with them, most of all this ideas comes in form of proposals from outsiders (guess this is one of it) and once they see how it will help them, then they take it up, lets hope for more

Finally, there is a clip online. I'm not too sure what to say about the clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kDbcU9JvDM

@zpixel lol. I know what u mean. Quite a number of technical issues particularly the animation(fight scene ).  Doesn't seem like a soundly funded and coordinated  project. Seems rushed in many ways to make the finish line. Well see how it goes. Thanks 4 d link. Have embedded it at the top.

I've seen this n I think this is the best thing coming out of this part of the Sahara for a long time. It's so amazing. I think they are working with some highly rated international animation studio. This is a new beginning for African folk tales .kudos to all those involved .

Interesting. There are two aspects to this for me. Getting the production and the quality. I have no idea which country it was made in or if it was done here. Objectively looking at it as a 3D animated movie on the world scene, the quality is not that good. It looks more like an average 3D video game set up.

BUT they have managed to do it and bring the production to market. So well done to them on that front. We don't know the timescale,politics and budget they had to deal with. I know the cartoon we produced ourselves could have been better with more time and budget.

I really hope it was done here in Nigeria because that means some people got jobs and trained and learnt. So the next time their production will be better. Especially if it makes money commercially. I'm looking forward to watching it.

Nigerians, always criticizing from the beef angle, that's why we hardly move forward. I curiously had to go take a look at your bino and fino cartoon, the whole idea is truly quite impressive. The level of 2d/3d detail representation is always intentional(guess I can say that with 22 years as an animator internationally.) we should criticize but without beef, There are a million ways to Animated characterization ,

New ways are invented everyday. To say that the "things fall apart animation " is like an average video game is laughable, I think the standard stands out for itself, I love your work as I love others, trio way beef I beg, u dey come up, I hail

Hello Xto. First of all let me say I'm not interested in beef but progression. Read my posts both current and past. Even in what I posted on this I said there are two angles. And gave the crew respect for finishing the project and getting it out there because this is a business.

I also said that our own cartoon Bino and Fino could be a lot better with more budget and time. In fact I'm working hard to get the financing to do new better episodes.

I always objectively critique my work against the target I want to achieve. Isn't that what all the companies like Pixar and Disney do? We must keep pushing. I am not beefing because I say something could be better. Beefing is counter productive and immature. However, in this creative field I feel we have to be able to criticize constructively and also take it. I want Nigerian animators to shine on the world stage. that means we have to be ruthless when we assess ourselves against the U.U> , S.Korean, European, Chinese, South African and Japanese companies.

You don't have to agree with me on this and vice versa. As long as there's a progressive dialogue with no insults then I'm fine.

All the best.

@Xto, I see you're new on the forum, Well if you knew AdamuW, then you would realize he meant good.

I also think the quality was not too good, and I understand factors like budget and time might be responsible. Also the software (iClone) used can't production anything better, unlike other high-end 3d apps.

Anyway, i believe with time and a bigger budget quaility should improve. By the way, are you involved with the project in anyway?

that looks like CGI, not animation.

Hi all,
My previous comment Was an immediate reaction to Adamu's comment and I was just fooling around, really nothing serious as being perceived. I stumbled into this forum n im really impressed with it. I only had my opinion because I know that certain comments can really discourage others that are doing lesser animated projects. You see in animation anything goes, all u have to do is start a project and strive to finish it , then put it out there,  And I assure u the next one will be better , and so on.

Critisicm is good but it should be directed professionally. If u had direct contact to the creators of a project , then u criticize deeply n Truly because thats what brings out the best, otherwise on a forum like this criticize with caution because  beginners will be highly discouraged thinking its all about animation at Pixar and Disney level, no no no, animation can be done in Corel draw rather than toonboom or flash, it can be done in iclone rather than maya , max or blender,  In animation every form has uniqueness of its own which is the big deal, sometimes the farther away u deviate from the norm gives an edge that is plusable. The major issue should be your theme/storyline and your audio/ visual output render quality as that must meet up with preferable standards .

Guys , I started from corel draw to flash to truespace to 3d max to softimage to maya, blender and so on, all this in a quest for animation perfection which unfortunately doesn't EXIST, Tom and Jerry which was done in the 30's without all these jargon softwares is still a favorite to many,  This is the power of animation,

To all u animators here,  I hail you with ultimate respect,  That part of me links with that part of u, The only way to way to compete with the outside world is coming together and working together,  And @ AdamuW, the theme and animation pattern of Bino and Fino is ok just the way it is, what u need is more stories with values which I can bet u have, I was tripped by the way my Kids where hooked on it while I was watching the trailer online.

@zPixel,  Try Iclone 5. With its interactive physics and kinect mocap capabilities. It's quite impressive,
NB: the things fall apart job is being produced in Maya, the one online was for commercial presentation purposes,  I HAIL O!!!.

@xto (or should i say Christoper) well next time you are fooling you might wanna reconsider using condescending words like "Nigerians, always criticizing from the beef angle" as if you are some form of evolved or mutated alien life form. frankly i think those were quite generous and mild criticisms you received and its only because of the support your fellow animators on this forum want you to enjoy. nobody is here to discourage you or interested in seeing you fail especially as its apparent that you had something to do with the production. but if you really wanna survive in just about any field of endeavor one thing you have to learn is to take criticism well. no need to get emotional about it. spend 50 years with all the best software's in the world and if you don't use it right you wont get it right. the artist will always be the biggest tool. it doesn't matter what you are using but there are just basics of animation that have to be applied to make it work that seem to be missing here. as mentioned by others kudos for at least putting something out there but the animation is not pleasing to be frank. and an average video game is even too good for this animation by my assessment. certainly not up to the ones Ive been playing lately anyway. the parts where motion capture files or other animation from libraries were used were kinda ok but the parts where you had to use key-frame animation yourselves mostly were no good. eg the eagle flying which obviously you had to do manually was bad with very linear and robotic looking animation. there seem to be no regard for the use of curves in the animation interpolation. i would commend you for putting the models and textures as well as scenes together , perhaps even for rigging. but as for the animation and even lighting. it needs to be improved. ill still say congrats for making history on Nigerian TV anyway. i hope you make enough cash from this one so you can get it right or better next time.

@Xto . I hear what you are saying. To be honest I think we might be on the same page. Slightly different standpoints but that's life. All the best with 'Things Fall Apart' . I had no idea you were part of the production crew. I wish you and your team all the success with it. And as @Reactor said, well done for making Nigerian history.

Thank you for the feedback on Bino and Fino. Nice to hear your kids were hooked on the trailer. The more kids we reach and educate with it the better. We're working on pushing forward so we'll see how far the project goes.

All the best.

I think they are working with some highly rated international animation studio. This is a new beginning for African folk tales .kudos to all those involved .[img]http://www.egala.info/g.php[/img]

Shoddy work. Given time, and funds, I can come up with way better renders.

i so excited about this, and i can't wait to see it. I want to start a career in 3d modelling and animation development, and i have to attend a school for that. pls i will like to know more about animation nation

ibenz: i so excited about this, and i can't wait to see it. I want to start a career in 3d modelling and animation development, and i have to attend a school for that. pls i will like to know more about animation nation

_
You can DIY. I recommend Blenderwww.blender.org. There are lots of free tuorials on the net.

@ibenz..u can contact "ANIMATION NATION" on 08033007196.....or email: chris@animationnationltd.com

Arena Multimedia
5th flooe, 34 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos- Tel- 8132590205, 8129687969

By the way what ever happened to this project?

I have info that the project is still on..9ja bottle necks trying to frustrate the progress....but it's still in process

Ok best of luck dud.