In the world of the Indomitables

It was a time of learning and fun at the Summer Boot Camp of the Wifi Combat Academy. “The academy is committed to developing e-smart children by equipping them with necessary technological skills that will enable them be in tune with future global technological changes” says Dele Tejuosho, the coordinator of the academy.

The academy recently held a two-month, Summer Boot Camp in July and August, tagged “Photography and Film Academy,“ which drew children ranging from ages six to 15 from different schools in Lagos. The workshop was sponsored by Dufil Foods’ number one brand, ‘Indomie,’ and supported by Audio Visual First, one of the leading film production firms in the country.

During the camp, the children showed dexterity as they developed digital content for the Indomitables brand as a major part of the project was to artistically draw the fast Swifty dashing through the city of Lagos, paint Big Boyas he lifts a heavy truck, put that hot steaming beam through Vision’s goggles, make Stretchytwist in different colors and also make Tweeny blast the bad guys with special powers using Adobe Photoshop in the Illustration and Poster Design class. It was a test of the children’s creativity and the level of innovation they applied to the session was amazing.

One of the highlights of the July batch was the digital photography lessons facilitated by Kelechi Amadi Obi, renowned photographer and publisher of Mania magazine, who was the special guest for that session. He held a 2-day workshop for the teens and a one-day workshop for the younger children.

The children had a great time learning form the best using professional cameras for the duration of the workshop. The older children spent the second day with Kelechi at his studio, where they were opportune to have Kelechi view the magazine layout they had designed using ‘Indesign’.

For the August batch, the teens’ class visited Nigeria’s’ leading soap opera ‘Tinsel’s studio where they produced a short film on the Indomitables at the Audio Visual First’s studio. Both the teens and kids edited the short film using Adobe Premiere at CHAMS.

The younger ones also learnt digital music composition using ‘fruity loops’. The special guest for the film session at the academy was Kunle Afolayan, the renowned actor and producer of the block buster movie ‘October 1st’, who also talked about the film industry in Nigeria.

At the end of the two-month boot camp, the children were full of new ideas and knowledge, expressing delight at being part of the academy. Tejuosho was bursting with excitement, grateful to the major sponsor, Dufil Foods, for believing in the initiative; to Yinka Oduniyi, the managing director of Audio Visual First for supporting the dream the academy nurtured a year ago; to Kelechi Amadi Obi and Kunle Afolayan who were both special guest, for mentoring and empowering the children with knowledge in film and photography.

The best students at the academy went home with prizes donated by Indomie in form of packets of Indomie and the Indomitables comics. For the July batch, in the 11-16 age range, best students for both the film academy and best video production were Chimere Ikoku, who acted the role of Vision in the short film on the Indomitable and Toluwalase Awonuga, who acted ‘Madam Sush’.

Awonuga was also best student for photography. Best student for magazine layout was David Alao, with Awonuga, coming in second. In the 7-10 category, digital music composition and video editing class, first place was won by Ojemen Excel; second place was clinched by Gbadebo Adesina of Sunnydale School and Korede Adesiyan. Lase Oduniyi won best student, music composition while Okezika Ikoku emerged best student overall from the illustrator class.

Tejuosho urged more organisations to get involved in initiatives such as this, to give hope and future to the next generation for technological advancement in the near future. According to her, the academy is set to hold another workshop in December titled “The World of Advertising” which will primarily focus on teaching children how to produce great advert designs. Advert professionals in the industry are expected as the facilitators.

Mabel Dimma