Monday, June 30, 2008

Pixar Animation: A restrospective

Oh, I am so excited! Wall-E hits theaters tomorrow. I wish there was some sort of giant hat that looked like the little robot that I could wear when I see the movie; that's how totally stoked I am for this flick. Why? 2 reasons. I like the general premise of the film; a robot all alone on a garbage inhabited Earth; a film with almost no dialogue. It's an odd premise, but it sounds cool. The second reason I'm excited for this movie? It's PIXAR!! Pixar, the company single handedly saving animation from becoming the dreaded scum of cinema; since Toy Story, the only animated film I've seen that can hold a candle to a Pixar movie is Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda.

All of the Pixar movies rock, some of them being among my favorite films of all time. You can rank some of the Pixar movies with the best animated classics from the days of Walt himself; since Toy Story, the only animated film I've seen that can hold a candle to a Pixar movie is the recent Kung Fu Panda. Kids love them, teenagers love them, adults love them, and critics have an unbridled fascination with them.

Today, we're going to take a look at the studio's films, ranking them from best to worst; of course, the worst Pixar movie is still incredible filmmaking. Joining me near the end of this retrospective is guest critic Thomas Lack, with his own choice on how the list would go. So grab your Buzz Lightyear action figure and get ready for a trip down animation-memory lane!

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Pixar's 'Wall-E' robot rolls into first place

Wall-E," the trash collecting robot abandoned by humans, found plenty of company over the weekend.

The animated movie produced by Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar studio was the No. 1 movie with $62.5 million in ticket sales, the third-best opening for a Pixar film and the biggest ever June premiere for a Disney film.

The G-rated movie, which was produced for an estimated $180 million, is the ninth consecutive commercial and critical hit for Pixar Animation Studios, creator of "Cars," the "Toy Story" films and "The Incredibles," the 2004 movie that had the biggest opening of all Pixar entries with $70.5 million.

All nine have bested the competition in their opening weekends.

"Wall-E" and 11 other top-grossing movies brought in $179.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend, up 22% from the same time last year, according to box-office tracker Media by Numbers, underscoring Hollywood's resilience even as the economy sputters and gas prices soar.

Box-office revenue climbed for the fifth consecutive weekend and is up 6% for the summer season compared with last year, said Media by Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian.

"The box office is incredibly robust right now," Dergarabedian said Sunday, noting that sales have surpassed last year's record levels. "Historically, films do well when times are tough, when going to the movies is an inexpensive way to forget about your troubles. This is a perfect example of that."

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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Disney's "WALL-E" wows box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Animation giant Pixar scored its ninth consecutive No. 1 on Sunday with its robot love story "WALL-E," while Angelina Jolie achieved a personal best with her violent assassination thriller "Wanted."

"WALL-E," bolstered by near-unanimous critical praise, sold an estimated $62.5 million of tickets in its first three days, said Pixar's Walt Disney Co parent.

It tied with 2001's "Monsters, Inc." to become Pixar's third-best opener. Pixar has gone to No. 1 with all nine of its movies, an unprecedented run that begin in 1995 with "Toy Story."

The company record of $70.5 million was set in 2004 by "The Incredibles." Industry pundits had forecast an opening for "WALL-E" in the $50 million to $60 million range.

"Anything north of 60 (million dollars), we were going to be ecstatic," said Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group.

Meanwhile Jolie, whose career has been overshadowed in recent years by breathless tabloid coverage of her personal life, kicked off at No. 2 with "Wanted." The Universal Pictures release earned about $51.1 million, easily beating forecasts of an opening in the mid- to high-$30 million range.

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Friday, June 27, 2008

Indian Animators Sketch Roadmap For Success

India’s entertainment industry is in animation mode. Tom and Jerry may continue to be favorites, but Indian children have found a new mascot in the likes of Hanuman, the monkey god, and Bal Ganesha, the elephant god, who have changed the economics of the animation film industry.

It’s boom time for the approx $306 million Indian animation industry. The turning point came perhaps in 2005 with “Hanuman”, about the cherubic monkey god that was made with a budget of a little over $353,000 and grossed more than thrice that at $1.6 million.Percept Picture Company (PPC) followed the success with “Hanuman Returns”, paving the way for other big players to get into animation films too.

Shemaroo Entertainment, which made the successful “Bal Ganesha” about the childhood exploits of the elephant god Ganesha, took it forward with their second animated movie “Ghatothkach - Master of Magic” that was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Yes, our film went to Cannes. Last year when we were at Cannes testing waters, we realised that there is a market for Indian content. I am getting a lot of queries for the film that will be released in seven languages. Indian content can be sold in other countries and this film will give a boost to the animation sector,” said Smita Marooh, vice president of Shemaroo.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Animation Weekend At The Academy

Animation Weekend At The Academy
Beverly Hills, California, USA
August 8-10, 2008

More information will come soon, but several Academy events the weekend of SIGGRAPH have been announced:

Friday, August 8 -- "Sound in Animation" (hosted by Mark Mangini -- Academy Award-nominated sound editor) The use of sound in classic animation -- clips, discussion and live demonstrations of sound effects.

Sunday, August 10, 2 p.m. -- Exhibit featuring Frederic Back's artwork opens at the Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Exhibit will run through November 1.

Sunday, August 10, 7:30 p.m. -- Event featuring composer Normand Roger and animator Frederic Back (Roger composed music for all of Back's films) Onstage conversation with Roger and Back about collaboration.

Four Oscar-winning animated shorts will be screened: CRAC, EVERY CHILD, FATHER AND DAUGHTER, OLD MAN AND THE SEA.

Source : http://news.awn.com/

Great animation from Pixar, great action from Jolie

Animated sci-fi movies have traditionally not fared well. Two examples are Titan A.E. and Treasure Planet which were both considered flops.

But if it is made by Pixar, which is batting 1000 for hit animated movies, it is almost guaranteed to be a hit.

Pixar’s success started with computer animated short subjects before making Toy Story, their first feature length film. They went on to make A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles and last year’s Ratatouille.

This year it is WALL-E, the story of a robot cleaning up the mess on an abandoned Earth for 700 years after everyone has left. His name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class and he did what he was programmed to do for all those years until something happened: He developed a personality.

After a research robot named EVE comes to Earth and discovers that WALL-E may have stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, she races back to space to report her findings to the humans who are eagerly awaiting the chance to return home.

Unbeknownst to her, WALL-E is in hot pursuit, chasing EVE across the galaxy, setting off one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

It is directed by Andrew Stanton, the Oscar winning director of possibly my favourite Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

MyToons Launches Animation Contest

Online animation community MyToons.com today announced the launch of its latest contest for animators around the world. Get with the Times! is an HD animation competition that will send one Grand Prize winner to New York City to see their animation played on a Clear Channel billboard in Times Square while they dine at the world-renowned Chop Suey restaurant. Animators are invited to submit their HD creations at www.MyToons.com/contests/TimesSquare.

“HD is the future, and MyToons.com is proud to be leading the way,” says Stacey Ford, CCO and co-founder of MyToons.com. “There’s nothing like watching animation in High Definition, and the beautiful quality and level of detail available in the MyToons HD player is ground-breaking. Animators, Get with the Times! is your invitation to share your animation in full-quality HDas it’s meant to be seen.”

Weekly winners will be determined by a combination of community votes and MyToons judging, and will take home an iPod Nano loaded with MyToons animation. Site-wide voting is ongoing and will continue through Sept. 4t. The Grand Prize winner, to be announced on Sept. 12, and two runners-up will each receive Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection.

MyToons.com launched in the spring of 2007 to provide global content creators with a free platform to share their original animations, artwork and games with fellow animators, enthusiasts and animation fans worldwide. In addition to high-quality standard and high-definition video file streaming, the site offers social networking functions. Learn more at www.MyToons.com.

Source : http://www.animationmagazine.net/

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

It's that animated magic

COMPETITION between the Pixar and DreamWorks animation studios has brought them huge success.

Their run of critically acclaimed hits in the realm of three-dimensional, computer-animated movies is unprecedented in any genre.

Think of Pixar's Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and DreamWorks' Shrek, Shark Tale and Bee Movie.

Both studios, it seems, have cracked the formula for fun, visually stunning family entertainment. But the latest DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, could have been otherwise.

Not because it's a bad film; it's arguably DreamWorks' most visually captivating since Shrek 2. But Kung Fu Panda, co-director John Stevenson says, could have been a mess of clever but ultimately incoherent ideas. The animator and department head had asked DreamWorks founder and chief Jeffrey Katzenberg if he could direct a feature film. After directing the animated television series Father of the Pride and "not screwing it up horribly", Stevenson was given Kung Fu Panda. "I can safely say it was the least attractive movie option available at the studio," Stevenson says with a laugh. "I was not being given a plum film, I was being given a slightly leaky ship."

He says there was the shell of an idea, that something funny could be made of kung fu and pandas. Beyond some story outlines and scripts, however, the project was in disarray.

It took some work to arrive at the result, a cute family comedy with Jack Black lending his voice to Po the Panda, a clumsy, wannabe kung fu warrior who becomes the chosen one, a warrior selected to protect the Valley of Peace from snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Indeed, the magnitude of the film's change in fortunes was clear before it earned more than $US60 million ($63million) in its first weekend at the North American box office this month.

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Animator says "Urduja" claim as first Pinoy animated movie is false

World-class Filipino animator Gerry Garcia said he is really upset with reports and claims that the new film "Urduja" is the Philippines' first full-length animated movie.

The animator explained that it was his 'baby' "Adarna" which owns the title of being the first full-length Pinoy animated movie. "Adarna" was released in 1997.

"Adarna" was released under FLT Productions and Guiding Light Productions as part of the Metro Manila Film Festival. It featured the voices of singers Jolina Magdangal, Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez.

Garcia wrote and directed the animated film. He said "Adarna" was the first animated movie in Philippine Cinema, and that it received a Special Award from the Metro Manila Film Festival specifically for this distinction in December 27, 1997.

On his trophy it said 'ADARNA Kauna-unahang animated Movie sa Philippine Cinema.'

He received the same from FAMAS and other award giving bodies. In Japan, Adarna was honored during the 7th Hiroshima Animation Festival as "Asian collection" in 1998.

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Talent is the buzzword for Indian animation industry

New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) Lack of skilled talent and big-budget projects are the main roadblocks for the Indian animation industry to sustain its robust growth that has seen its revenue multiply manifold to $306 million, experts maintain. “There has been a boom in the animation industry in the last three years but we have still room to improve upon the quality. If we compare our works with the West, their projects show finesse because of the budget involved,” Amit Sharma of Rhythm and Hues told IANS on the sidelines of an animation seminar organised by Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) here.

“In India, animation is considered to be a medium for fast money and you don’t get quality exposure. The time constraint and the low-budget for the project also hampers the quality,” added Sharma.

Deepak Ganguly from Tata Elxsi echoed the same saying: “Quality gets hampered by the stiff deadlines.”

However, V.K. Gupta, Sr. Pipeline Technical Director at Big Animation, stresses more on story telling.

He said: “In animation, story telling is the main thing. The quality parameter is very subjective. It is the director at the end of the day who decides what quality is needed.”

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Create Special Effects in PowerPoint

Liven up those PowerPoint presentations with a few simple animation tricks.

Adding animations to your PowerPoint slide show can perk up your presentation, not to mention your audience members. Here are a few quick and easy tricks for jazzing up those slides.

Right on Target

Here's an idea for a simple and effective slide animation: Have an arrow move in from the left side of the slide to strike a target at the right side. To draw a target (if you can't find one you like in ClipArt), draw a series of ovals, each one larger than the other. You don't have to draw them concentrically; you can take care of that later. In fact, it will probably be easier to draw them side by side. For each oval, select a fill color (the Fill Color button is the one that resembles a bucket of paint being poured out).

Now press Ctrl-A to select all the ovals. Next, choose Draw, Align or Distribute, Align Center and then choose Draw, Align or Distribute, Align Middle. This should create an object resembling a target. You'll need to click the largest oval and choose Draw, Order, Send to Back. You'll also have to click each oval and choose an order for it to make the target look right. This procedure may be a bit tedious, but don't give up--it can be done. When you're finished with this, choose Draw, Group to turn the group of ovals into a single drawing.

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Friday, June 20, 2008

Animation age: Actors brace up for voice overs

When Mufasa comes and stands atop the mountain in Lion King and roars, there is pin-drop silence in the audience. The deep and authoritative voice commands respect, all ears are tuned in. Jungle and audience alike. James Earl Jones (also famous for the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Trilogy) gave Mufasa a character few will forget.

Same with Matthew Broderick as the adult Simba in the same movie. Both Jones and Broderick are much beyond mere voices, they are Mufasa and Simba to the worldwide Lion King fans. The Indian animation industry, which according to a PwC-Ficci report is worth Rs 1,300 crore (along with VFX and gaming), is definitely out of being a mere outsourcing industry and authors are busy scripting original content to make blockbuster animation films.

One area where Indian animation film-makers are beginning to make a qualitative change is the involvement of professional artistes to do voice-overs for the animated characters. "Voice casting is the starting point for an animation film. A good voice performance is directly linked to getting a great character animation as the storyboard artists listen to the final voices of each character before beginning on their drawings," says Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney who has a slew of animation projects coming up.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

A special course in the art of Animation Technology

Mumbai: Graphiti School of Animation, Mumbai has announced India's first post graduate course in Animation for Art graduates.

The course, named as G CAT MASTER - (Graphiti - Course in Animation Technology) has been designed specifically for Art Graduates who have completed their education in Fine Arts, Commercial or Applied Art or any equivalent course of study.

The course is a full time course spread across 12 months with various semesters focusing on the Pre-production processes of Animation film making. This course is power packed by workshops like puppetry, drawing, acting, film making, film review session etc.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cartoon Animation

Even though many people wouldn't consider cartoon animation writing, in its own way it is definitely a form. For a cartoon to work you need many things: expression, a climax, a story line, and a beginning and ending. Each picture represents a sentence in a story. Every word is represented by a figure and its action.

The first time this idea was conceived was during the beginning of the 20th century in England by Emil Cohl. This concept of story writing was first exhibited in 1831. After its first time shown to the public it became very popular. It even started to catch on in America. The first man in America to attempt cartoon animation was Stuart Blackton. After awhile, Walt Disney caught on and became the most active producer of animated cartoons.

Not all animated cartoons have to be very in depth. It's all about simplicity and keeping the viewer's attention. Any one can put together his/her own successful cartoon. It's all about knowing how your audience thinks and feels. Entertainment is the key.

There are many tactics used to make an animated cartoon work; Walt Disney used them all. People like familiar faces or figures they can relate to. Animal figures seem to work the best in this situation. People also want excitement and conflict. They want battles and chase scenes mixed with conflict: dog against cat against mouse usually keeps the audience entertained. Violence where the characters don't get hurt always keeps the story going. And the use of high action, miraculous feats, bright colors, and human qualities are a must.

In cartoon animation the story line and the characters are only the beginning. Now you have to put it all together and in motion. A series of figures, each showing a slightly different stage in motion, needs to be drawn. Then they separately need to be photographed--frame by frame--and projected on a screen fast enough to create the illusion of continuous movement. And there you go, your story is expressed by your figure's actions. You finally have your animated cartoon.

Source : http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Japanese Animation - An Overview

Japanese Animation is a style of animation that originated in Japan. There are many differences between American and Japanese Animation. How can you tell the difference between the two pictures below:

The one on the left is Japanese and the one on the right is American. Can you see the difference? The one on the right looks simple and the other one looks more complicated. Not all Japanese Animation looks that simple. In fact, some Japanese animation looks MORE complicated. The best way to tell is by looking at the eyes of a human character. The eyes will always be somewhat simple in the American style.


Not only the animation is drawn a different way, it is also used differently. In America, as you may already know cartoons are for children. In Japan it is for all age groups children, teens, and adults. For them, animation is just as good as "live action!"

Another difference is that the Japanese story line is more interesting. In America it is all about a hero, or a group of heroes and heroines, that fight ugly evil people continuously. In Japan, it is a different story. First of all, the hero is different. Most of the time it is about normal people in their every day environment. Now wait a minute, doesn't that sound boring? Actually it's not, let me explain. Let's take Ranma 1/2, for an example. It is about a boy that turns into a girl with cold water and goes on all these marital arts adventures. Now, that is normal to him because he was born in this strange world. That isn't so boring is it?

Also, the enemies are different, as well. For one thing, they are not all ugly. In fact, some of them are really cute. They don't attack people for any reason either. They ALWAYS have a reason. Sometimes it's revenge and sometimes it's to rule the world (because they were just born power hungry). In Japanese animation, it also shows more of what the enemies' perspective is; why they are being "evil".

The story itself isn't always good against evil. In Japan, it can be about saving the world in different ways as well. Lets look at "Slayers TRY," there really wasn't a real, real bad guy. It's about the gods wanting a clear universe and the people of the universe didn't understand that, but in the end it all gets explained. They die, get married or go their own way, that way you'll never know what the ending is going to be, just like life..

Source : http://library.thinkquest.org/

Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation to hold Symposium at Tokyo International Anime Fair

Leading Industry Experts Speak on the U.S. Anime/Manga Industries and the Announcement of the SPJA Award Finalists

Anaheim, California (March 18, 2008) — The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the overseeing body of the nation’s largest anime/manga convention (Anime Expo®), will be presenting a symposium presentation/discussion about the history,current status and future of the U.S. Anime/Manga Industries at Tokyo International Anime Fair held within Tokyo Big Sight’s Special Theatre 2(Thursday; March 27, 2008; 16:30-18:00-Tokyo time). In addition, announcements of the finalists of the highly recognized and coveted SPJA Industry Awards will also be made. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org.

Symposium participants include:

Trulee Karahashi, Society for the Promotion of Japanese Anime-Chief Executive Officer

Prior to becoming the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Karahashi held the position of Chief Financial Officer for the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), Ms. Karahashi was a Financial Consultant for Merrill Lynch Private Client Group in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate from the University of California at Berkeley, Ms. Karahashi has been involved with Anime Expo® since 1996 (beginning as a volunteer staff) including positions such as Industry Liaison, Division Director and Department Manager. As the CFO for the organization that puts together the nation’s largest Anime/Manga convention, Ms. Karahashi dealt with the internal/external financial needs of its members as well as the analysis of industry trends & relations and financial projections for the organization.

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Compact Disc India restricts itself to animation

Compact Disc India today said it will not diversify into the production of live-action films and strictly remain within the core business area of animation films.

"The company has decided to withdraw itself from the production of live-action films immediately," Compact Disc India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Laser Infomedia, a company owned by a promoter of Compact Disc, would set-up a developing and publishing Gaming Software Studio at New Delhi in collaboration with Singapore-based Golden Games Pte Ltd, within the financial year 2008-09, the company added.
Compact Disc India would invest maximum up to 15 per cent of the equity capital in Laser Infomedia.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Dashavatar: Movie Review

Director: Bhavik Thakore

Voiceovers: Shreyas Talpade, Shatrughan Sinha, Rupali Ganguly

Rating: **

When filmmaking started in India, for the first couple of decades the genre of films were only confined to mythological movies. That was the prevalent mindset then.

Perhaps history is repeating and restricting itself with the same approach since the advent of animation films in India. It’s only divine deities that we keep seeing in the animated format, today.

Same is the case with Dashavatar that almost qualifies for a comprehensive coverage of the Indian mythology subjecting us to not one or two but ten episodes of religious folklore. Ironically this all-inclusive exposure works, both, in the advantage as well as against the film.

Dashavatar highlights the ten different avatars of Lord Vishnu and in the process incorporates every epic from Ramayan, Mahabharat, Krishna Leela and a lot more in its two hour runtime. But while showcasing so much in so little time, obviously the narration is hurried and if you aren’t attentive enough, you could easily miss out a couple of Vishnu variants.

The film starts in contemporary times with two kids being sermonized by Narad Muni (in the able voiceover of Shreyas Talpade) about the ten forms of Vishnu which includes his avatars as Matsya (Fish), Kurma (Tortoise), Varah (Wild Boar), Narsingh (Lion), Vaman (Brahmin), Parshuram, Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Gautam Buddha (yes, he too was Vishnu’s incarnation) and Kalki (yet to arrive in the 21st Century).

The initial episodes come across as less-heard stories from scriptures and to me it even rekindled memories of those long-forgotten fables narrated to me as a child by my grandparents. The ensuing chapters of Ramayan and Mahabharat lack novelty value due to overexposure but are thankfully concluded quickly in transition songs.

Nevertheless, some editing in the narrative here could have surely helped. The interlinking of the episodes and lineage of the legends is arduous to absorb unless you simultaneously sketch out a genealogy.

In accordance to the theme of the film, the music is passable and there’s even an item number thrown in. Occasionally the storytelling becomes verbose and preachy. Also the switchover in the screenplay to contemporary times could have been avoided since it doesn’t give the film a new dimension. The animation is 2 dimensional throughout and appears quite outdated in current context.

Dashavatar is again one of those films that wins sympathy votes for its attempt.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Friday, June 13, 2008

India the next big animation hub

This year marks the centenary of the first animated film in the world. Fantasmagorie, a two-minute hand-drawn film by Emile Cohl, was screened in a Paris theatre in August 1908. Now 100 years later, at the world’s largest animation film festival at Annecy in France, it is the turn of India to take the centre-stage.

The ‘country of focus’ at the 32nd edition of the Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy held in this town with a view of the French Alps, is India. The festival’s artistic director Serge Bromberg wore a kurta and pyjama to the opening ceremony of the six-day event on June 9 to announce the arrival of India on the global stage of animation. “India is going to become a big player in animation,” says Bromberg, who is still wearing a kurta, nearly a week after the inauguration.

There are visible signs of Bromberg’s optimism at the festival too. Sharing screen with full-length animated films like the France-Germany-Israel co-production Waltz with Bashir, which won the hearts at Cannes Film Festival last month with its balanced narrative of the Sabra and Chatila massacre of September 1982, is Return of Hanuman, only the second Indian animated feature film after Hanuman.

“Annecy is the Cannes of animation. It’s a big honour for India to be the country of focus here. But it’s only a first step,” says Mohammed Bendjebbour, who heads the French TV and Film Office in Mumbai. The focus last year was on Benelux countries, the next being Germany in 2009.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

First indigenous animation film Dashavatar ready

Dashavatar is the first indigenously made animation film.

Phoebus Media Pvt. Ltd's animation-mythological feature film Dashavatar which is scheduled for 13 June release is the first indigenously made animation film.

Shatrughan Sinha has done the narration for Dashavatar. Besides Shatrughan Sinha, other actors who did voice-overs for different characters are Sachin Khedekar for the character 'Lord Vishnu', Shreyas Talpade for 'Narad', Rupali Ganguly for 'Apsara', Tom Alter for 'Parshuram', Shishir Sharma for 'Bali Raja', Kenneth Desai for 'Lord Indra', Vinay Apte for 'Kansa' and Ashish Vidyarthi for 'Hiranakshyapu'.

The story of Dashavatar is based on ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, directed by Bhavik & produced by Vimal Shah of Anushvi Productions in association with Rahul Bakshi of Phoebus Creations Media Pvt. Ltd.

Dashavatar weaves together the fascinating stories of Ram, Krishna, Parshuram, Vaman, Narsimha, Buddha and also the tales of Vishnu in earlier avatars - Matsya, Kurma and Varaha and Kalki Avatar!

Dashavatar would enthrall the world when they will see that Ram and Krishna are two out of a legion of ten. It is an odyssey through time, showing the values of the old world matching the sensibilities of the modern one.

Dashavatar is a film that would have instant universal appeal for its entertainment value, sensible content, technical finesse and production values of international standards.

The Indian animation industry today is merely scratching the surface of our vast treasure of stories and the one with the largest canvas is Dashavatar, with its ten superheroes pitted against the vilest villains ever.

Source : http://entertainment.oneindia.in/

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Thai animation series sets sights on world

Shellhut Entertainment Co, a local animation producer, aims to launch Thailand's first 3D animated TV series Shelldon, in worldwide markets, hoping to earn at least 500 million baht within three to five years.

Shelldon features the adventures and friendships of Shelldon, a shell hero and his marine friends.
''Apart from entertainment, the animation would help convey not only family-care messages but also raise concerns about environmental issues and educate children about marine life,'' said Jirayuth Chusanachoti, the managing director of Shellhut Entertainment.

After eight years of production with a total investment of 83 million baht, the Thai animation series is scheduled to be launched first in Thailand on Channel 3 in October.

The 52-episode series, each lasting 15 minutes, will be broadcast on Monday and Tuesday from 7:45 to 8 pm.

The Thai-made animation's script and music were also advised on and contributed by professionals including Hollywood and Walt Disney film producers and singers.

UK-based Entertainment Rights, the Shelldon animation rights holder, started selling Shelldon in April and currently there were 45 countries interested in buying the broadcasting rights including the US network NBC.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Animation cos forge international tie-ups

HYDERABAD: South India is fast emerging as an animation hub, courtesy low overhead costs and robust growth of this sector in the domestic and overseas market.

Animation companies are scaling up their facilities and forging international tie-ups to meet the market needs. State governments are providing infrastructure to push growth in the sector.

The impact: animation companies are now moving up the value chain. They have transformed themselves from being back-office service providers to suppliers of content and retail products to the world market.

“Programmes like Ganesha and The Return of Hanuman are indicators of the industry moving up the value chain,” said R Krishnan, executive director, Aptech, a company that offers training through its brand Arena Multimedia.

City-based DQ Entertainment is expanding its footprint globally. The company has made about five films in collaboration with global animation companies such as Moonscoop, Harvey Entertainment, American Greetings and Method Films.

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Monday, June 9, 2008

India's Animation Industry to Reach $1 billion by 2010

While India produces very little feature animation for domestic consumption (where are the India Pixar's?) they are beginning to be the back office for US majors Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony and other major production studios. Moreover there are companies like Image Metrics, Autodesk, and Soft Image that are looking at the feasibility of setting up shop in India according to sources.

In an interview with the Business Standard, KPMG Advisory Services (P) Ltd Director Jaiddep Ghosh said, "Although India is the largest media consuming market in the world, only 1 per cent of the US market size which is estimated at $10 billion, so far the animation is concerned, it is currently pegged at $600 million."

Which means India has vast potential and will more see more and more foreign and domestic investment in this area. Ghosh further goes on to add, "the Indian market size is extremely fragmented with the top players accounting for 10-15 per cent of the industry turnover. Further, most of the players are direct or indirect off-shoots of the Indian BPO boom. This legacy and low indigenous demand forced most of the players to adopt the outsourcing business model."

According to the the Business Standard, domestic animation studios like Toonz Animation, Crest Communication, Maya Entertainment, UTV Toons, Zee, etc. Also, Pritish Nandy Communication has plans for five full-length 3-D animated bollywood films and has signed a $25-million deal with Florida-based animation company Motion Pixel Corporation. Crest Animations has entered into a three-movie co-production agreement with Lions Gate, a major movie studio. Also, animation studio DQ Entertainment has made a pact with US-based Electronic Arts to work on PC games.

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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Where 'original Indian animation' is name of game

PUNE: One tour of Pune's Big Animation studio makes you realise that the Indian animation industry has come of age. And the man behind this set-up is Ashish Kulkarni, a pioneer in the field.

Kulkarni has created this massive studio with a built-up area of 60,000 sq ft, which will focus on original Indian content in animation.

"It was in 1995 that animation channels were first seen in India and there were no Indian stories. When our kids go to foreign universities they should have some knowledge of Indian epics," Kulkarni said.

The studio is owned by the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and is their first venture in the sunshine industry of animation and gaming.

Big Animation was born in 2005 when Kulkarni's Bangalore-based animation studio Ani Rights was bought over by corporate honcho Anil Ambani. The studio produced the popular Veneta Cucine advertisement that went on to bag a 2006 award for best animated ad film.

"My first choice to set up the studio was Pune; I didn't want my artists to waste their creative time in local trains (with a studio in Mumbai). In all, 370 people along with their families were moved bag and baggage to Pune," Kulkarni said.

It was naturally a dream come true for Kulkarni who after his daughter's birth in 1994 wanted to drift away from offshore animation production to something original and Indian. And that is Big Animation's USP.

What's interesting is all the techno animation artists at Big Animation live within a radius of one to two kilometres from the studio.

"We thought if an artist wants to take a break in the evening he can go home and come back later in the evening, as an artist in the middle of a project needs to be completely focused and commuting takes away that creativity from him."

At present Big Animation along with the Indian Heritage Foundation, Bangalore, is completely engrossed in the production of "Hey Krishna", an animated feature film to be released later this year.

According to experts, the movie will set a new standard in the Indian animation film industry in terms of originality and quality.

"The studio is into the process of setting up multi-feature film pipelines for both domestic and international markets in 2D and high-end 3D. Big Animation is channelising its energy and funds towards acquisition and development of proprietary products and tools to create a one of its kind IP value chain in the world," says Kulkarni.

The studio is equipped with a Dolby digital sound auditorium, a 35 mm Barco projection unit, the ones used at INOX cinema halls. The auditorium also has an acting floor for animators, separate sound recording studios and a sculptor's room.

On the technical side, Big Animation functions on 64Bit architecture, it has a foundry big Iron RX network switch, one of the fastest in the world and a Blue Arch storage rate. According to Kulkarni, each workstation is equipped with specialised PCs worth Rs 50 to 60 million.

With the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group also deciding to start its own television channels, the studio is bound to be a hub for most animation content.

Big Animation is planning to increase from its existing strength of 610 employees to 1,200 plus by the year 2009. Feature films and high-end computer graphics TV series for a global audience will be its focus area.

The Indian animation industry is said to be growing at the rate of 50 percent every year and is expected to churn out around 800 movies in the next couple of years.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Importance of Cartoon and How Cartoons Work : The Cartoon Code

An understanding of the impact of cartoons rests in part on an appreciation of the cartoon code, how and why it works the way it does. Under scrutiny, the cartoon code is surprisingly complex, but it is not without logic. There are a handful of basic techniques which the cartoonist manipulates to create a symbolic world of make-believe.

Basically, cartoonists, as all good communicators, transmit information through three processes: leveling, sharpening and assimilation

In the process of leveling, communication is simplified. The cartoonist radically "levels" what we usually see in our perceptual field. The cartoon is 2-dimensional rather than 3-dimensional. It is often black and white rather than full color, retaining the outline of a figure with only a hint of the form's texture, shade and shape.

Even the outline is usually simplified with the cartoonist dropping needless objects and details. If possible the cartoonist does not use two lines where one line will do.

In sharpening, some items drop out so that the remaining items gather in importance. The figures stand out crisply from the background. As a cartoon body shrinks, the head expands. As wrinkles and minor features drop out, the expressive features of eyes, mouth and brows (features that move and are therefore the most informative in the human face) become more prominent.

Finally, the cartoonist assimilates through exaggeration and interpolation so that the fantasy, while still make-believe, "makes sense" for the reader.

Thus the square-jawed hero becomes even more firm of jaw. The dull person is made to look positively idiotic and the mean one becomes thoroughly villainous.

While the cartoon code is a convenient shorthand, it is also a starting point for criticism of the cartoon as a form of popular communication: simplifying can lead to oversimplification; sharpening can unfairly caricature; exaggeration can become stereotype which perpetuates the worst racial, ethnic or sexist elements of popular culture.

Nevertheless if a cartoon "works" the reader forgives any manipulation involved because of the insight gained.

These basic cartoon strategies can be most easily seen with simple demonstrations.

In this figure the human face has been "leveled" to a circular shape, two eye dots, and a mouth line. The enormous complexities of the human physiognomy have been reduced to their bare essentials, but they are not distorted.

In the next step, the cartoonist "sharpens" and "assimilates" through the placement of facial features. Exaggerating these elements creates the look of youth, or sadness or bewilderment.

The cartoonist can begin to create these impressions even before adding the more obvious smiles or frowns, ears or noses, hair-do or costume. And these simplified exaggerated faces tend to be "funny". They are recognizable, yet they are unusual.

Telegraphing Emotion

Research identifies half a dozen universally recognized facial expressions of emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. Some of these expressions are perceptually complex. But the cartoonist uses artistic shorthand, which levels, sharpens and exaggerates the difficult cues.

An obvious example is happy-ness which is communicated with the up-turned mouth. The crescent-shaped eyes emerge as the cheeks ball up in mirth. For surprise, the eyebrows go up, the eyes open wide, and the mouth drops open. And so on.

The Cartoon Figure

The normal human figure is about seven or eight heads tall. The cartoon figure, however, usually deviates from those normal proportions.

In fashion illustration or sports cartooning, the emphasis is on the body; the figure may be drawn ten heads tall. The traditionally sexy "pin-up" is likely to have abnormally long legs.

In the humorous cartoon, the head is usually very large in many the proportion to the body. In cartoon characters (Snoopy, Ziggy), the head is as big as body. The larger-than-normal head produces at least two effects. One, it makes the cartoon figure seem cute and childlike. Two the exaggerated head size gives play to the facial features and expressions which best communicate personality and feelings.

3-D and Action

To create a three-dimensional, make-believe world, the cartoonist provides us with a number of perceptual cues that we use daily in navigating through the real world:
  • size - distant items are smaller
  • overlap - near objects overlap more distant ones
  • clarity - closer objects appear sharper (usually drawn with a heavier line)
  • detail - nearby characters have texture and facial features while distant ones are barely outlined
  • color - brightly colored items (red, for example) will advance while cool, blue objects will recede.
  • The cartoonist adds "action lines" to indicate the direction and speed of movement. Straight lines are fast, wavy lines are slower. When something travels fast, it may "disappear in a cloud of dust." The cartoonist picks up this metaphor literally.
Thought and Language

The stars of cartoon symbolism, of course, are the thought balloon and the speech balloon. Objects and animals which look like humans are anthropomorphic. If they act like humans, the anthrpomorphism increases. And if they think and speak like humans, the anthropomorphism is complete; they really seem to come alive.

The importance of intertwining speech and action has been emphasized by those who see the comics as a distinct art form. Cartoonists themselves comment on the unique sense of creation they get from combining word and action.

Summary

These they are the tricks of the technical trade," the coding the cartoonist a make- believe world, to create figures, to give them depth, to give them action, thought and language. The techniques themselves are not difficult, but to create a make-believe world which an audience will want to visit again and again - that is a challenge.

Author:
Randall Harrison, PhD is a cartoonist turned communication scholar and, often, vice versa. His major research on the cartoon as communication (from which this article is excerpted with permission) is The Cartoon (c) 1981 Sage Publications. It is a fascinating introduction to the cartoon form and an excellent resource not only for writers and editors but for teachers, pastors and anyone who needs to communicate a message simply but effectively.

Source : http://www.medialit.org/

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Pixel Academix, A New Animation Academy Venture Of Sanra Software Launched In Chennai

Indian Animation Industry is at stage of exponential growth, expected demand of around 3 lakh professionals in this industry in the next couple of years.

Pixel Academix, a new animation academy venture of Sanra Software Ltd has been launched in Chennai. The centre is located at Suite No.1A, Door No. 24, Wellington Estate, 1st Floor, Ethiraj Salai, Egmore, Chennai – 600 008. The inauguration of the academy was done by Shri K S Ravikumar, a well renowned Film Director. Pixel Academix, a division of Sanra Software Limited has been conceptualized to provide the highest quality career oriented education in the field of Animation, Gaming & Visual Effects to create a world class talent pool that will fulfill the demand for well trained animators in today’s market.

Mr. A Venkatramani, Chairman, Sanra Software Limited said "Sanra as a Corporate is looking at being 360 Degree Company in the field of new media Technology . With focus on creating IP and servicing to global clients, we have already developed a high end infrastructure and team of diverse professionals in Chennai and Bangalore. We are already training for our In House requirement and Pixel Academix is an extension of this idea to bring the benefit of production based training to the student community at large create path breaking professionals to take this Industry forward. Sanra believes that with concentrated focus on each these verticals i.e. Products - IP Creation , Services , technology and training , the Company shall be able to give highest value to the stakeholders and also the Industry as a whole. The Industry is experiencing a major boom and it is a time for the members of the Industry to take efforts and take this Industry to the next stage of growth. "

Ms. Uma Karthikeyan, CEO, Pixel Academix said “Pixel Academix plans to focus on the south and west regions for the next 6-9 months. The Company plans to start its further centers in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and then move on expansion to the tier 2 cities in Tamilnadu, AP ,Karnataka & Kerala . Pixel aims at having atleast 20 centres down south by end of 2008 and around 50 centres across India by 2009.”


Mr. S Manoj, COO, Pixel Academix said “We will be starting with our first course, Pixel 3D immediately. This course with a duration of 6 months costs Rs. 100,000 + Service Tax. Admission for this course starts immediately, w.e.f. May 15. In the next 2 months, Pixel proposes to launch a 2D Animation course, Flash Animation course and a Comprehensive 2D & 3D Animation course, keeping in mind the market requirement for integrated and full fledged animation professionals. All these courses will have Creativity training and Soft Skills training as part of the program and will end with a Live Project which all students will be working on. The USP of Pixel animation courses is that it will be extensively drawn from the Sanra production environment and the faculty / trainers will be people having rich production experience.”

Pixel Academix has its origins in a production environment. Sanra Software Limited, a Public Company listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange and with development & delivery offices in Chennai & Bangalore is one of the fastest growing Companies in the field of Animation, Gaming and New Media Technology. The Company has strong capabilities in production of 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Visual Effects and Gaming and has the experience of working on Domestic and International Projects with a team of diversified professionals with varied experience.

Ms. Uma Karthikeyan further said “The Indian Animation Industry is at stage of exponential growth. There is an immense growth of original content being developed for both the Domestic and the International Market. Nasscom Estimates this Industry to touch the 1 Billion mark in India by 2010. On the quality front also, India has also become a preferred destination for outsourcing of various International Animation and Gaming Projects. With around 15000 professionals working across 350 odd Animation Studios in India and a CAGR of around 30%, the animation Industry is expected to be the next best opportunity creator. There is an expected demand of around 300,000 professionals in this industry in the next couple of years.”

With a strong understanding of technology and with a combination of work encompassing products originated from its own environment and services for International services, Sanra Software understands what it takes to be a successful professional in this field. Pixel Academix has translated this experience into its courses. The Course Curriculum at Pixel Academix has been structured and designed by a team of production experts to give the student an all round production oriented environment experience. Pixel Academix also believes that to be an all round professional, a student needs to be able to communicate, express and present his ideas in an effective manner. To ensure this all round development, Pixel Academix’s curriculum includes specialized Soft Skills courses on Effective Communication, Presentation and Project Planning. This has been possible through our tie-up with Paradigm Shift, a Knowledge Consulting Company that caters to the end to end Learning and Development (L & D) needs of today’s globalizing business ecosystem. Paradigm Shift has a pan India presence and counts almost all the top business houses in India as their clients.

Pixel Academix Edge:
  • Career Oriented Short Term and Long Term Courses in 2D, 3D , Gaming Design and Visual Effects
  • Content extracted right from a production environment
  • Software Training - Maya, 3D Studio Max, Zbrush, Photoshop,Flash, Toonboom , Adobe Premier Pro, Combustion, etc.
  • Specialized Soft Skills development programs integrated in each course.
  • Simulated Production Environment with the opportunity to work on Live Projects
  • Continuous Interface with the Industry with regular Guest Lectures/ Seminars/ Webinars by Eminent professional in the Industry
  • State of Art Infrastructure
For further information, please contact Mediacom PR on 4211 6641 / 42 / 43

Source : http://www.free-press-release-center.info/

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Manpower shortage hits Indian animation industry

MUMBAI: The Indian animation industry is expected to double its revenues to nearly $1.5 billion by 2010 but is still hampered by lack of skilled manpower, mainly due to lack of facilities and preference for traditional career options.

"At the close of next year, the industry will require at least 25,000 more trained hands to fill the gap and by the year 2012, the industry will have room to accommodate 300,000 professionals, if not more," Atul Vohra, in-charge of the education division of the Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), told reporters.

At present only a little over 10,000 professionals are working in this techno-creative field.

Although there are about 500 private animation-training institutes, apart from a few government-run colleges having animation curriculum, India, as of today, has only a handful of institutes teaching high-end animation techniques.

"If there was earlier an anathema towards animation among Indian students, I would rather blame their parents and guardians for it. Because, until recently, the elders in this country had a misconception that animation was all about drawing cartoon figures and so they felt there were no career prospects in this field. They never encouraged their wards to take up animation as a professional course," Vohra pointed out.

The Arena, the animation division of APTECH, is the oldest of the lot in imparting animation training and it also has a variety of high-end training courses, while the six-year-old MAAC specializes on imparting training in 2-D and 3-D animation.

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Monday, June 2, 2008

Animation In Email

Wouldn't you love to have full animation or even video in email? We know for a fact that rich media in email works from a performance perspective. I've seen results as high as 60% improvement in bottom line results with the use of rich media. Unfortunately, in today's world of spammers, phishing and cybercrime, the ISPs have restricted our creativity to a point we struggle to even get images rendered. This doesn't mean you can't be creative. The fact is, you have a percentage of your loyal readers, subscribers and customers that will open your email frequently and are receptive to more creative presentations. And with those customers, you can try new things to inspire the inspired. So, why not try new things?

The ISPs do restrict you from coding java script into email, so you can't do any cool things like call up a streamed video or enable Flash. Even in the B2B worlds, there are so many corporate restrictions that are part of each company's IT policies, rendering rich media becomes even more of a guesswork.

Don't give up, though. There are some easy options to help you do things outside the box.

First, you can use animated gifs. While the transition of images does not work in all environments, it works in the large percentage of the largely populated ISPs. An animated gif will allow you to create transitioning images as one image and it will rotate those images when it pulls up the HTML.

This technique has been used in some very creative ways recently in the retail space. Some use it to show variations in colors and styles of products. I saw one recently that transitioned colors onto a shoe product to show it in four colors. Some use it to animate important points (Free Shipping) and some use it to call attention to the main points of the email. I'm not sure why more people aren't using it today -- except that it requires more thinking, planning and creativity, and with time at a premium, it goes to the bottom of the priority list. While it's a great idea and can add flair to your work, you should be careful and understand that if the images don't transition, you will be left with the first image in the sequence. Meaning your creative should support a good experience with that single image, so I recommend you don't transition word phrases and place your payoff statement as the third transition.

Tests we ran with our clients have shown incremental improvement in click to response based on animated images. But I caution you to use animation in good taste. A bright yellow starburst of a sale animating or blinking marquis lights won't add value to the experience - it will cheapen your brand.

As for Flash and Video in email, they just don't work consistently enough across most IPS for my comfort. I've seen many samples, and the vendors specializing in this claim they can deliver this experience, but I have yet to see them perform consistently enough in our test environments to suggest it to our clients. That doesn't mean you can't work around this, promising the payoff of a rich experience by designing a video window with a creative prompt that links you to a landing page where the video plays or animated gifs in the player window calling the receiver to click through. It doesn't mean you can't use animated gifs to simulate a Flash sequence and prompt the user to click through for the full presentation.

The key to great creative is to comprehensively understand your customer's email experience, to keep improving on this and finding creative illustration that helps tell the story or communicate a message.

Source : http://publications.mediapost.com/

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Animation film festival held in Kolkata

Kolkata, May 31 (IANS) The Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) organised here a day-long animation film and education festival - Srijon (creation) 2008. “The festival is organised to highlight the creative genius of the Kolkata animators. We are showcasing not only short films made by the MAAC students, but also budding animators across the city,” MAAC president Atul Vohra said Friday.

MAAC is Hindi film producer-director Ketan Mehta’s animation and visual effects training institute.

Though not present at the festival, Mehta said through video conferencing: “It is only through animation and visual effects that we can literally mix technology and creativity to portray our dreams in reality. A few years back animation stood for cartoon films while visual effects were only used in science fiction films. But now almost every Hindi film needs visual effects to get the desired background.”

The making of his film “Mangal Pandey-The Rising” was shown to the animators.

“The entire film has vast use of visual effects. Most of the forts, temples and the recreation of heritage buildings like the Calcutta High Court, Fort William and Writer’s Buildings were results of fine animation and visual effects,” said Mehta.

Technical director of Oscar winning Hollywood film “The Golden Compass” V.K. Gupta gave tips to the animators on animation production.

Source : http://www.thaindian.com/

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