Young creatives are making the most of the opportunity to hone their skills in animation, photography and sketching on the second and third days of the 8th edition of the Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF 2021), being held from 10-15 October under the theme ‘Think Cinema’.

Three action-oriented workshops were offered on SIFF’s virtual Kids Studio platform between yesterday (Monday) evening and today (Tuesday).

At the ‘Secrets of Animation’ workshop, Lebanese artist FadiSyriani introduced the participants to the basics of animation, proceeding to the concept of frame-by-frame animation through a quick flipbook exercise. Screening short animated films and instructional videos, the trainer took the kids the paces of animating a picture. He also highlighted the importance of a strong story as the foundation for creating an appealing piece of animation.

Photographer Mohammed Al Kamali from Dubai Capture initiated the workshop titled ‘Basics of Photography’ with a tutorial on the different types of cameras and their technical differences, including the size of vision sensors and apertures. He advised the young participants to start taking pictures with their smartphone camera before moving on to more sophisticated cameras.

The workshop introduced the aspiring creatives to basic technical aspects of photography, including camera settings and tips for effective use of colour. The trainer also shed light on image types, photo editing programmes, interesting photography websites, and how to select cameras and accessories.

At the ‘Fundamentals of sketching’ session today (Tuesday) led by Emirati artist Ali Kashwani guided the participants through the different steps as well as techniques of creating a sketch.

The workshop focused on the main steps of sketching, gesturing and geometric lines using a pencil, and outlining and detailing with a black pen.

While drawing a reference profile picture, Kashwani advised the young artists to pay more attention to the details, including the proportions, light, shadow, and tones.

Organised by FUNN – Sharjah Media Arts for Youth and Children, SIFF 2021 is hosting more than 80 films from 38 countries, including 6 world premieres, 35 Middle East and 3 GCC premieres, and four films being shown for the first time in the UAE.

SIFF 2021 runs until Friday, October 15, and has lined up more than 34 workshops across its two studios, which can be attended for free by simply registering on this link: https://siff.ae/.