Kingston, Jamaica – JAMPRO and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are in close collaboration to create an ‘animation industry roadmap’ for growth in the successful multi-billion dollar sector hosting an Animation Gap Analysis workshop and master class with Canadian animator and illustrator James Caswell.
The workshop will be held under the theme ‘SME Internationalization: Positioning the Animation Industry for Investments and Exports’ on Wednesday, July 17th at JAMPRO and will facilitate an illustration session and master class sessions on work submitted by local animators. The seminar will share the findings of the IDB/Tholons Study ‘Jamaica: Carving a Niche in the Global Outsourcing Market’ which highlights the tremendous potential of the outsourcing industry and opportunities to move up the knowledge services value chain.
James Caswell
Animator James Caswell operates a freelance production service doing animation and live action/ effects design with an emphasis on storyboards, both traditional and digital. As a designer/illustrator Mr. Caswell has worked on a variety of projects that include: features, direct to video, series television and commercials. He has vast experience in the industry having worked as a freelancer, director, producer, effects designer, character designer and storyboard artist. His projects cover a gamut of traditional 2D, stop motion, special effects and computer based animation.
Mr. Caswell holds a Bachelor of Design in Illustration from the Ontario College of Art and Design and a Master of Arts in Media Production from Ryerson University. He lectures at Sheridan College in Canada, which is considered to be the ‘Harvard of the Animation Arts.’
The animator’s list of clients includes major players in the animation industry such as Nelvana /Corus (one of the world’s leading international producers and distributors of children’s animated content), Cuppa Coffee Animation and the renowned Walt Disney Television Animation. He has worked with a number of famous characters in animation and continues to develop and illustrate on projects for independent production and studios.
During his visit to Jamaica, Mr. Caswell will also be conducting site visits to local animation studios and institutes as part of his needs analysis assessment for IDB The Jamaica Film Commission at JAMPRO has designated animation as one of the areas of growth in the audiovisual industry of Jamaica. As part of this mandate the Jamaica Coalition of Service Industries (JCSI), JAMPRO and the Trade and Investment Unit (INT/TIU) of IDB will be hosting the innovative Animation Gap Analysis workshop.
The Animation Gap Analysis is part of a measure to identify which of the skill sets within animation that Jamaica needs to focus on. This information will be instrumental in the design of the Finishing School and will be a key part of creating an industry roadmap for Jamaica which will focus on the investments and educational framework needed to create a solid foundation for the growth and development of an animation industry.
The global animation industry is a striving one valued at US$222.8 billion in 2012, with much of the animation outsourcing jobs going to countries like India, South Korea and the Philippines. JAMPRO’s recent involvement with Kingstoon is the latest in a series of activities undertaken by the agency to catalyse the growth of the animation industry.
In November 2011, JAMPRO sponsored and hosted of Animae Caribe Jamaica, which featured workshops by experienced Hollywood animators James Parris and Kristin Solid. In December 2012, JAMPRO provided support to the Japanese embassy in hosting a lecture on manga – the printed cartoons that form the basis of many popular Japanese animated series.
