Naps, snacks and a 24-hour deadline: How 5 young animators beat the clock and won

Imagine a world where people haveinstant outfits anddisposable facesin plastic packages. They cancan whip out a new lookand toss an old one in an instant.

That's the consumerism-focused future created in Superflous,a 30-second animation created by five 18-year-olds from Sisler High School in Winnipeg.

Theteam, who call themselves Team Clam,tooktop prize for best high school in the recent 24 Hours Animation Contest for Students. They also were seventh overall out of300 filmsfrom about 80 schools in 20 countries.

"We work really well together because we're so used to the [communication] pipelineand so used to each other," said Sam Balanial, a concept artist and animator on Team Clam(which is a mash-up of two previous team names).

That communication stream included a 24-hour-long video call. The cameras stayed on as team members took turns napping and snacking while others worked.

That is a big deal- Aubry Mintz, contest founder

Their work won not only the contest, but recognition from a world-class animator.

"There's a high school[Sisler]that can be just as strong as a college, and that is a big deal," said contest founder Aubry Mintz, a renowned animator who has worked for George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic.

In the real world, 30 seconds of animation would take three to five months to create, said Mintz, who is based in California.

The winning teamXierra Cansino, Kimberley Chau, Gian Abad,Francesca Musniand Balanialare nowat the heart of a new short video by fellow Sislerfilmmaking students.

Filmmaking students Kaitlyn Caballero, Shaina Maralit and Min Hecky Tresoor, all 18-year-olds in Sisler's Create program, produced a short video about the team as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV.

CBC Manitoba started collaborating with SislerCreate in September during a series of storytelling and journalism workshops for student filmmakers.The collaboration is culminating in nine short videos by students that will be published on CBC platforms, including this one.

Meet the filmmakers

More on Project POV: SislerCreate

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a new storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC journalists to produce short videos.

During fall 2022, CBC journalists led storytelling and producing workshops over several weeks with filmmaking students at the Create program at Sisler High School. The programfocuseson education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.