Pixel Corps Tanzania Begins
I Introduce the Pixel Corps in Dar es
Salaam...
Most of today was spent preparing for the evening
presentation. I had everything ready and, of course, my external hard drive
crashed. Not sure what happened but it wouldn’t come up. Instead of trying
to recover it, I just built a new
presentation.
Then...45 minutes before the event, I realized that I would need my ADC to VGA adapter...and found that driving in Dar es Salaam in the afternoon is a challenging experience. I didn’t drive, DTP has a driver. I just road along and tried to figure out what everyone was trying to do (they sometimes make up their own lanes).
DPI Instructors Sajida and ...Sajida
Shafiq working with Investors
Chantal still finding creative and unergonomic working positions.
This won't help either...
I got back just in time and was greeted by 150 attendees! That’s about twice what I expected. It ranged from traditional artists to print professionals to video producers. I opened by talking about what the Pixel Corps is all about and then walked through a Primer of Digital Graphics. Most people in the US don’t know what Photogrammetry is, let alone in Dar es Salaam. The audience had quite a few questions about the process...many were much more savvy than I expected. I was getting peppered with capture card issues and 3D considerations.
Of course, people asked why were here. I could explain the math I used to figure it out but the bottom line was that I believed in the country and the people. It’s a location on the precipice of an economic expansion...and we want to support that process and invest in that process.
People ask why we aren’t going to India (something I am interested in...just not at the moment). India has many qualified people, technology and even infrastructure... in some places... able to support production. For me, the local contacts are everything. We have excellent partners in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. We are developing those contacts elsewhere but I won’t go until I feel that we have someone committed the process that we are working on. With the right people, we can expand anywhere. Dar es Salaam has 3 million people, I only need maybe 1000-3000 over the next decade. In a country where we can become the hub for artists, the chances of finding that number is much better than in larger markets. In addition, we can support a small number of artists to take on extremely efficient production processes allowing them to dominate their market, then their region...The opportunity to create a unified community is much greater in a smaller market....and a unified and organized community is scalable.
Many people were excited about the opportunity to tell there own stories to the rest of the world. This is one of the main reasons I’m here. To support Africans telling African stories. Visual Effects production is simply a means to that end. Creating a stable revenue source is the first step.
After the Intro, we had a late night bite to eat outside in Dar. A few minutes into the meal, men started yelling in the street. Evidently, a boy (12-15ish) was trying to steal our car jack...within a few minutes, the mob had caught him and proceeded to get a little rough. After a being kicked and hit a few times with sticks, he was pulled off to the Police station. I was told they were easy on him because he was a boy...I'd hate to see how they handle adults...Admittedly, I think this is why Dar es Salaam is safer than many cities its size in Africa. The people here seem to take personal crimes here pretty seriously...
Tomorrow, we travel to Ruaha National Park for another shoot.
Then...45 minutes before the event, I realized that I would need my ADC to VGA adapter...and found that driving in Dar es Salaam in the afternoon is a challenging experience. I didn’t drive, DTP has a driver. I just road along and tried to figure out what everyone was trying to do (they sometimes make up their own lanes).
DPI Instructors Sajida and ...Sajida
Shafiq working with Investors
Chantal still finding creative and unergonomic working positions.
This won't help either...
I got back just in time and was greeted by 150 attendees! That’s about twice what I expected. It ranged from traditional artists to print professionals to video producers. I opened by talking about what the Pixel Corps is all about and then walked through a Primer of Digital Graphics. Most people in the US don’t know what Photogrammetry is, let alone in Dar es Salaam. The audience had quite a few questions about the process...many were much more savvy than I expected. I was getting peppered with capture card issues and 3D considerations.
Of course, people asked why were here. I could explain the math I used to figure it out but the bottom line was that I believed in the country and the people. It’s a location on the precipice of an economic expansion...and we want to support that process and invest in that process.
People ask why we aren’t going to India (something I am interested in...just not at the moment). India has many qualified people, technology and even infrastructure... in some places... able to support production. For me, the local contacts are everything. We have excellent partners in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. We are developing those contacts elsewhere but I won’t go until I feel that we have someone committed the process that we are working on. With the right people, we can expand anywhere. Dar es Salaam has 3 million people, I only need maybe 1000-3000 over the next decade. In a country where we can become the hub for artists, the chances of finding that number is much better than in larger markets. In addition, we can support a small number of artists to take on extremely efficient production processes allowing them to dominate their market, then their region...The opportunity to create a unified community is much greater in a smaller market....and a unified and organized community is scalable.
Many people were excited about the opportunity to tell there own stories to the rest of the world. This is one of the main reasons I’m here. To support Africans telling African stories. Visual Effects production is simply a means to that end. Creating a stable revenue source is the first step.
After the Intro, we had a late night bite to eat outside in Dar. A few minutes into the meal, men started yelling in the street. Evidently, a boy (12-15ish) was trying to steal our car jack...within a few minutes, the mob had caught him and proceeded to get a little rough. After a being kicked and hit a few times with sticks, he was pulled off to the Police station. I was told they were easy on him because he was a boy...I'd hate to see how they handle adults...Admittedly, I think this is why Dar es Salaam is safer than many cities its size in Africa. The people here seem to take personal crimes here pretty seriously...
Tomorrow, we travel to Ruaha National Park for another shoot.
Posted: Tue - July 22, 2003 at 08:54 PM Africa, Summer (Winter) 2003 Email Comments
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Total entries in this blog: 31
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM