Students practice animation skills with 24 Hours Animation Competition for Students

A previous version of this article stated that the deadline for submissions was Monday, October 3. The correct date is Monday, Oct. 1. 

Animation students around the world anxiously wait for Aubry Mintz, director of the School of Arts’ instructions for the 16th annual 24 Hours Animation Contest for Students and mentally prepare themselves for the stressful moments later on that night.

Students are given the challenge to get into groups and create a 30-second short film within the time span of 24 hours, all within a given theme sent out by Mintz the night of the contest.

Dating back to 2002, the competition first began at Laguna College of the Arts and Design, where Mintz was teaching at the time. Shortly after Mintz started at LBSU in 2007, he brought the competition with him.

The event slowly began to flourish from that point on, bringing with it the attention of students interested in animation from various colleges and universities around the country.

“In order to deal with animation, you have to be a hard worker. When I was working at Laguna Beach I had noticed the students weren’t working very hard,” Mintz said. “I had challenged them on a Friday night, I said ‘Look guys, I won’t leave this classroom until the last person leaves.’”

Mintz saw something spark in the students that night in response to the unique challenge.

“It was a test to see who would stay, only five students had decided to stay. They completed more work in that 18 hour time period than they ever did.”

From that day forward, he continued to bring this challenge to students so they could get a small taste of the animation industry and the challenges that arise within it. This year, Mintz is expecting to have a little over 1,000 students from around the world compete for the first place title. In last year’s competition, there were 915 students from seven different countries.

“I think students like the challenge of doing something creative in a certain amount of time,” Mintz said “They like the fact that you have to work in a team. It’s rare in animation to do a film alone, even if it’s a 30-second short.”

Various production companies have also begun sponsoring the competition. Some sponsors this year include California State University Summer Arts, Pixar, ASIFA Hollywood and Blue Sky. The winners will receive a variety of prizes according to the placement they get. Each year the rewards change based on the sponsors. Last year one of the winning groups won prizes from various shows from Cartoon Network along with art supplies.

Each competition has a different theme introduced by Mintz at the start of the event. Last year the theme was “one of these things is not like the others.” Students approached the theme differently while creating their 30-second animations; some competitors connected it to politics, life and even food.

Trilina Mai and Alex Tasker, fourth-year Bachelor of Fine Arts animation majors, have both competed in the competition before, Mai twice and Tasker once. They are helping Mintz this year by answering questions students might have about the contest.

“Usually, it is at the 2 a.m. mark where all the best work comes out from students,” Tasker said. “It’s like one of the weirdest camping trips … A lot of students think, ‘I have stayed up studying this should be easy.’ It isn’t since you are in a time crunch.”

Mai interned at Pixar over the summer and was able to practice everything she has learned at LBSU.

“Doing the 24 Hour Animation Competition is honestly something that helps you prepare for the real world,” Mai said. “If you are simply focused on having the best film you’re not going to get anywhere, you’ll get a decent story but the main thing is to have fun with it.”

Mintz added that the work students do during this competition typically can take three months in the real world. Students have begun turning in their work colored in recent years, which is another difficult task they take up during this event.  

The competition begins at 3 p.m. Friday, October 5 and finish at 3 p.m. Saturday, October 6. Every school that is participating will log onto a Google Hangouts or a live stream on YouTube where Mintz will announce the rules and the theme for this year’s competition.  

Students can still submit their applications to join the event, the deadline is Monday, Oct. 1. Each group must have five members and an advisor present the day of the competition.

For more information regarding the 24 Hours Animation Competition for Students visit their page on Facebook.

This article was updated on 9/26/18 at 6:28 p.m.