A still from the gold winning short Wide Eyed Ignorance

The jubilant winners collecting their trophy from Nic Camecho

The kind of animated shorts showcased at the 2nd 24FPS students animation awards clearly indicate that a bright future awaits the Indian animation industry.

Organised by Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics, the 2nd 24FPS students animation awards held recently in Mumbai were a great sight to see for all those optimistic about Indian animation. Some of the short films screened were outstanding not only in terms of the modeling, 3D animation and camera work but also in concept and direction.

A still from 'Just the last puff' The short won the best cinematography award

The 'students only' competition was open to entries from all operating animation and gaming institutes. Particpants had to make animated public service messages around themes like Family Planning, Adult Literacy, Anti Smoking, Environmental Pollution and Anti Corruption.

A total of 29 teams comprising of 3-5 members each participated in the competition. Most of the teams were from amongst the 35 MAAC centres across the country.

It is very rare for students in India to get an opportunity to work from concept to screen along with deadlines. An additional advantage with 24FPS was that the students not only got the experience but also got to showcase their work in front of an audience comprising of studio heads and CEOs. To top it all, the icing on the cake was the cash prize bounty of Rs 2.25 lacs offered by MAAC and other prizes being offered by sponsors like Seagate.

MEL founder & promoter Ketan Mehta flanked by MEL CEO Rajesh Turakhia and MAAC COO Naveen Gupta

If carefully developed, 24FPS has the potential of evolving into the country's first animation talent placement event. Addressing the audience, MEL CEO Rajesh Turakhia stated,"We plan to make 24FPS an annual industry event. We are appointing a governing body for the awards. Madhavan (Crest CEO) and Ashish Kulkarni have already agreed to be a part of it. After talking to a lot of studio heads in the country, we figure that the industry as of now requires 2000 artists which can be absorbed by the studios today itself"

Speaking to Animation 'xpress, Naveen Gupta who heads MAAC said that "We have quite a few objectives behind creating this competition. Amongst them the most important one is to help make the students production ready, we also want to foster a spirit amongst the students to think of new ideas and to create original films. We have more than 35 centres across India and it was a great experience to develop and implement the competition"

A still from the silver winning short Takes you higher

The competition was divided into 4 categories, Best Modeling, Best Cinematography, Best Story (1 winner each) and Best Animated film (3 Winners, Gold, Silver, Bronze). The 29 entries were adjudged by the jury which comprised of representatives from across the animation industry. They included Anibrain (UK) CEO Jesh Krishnamurthy, Ashish Kulkarni, Moving Pictures CTO CB Arunkumar, Crest Creative head Nilesh Sardesai, NID animation head Nina Sabnani, Dhruva Interactive CEO Rajesh Rao, Zoo Films creative director Nicholas Camecho, 2NZ CEO Kireet Khurana, Whistling Woods head faculty Olivia Augustine, Zoom On Air Promotions head Shailendra Kaul and Jai Natarajan.

Animation veteran Bhimsen Khurana who recently recieved the Lifetime achievement award at BAF was felicitated at 24 fps too. The entire 200 strong audience was on its feet even as Bhismsenji gave his acceptance speech.

Go for the gold: Supporters cheer even as their favorite films are being nominated

The awards ceremony was held amidst a lot of cheering and whistling, with the crowd in the students section rooting strongly for their favorite teams.

The Industry bigwigs and the panelists were all praise for the students' work. Even as he along with Nic Camecho, presented the gold trophy to the winning team, Crest CEO Madhavan remarked," I am greatly impressed with the work that I have seen and all you guys (pointing at the participants) can queue up for a job at Crest tomorrow itself"

Citing the example of Polar Express, Adlabs chief Manmohan Shetty remarked,"My message to future animators is that create some popular faces for us so that we don't have to depend on heroes"

Crest Creative head Nilesh Sardesai while handing out the trophy for best cinematography was very optimistic. He said,"All of us in the industry, we have been doing our jobs well for the past few years, but we have only recently begun making content based on our own ideas. But all of these kids are beginning with their own ideas and even though we have selected 3-4 entries as the best ones, nobody out here is a loser"

A still from the bronze winning short Life on Strings

The ceremonies over, all the particpants took to the stage and let their hair loose. The overwhelmed winners were speechless with joy. It was quite a while before the winning teams were in a condition to share their comments with Animation 'xpress.

Taruna Ummat, technical head of MAAC franchise at Rajouri Graden Delhi (whose team Pivot won the gold at 24fps) said that,"We are really happy to get an opportunity to display our talent on such a big platform. At our centre we have worked hard at nuturing the students and we take pains to make them understand what real good animation is"

While Pivot won the big one, 3.Rage topped the medals tally (3). The team got a Silver for the best animated film category, and also came toppers in the 'Best Story & Concept", "Best Modelling & Texturing" categories. Team leader Satbir Singh said,"This was the most fun filled educational event we have participated in. We learnt the workflow of a production house and made a great showreel while at it. MAAC should organise more of such events."

Switch got the bronze for the best animated film category for its short, which was themed around family planning, entitled 'Life on Strings'. Team leader Arun Kumar remarked,"Success tastes great. This is just the beginning. We owe our good performance to the faculty and our advisors, especially Abir Sir"

Click here to view the exclusive Animation 'xpress slide show of the awards ceremony

Following is a list of the nomimees and winners

- Anand Gurnani