The third most moving image of 2014 on Getty Images – as voted by the global public – is a photo by Pierre Crom at the crash site of Air Malaysia passenger jet in Eastern Ukraine.
Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine near the Russian border. Photo taken by Pierre Crom.
Flight 17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and carrying 295 passengers and crew, is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to U.S. intelligence officials and Ukrainian authorities quoted in published reports.
The second most moving image of 2014 on Getty Images – as voted by the global public – is another heart rending photo by award-winning Getty Images photographer John Moore.
In this tragic photo, a woman crawls towards the body of her sister as Ebola burial team members take her for cremation on October 10, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Photo taken by John Moore
The sister had died outside her home earlier in the morning while trying to walk to a treatment center, according to her relatives.
The burial of loved ones is important in Liberian culture, making the removal of infected bodies for cremation all the more traumatic for surviving family members.
The most moving photo of 2014 was taken by award-winning Getty Images photographer John Moore. In the photo, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF), health worker in protective clothing carries a child suspected of having Ebola in the MSF treatment center on October 5, 2014 in Paynesville, Liberia. The girl and her mother, showing symptoms of the deadly disease, were awaiting test results for the virus. The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Powerful imagery of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia by John Moore was top of mind globally with his photos voted #1, #2 and #7 respectively.
A total of 294,219 votes were cast from 164 countries globally on photos included in Getty Images’ Year in Focus, an expert curation of the defining images and videos that encapsulate 2014’s most important moments in the world of news, sport, entertainment and archive anniversaries and obituaries.
A total of 294,219 votes were cast from 164 countries globally on photos included in Getty Images’ Year in Focus, an expert curation of the defining images and videos that encapsulate 2014’s most important moments in the world of news, sport, entertainment and archive anniversaries and obituaries.
Ebola is also the subject of the photo voted #10, taken by Reportage by Getty Images photographer Daniel Berehulak.
When we visited wasd in their final week of production, we discovered that they were very much ahead of schedule – and it looked like they’re going to finish with much time to spare! Erin reports.
Team wasd (Niger is just outside this snapshot) busy finishing up their animation clip.
On the second last day of the 3-week production, we visited Commonwealth Secondary School’s wasd at Nanyang Polytechnic.
There was a rather relaxed ambience in their cubicle, as they were close to completion and were simply doing rendering and touching up on the finer details.
All set for rendering.
They chose to do rendering in layers, instead of everything at one go.
Rendering in layers is to render different objects in the scene separately, in different layers, so that for each layer of objects, a different image is rendered.
The ticking clock that commences the day for the non-sleeping SAF.
We visited Team Elemonators in the third and final week of their 3-week production. The girls were going at completing their 1-minute animation by the end of the week. Erin reports.
The team Elemonators, with their two fluffy mascot bears, courtesy of Leanne.
It’s the third week and team Elemonators are speeding ahead hurriedly, close to the completion of their task!
The tools of the trade which occupy Esther’s workspace. To the right, near the NEWater bottle, is a Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet, and a Lenovo computer.
The clock is ticking away for CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School’s Elemonators as they finish up their animation, already three-quarters through.
All they had to do was to finish animating the last few scenes of their animated piece, and then render it.
When we dropped by, the team was focused on the rotoscoping segment of their animation journey.
This week, Commonwealth Secondary School’s wasd powers full-steam ahead in the production of their SAF-themed animation masterpiece. Erin Tan was on site to get to know the team members and to get the latest updates on their progress.
The team, wasd, with their mascot – Penguin the penguin.
Last Friday, we visited N.E.mation! team wasd, working studiously away in their cubicle in Nanyang Polytechnic.
They have been keeping very strictly to their schedule, as created for them by their mentor, and have made much progress in the making of their animation piece.
Niger and Zhi Qing talking enthusiastically about their progress of the previous week.
So far, the team has been able to finish most of the animation sequence, and were able to show us a fully-coloured, fully-animated sample of the final animation.
CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School team Elemonators are working away diligently at creating their animation piece. Erin reports.
Leanne and Esther of the Elemonators hard at work!
Last Friday, we visited Elemonators in their cubicle in Nanyang Polytechnic.
Their mascot bears, courtesy of Leanne. They accompany and motivate the team on this difficult journey towards animation stardom!
This being the middle of the 3-week production phase, the Elemonators are going at full gear with their animation.
Notes jotted down about ‘pegging’.
It’s not all work and no play though, as the team had lots of fun, socialising with the rest of the participants and teams in NEmation, especially the team (Millennium Dragons, also from St Nicholas Girls’ School) in the cubicle next to theirs.
A common pastime was taking group photos in their workspace, with the assistance of members from other teams.
It appears that NEmation has been a great platform for them to socialise with people from other schools and standards, and gain new friends!
The team is creating a digital 2D animation sequence using Toom Boom Studio, based on the premise of four people performing acts of kindness for people around them, and in doing so, inspiring others to be kind too.
The Elemonators is one of three teams from CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls’ School that made it into the Top 10 Teams in this year’s installment of the N.E.mation! competition. The storyline for their animation is both heartwarming and inspiring.
“We are the Elemonators! We eliminate the sourness and bring sweetness to your day!”
The Elemonators registered for N.E.mation! 9 back in August and have not looked back since.
Comprising four sprightly young ladies in the second year of CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School, the Elemonators were among a staggering 11 teams from the school that made it into the Top 100.
Team leader Melissa Anne Lim performed the mesh-up during the pitching stages with her guitar and sang in the final recording as well.
For those familiar with N.E.mation!, you may be aware that CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School is a powerhouse in the series of competitions, regularly boasting multiple teams that make it to the Top 10 and frequently represented in the eventual Top 3 winners.
While some schools field teams from their IT clubs/CCA, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School opens the participation to all students in the school.
Which was how Melissa, Esther, Leanne and Sabrina came to form the Elemonators.
wasd is the team from Commonwealth Secondary School that never expected to make it to the Top 10. But made it they did and they’ve got an exciting animation story idea to vie for the top prize.
wasd is one of two teams from Commonwealth Secondary School that entered this year’s installment of the N.E.mation! competition, and the lucky one to make it to the Top 10. The fourth member, Niger Lim is not in this photo as he was not present during the visit.
The N.E.mation! competition is a yearly inter-school animation competition for students from secondary schools, junior colleges and centralised institutes to express their thoughts on Total Defence.
Lim Xun Yi from wasd. The team’s motto is “Expect the unexpected”.
This year’s competition is the ninth iteration since the inauguration of the series in 2007.
More than 11,500 students have participated in N.E.mation! thus far with participants comprising mostly secondary school students aged between 13 to 16 years old.
These students form teams of 3-4 members and have to go through multiple rounds of pitching and selection to beat hundreds of teams from other schools to make it into the Top 10.
wasd registered for N.E.mation! 9 some three months ago in August and it has been an incredible journey for them ever since.
Form teams of 1 to 5 members and compete against contestants from 33 countries for cash prizes of up to US$85,000. Deadline for registration and submission of ideas is on 15 November, 2014.
20 teams from those who entered will be selected to enter the Semi-Finals, out of which 10 will make the “Finals”. The top 5 teams will be selected for the ultimate Winners Round where the top three winners will be decided.
Contestants will have access to Plantronics APIs, SDKs, and product concept prototypes and work in teams to build new applications and business models in one of the following categories:
Business applications for mobile devices
Applications for people with limited mobility
Personal applications for mobile devices
The winners will be announced on 9 May, 2015.
Plantronics will loan the 20 Quarter-Finalists teams a prototype device, to build and test their application.
Prize money for the top three teams:
1st place: US$50,000
2nd place: US$25,000
3rd place: US$10,000
Teams will use this prototype device to further develop their idea and submit a sample code and design of the application interface.
The Plantronics Judges will select the top 10 teams as Semi-Finalists to proceed to the Finals round.
