Animation training institutes fail to produce talent

PUNE: Ramesh Patil, a college dropout, was picked up by an animation studio two years ago and was trained for six months. He now works as part of its core character designing team. Alongside him sits Venkatesh Rao, who spent five years in a fine arts course before the studio hired him. Jaideep Singh, on the other hand, enrolled in a twenty-month, Rs 2 lakh course, and is still jobless, in spite of the animation training institute having promised him placement.

Ramesh, Venkatesh and Jaideep (names changed) represent the workforce in the animation industry. The contradiction is that new training institutes are opening almost every other week just as many studios have either closed down or have laid off artists over the past two years.

Four years ago, there were 640 animation studios across the country. This number is now down to around 300, with UTV Toons being the latest to do so. Sources claim that Reliance ADAG-owned Big Animation recently laid-off a sizeable number of its pre-production artists.

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City to get Rs 80-cr animation studio

BANGALORE: Film animation buffs will love nothing better than a hi-tech studio on home turf to avoid the high costs of journeying abroad.

Their dreams could come true if Bangalore-born Hollywood producer, writer, director Siva Selvaraj executes his plans. Selvaraj, a US resident for the past 20 years, plans to set up a Rs 80-crore animation studio here to help filmmakers get access to state-of-the-art technology.

Selvaraj, currently here for post-production work on a film shot in the US, Black Men Can Swim , said the studio is part of a larger effort to bridge Indian films with Hollywood.

"The shooting of Black Men Can Swim is over and I'm looking to complete post-production in India, either at Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai or Chennai. This is my effort to bring India and Hollywood together."

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Arena launches Animation Studios in Chennai

CHENNAI: Arena Animation, the Global leader in Animation and Multimedia training launched Animation Studios at Arena’s Vadapalani and Anna Nagar centres, which offer Arena’s hi end Animation Engineering (DAE)program.

Addressing a Press Conference at Chennai, Mr R Krishnan, Executive Director, Aptech Ltd said, “The hi-tech Animation Studios are being launched with an aim to enable the students of Animation Engineering (DAE) to undergo intensive training in Animation related subjects. The state-of-the-art studios are equipped to train students on the latest Animation & Special Effects and offer them hands-on training in highly advanced animation technology, equipping them for the ever-evolving & challenging world of multimedia & animation.”

The studios will facilitate live projects and intensive industry interaction for the DAE students.

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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/

MIDDS ties up with American college for animation studies

NEW DELHI: Mumbai-based Meteor Institute of Digital Design Studies (Midds) has tied up with Expression College of Digital Arts in Emeryville, California, to offer a degree programme.

Midds, an animation and game design institute, is a division of Meteor Films.

Expression College of Digital Arts has its campus near Pixar Studios and has programmes in animation, visual effects, game design and audio design.

As part of the collaboration, students who pass out of the 17-month advanced diploma programme will be eligible to enter Expression College with part of the credits waived and will be able to complete their degree in approximately three semesters.

In effect, students will complete their diploma at Midds in India and rest of the curriculum at Expression college to get their degree.

In a period of two and half years, Midds has expanded to 10 centers across India.

Midds was established as an educational institution dedicated to the professional design disciplines of 3D, 2D design, animation, multimedia, and game development technology .

Source : http://www.indiantelevision.com/

DreamWorks Animation Moves From Activision to THQ

DreamWorks Animation will end its six-year exclusive deal with Activision in 2010 with the release of the MASTER MIND game with THQ, reports VARIETY. Activision's first DWA-based title was SHREK 2 in 2004.

The THQ deal is a one-off agreement. Activision will retain the right to make games based on franchises that it has already worked on in the past. THQ revenues have been down with several titles underperforming in 2007, including the RATATOUILLE game and Nickelodeon- inspired titles. THQ looks forward to strong performances from 2008 releases SAINTS ROW 2 and WALL*E.

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

Animation world gets competitive

Studios challenging Pixar for toon throne

The world of feature animation -- once thought to be the exclusive domain of Disney and DreamWorks -- is getting increasingly competitive, as studios left outside the gates of the toon kingdom are employing aggressive tactics to break in.

With the successful bow of "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who," Fox Animation reaffirms its place in the top tier, thanks to a string of hits from its Blue Sky CGI studio, capped by "Horton."

The other studios are jockeying to join that select crowd.

n Universal successfully courted former Fox toon topper Chris Meledandri, who oversaw development on "Horton" and the "Ice Age" franchise, by helping him establish his own independent family entertainment company. The studio's exclusive deal with Meledandri includes partial ownership of his production house, Illumination.

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Singapore Animation Studio Releases 3D Animation Marketing E-book

Mediafreaks Pte Ltd, a 3D animation studio based in Singapore, has released a free e-book titled ‘True Case Studies of How Animation Can Help Grow a Business’.

Mar 23, 2008 – Mediafreaks Pte Ltd (http://www.media-freaks.com), a 3D animation studio based in Singapore, has released a free e-book titled ‘True Case Studies of How Animation Can Help Grow a Business’.

The purpose of the e-book is to educate business establishments on the benefits of using 3D animation to market and grow their businesses and also using character licensing (http://www.media-freaks.com/character-licensing.html) to increase the salability of their products and services.

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Secrets of Pixar's inner circle

JIMMY HAYWARD wanted to direct movies for as long as he can remember, and when he started working at Pixar Animation Studios more than a decade ago, it looked like the self-taught animator was well on his way.

He collected animation credits on "Toy Story" and its sequel, and on "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo." But Hayward eventually realized that if his childhood dream was to come true, he would have to do what very few Pixar employees ever consider: leave the company. And that was precisely the move he made in order to direct "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!," which hits theaters Friday.

Pixar is rightly considered the most artistically and commercially successful movie studio around. In addition to winning countless awards (Pixar's "Ratatouille" just collected the animated feature Oscar), the Disney-owned outfit holds an unparalleled box-office streak, with each of its eight feature films becoming global blockbusters.

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Special Report On The Indian Animation Market

Animation has come a long, long way since the first public screening of animation with cinematic apparatus that used hand-painted sequences on celluloid strips. Today the global market is worth about $50 billion and is projected to become a $70-billion industry by 2007. Animation is regarded as a part of the creative or content industry as artistic or creative effort is essential to the process of developing animation. The segment has the potential for job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. The US industry, the largest user of animation products and services, describes entertainment as feature films, TV programs, music, broadcasting, cable TV, games, sports, performing arts theme parks and toys.

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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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