`

Judges at the Nasscom Superpitch

Presented by Aparna Upadhya, Raju the Rickshaw, a 3D animation series for pre-school children of ages 2-6 years, won the superpitch at Nasscom Animation and Gaming 2008.

A panel of eminent and experienced personalities including Crest's Seema Ramana, Krishna Desai, Rhytm and Hues' Prashant Buyyala, Aiga's Mark Joshi, Greengold's Rajiv Chilakalapudi and Angad Chowdhry judged the presentations and offered their views, suggestions and compliments.

The criteria for judging included originality, content creation, story, context and appeal to the target audience on the creative side, while relevant platforms for the product, salability in India or Asia, budget, USP and quality, on the business side.

Green Gold Animation's Rajeev Chilakalapudi

"Today many production houses are foraying into original IP creation but what they need to figure out is how to get ROI on their product. We at Nasscom started off with the superpitch to provide these studios a platform for business deals from broadcasters, game publishers, etc. The pitch also helps the participants improve their creative and presentation skills," shared Biren Ghose, Chairman of Nagfo, at the commencement of the superpitch.

The shortlisted contestants included Yogi Chopra and Murli Raman, Ashish Nangia, Ankit Shah, Aparna Upadhya and Sudha.

The winning presentation on Raju the Rickshaw displayed the IP's potential on multiple platforms, extensive licensing and merchandising opportunities, and has already undergone market testing.

The protagonist Raju is an auto rickshaw living in Funpur with other rickshaw friends. He is a small, mischievous child with a heart of gold and he likes to play and picnic, which is the reason Funpur was created with balloon and cake factories, playgrounds, fairs, etc. Adding more effect to the look and feel, the entire series is made in pastel colours to help small children relate to it.

Other characters include Reena - the pink rickshaw who is Raju's good friend, Ali - the green rickshaw, etc. And of course there are the elders whom Raju and his friends come to for advice - Abdul the taxi, Bobby - the school bus, Vik - the bike and more.

The story line is simple and light and has underlying meanings such as community living and other morals as messages for the target audience.

"The series has been extensively tested on the target audience and the feedback we have received has been very positive. It has also been vetted by educationists and the USP of the series is that it makes the child want to get into this character, the rickshaw and fly away with it," Upadhya said in her presentation.

Eggy, a 3D CGI sci-fi feature concept called by Yogi Chopra and Murli Raman from Web Animation Studio won the first place in the audience poll. "The whole concept is based on the question: 'What if - eggs were alive?' Chopra explained.

Crest Animation's Seema Ramanna

The story of the concept series is based on a community of eggs that are living in captivity; they do not know what hens are and think that they are manufactured by humans. The eggs believe that they are fragile and refrain from any hard physical activity and are highly pampered.

Eggy, the protagonist, is an inquisitive egg who, inspired by the moon, starts asking questions about things happening around him. He is helped by his friends and finds answers in the secrets held by the mysterious museum. This is where he finds out the truth and the conflict begins in the minds of all those around him.

Chipkali World, presented by Sudha from Kahani World was voted as the first runner up by the judges. This series is based on the premise that, behind the walls of every house there is a world of its own. In the pipes and sewages, is a parallel world of chipkalis or geckos who love eating bugs, love sports and are hated by humans. It is a world where both the chipkalis and the Sharmas (humans) have to co-exist.

The characters of this series include Sonny, Mom Chipkali, Papa Ravi, Deepa the daughter, Babaji Sharma the human, Baby Sid who cares about the chipkalis as he in yet untouched by adult thought and others. "The 3D series has the ability to become the Simpsons of India with the potential to work across platforms, in online communities, merchandise, et al.

Indus (City of Hidden Mysteries and undead secrets) was a game idea presented by Ashish Nangia of DQ Entertainment. The game is about exploring the mysterious world and secrets of the Indus Valley, as a colonel in British India. The player must study the maps of Mohenjodaro and Harappa and explore the lands while decoding scriptures and fighting off mythical monsters.

"The game blends history with myth, and fantasy with reality. It is about discovering lands unknown and its USP is its game design and visuals as well as the game plan; including the creatures, action, adventure and mystery," commented Nangia. The game environment also complements the mysterious mood with its lighting and game art.

Envision Creations' Ankit Shah

Ankit Shah, Director of Envision Creations presented the simple 2D animated series The Little Kiddy Tales for children between ages 3-6 years. Believing animation to be the simplest and sweetest way to nurture young minds, Envision Creations created the series which would involve lessons of value for children.

Easy to understand, with adorable characters, the series possesses flexibility of language and contains global content. On the business side of it, the series has great potential for broadcast, comic books, games and merchandising.

The judges as well as the audience were of the view that the quality of pitches this year at Nasscom had increased tremendously and content being created in the industry has shown dramatic improvements.

A few suggestions made by the judges included the fact that there should be a clear story arc for all series, which seemed to be missing in the presentations. Also the estimated budget should be mentioned while the characters should be more defined and striking.

Regarding the storylines, Krisha Desai mentioned that "Keeping an audience involved in a single half hour episode is easy but keeping them involved for a half hour over 50 episodes is a challenge."

From the audience, AK Madhavan of Crest Animation pointed out that animation education institutes should also learn from the judges' comments and implement them in their training. And with this, the Nasscom Superpitch 2008, aimed at developing the creative talent and helping them engage with potential buyers, concluded with a show of some exemplary concepts and IP creation plans.

ankita.shah@animationxpress.com