From the 7th to the 20th of October, the production company “Focus Pocus Films” held a workshop entitled “Inclusive Animation” in the premises of Europe House Skopje and Cinematheque of North Macedonia. The project is supported by the EU Delegation in Skopje and was realized in cooperation with the Cinematheque of North Macedonia and KineNova MFF.
The attitude of our society towards children and persons with disabilities is at a low level, programs for the development of various skills among these persons through informal education are rare, and thus the possibility of their inclusion in society is reduced to a minimum.
The emergence of the Covid pandemic has shown all the weaknesses of the education system. And while education for typical children has managed to continue online, it seems that children with disabilities have been forgotten. Mentors were prevented from coming to their homes; there is no specialized internet platform on which these children could continue their educational process, make friends, develop certain life, artistic or social skills. And hence the need to realize this workshop.
The aim of the workshop was first of all to ensure a positive inclusive environment, getting to know and socialize children with disabilities and typical children. Art is not a privilege, but a right of children with disabilities, and through skills and knowledge that are not in regular school programs, we want to create new opportunities for creative expression, development of tolerance and understanding between children.
The workshop was held in four sessions, two sessions per week. The live activities were held at Europe House and Cinematheque of North Macedonia, and one session was also held online. Of special importance for the project was the creation of a habit of online communication among children with disabilities, and their familiarization with the tools for digital communication and animation.
The team that was directly involved in all phases of the workshop was composed of animators and special educators.
The technique that the children studied was “Collage Stop Animation”.
This is an intuitive animation technique, which can work with a more abstract one
approach, that is, no special prior preparation is needed in relation to any art education. Using this technique and working with mentors not only developed their creativity and love for art and creative industries, but also helped in raising their confidence.
The material created by all the participants in the sessions is assembled into a whole by the mentors and this final product was presented to the participants in the last session in the form of a cinema projection.
The video, which was shot to the soundtrack of the song “Ram Para Ram” by Superhicks, will further be given to the band for use as their official music video. Thus, the project will reach the wider population, thus, the participants will see that they are part of an important project, which they managed to finish with their work, through an interesting and fun process.
The project “Inclusive animation” of children with disabilities through an animated film workshop takes a wider context. Although a workshop takes place over a certain period of time and creates a final product – animation – its impact does not end there. On the contrary, it allows space to write a long-term story. The product in the form of a video will not only be shown to the participants themselves and their loved ones, it will later be premiered to the general public to raise collective awareness.
