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IP's
the name of the game
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While BPO
is a word that even kids in India would know the meaning of, IP is a relatively
unknown concept even for grown ups. The final session on Day 1 at the
Nasscom organised Animation India 2005 was dedicated to the topic of creating
original content.
Heavy hitters like Kireet Khurana and P Jayakumar manned the line up for
this session. Also participating in the session were Ashish Kulkarni who
is one of the most active animation professionals in the country and Color
Chips India Executive Director Suryanarayana Y.
While a lot
of industry insiders may argue that there is very limited scope for localised
original content, the presenters offered differing viewpoints on the subject.
Toonz Animation India's P Jayakumar emphasised on the need for creating
content for a global audience with universal themes, targeted at clearly
defined demographics. On the other hand 2nz Animation's Kireet Khurana
pointed out that to make an IP globally succesful, it was important for
the IP to be a bonafide success in the country of its origin.
"Creating original content is deinitely the way
to go ahead" :Jayakumar
Taking first
strike in the session, Jayakumar began his presentation questioning the
sustainability of the outsourcing model. "Creating original content
is definitely the way to go ahead" he
remarked.
"Moving forward" said Jayakumar, "We need to pitch to domestic
and international markets. We also need to leverage strategic alliances
with content buyers" he added.
Visualising the future model for original content producers Jayakumar
made some interesting points
Future
model
-Co Production
- Pre Sales
- Sourcing Distribution channels
- Pre school property
- Huge Market
- Fresh origial ideas from any part of the world
- Potential for licensing & merchandising
Jayakumar also enlisted products that could be merchandised
Merchandising
for original programming
PRODUCT RANGE
- Apparel
- Toys
- Accessories
- Video Games
- Mobile Phone Downloads
Jayakumar ended his presentation by commenting that studios in India needed
to upgrade skill sets remarking, "We are very weak on this front"
"Lets focus on pre and post, lets focus on our creative and story
telling skills"
'The 5 Ws of creating original content': Kireet
Next up on the podium was 2nz CEO Kireet Khurana. The passionate Khurana
gave an excellent presentation titled 'The 5 Ws of creating original
content'
Animation is all about art.
Why create original content?
- Localisation mantra : Look at Mc Donald's, Pizza Hut
- Cultural awareness
- Empowering content: Lets not look at crossovers, lets look at bonafide
success in India
- National Pride
- If few of us had the dashing audacity to make local content and succeed
in it
*Food
for thought : There are only 12 stories in this world. Every
story is a combination of these 12.
What does it take for an Indian animation product to be successful?
- Passion and commitment
-Strategy, initiative and leadership
-Great stroy telling & design prowess
-Trained Manpower
- Collaborative efforts
- Identifiability
- Integrity & Brand Values
- Appeal / Indelibility
- Clear Motivations
- Functionality
- Good Design
- Exaggeration
- Method acting school - True for animation
- Variables in creation
- Target
Audience : One can't just think like an artist. You need to know your
market
- Trends
: Understanding trends is important
- Bottoms
up approach : What do the mothers want? What do the children want?
What do the advertisers want?
Who are
we?
- Backend / BPO powerhouse
- Huge manpower / latent talent
- Biggest story telling hub /Bollywood
- Collosal cultural stories reservoir
Where
do we come from?
- No animation culture
- No training institutes
- Mediocre skill sets and productivity
- Producing really low quality as compared to abroad
- Most cos for servicing /outsourcing
- Unfavorable market: We need to hammer harder that's all
- Consumer spends are low
*Food
for thought :
Simpsons has 1100 licensed products to date
When is
ETA?
- The inevitability
- As economy becomes stronger, volumes on licensed products shall increase
- Multiple channels platform
- Achieving critical mass : Serious plans are afoot and animation education
is finally being considered. In 2-3 years we will have great animation
schools and good talent trickling into our studios will mean better products.
At annecy,
buyers look at products that have been bonafide success in the country
of production.
Kireet also spoke about the individual USPs of a few indian IPs
Chotta Birbal
- Wit and humor
Rides on an existing brand. "This was a chance happening for us.
Birbal is an existing brand yet Chotta Birbal is a unique IP. The stories
are completely fictional" remarked Kireet.
- CB was the 1st Indian animation character to be licensed
Deewana
(Set Max mascot for the cricket world cup)
- Need to delight audiences
- Open ended brief
- Deewana has more brand values
- Empowered success with Indian wins
- Occasionally Deewana was the hot topic for commentators during breaks
Bahadur
(70's Comic book)
- Indian superhero of the 70s
- Hero was endeared by the masses
- commented well on the Chambal dacoits issue
- Phantom & Tarzan were phased out by Indrajal comics when Bahadur
did well:
Says a lot about the power of Indian stroy telling
- Texas US still has a Bahadur Club
"Being a mere service provider will not take us
anywhere": Suryanarayana
Taking the localisation mantra to a completely new level, Color Chips
India Executive Director Suryanarayana Y began his presentation in chaste
Hindi. Breaking the monotony of heavy presentations,
he livened up the audience with a few contextual jokes.
Said Suryanarayna," A frenchman at Annecy was very upset that we
Indians did not have any original content. He told me you Indians lack
character"
On a more
serious note, Suryanarayna remarked,"Forget about the competition
between China and India, we studios are competing with each other. Being
a mere service provider will not take us anywhere, both from the creative
point of view and the business point of view"
Suryanrayana remarked,"I cannot afford to invest lacs on an episode
when a Cartoon Network will pay me thousands. We need to create a global
property. We have to narrate the story in a certain way that can be understood
by an average western viewer"
"Things would be different if the government brought into existence
a regulation which made it compulsory for the TV channels to air local
animation content" he added.
An interesting observation Suryanarayana made was about how we were struggling
to create local content while others were using our culture and stories
to come up with content. "A Belgian company has made an animated
Kamasutra (2D) for the adult market" he said.
"Let's groom animation writers":
Kulkarni
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Jadooworks
COO Ashish Kulkarni
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The experienced
Ashish Kulkarni then shared, "I have for the past 6 years been speaking
at at least 2 forums every quarter, asking and requesting the government
to support us, but in vain"
"We have been pushing for a co-pro with Canada. The Canadian president
is visiting the country later next month, we hope to get the co-pro signed
then" he added.
Taking the case for original content and emphasising on the need for good
writers, Kulkarni remarked,"In a pay channel scenario, money will
come in only from original content production. No other country has 5,000
years of tested story telling. Unfortunately we have more producers than
writers in the country. We need to talk to the universities, to have creative
writing programs for animation."
Further elaborating on the topic of training, Kulkarni remarked, "Studios
are supposed to produce, not teach. We need someone to take over the load
of teaching from us. The IITs helped do that for the IT industry. We need
an IIT for animation"
Talking about the long shelf life that animation has, Kulkarni remarked,
"VCs never believed in our presentation because we project 3 yr plans.
Animation has a shelf life of over a 100 years"
"We
are one of the very few countries in the world, which understand multicultural
programming. UK, Canda , France. Let's talk to the Subhash Ghais of the
world and ask them to make animation films.Let's create properties in
Flash for channels" concluded Kulkarni.
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