Animation BPO set for growth

Animation and gaming are seen as the next wave in Indias successful outsourcing story. However, there is a major change, this is a sector which has moved up from outsourcing to co production, a move up the value chain from low end, less creative work to higher creativity and advanced technologies, says Krayon Pictures director Namrata Sharma. She said that for India to catch the animation bus, it needed to quickly provide the required manpower since Nasscom had projected that both animation and gaming were multi billion dollar opportunities for India. The usual block, however, is the lack of trained manpower.

And those who do go to training schools offering such courses are not studio ready, industry veterans claim Industry is now trying to bridge the gap through an industry training institute co operation. MCCIAs Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, animation and gaming committee, comprising a three member group of industry professionals, has devised a curriculum for a six month foundation course, which will provide the industry with studio ready professionals.

Additionally, the committee has proposed the formation of a loose alliance of all training institutes so that some facilities might be shared. This association will ensure that basic standards are maintained in the quality of training imparted at these institutes.

MCCIA committee co ordinator Cmde Anand Khandekar said the sector was more than just software. Being a multi disciplinary area, its manpower must be skilled at acting and the other performing arts. Lalit Kala Kendra of the University of Pune has, therefore, devised a course for applied theatre, where theatre can be used as a therapy by the industry.

Source : http://www.offshoringtimes.com/

3-D takes a giant leap into the future

Hollywood is looking at the future through tinted plastic glasses.

My Bloody Valentine, Coraline and the Jonas Brothers concert film were just warm-up acts. The attack of the 3-D movie revival begins in earnest next Friday when Monsters vs. Aliens, the latest computer-animated funhouse from DreamWorks, is launched into theaters.

At least 12 other titles will follow this year, including such milestones as Up, Pixar's first foray in the format; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, a rare chance to see that disaster-prone Scrat get flattened in 3-D; and Avatar, James Cameron's return to feature filmmaking after a 12-year hiatus that will attempt to do for live-action futuristic thrillers what his Titanic did for sinking ships.

If ever a digital-age update on what was once an Ike-era novelty were going to take hold — and persuade more theater operators to invest upward of $100,000 to convert to the technology — it is now, with such already anticipated titles ready to give it a real workout.

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Early 2009 Korea Animation and Comics News

Celebrating this year what is considered the official centennial of the birth of Korean comics, artists and public officials of South Korea have already kicked into high gear a year full of specialized festival and event appearances geared toward increasing the funds available for developing additional, new intellectual property for Korean audiences. With the animation business in the region inching in the direction of a market threatening stagnation and the comics realm still too small to matter for some, the 2009-year should serve as an optimal time for policy-makers and active artists to pursue smartly-partnered, long-term projects.

As a result of this limited opportunity, a few interesting news items have come on the radar concerning Korean animation and comics projects. From the recently announced call for entries for the widely accessible Korean International Cartoons & Animation Festival, to a recent influx of funs from the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, to a potential expansion of Korean comic artists in east and central European territories, there are some key industry-specific notes worth checking on at the moment.

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Cartoon Movie 2009: A New Home

Cartoon Movie's 11th edition moved from its home in Germany to Lyon, France, bringing a new focus on videogames and a record number of participants.

Cartoon Movie moved to a new venue and a new country this year, logging a record attendance and putting a new priority on links with the videogame industry. After 10 years in the historic home of German film at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, the event switched this year to France's second city, Lyon.

While Babelsberg was best known for production of cinema classics such as Metropolis and The Blue Angel, Lyon also has a place in the history of cinema as the city where the Lumiere Brothers invented the cinematograph. In more recent years, however, its media of choice has centered on videogame production.

Cartoon Movie was set up to ease the production of European animation feature films by encouraging co-production between European countries and accelerating the financing and distribution process. Films are presented to an audience of investors, distributors and producers at various stages of development. This year a total of 51 projects were on show with a total budget of €370 million -- seven completed movies, 10 in production, 16 in development and 18 in concept.

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The Animated Scene: A New Journey

In his last "The Animated Scene" column, Joseph Gilland ruminates on the last year, his new book and some big changes.

Well, here I sit at my computer keyboard, truly at a crossroads in my life. This new year started with both triumph and tragedy for me, and there is something in the air that smells like massive change. Not only for me, but also for the whole world, and especially the United States of America. My small world still revolves almost entirely around the art of animation, but I am as touched by world events as anyone, and before I leave my column here at Animation World Network, I would like to weave a tapestry of animation and worldly events, as well as the profound personal journey that we all embark upon, simply by being alive at this time, on this planet.

Late last summer, I began a new journey in my animation career, as I was working around the clock to finish my book about special effects animation. For the first time in almost 30 years, I found myself out of work, with no immediate prospects for a new job in plain sight. It was a perfect time to throw myself into the final difficult stages of finishing my book, an undertaking that proved to be far more complicated and challenging than I had ever imagined. I was completely strapped financially, and there was quite a bit of stress related to that, me being a single parent with a healthy and extremely active teenage boy to provide for. But I applied myself 100 percent to the task at hand. My book, Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation, had been in the works for more than four years at that point. Lucky for me, I had a real deadline to meet this time, and that was just the incentive I needed. (My apologies to the editors at AWN for not quite making my column deadlines on multiple occasions) So the book got finished, right around the same time that I found a small independent animation studio in the Vancouver area, looking for a visual effects supervisor with the kind of experience I could bring to the table. Whew! It was a close call. I was still finishing the last touches of the book, working 'till the wee hours of the morning, when I first started designing and planning the special effects elements for the new Thomas the Tank Engine series being produced at Nitrogen Studios.

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DreamWorks Animation Fourth-Quarter Profit Drops 45%

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said fourth-quarter profit fell 45 percent as the studio’s latest DVD release “Kung Fu Panda” failed to match revenue from “Shrek the Third” a year earlier.

Net income dropped to $51.6 million, or 58 cents a share, from $94.1 million, or 98 cents, in the year-ago period, Glendale, California-based DreamWorks Animation said today in a statement. Profit, including a 12-cent tax benefit, missed the 62-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Studios including DreamWorks Animation have been hurt by shrinking DVD sales, even with films such as “Panda,” the sixth biggest box-office seller in U.S. and Canadian theaters last year. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg said in December the company will produce TV shows, branch into live events and release 3-D movies to combat the decline. “Monsters Vs. Aliens,” its first 3-D film, opens on March 27.

“ It’s all a shortfall in ‘Kung Fu Panda,’” Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, said today in an e-mail. He has a buy rating on the shares.

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