Animation company pulls in the grads

Twenty-three-year-old Adrian Blackwell grew up in Australia and went to art school in San Francisco, so he wasn't sure what to expect from his first Michigan winter.

"I'd never really experienced snow. Some hail maybe, but not snow," he said last week. However, Blackwell said he is making the adjustment and likes his new job with RTT USA Inc., which is succeeding in attracting young, highly skilled employees from around the U.S. In its own small way, RTT is reversing the movement of young college graduates from Michigan by offering creative, high-tech jobs experts say are critical to the state's future.

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DreamWorks Animation Expanding to India

DreamWorks Animation SKG has formed a strategic alliance with Thomson’s Technicolor Services division to develop animation capabilities in India. The alliance will leverage Thomson's recent investment in Paprikaas Animation Studios in Bangalore, which will help DreamWorks complete a growing slate of projects as it expands into television via its recently announced deal with Nickelodeon.

Strengthening Paprikaas’ creative, technical and computer animation capabilities will help Thomson reach its goal of becoming a worldwide supplier of animation through Technicolor Services, which has been a leader in post-production services for animated feature films. DreamWorks Animation will assist Technicolor in recruiting, and training of animation talent for the Paprikaas team.

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Indian animation industry may touch $950 mn by 2009

With global players like Walt Disney, Imax, Warner Bros signing contracts with Indian animation companies for outsourcing and co-production, it is expected that the animation industry in India can touch $950 million by 2009 and is expected to grow at a fast pace over the next five years.

However, outside the Industry there is scepticism about the pace of growth because of the challenges like piracy, lack of intellectual property (IP) protection rights, acute lack of resources and investments the Industry is facing.

In an interaction with 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.”

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Frame by Frame, Animation Moves to India

If you have a date to go to the movies with a child this week, chances are good that part of the movie you'll see was made in India. Both The Golden Compass and Alvin and the Chipmunks used digital animation that was created in Mumbai.

India is rapidly becoming a player in the global cultural marketplace, and animation is no exception. Los Angeles-based animation company Rhythm & Hues worked on the films from their Hollywood offices — and from the offices that they have opened in India. Employees stay in contact through daily video conferencing, bridging 12 time zones and 13,000 miles.

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'Spectacular Spider-Man' Animation Licensing News

Spectacular Spidey Licensing

Announced in recent months as the next adaptation of one of the most popular comic book characters ever put to print, film or animation, The Spectacular Spider-Man despite being months away from actually hitting Saturday mornings, is earning its stripes through a variety of licensing efforts and marketing initiatives. Featuring a streamlined set of character designs and a new version of the central story, The Spectacular Spider-Man will premiere early next year with a bang, or so MARVEL hopes. The Spider-Man Merchandising, LP (limited partnership) that comprises of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc., continues to oversee the licensing and merchandising activities for Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man feature films and animated series based on the Marvel character.

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World Class Animation and Visual Effects Studio in The Offing

A MOU was signed today between Pink Slip Productions, a company based in California run by a former Disney artist and executive, KuKri Ventures Inc, a USA based investment company, Mercantile, the largest IT company in Nepal and Transcube International Pvt. Ltd., a computer graphics and animation company, to set up a world class animation and visual effects (VFX) studio in Kathmandu to service the international market. The new company, which will be called Incessant Rain Animation Studios Pvt. Ltd., will start recruiting immediately and plans to come into production by the first quarter next year.

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New Generation Expansion

New Venture for New Generation

In the business of localizing Japanese animation for western audiences, few companies match the creative fervor of New Generation Pictures, an independent production company for film and video. Providing any variety of multimedia services that reach out and connect animation fans of eastern moving pictures with their beloved aesthetic, New Generation Pictures, since the early 1990s, has worked hard to provide its clients with significantly accurate and high quality results. Translation, script adaptation, DVD subtitling, and of course, Audio Dialogue Replacement (ADR) production are of the many skills the company provides.

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Juried Emmy Awards Announced for Individual Achievement in Animation

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the Emmy Award winners in Individual Achievement in Animation for the 59th Emmy Awards. These are juried award categories, which have no nominations and will be presented at the 2007 Creative Arts Awards on Sept. 8 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. This year there were no Emmys awarded in the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance juried area.

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Animax Names Animation Competition Regional Finalists

Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan join contest

Animax, the leading animation cable channel in Japan and Southeast Asia, has announced the titles of the winning entries in the Pan Asia Animation Competition of this year's Animax Awards. This contest has been held in Japan since 2002, but this is the first year that it has been open to contestants from other countries. Competitors were invited to submit a script, novel excerpt, or comic suitable for adaptation into a 30- to 40-minute anime episode, based on either an original character or one of the characters Animax created for the contest. Over three thousand entries were received from seven different regions, and six of the twelve finalists represent various countries throughout Northeast, Southeast and South Asia.

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More Classic 2D Animation from John Lasseter and Disney

Disney continues the return to 2D hand-drawn animation under John Lasseter. Neither Disney suit Execs nor Lasseter have provided the reason for the full steam ahead return to traditional animation by the southern California arm of the company but Dimples is happy to see the trend continue. From FilmStew.com:

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Work is play for the animation man

Tapaas Chakravarti loved comics enough to mop up an impressive collection, but for a long time, thought little of making a career out of it. A sales and marketing professional, he had modest ambitions and a low-risk job profile until eight years ago. Then, overtaken by a passion for animation and entertainment, he chucked his job and started DQ Entertainment that has grown into one of India’s largest production houses for animation and visual effects now.

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Rajni's new dimension, a 3D animation flick

Even as Sivaji-The Boss hit theatres with a bang, the trailer of yet another of the superstar's flick was screened rather quietly in theatres around the world-a 3D animation film called Sultan-The Warrior slated for release in 2008-end. The slickly shot 45-second trailer showed an animated character of 'Sultan' Rajnikanth in a brief solo stunt scene flashing a sword and sprouting a dialogue typical of the actor: Kannu Idhu Pudusu (This is new dear).

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Cartoons now available via podcast

Frederator Studios founder Fred Seibert has launched Channel Frederator, the world's first cartoon video podcast created expressly for distribution of content on portable video devices such as the Apple iPod and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). Released weekly, the episodes will contain several short form original and vintage cartoons submitted by producers from around the world, packaged into 10 to 15 minute episodes by the Channel Frederator programming team.

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Satyam's Nipuna ties up with British animation firm for films

Nipuna Services Limited, the Satyam Group's BPO subsidiary, has signed a $25 million 'edutainment' deal with 4K Animation Limited of Britain for the execution and delivery of a television series and a film. The contract is one of the largest ever by a global BPO service provider in the animation marketplace.

Nipuna will work with the 4K Animation team for 18 months on two 'iconic' European animation projects: the third season of 'Marvi Hammer Presents National Geographic World', an award-winning, 52-episode television series, and a movie, featuring Marvi Hammer.

The series and movie feature a combination of live action and animation and includes actual studio sets used as animation backgrounds, a furry computer creature and 2D-animated characters.

Hamburg-based YOUA Edutainment, National Geographic, and German broadcaster ZDF will co-produce the series and movie.

More than 120 Nipuna professionals will produce and deliver animation services for the projects. Nipuna will provide VFX, CGI, 3D and 2D animation services, including pre-production, production, and post-production, along with German artists, from its state-of-the-art studio in Chennai.

Nipuna also provides artwork and visualization services involving 2D and/or 3D animation techniques and processes to customers in the engineering, architectural, and medical industries.

Earlier this year, Nipuna signed a $8 million deal with 4K Animation to provide animation services for a movie to be produced in Hollywood.

The 4K Animation Limited is one of the leading animation and special effects companies in Europe.

'This partnership reflects a growing trend toward corporatization in the animation industry, which is leading to increasingly significant opportunities,' said Venkatesh Roddam, Nipuna's chief executive officer.

'Long-term contracts such as this one show that companies recognise Nipuna's capabilities in an industry where human resources are integral to quality, and responsible for the success of creative ventures,' he added.

'Nipuna has been a true partner since we began working with the organisation in early 2006,' Jan Schmidtgen, managing director of 4K Animation said on the occasion.

'Its focus on animation services has resulted in significant expertise in creative business practices. Above all, its flexibility and commitment to quality have helped it exceed our expectations,' he added.

Nipuna has built significant VFX, CGI, and 3D animation skills and has produced films like 'Sainikudu', 'Stalin', 'Pokhiri', and 'Belly Full of Dreams'.

Source: www.offshoringtimes.com

DreamWorks Animation Reports Second Quarter 2007 Financial Results

For the quarter ended June 30, 2007, DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. reported total revenue of $222.5 million and net income of $61.8 million, or $0.60 per share on a fully diluted basis. This compares to revenue of $74.9 million and net income of $13.7 million, or $0.13 per share on a fully diluted basis, for the same period in 2006.

"The strong financial quarter was driven primarily by the performance of Shrek the Third, which was the biggest domestic opening for an animated film in the history of the movie industry," commented Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation's CEO. "Despite the unprecedented level of competition, the film's blockbuster success demonstrated the strength of our flagship property and the value of the Company's overall franchise strategy."

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