Winnipeg animation students seize 'once-in-a-lifetime' chance to pitch their work to Nickelodeon

Two pirates named Coco and Keg could be the newest animated characters entertaining and teaching young kids if a group of Winnipeggers have their way.

The taleof Coco and Keg whoteach kids about marine and tropical life on a remote islandis one of three stories a group of animation studentswill be pitching next week in Los Angeles to producers at Nickelodeon, the creators of popular shows like Rugrats and Spongebob SquarePants.

"When I first heard about it, I actually started crying because I was so excited," said Mary-Anne Guiboche, one of the students going on thistrip of a lifetime.

Guiboche, who's Mtis, helped create the pirate seriesHeave-Ho Cocofor children agedfive to 12.

"Coco is really funny, his head is detachable," says Guiboche."As for Keg, he's very grumpy, but I do love his character design and I just love drawing them out."

Guibochesaid shewas happy to gain more experience in the field of animation through the Orange Tree Project.

She was one of 12 high school graduates who came back for theOrange Tree Project, a post-high school program founded in 2020.The year-long program includes teachers from SislerHigh School, studios of the school's Createprogram and mentors from Nickelodeon who help students develop short films and series.

Now the group is off to L.A. May 25-28 topitch their two animated cartoon series and short film to Nickelodeon.

From concept to creation

The Orange Tree Project students started off in pre-production in September, refining their story ideas and creating first sketches. The program, which aims to build skills in graphic design, digital mediaand motion picture arts, teaches students to create a series bible, characters, story arc and pitch deck.

Now they're close to being done with an almost 50-page bible that outlines their entire series.

Before joining the program, Guibochewas unsure about how she was going to get into the animation field.

"I was just really happy about that because it meant I could focus on like just drawing and doing something that I love," saidGuiboche.

The other animated series being pitched,called Hero's Ernie,is about a boy named Ernie whosepeaceful life is disturbed by a wizard named Mentowho wants to make Ernie the greatest hero of all time.

Inspired by cartoons

Mikhylla Dilag started learning about animation in Grade 9. Cartoons she'd watched as a young girl inspired her to sketch, she says.

After she finished her first animation classes, she felt like she wanted to do it forever, and joined the Orange Tree Project to refine and enhance her skills as an artist. She was shocked when she first heard they were going to L.A.

"It's like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I feel pretty honoured to be going on the trip with a lot of my classmates," she said.

During the students' three-day trip they will also be touring studios atDisney and Sony.

"I want to see the inner workings of studios, see how production looks like, how objects and made, what projects are being made right now," Dilagsaid.

Dilag is a part of the group making a short film called Long Exposure, a story about two friends whose relationship is tested after graduation.

Each student had a hand in every single step of the project she says, from pitching to storyboarding, music and the animation.

Dilag looks also forward tomeeting the many mentors they've been working with all year long, including Carson Smith and Arnon Manor, who were both instrumental in sustaining the project's momentum.

"Their feedback did resolve a lot of the issues that we were facing," she said."It really helps us to grow as artists and storytellers."

Program growing each year

Jaimie Leduc teaches animation at Sisler High school, and isthe department head of the Create program. As a teacherfor almost 13 years, he's noticed the rise in interest in interactive media.

He says the Nickelodeon partnership launched in 2020 thanks to a lot of hard work from a lot of great people, and the trip is funded by the Schroeder Foundation.

"The goal was to eventually start connecting students to like local industries and ...for them to realize that there's actually jobs in the arts," says Leduc.

One of his favourite parts of this work is watching the students grow and develop knowledge.

"The mentors provide a lot of guidance, but also provide challenges for the students to think outside the box and and really make stories their own," said Leduc.

While this is great opportunity for the students, Leducsays the collaboration works both ways as the students giveNickelodeon insight into the audience for their products too.

"I'm just so happy that students are really excited about animating here in Manitoba and Winnipeg and and telling those stories," said Leduc.

The Orange Tree Project studentswill be also presenting their work locally on June 22 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.