SINGAPORE - Can you recall the five pillars of Total Defence? Well, there are six of them now with Digital Defence as the latest pillar added earlier this year.
Despite it being the newest pillar of Singapore's comprehensive defence strategy, Digital Defence proved to be one of the more popular themes among student participants in the N.E.mation! 2020 competition.
From combating hackers to spotting phishing scams, more than half of the entries received in the first round reflect youth interest in dealing with digital threats and the online world, which includes the largely unseen dark Web.
Mr Kelvin Chan, head of visuals/multimedia in Sweet by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), said: "It's clear that the digital domain and its many unseen threats are of great interest to the younger generation. The Digital Defence also gives the students freedom to come up with story ideas that move away from the traditional storylines we were used to."
Organised by Nexus MINDEF and SPH's creative and content marketing unit Sweet, the annual N.E.mation! digital animation competition is open to students aged 13 to 16 for the Student Category, while the Youth Category is open to those aged 17 to 25.
Starting Nov 18, the top 10 shortlisted teams from the Student Category are working hard at creating their clips, putting in at least eight hours a day over the next three weeks. The workshops, hosted by Nanyang Polytechnic, will have experienced, local animation experts working closely with the teams.
Most students in the competition have no prior animation experience, so they need all the help they can get, such as the right software and hardware.
Leading global tablet brand and long-term partner of N.E.mation!, Wacom, is also a part of this year's event. The Japan-based digital technology company, together with its Singapore distributor Peripheral Solutions, is sponsoring the Intuos Pro small pen tablets that students will use in the competition.
Designed to maximise precision and control, the Intuos Pro combines Wacom's finest pen capabilities with intuitive multi-touch support. CACANi, a first-time sponsor of N.E.mation!, is providing participants with their proprietary 2D animation software that was developed in Nanyang Technological University.
Used by studios worldwide, the assisted celluloid animation software assists animators by generating in-between drawings based on their key drawings, reducing their work from hours to minutes.
The top three teams of both Student and Youth Categories will also walk away with a one-year CACANi software licence as one of the many prizes up for grabs.
