At a Sharjah Animation Conference workshop on ‘storyboard and creativity’ held on on Thursday, Andrea Bozzetto, creative director of the historic Studio Bozzetto that boasts a 1991 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film for Grasshoppers (Cavallette), demonstrated how his team uses the power of visualisation to depict some of the “world’s greatest ideas in the simplest of manners”.
Speaking at a packed event taking place on the side-lines of the 14th annual Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2023), he was dasked about how he thought animation helps victims of trauma, and he responded saying: “Animation is a form of media like any other, but it does have an amazing ability to deliver a healing touch. If you look at some of Pixar’s animations, you will see how deeply touching they are, often evoking emotions that many classics can’t.”
Bozzetto, who together with Branko Rakic, created and directed the 52-episode TV series “The Game Catchers” in 2021, further noted: “With animation you can do just about anything. We can go to planet Mars, let’s say, and create the imagery you want. The beauty of it all is that everybody understands this because animation speaks a universal language; it is for every culture, for everyone”
While presenting some of his best animated works, most of them parodies of Hollywood classics using CGI for top multinational clients like Toyota and ABB, Bozzetto offered rich insights into how they use visual storytelling effectively to make “mundane plots interesting”.
Bozzetto heads the family studio founded by his father Bruno in 1960 in Milan. As the successor of a prestigious legacy and someone who has worked extensively on storytelling for corporate and educational content, Bozzetto brought his signature perspectives to benefit both industry professionals and amateurs who are attending the first-ever Sharjah Animation Conference being held in Expo Centre Sharjah.
Visitors to the inaugural three-day event will have the opportunity to witness as many as 11 masterclasses, eight workshops and three concerts as part of a specially curated agenda.
