11 Second Club Monthly Character Animation Competition Launched Online

Club members download an 11-second dialogue track at the beginning of each month and design an animation of equal length to the words. They post their works-in-progress on the site’s forum to receive support and feedback. Before the end of the month, members submit their final clips for ballot by their peers, who vote with a specially designed system that emphasizes written reviews, provides equal exposure to all entrees and encourages fair results. Winners receive a free audio-visual critique (eCritique®) of their film from a working studio animator, provided by online animation school Animation Mentor.

Site administrator and Animation Mentor graduate Aja Bogdanoff, who co-founded the 11 Second Club with her husband, software developer Mark Bogdanoff, said, “When the 10 Second Club disappeared from the Net, it was a huge loss to the community. So, we reinvented the idea of a competition site and took it to the next level.”

Aja Bogdanoff, who is also a freelance feature film animator, continued, “Animation Mentor and the entire online animation community played an enormous role in helping me get to where I am today, and I am thrilled to be a part of, and give back to, the online tradition.”

The 11 Second Club offers something to animators at all levels: beginners can test the waters, students can study what works and what doesn’t and experienced animators can continue to hone their craft. To encourage feedback and active participation, the Club developed a customized QuickTime player that displays frame count numbers as well as the concept of Karmojo participation scores. During the Beta test’s final phase, 71 animators from the U.S., India, China, Russia, Europe and more, submitted entrees and received more than 2,200 written comments.