|
The
only thing that curtails Indian Animation from growing at 10x speeds
is the paucity of trained, skilled talent. Given the situation,
Indian studios are now focusing big time on their outreach programmes.
This includes actively participating in seminars and workshops and
spreading awareness amongst students and parents about the tremendous
career options within Animation, VFX and Gaming.
Recently
a host of Animation Industry professionals descended upon Cochin
to participate at 'Perspectives: A seminar on Animation and VFX'
organised by Arena Animation. These included R&H India's Seshaprasad,
EFX' Mohan Krishnan, MEL's Ranjit Tony Singh, IDC's Prof Shilpa
Ranade, Artery FX' Yunus Bukhari and AnimationXpress.com's Anand
Gurnani. Also present were Arena top brass including Arena Animation
Head R.Krishnan, Product Manager Bhavika Chouhan, Regional Head
Easo Thampy Mathew, Area Head's Johnson Leon & Jose Paul.
The
seminar was attended by more than 550 students from places across
Kerala including Trichur, Palakkad, Thodupuza, Trivandram and of
course Cochin. The occasion also marked the launch of Arena's comprehensive
program on 2D & 3D animation, DAE - Diploma in Animation Engineering.
Speaking
to AnimationXpress.com about the seminar and the launch
of the DAE program, Arena Animation head R.Krishnan shared, "Arena
Animation launched a series of seminars - "PERSPECTIVES - Animation
in India: Future & Careers", to create awareness among
students of the unlimited career opportunities in animation and
to create a neutral platform for budding animators to interact with
the industry professionals. We are glad that professionals from
the industry participated and lent their full support to the seminar"
"We
believe that outreach is very necessary for Indian Animation and
just made an effort to bring the industry professionals and the
student community together on a common platform, which would definitely
leave the students with an experience which I am sure they will
always cherish" he added.
"PERSPECTIVES
will bring together professionals from the Animation Community on
a common platform to share their knowledge, thoughts, views and
experiences of the animation Industry with the students, which would
enable them to think beyond the obvious. We would be definitely
taking PERSPECTIVES across India, and the next PERSPECTIVE happens
to be in Bangalore, tentatively on the 3rd of February" he
further added.
Talking
about the launch of the DAE program, Krishnan elaborated, "The
Five semester Diploma in Animation Engineering program from Arena
Animation provides a thorough understanding of both 2D and 3D animation.
While 2D modules delve deep into fundamentals and the various facets
involved in 2D animation such as drawing, acting, direction, camera
required for producing good 2D animation, each 3D module has a separate
topic of specialization, enabling students to master them. Designed
with inputs from the industry"
"This
premium course is designed as per industry demands and enables students
to learn drawing skills, acting, direction, camera movements for
animation, and digital animation, all of which are essential to
master 2D and 3D animation. Modules include Fine Art, Visual Design
& Creative Animation, Cel & Digital Animation, 2D Animation
Show Reel, 3D Animation & Visual Fx, and Portfolio Development
- Show reel. To provide students with knowledge of the industry,
Industry veterans will be invited to deliver guest lectures"
he added.
Students
who attended the seminar were treated to a variety of presentations
which included some fabulous making of Krrish as well as making
of Super Man clips played by EFX Mohan Krishnan and R&H Seshaprasad
respectively. The students were also treated to different styles
of animation where Professor Shilpa Ranade showcased some short
films that had a very uniwue style of their own. Kandy Floss clips
displayed by Yunus Bukhari had the students asking for more.
Sharing
a long list of career opportunities within this field EFX Mohan
Krishan said,"A very interesting thing about animation is that
it combines aesthetics and art with usage of technology and IT.
At EFX we apply a project management approach to the VFX and CG
we do films and as such you can guess as to how much of management
talent as well people with other skills and talent also work in
this industry and help it reach the next level"
Rhythm
& Hues Seshaprasad spoke about the need to become specialists.
"The CG production process requires a lot of specialised skills
and knowledge" he said. "The skills and fundamental knowledge
required by an Animator is distinctly different from that which
is required of a Lighting and rendering expert. Similarly the skills
that a modeler needs can be quite different from those needed by
a background artist. When you as as student are attracted to the
Animation field you need to know about the various options you have
and then enter the field"
MEL's
Tony Singh shared,"That today you students are lucky that there
are so many career options available. As students you should strive
to sharpen your focus and take things to the next level"
Be
it any of the speakers, In terms of message and guidance shared
with the students, the one theme that was hammered upon by all the
speakers was that it was 'fundamentals that needed to be focused
on' and the field was all about passion and hard work. The speakers
also enlightened the student audience by informing them about the
many kinds of career opportunities that existed in Animation and
how people who could not draw could also be part of the ecosystem
in different specialised roles like programmers for plugin pipelines,
administrators, lighting experts etc.
|
