Corridor students take part in Animation Collaboration

Teachers and students from schools along the corridor took part in this year’s Animation Collaboration for a Cause, designing original, animated short films about how global warming affects their communities. Red Stick International Animation Festival participants will screen the films at 9 a.m. Friday in the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge. Teachers and students from participating schools will discuss the production process, and the Red Stick International Animation Festival will award the best film. All the original works will also be submitted to festivals and film screenings around the world. “The Animation Collaboration training showed the students how important planning is to the production process,” says Patrick Ricks, digital media teacher at Dutchtown High School, one of four Ascension Parish schools taking part. “It also brought to light the wide variety of jobs available in the field of digital media.” Animation Collaboration for a Cause is an annual part of the Red Stick International Animation Festival, which partners with AnimAction, a company that focuses on youth expression through animation. Each year, AnimAction artists work closely with school-age children, helping them create animation about their experiences with various social issues. This year’s theme, “Heating Up,” focuses on climate change, global warming and environmental issues.