Palestinian Animation Studio Shines with Harmony ALTARIQ Systems started to work in animation one year ago. Based in Gaza, Palestine, the studio exempliďŹ es dedication and passion, operating a fullystaffed studio and delivering great animation projects. Originally, they created traditional animation using Animo but in July 2009, the studio adopted Toon Boom Harmony to start mixing traditional and paperless techniques. Headed by Tarek Eslim, General Manager, ALTARIQ has a team of around 32 people bringing together illustrators, animators, and other required specialties. In addition to Ala Temraz, Project Manager, and Mohammad Madhon, Technical Manager, Hasan Abu Hasna is the Lead Animator who supervises the following animators: Mohsen Ahmad, Mohannad Al-Sheikh, and Manar Banna. Myassar Roman acts as the Lead Illustrator, overseeing Latiffa Dola, Ali Masry, Mahmoud Dorra, Abo Ouwn, Ahmad Abdullah, Maha, Mahmoud Eid, Mohammad Hasan, Ahmad Yaqoby and Mahir Abu Swerih.
The studio is currently working on two projects: AlMoghameron Al-khamsa (The Five Adventurers), a series of 180 episodes, targeted for the Arabic market and inspired by a famous Arabic story written in 1970-1980. The story is about ďŹ ve children living great adventures and resolving several mysteries. Each mystery consists of 3 episodes and each episode is 10 minutes long. This project is done using the classical style of animation. The second project that ALTARIQ is working on is titled: Anasheed (Animated songs for education). It consists of 4-minute musical clips for kids, animating poems and songs.
Left to right - Back: Nahil Salhot, Kholod Hmaid, Mohannad El-Sheikh, Mahmoud Eid, Ala Temraz, Ahmad Dowod, Abu Ouwn, Abdullah, Hasan Abu Hasna, Ahmad Yaqobi, Mohsen Ahmad. Left to right - Front: Latifa Dola, Myassar Roman, Mahir Abu Swereh, Mahmoud Dorra, Ali Masry, Manar Banna, Fadwa Ajramy.
NETWORK ANIMATION SOLUTION
While planning to prepare for The Five Adventurers, ALTARIQ had to face several challenges on several levels. On the human resources level, finding the suitable illustrators for such a big project was quite a task. “We selected several candidates and prepared a comprehensive training program to bring them up-to-speed in 2 months, then another 2 months in job training, especially for animation techniques, anatomy and skeleton techniques”, explained Tarek Eslim. On the technical side, Animo did not offer the features they needed for the new project. “With Animo, we could not vectorize the illustrations, nor draw with thin lines. Moreover, we experienced some issues with the inking and painting as well as the special effects”, commented Tarek Eslim. “We have resolved these problems by moving to Harmony. Now, the lines are thin and the characters are all vector. We can apply several effects and use the animation techniques from Harmony without having to go back to the illustrators to correct drawings. So far, we have managed to transfer 50% of the old assets into Harmony”, he continued. Finally, on the political level, running a studio in Gaza in the midst of power shortages and military conflicts with Israel is almost miraculous. “We are proud to achieve our goals and establish this animation business in our country”, concluded Tarek Eslim. The entire production workflow relies on Harmony to deliver the project. All steps are clearly identified and the flow makes it efficient to progress smoothly throughout the project production. “Harmony provided us the suitable environment in which we didn’t need any other third party software to complete any part of our project, compared to Animo which required us to use several applications to complete the job”, he explained. “Now, we are able to use several techniques and apply effects, all within one single software. Our animators are using Harmony, and take care of the compositing. They
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work on the same scene in a collaborative fashion, building scenes, populating the library and sharing all assets”, stated Tarek Eslim. With Harmony, ALTARIQ is a leading pioneer in Palestine, positioning its brand and studio in the animation industry locally and throughout the Arabic region. The Five Adventurers is certainly a great stepping stone on the path to becoming a strong contender of animation production in the region.