Excluding phagetto and YouTube. Does this country really value animation as a media here? I tried looking for animation jobs here and they don’t seem to appreciate nor take the projects seriously. I also feel like it’s a rare opportunity here as well because I remember I found a job as an animator but the work environment was toxic to me. I don’t know if I was wrong or i was just overreacting but this is my experience of how I dealt with the environment. (M21) My first job as an animator, it was lonely, that was back in 2023 I was 19. It didn’t feel like an animation/media industry it was another one of those businesses that focus on selling products and stuff. So I was excited because my role was to be an animator to make 2D educational content. I used my personal devices since that time they told me they were gonna buy me equipment. Things were smooth for the first 3 months but I then noticed they weren’t taking me seriously anymore. I asked if they could buy me equipment and look for more animators who can help me with the projects because I was the one and only animator who managed the content. The other departments focused on finances, coding and web development. I had my office so I was alone with no one to supervise me or help me brainstorm ideas.
I told myself things would be fine if I kept asking. But the more I asked, the more I was ignored. Then they slowly but surely began to give me pressure and unrealistic deadlines. I was told to make a 10 min animation of a mathematics explanation for O levels, I explained my process of how long it would take for ONE person to craft such a video, because keep in mind, I had to think of:
Sound
The idea of the video
Voice record and editing
Crafting how many characters of elements needed in the video.
Revision for mistakes
Character/background design Etc.
All that would take me at least 2-3 months ndiri munhu one cuz i wanted them to be perfect. I then began to experience burn out, and I was in school as well so during my work day offs, after school, I’d do my homework before I go home and then go back home and continue making the animation projects. I’d stop working at 12 midnight and go to bed and when I’d go to work the next day I’d continue. Then I’d show the guys my process and they’d criticize me and tell me to change the whole thing again because they said the idea was wrong.
That pissed me off already cuz I felt like my effort was for nothing.
Later on after a few weeks I saw everyone was given new equipment but me. They were given new laptops and new tablets to continue working on their projects, I still had my personal devices to use, they never thought of me. I complained to the boss and he said he would do something about it. I waited a week, there was nothing. I kept trying and trying until I reached a point where I was called in for a meeting and they complained my videos weren’t matching their vision. I tried all the elements I could give them but they weren’t enough because they gave me 2 weeks to work on videos and they wouldn’t be finished.
I was done with that environment and later they dismissed me. I was glad they let me go cuz they were acting like @$$holes. So I personally felt like animation is not appreciated here in Zimbabwe so I was thinking of trying to do it somewhere else other than here.
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