As time ticked and year 2013 arrived, The Society of Delhi CG Animation Awards have taken giant strides to transform The Awards to a Festival celebrating Film Making Talent across the nation. This year, the event will see new segments such as a Panel Discussion on “Emerging Technologies in Cinematography and Photography”, a special screening of High Quality Films being made by the use of Digital Cinema Cameras from Canon, and a series of Kiosks with exciting technologies on display in each.

Exchanging thoughts with AnimationXpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala about the 2nd Edition of Delhi Cg Animation Awards, Deepak Choudhary, Head DCGAA, informs, “From being only an awards giving platform, we’ve moved on to become a festival this year, which is an achievement in itself! In this edition, we have introduced panel discussion on emerging technologies. We are not only rewarding artists for their creative talents, but also exposing them to new technologies and achievers of the industry and I consider this a unique and new addition to this award season. Also new award category additions this year include award for Photography, CG Feature Film and Cg Ad Film Category.

Plus, the awards will continue to sustain its core value of meriting the Achievers in the field of Digital Film Making. This 2nd Edition of Delhi CG Animation Awards will see over 3000 participants who have submitted 720 entries, fight it out for 42 Awards on this One Show. And that One show promises to be a night to remember for audiences, as the sizzling Karishma Kotak of recent Big Boss and IPL fame will be hosting the Awards Night.

Talent, Acknowledgement, Technology and Glamour. With all pieces of a memorable evening set in place, Delhi CG Animation Awards 2013 is certainly not to be missed at any expense.

Informing more about the panel discussion, Deepak, adds, Students in this field miss out on the core competency of using cameras perfectly, which proves as a huge drawback for them when they venture out on any film making projects .This panel discussion would circle around exploring the use of technologies that can help an artist to bring out good photography and cinematography that would help to make better movies in the VFX and Animation Spectrum.

Key Points:
*Event will begin at 1 pm.
*Panelist for Panel Discussion: Mr Akash Das (Leading photographer), Bedi Brothers (Mr Vijay Bedi & Ajay Bedi )(Film Maker), Dr. Alok Bharadwaj (Executive Vice President-Canon India Pvt Ltd ), Mohan Krishnan (Head – Corporate Communications, Prasad Group)

*Passes are free. Contact delhicgawards@gmail.com or 9971734010 for more information.

“We welcome one and all to experience the blend of animation and basic film making at this festival and also get introduced to new products at various exhibition stalls by Diamond Comics, Autodesk , Canon, Wacom and many more , concludes, Deepak.
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Currently holding the position of the West Area Technical Head at Frameboxx, Aslam has had creative encounters in the field of animation and visual effects. During his working days as an automobile engineer at a corporate, Aslam happened to visit an animation institute and got very much interested to explore this field and this led him to switch his career completely to Animation by pursuing a diploma course in animation from Gemini Studios.

And the creative journey of Aslam didn’t end with the completion of his animation course!! He believed in setting examples and it shows out well as he was one of the exhibitors at Bollywood movie Dhobhi Ghat Photo exhibition and the second Indian to awarded scholarship to participate photography event sponsored by Sony WPO and Changing Ideas, conducted by award wining photographer Jonathan Torgovnik and Kate Edwards, picture editor at The Guardian Weekend Magazine.

Now one important thing that drives Aslam to the core is ‘Photography’ and to inform you all, he’s captured attention at National Geographic Photography contest ‘WINNING SHOTS GALLERIES’  in 2010 and come out as a winner for his photography portraying Indian culture.

Speaking to AnimationXpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala about the photograph selected at NATGEO Contest held in 2010, Aslam Saiyad, shares, “I feel so happy to share that my photograph came out as a winning one at this prestigious contest! I submitted my photography in the people’s category and this win pushed my confidence to a new level.”

According to Aslam, the reflection aspect of this photograph has made it to win at NATGEO Contest. He adds further, “I love to photograph culture, people, emotions, history and I feel these photographs leave an aesthetic impression.”

Aslam’s interest lies in bringing out documentary photography, environmental portraiture, and editorial photography and he carries out photography for NGO’s and considers that his photographs should posses’ value creation factor!

Aslam adds, “I want my photographs to inspire and create awareness and this is my main focus when I’m clicking a photograph.”

Way back in 2011, Aslam had also participated in a 10 day workshop organized by the world photography organization and photographed street children for this project. He was fortunate enough that his pictures were demonstrated at fund raising Dinner for Future Hope NGO at Rugby Hall, London.

When talking about photography from the animation and vfx point of view, Aslam feels that any animator or vfx artist should understand the fundamental need of ‘staging’ and then they would be able to click better photos.

Another achievement in Aslam’s kitty was that he successfully grabbed the place as one of the top 23 photographers of the world at Magnum Mentorship Program, which was conducted by the Singapore International Photography Festival. Though the criterion of this mentorship program was calling out to international photographers with a high level of photographic aptitude, Aslam’s photography matched the international standards and impressed by this the team at Magnum roped him for this program.

Speaking on this experience, Aslam states, “All participants were to receive three months of lessons from three Magnum Photographers followed by a week full of one to one’s at Singapore. I got a chance to meet participants from different countries like France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia and Singapore. Every participant was distinct and had a great body of work. My Mentor at the program was the great Stuart Franklin. I was overwhelmed and very happy to see so much of importance being given to Photography and photographers in Singapore.”

Pointing out towards the crucial aspects that should be noted with photographing, Aslam shares his views by saying, “There are two major areas which need a deep thought with the first one being the story! I believe each photograph is a unique story telling in its own way and the second one is lighting which gives out the message of the mood that the story is set in.”

Very recently Aslam has finished work on an NATGEO documentary which was completely shot in Kashmir and Aslam rates this project as one of the toughest projects that he has met with, he says, “This project is based on worlds most difficult railway project.  As Kashmir railway is getting constructed in the Himalayas, we faced most difficult challenges like shooting the documentary in intense weather conditions which include zero degree temperatures, rains, snow fall, landslides with passing the tallest bridge in the world and the longest tunnel in India.”

Aslam wants to keep trying his photography skills in various genres and bring out something that is aesthetically sound as well as humane.

“I believe grasping knowledge about the environments, and situations and latest happenings to focus on getting a right click.” concludes, Aslam.

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Building on the nation’s Cricket mania, Sony PlayStation has announced the release of the second edition of the popular Street Cricket game as Move Street Cricket II. This is yet another successful release of a PS3 game completely developed in India in partnership with Indian Development studio, Trine. This is coming in as a sequel to the previous version of Move Street Cricket, launched last summer.

Capturing the audience with a whole new avatar, the game will be available to cricket fans all over the country later this month at a price of just Rs. 1499. One can either opt for the Move Street Cricket II stand-alone game or MSCII Move Starter Pack to be available in June this year at a price of INR 3650.

The latest version of Move Street Cricket boasts of all new features, including a responsive AI that enhances the user experience when equipped with the Sony PlayStation Move functionality. The pace of the game has been heightened in order to keep the player on their toes.  The mini-games have also been tuned to perfection to give the ardent gamer a seamless gaming experience.

Positioned as ‘Play, the way you play!’, Indian game developer, Trine, has tweaked around with the environments to include as many as 8 unique playing fields to choose from. One can now choose their playing field to suit their mood which varies from ‘a school ground’, ‘the chawl’ or even ‘a society roof top’. An added bonus would be the choice to play with any one of eight international teams. The key idea in play here is that the player gets so immersed in their game that they overlook the fact that they are playing it on a digital interface.

Speaking about the launch, Mr. Atindriya Bose – Country Manager, Sony PlayStation India, said “After the tremendous success from Move Street Cricket, we are confident consumers are going to enjoy the sequel of Move Street Cricket II. This is another one in the series of successful local development with Trine.  In this version, the gameplay has been hugely improved for both the bowling and batting levels through motion sensitivity.”

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It’s been raining awards this summer for Reliance Animation’s animated feature film “Krishna aur Kans”. The film which is India’s first stereoscopic animated feature, bagged the prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival 2013’ for Best Animated Feature Film. Earlier this month “Krishna aur Kans” also won the ‘Audience Choice Award’ for Best Animated Feature Film at Lucknow CMS Children’s International Film Festival. And the third accolade came as ‘Best Animated Feature Film’ at Bhopal International Film Festival. The director of the film Vikram Veturi received the award at Lucknow. He was also present to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which was given on 30th of April 2013.

The film has already been selected for various prestigious national and international film festivals like Pune International Film Festival, Trick Media and Animation Film Festival, Stuttgart, Germany, Tehran International Animation Festival and South Asian Film Festival, Canada to name a few.

Another rare prestige was bestowed on the film when the screenplay of “Krishna aur Kans” was taken up by the Academy ofMotion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) for the permanent core collection at their research library last month. It is the first time that an Indian animated feature has been considered for such an honor. Ashish S.K the CEO of Reliance Animation and also the Executive Producer of the film was contacted by Gregory Walsh, who heads the script library division and conveyed the same to him.

On this illustrious occasion Ashish said, “We had put in all our efforts to create a point of reference and the finest animated film in 3D from India. It gives us immense pleasure to see that the through research and years of ward work on the script is acknowledged by the most coveted film association in the world. It’s a moment of pride for Reliance Animation and the entire Indian Animation Industry who have been striving hard to find a place in the global arena.”

Ashish S K further added “We are glad that with this film we have been able to catch global eyeballs towards an emerging era of quality Indian animation in the original content space. For the longest period of time we as an industry in India was only been looked upon as an outsourcing hub for animation studios. But now our brilliant artists and technicians can stand up and create their own content for the global market. “Krishna aur Kans” has paved the way for an entire generation of animation professionals in the country and if the content is of a high quality, well researched and aesthetically acceptable like “Krishna aur Kans” I see no reason why India can’t emerge also as an original digital content creation powerhouse in the coming years.”

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To be held at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore from 18 – 21 June, BroadcastAsia2013, Asia’s largest and most established media & communications event, is set to feature groundbreaking technologies, and spotlight hottest industry trends for the broadcast and film value chain.

Growth in Indian Broadcast industry

The Indian Media & Entertainment industry grew from INR 728 billion in 2011 to INR 820 billion in 2012, registering an overall growth of 12.6 per cent. Given the impetus introduced by digitisation, continued growth of regional media, upcoming elections, continued strength in the film sector and fast increasing new media businesses, the industry is estimated to achieve a growth of 11.8 per cent in 2013 to INR 917 billion. Going forward, the sector is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 15.2 per cent to INR 1,661 billion by 2017, according to the FICCI – KPMG Media & Entertainment 2013 report.

The report also states that although television will continue to be the dominant segment, strong growth is posted by new media sectors, animation/ VFX and a comeback in the Films and Music sectors on the back of strong content and the benefits of digitisation.

Film digitisation and TV distribution infrastructure, growth in new media like increase in mobile and wireless connections; greater sophistication of and segmentation in content with digitisation and finally encouraging regulatory and policy support has been a key enabler of growth for the Indian media sector. The continued cable DAS rollout, Phase 3 licensing for Radio and 4G rollout this year will spur growth from the medium term.

The report further stated that by 2017, newer media segments such as digital advertising, gaming, animation and visual effects will post double-digit growth.  While digital advertising at present accounts for Rs. 2,170 Cr., it is expected to increase to Rs. 8,720 Cr. by 2017. The Indian film industry is also expected to grow from Rs. 11,240 Cr. to Rs. 19,300 Cr. by 2017.

BroadcastAsia2013 registers strong Indian participation

Speaking at the press conference held today in Mumbai, Mr. Calvin Koh, Assistant Project Director for BroadcastAsia from organiser Singapore Exhibition Services (SES) said, “With the advent of innovative technology and the recent large scale digitisation, Indian broadcasters and consumers are both at a threshold of a technology revolution. As demand grows for advanced technology and content for the dynamic Indian audiences, the industry, like never before, is embracing world class practices and formats. BroadcastAsia2013 is an ideal platform for the Indian players to partner with world leaders as well as reach out to clients beyond India.”

The Indian companies exhibiting at BroadcastAsia2013 include Further Broadcast Automation Systems, Canara Lighting Industries, Diversified Communications India, Essel Shyam Communication, Indiasign, Rudraksha Technology and  WASP3D. Leading Indian experts including Mr. Vishal Malhotra, Business Head – New Media from Zee Entertainment and Mr. Jai Maroo, Director, Owner of Shemaroo Entertainment will be part of a panel at the BroadcastAsia2013 International Conference.

BroadcastAsia2013: Integrating Technologies, Experiencing Content

With the rise of Smart TVs and the blurring of the boundaries between TV and social networks, consumers will be watching TV within social networks and vice versa, impacting the way they engage with TV. BroadcastAsia2013 will be addressing this latest phenomenon with showcases from leading industry bigwigs, as well as up-to-date conference topics, such as 4K TV, OTT, Multi-Screen Streaming, DVB-T2, Satellite/Terrestrial/Cable Broadcasting, Production and Post-Production Software and many more

New and returning top-notch exhibitors, including Axon, Dalet, Canon, Envivo, Evertz, Ericsson TV, GoPro, GrassValley, Harmonic, Harris, Hitachi, Ikegami, Miranda, Orad, Panasonic, PCCW, Playbox Technology, Quantel, Sennheiser, Snell, Sony, Quantel, Wasp3D, Yamaha and more will demonstrate their competencies in:

·         Future TV / OTT / Cloud Broadcasting

·         Multi-Platform Broadcasting

·         Satellite / Terrestrial / Cable Broadcasting

·         Digital Media Asset Management / File-based Production

·         DVB-T2

·         Digital TV / HbbTV / HDTV / InternetTV

·         Broadcast Automation, Infrastructure and Facilities

·         Production / Post Production Software

·         Content Editing / Colouring Restoration

·         Pro Audio Technology

·         Video Content Delivery Network

·         Broadcast IT Networking and Security

To complete the entire value chain, ProfessionalAudioTechnology2013 will see professional audio companies showcasing the latest audio products and services for the broadcasting and film ecosystem.

The highly anticipated Cinematography/Film/Production Zone will once again return this year to provide visitors with comprehensive updates on featured technologies such as Animation and Video Effects, Motion and Film Production, Camera, Lenses and Tripods and beyond.

Complementing conferences to complete the visiting experience

As Asia’s film and TV industry continues to flourish, the BroadcastAsia2013 International Conference progresses to the next level with four new tracks, four specialised sessions and for the first time, a half day workshop. This will focus on the shift in consumer demand for high quality content on-the-go, on multiple platforms and the emerging business opportunities for OTT in Asia. More than 100 speakers from 31 countries/regions will lead the numerous discussions over four days.

Some of the key confirmed speakers include, Mr. Peter Hutton, Managing Director of ESPN Star Sports; Dato Amrin Awaluddin, Group Managing Director, Media Prima Berhad; Mr. Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto; Mr. Kurt Hoppe, Director of Smart TV Innovation of LG Electronics; Mr. Benjamin Grubbs, APAC Head of Partner Marketing of YouTube and Mr. Jay Fulcher, CEO of Ooyala.

The Creative Content Production Conference, back for its fourth successful year, is themed “Producing and Distributing Successful Content in Asia.” The conference will address the challenge of producing appealing and high-quality content for global audiences. Numerous industry stalwarts – AETN All Asia Network, Fox International Channels, Lucas film Singapore, Sony Pictures Television and Viacom International Media Networks, to name a few – will provide their insights on the future of the industry at the two-day conference. A series of new topics and speakers including a ‘Producers Dialogue’ have been developed to serve as additional forums for participants to address and anticipate the upcoming trends and demands of the industry.

COMMUNICASIA2013 and ENTERPRISEIT2013: Optimising Business Opportunities

CommunicAsia2013 and EnterpriseIT2013, held alongside BroadcastAsia2013 at the Marina Bay Sands, will feature a complete range of key technologies, such as cloud computing, enterprise mobility, mobile broadband and applications, developments in LTE/4G as well as Over-the-Top (OTT) and more. EnterpriseIT2013 will also highlight the latest technology solutions for enterprises from different vertical industries such as Banking and Finance, Education, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, and Logistics and Transportation.

The last edition of BroadcastAsia, together with CommunicAsia, attracted close to 2,000 exhibitors and over 50,000 professional attendees from around the globe.

Event at a glance:

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Hi Tony, Thank you for speaking to AnimationXpress!Please share about yourself, your life as an artist and role at AJA Video Systems?

As a result of this dual career, I have a unique perspective on both the creative and business sides of the industry and I have used this perspective to help build communication between creative professionals and engineers to create useful workflows.

Currently, I am the Product Marketing Manager for AJA Video Systems where I am responsible for informing our end users and sales channel on the capabilities and benefits of AJA products.

Can you tell us more about your first encounter with something creative, which drove you towards this field?
I was initially drawn to 3D animation as a way of visualizing the environments and characters I had created in my mind. I was not a particularly good artist when it came to working in traditional 2D media such as drawing or painting but 3D allowed me to realize my creative vision through a more technical medium that fit more tightly with my own capabilities. From there I expanded to visual effects work and editorial, where I realized the power of being able to craft a story and control emotion through editing. It’s amazing the influence you can have just by altering the order and timing of simple shots.

Please give us an in depth insight of the projects that you’ve worked on till date.
In the early ‘90s I worked on many commercials for the American automobile industry where I was focused on creating very effects-heavy spots for the local and regional auto dealers. By using new technology, we were able to accomplish things that previously had only been available at the national level. The regional dealers were not used to having access to that level of sophistication, so it opened up a lot of new opportunities for everyone.

I moved on to working several years on the summer and winter ESPN X Games, the extreme sports competition, as an editor and visual effects artist. My work was primarily short, 15-second bumpers that teased upcoming events and action. It was always challenging to keep up the high-energy pacing of the X Games while still trying to craft some overall story in just 15 seconds.

While working on the X Games I was also editing feature films for TV and airline use. This involved removing any objectionable words or visuals from the finished feature either through editing or effects work. The challenge was in maintaining the integrity of a scene while still removing all of the objectionable material. Visual effects gave us a new level of flexibility in that we didn’t have to edit out nudity or excessive violence if we could create effects to cover that objectionable material. That was, again, something that had never been accessible on the tight budgets that were available.

From there I spent a short time working on color grading and conforming workflows for feature films. Films are particularly tricky in that there are a lot of separate departments all working simultaneously. Maintaining a consistent color profile across all those areas requires a very tightly integrated pipeline.

When did you join AJA, how has the work been since then?
I joined AJA in November 2010 as the Product Marketing Manager. It’s been an exciting 2.5 years thus far. I was drawn to AJA because of their commitment to quality and customer support, areas that are also important to me and something I always looked for when I was working as an editor and visual effects artist.

Please share on your experience at FICCI FRAMES 2013.
While this was my third trip to India in less than 18 months, it was my first time attending FICCI FRAMES, so I tried to take in as much as possible. It is clearly an important and well-respected event both within the Indian film community and abroad. I was fascinated to see all of the great exchange that is happening with regards to the various challenges and opportunities facing the film and television industry and it was exciting to be able to contribute my part to the discussion by presenting some views on the creative uses of emerging 4K technology such as AJA’s Ki Pro Quad, a new product that makes 4K workflows more accessible than ever.

What were the key insights that you presented at your session at FICCI Frames’13?
My session at FICCI FRAMES was focused on creative uses of 4K not just as a delivery format but also as an acquisition format for use in HD workflows as well. The added resolution of 4K can allow for greater flexibility in post production as well as efficiencies in production to minimize the number of setups needed for proper coverage. While not everyone will be delivering 4K productions right away, there are still many ways to take advantage of this new technology even in the HD world and I hoped to pass some of that on to the attendees at FICCI FRAMES.

Kindly inform us about the kind of technologies that AJA offers?
AJA has a large set of products that we group into three main categories; CONVERT, EDIT and ACQUIRE.

Our CONVERT products offer solutions for integrating mixed signal types and formats together. The FS1 and FS2 frame-synchronizers and converters offer a tremendous amount of power in a small, 1RU format that is ideal for broadcast installation where many different signal types need to be unified and locked together. Additionally, our extensive line of Mini-Converters provide compact, single-purpose solutions to many of the typical problems faced in broadcasting, post-production and on set such as analog-to-digital conversion, SDI-to-HDMI, audio embedding and SDI-to-fiber. And for tying everything together, we have several sizes of KUMO SDI routers that greatly expand the flexibility of post-production, mobile and event setups by allowing signals to be routed to multiple destinations easily and with the maximum quality.

Under our EDIT product line are a range of devices for getting video into and out of computers and editing systems. AJA’s KONA line of I/O cards is compatible with the widest possible range of software and work on both Mac and Windows systems with a selection of products to meet any budget and feature requirement. As editing has become more mobile, AJA has created solutions such as the Io Express, Io XT and T-TAP, which bring the same high-quality video I/O power found in our desktop cards to a more portable form for editors and graphic artists on the go so they can provide proper video output in any location.

AJA’s ACQUIRE products, consisting of the Ki Pro, Ki Pro Mini and Ki Pro Rack, defined an entirely new way of getting video into editing and graphics systems. By recording incoming video directly to removable storage devices as native Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD files, Ki Pro devices eliminate the time-consuming task of manually digitizing footage off of tape. Since the files recorded by the standalone Ki Pro devices are in a native format understood by editing systems, they are ready to edit immediately without any transcoding or log and capture necessary. This has enabled some fantastic new workflows that were never before possible, reducing overall costs and increasing efficiency.

AJA has extended to all aspects of production, post-production, visual effects and broadcast by offering robust, reliable solutions to the problems people face every day, and that syncs well with what I’ve been doing for the majority of my career.

What is the latest happening at AJA?
AJA has several new products that we announced at the recent NAB show in Las Vegas. Ki Pro Quad is a file-based player and recorder that works in resolutions from HD up to 4K. By recording 4K Apple ProRes files, which are smaller and easier to work with while still maintaining pristine image quality, Ki Pro Quad is making 4K workflows more accessible without the need for more expensive equipment.

In our CONVERT line, we have two new products. First, the Hi5-4K converts the four SDI signals typically used in professional 4K productions to HDMI 1.4a, which carries the entire 4K signal on one HDMI cable. This allows the new breed of 4K monitors which use this HDMI 1.4a connection to be integrated easily into professional 4K workflows for more affordable monitoring options during production and post.

Next is the ROI, or Region Of Interest, converter. This solves the problem of getting computer display signals into the video world at a high quality level and without the need for more expensive solutions. ROI takes a DVI or HDMI input and converts that to SDI video. Audio embedded in the incoming HDMI signal or from the analog input jack can be passed as embedded audio in the SDI output, ensuring the audio and video remain in sync. A DVI loop through allows connection to a monitor so ROI is not a ‘dead-end’ device. But the really amazing part of ROI is the ability to select any region of the incoming computer signal and scale that to match the output resolution. ROI uses AJA’s high-quality scaling technology to ensure the highest possible picture output no matter what size region is selected. And the interface is incredibly easy to use with on-screen controls and visual feedback of the selected region and desired output size.

What are the major technology transitions that AJA will bring across in the coming time?
AJA has taken a new approach to our product announcements this year. We have seen an ongoing trend to make big announcements at major trade shows about products that are still many months from release. This year, everything at AJA’s NAB stand was real, working and available for purchase immediately. We will not talk about future products until they are ready for release, so we will have announcements throughout the year as new products are completed. The AJA website, www.aja.com, is continuously updated with the latest information.

How will the technologies by AJA bring about a revolution in the digital entertainment Industry?
AJA has already revolutionized the video industry in many ways throughout the world. Our extensive CONVERT products have enabled the smooth transition from analog to digital and standard definition to high definition in North America, Europe and Japan, to name a few.

The Ki Pro family of products has changed the workflow for file-based capture and editorial by eliminating the tedious and time-consuming task of logging and capturing footage. Ki Pro users shoot directly to Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD files, which can be used immediately in non-linear editorial systems without the need to capture or transcode, saving hours and even days of labor.

As India moves forward with digitalization and the conversion to HD, AJA’s history and expertise in providing high quality and reliable solutions will be invaluable to ensure a smooth transition. This integrates into the animation and visual effects industry directly, as the workflows to integrate those crafts must adapt to match the changing broadcast and post production markets.

Your take on the Indian Entertainment Industry?
The overall India Entertainment Industry is an incredibly large market. As was the general theme for FICCI FRAMES, there are over a billion end users. The digitalization process is a large undertaking, but India has the advantage of hindsight and being able to look at how this transition was handled in other areas of the world and avoid the pitfalls. Technology has progressed and HD video is not as complex as it was 10 years ago. Computing technology has increased to handle the higher data rates, software has incorporated HD natively and can work with it easily and the move to file-based workflows has simplified not only the acquisition and editorial workflows, but broadcasting as well. At the core of all this, however, is the need to manage the transition. The switch to HD doesn’t happen overnight. Facilities will need to integrate analog and SD equipment into their workflows for several years.

In the animation and visual effects area, India has certainly become a great contributor to the industry. It’s a prime opportunity for India to provide the artistry and service necessary to deliver on the increasing demands of television, film and commercials for spectacular effects. Audiences are getting more sophisticated, so the need for high-quality visual effects will continue to grow and India can be at the forefront with efficient workflows and processes that provide the level of quality necessary while still meeting the budget requirements.

The key to making this happen is a focus on proper training. By providing up-and-coming visual effects artists with the right techniques and practices, they will be able to be more efficient and use their tools in new and interesting ways.

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• 2d Flash Animators Junior & Senior Positions
• Harmony Animators
• BG & Layout Artist
• Storyboard Artist
• Compositors
• Production Coordinator

Key projects: Shaktimaan, Suppandi, Pakdam Pakdai

Mail us your resumes at hrspellbound@spellboundproductions.in or Walk –In for interview
At : Spellbound Productions Pvt Ltd,
2nd floor Sai Pearl Bldg, sainath Nagar, Kharadi,
Pune 411017
Contact : 8605811616 / 9370716891

An Animated Short Film revolving around the Story of a Magician, created as a student project by Reliance AIMS, captures the attention at the FTII National Student’s Film Festival and receives awards for Best film and Best Direction category. This Film Festival was organized by FTII in association with Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) of Kolkata.

In the past, this short film has also received several nominations in recognized award platforms including INFOCOM/ ASSOCHAM EME Awards, ASIFA INDIA AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE, FICCI BAF Awards and has been praised for its Rigging and Animation Techniques.

Keeping in mind that there is a little child in all of us who loves to see magicians and their magical tricks, this 4 minutes and 59 second short film was carried out by 24 students at Reliance AIMS, directed by Rajnikant Arya and Vivek Surve and completely produced by Reliance AIMS.

Expressing on the victory at FTTI, Sathish Narayanan, Academic Director Shares with Animationxpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala by saying, “Heartfelt thanks! We feel very honored and privileged to receive ‘two awards’! The main objective of our course curriculum is storytelling and film making. Therefore, the students are groomed to deliver a short film. The aim was to make a simple, humorous movie with which all the students can contribute in each and every process and also they could get practical experience with the step by step approach involved in filmmaking.”

This series of awards wouldn’t have been possible without our faculties Vishnu sir, Somesh sir, Vikram Sir, Hari Sir, Rini Madam and Sathish Sir whose immense support and technical guidance helped Spellbound to achieve feat at FTII,” emphasize Rajnikanth and Vivek, Directors of the movie.

According to Sathish, Spellbound is a simple story with lot of scope and challenges from script to DVD and the team feels that they’ve adapted different styles at the beginning of the movie to establish a gala.

It has taken around 5 months for team to complete the short film with the concept, script and the preproduction done under the guidance of Vishnu Salunke, Academic Head and the movie was released on March 10 last year. Initially, the story line of this short film was long and the pace was slow. And, to speed up the film, the faculty guided the students to rework on the script a couple of times to give it a fine tuning.

We ask the creators of the movie more about the story line and the choice of using a Magician as a protagonist for this short film and Rajnikant along with Vivek inform on this by saying, “A magician has this beautiful art to play with our vision and get us hypnotized with his tricks. The things which he makes us believe or creates are a creation from his artistic skills by casting visual spell on us and that leaves us spellbound. We were convinced that the title had to be spellbound from the very beginning and the concept took shape in our mind.”

An added advantage for this team was to not look around for references for the look and feel and character descriptions for the short film and instead they picked Reliance Animation’s animated series ‘Little Krishna’ as the chief reference for creating ‘Spellbound’. The team went through a detailed study of the character Dadhilobha, a monkey character from the series.

Rajnikant and Vivek add more, “The Dadhilobha (monkey) character in Little Krishna got us inspired especially the animation techniques and now the character has become one of the favorites and this motivated us to create animation short film and make monkey character as centre of attention.

Coming to the production front for ‘Spellbound’, the team has taken 15 days for modeling, around 2 weeks for rigging the characters with 3 to 4 days for set modeling along with 2D animation/ silhouette, which took 10 days, lighting and texturing was brought out in 3 week time span, with animation duration taking about 1/1/2 month, music- a week’s time and rendering the frames was done simultaneously in a span of 10 days.

With a look and feel composed with a blend of western and Indian feel, the use of technicalities and technologies for creating this short film ranges from Autodesk Maya Flash, Harmony, Nuke, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After, and Muster.

In the opening shot of the short film, the team wanted to establish a gala in a village, but at the same time they didn’t want to spend time in 3D process, and hence they brought into picture 2D flash students and completed the establishment shot.

The team at Reliance AIMS feels that the core ingredients which make this short film amazing are simple animation techniques having visual appeal suiting to the needs of mass audience.

Rajnikant and Vivek, share more “We used simple animation techniques avoiding snappy and realistic ones as our concern was its visual appeal attention to details and technical excellence and we wanted everything to be perfect whether it was storyline (script), production part or the post production.”

Informing more about the challenges, Sathish asserts, “The challenge with Spellbound was to motivate the students and get them to work as a team, managing around 20 students and getting them to work in a studio environment and setting. Making them adhere to production and delivery schedule was the most important. Also, getting the retakes done for animation, lighting and rendering simultaneously along with other aspects of production were a challenging aspect. The most challenging and tough scene for the team, which needed a lot of re working, was the scene where the monkey is dancing with the cap.”

Rajnikant and Vivek share more on this by saying, “This scene shows a great thrill when we want to tease somebody, the true child in us comes out then and the aspect of tit for tat competition starts.”

At present, Reliance AIMS students are working on a few graduation films of Animation, Live action and Visual Effects, “We are working on it, hopefully by the end of this year, we will release 3 to 4 films,” concludes, Sathish.

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Reliance Entertainment Digital’s Zapak Mobile Games has announced the launch of a new mobile game, ‘Brainbots Vs Zombies’. The mobile game targeted primarily for children has been launched keeping in consideration the upcoming holiday season. The key features of the game include the eye catchy visuals, gold star on all levels for super performance, exciting and challenging levels to keep you engrossed. The game is available for free on Google Play across the globe.

The mobile game that is set in the post apocalyptic future is a casual arcade game. The plot of the mobile game revolves around a herd of Zombies and their quest to attack the last settlement of the brains. The brains, tired of protecting themselves decided to stay put and make a stand against the advancing zombies! The primary goal is to protect the brains by killing the zombies.

The player in the mobile game can use the Brainbot and smash all the incoming Zombies to pulp, before they break in and eat up all the brains. The player can move the Brainbot left to right, to kill the Zombies the player has to drop the spiked metal ball on them. Over time the Zombies will attack the defences and the player can to repair them to prevent more Zombies from getting in. If the Zombies eat up all the brains, it’s game over!

The mobile game Brainbots Vs Zombies will offer the following features that make game play exciting and exploratory:

• Eye catchy visuals
• Gold Stars in all levels for super performance
• Exciting and challenging levels
• Facebook Integration to let your friends know about your status

Commenting on the launch of the game, Mr. Chaitanya Prabhu, Business Head – India, Zapak Mobile Games said, “Our newly launched game, Brainbots vs. Zombies is a complete package of adventure and thrill.”

With over 13 years of experience in the industry, Chaitanya  is a soft-spoken, energetic, confident, and personable person having worked in a number of organizations like Reliance, Nokia, Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment, the type of person on whom clients will relay upon

“This game is an addition to our current catalogue which provides highly entertaining and engaging mobile games to casual gamers across the world.” He concluded.

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A FEST FOR COMIC LOVERS!!

• Costume Play – Kids and Adults can come dressed as their favorite comic character – Chance  to win a golden ticket to Goa on both days!!
• Book Launches – Over 10 New Titles to be launched!
• International Participation from  - Cinebook (UK), Darkhorse Comics (USA), Diamond Select Toys (USA), Robot & Spark (UAE) and Renovada Merch (UAE)
• Workshops – with creators, artists & writers of popular comics & graphic novels
  Meet & Greet and Get pics clicked with – Geronimo Stilton, Spongebob, Ninja Hatori, Suppandi, Shikari Shambhu
• Merchandise from all over the World –Tons & Tons Of Merch! Pick Up Some Awesome Anime & Manga Merch, T-shirts, Mugs, Toys, Posters, Cushions, etc, the list is never ending!!
• Catch The Amazing Work Of The Great Mario de Miranda At The Mario Gallery!Contests & Lots More!!

Comic Con India is happily expanding by creating yet another annual property called ‘Bangalore Comic Con’. Bangalore Comic Con 2013, to be held over the weekend of June 1-2, 2013 between11 am to 7 pm at Koramangala Stadium, National Games Village, will mark the beginning of an annual Comics Convention for Bangalore.

The Technology capital of India saw a turnout of over 30,000 and sales worth over 45 Lakhs at  Comic Con Express Bengaluru (CCEB), the travelling version of Comic Con India in Sept ’12 in 2 days.

Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India, shared, “With the tremendous response at Comic Con Express Bangalore last September, we felt that a permanent event was required for the city. Therefore, it gives us great pleasure in announcing ‘Bangalore Comic Con 2013’.  With this first annual edition we wish to bring in more content and entertainment for Bangaloreans! We have for the first time brought in International exhibitors for a convention other than Delhi. We have a lot more on offer for fans and we hope to expand and build upon this in the coming years and provide Bangalore, its biggest pop-culture event of the year.”

Comic Con India is planning an array of activities for Bangalore Comic Con 2013 (BCC). They range from participation from International artists & publishers, workshops & interactive sessions every hour at the dedicated stage area to exclusive launches of Comics titles, more book signings, display and sale of a wide range of comics & merchandise, special corners for creating comics and cartoons, Contests, and lots more. It aims to promote and bring together local, national and international talent in India to generate more interest among fans.

Some of the leading participants in the Bangalore’s Comic con are: Amar Chitra Katha, Campfire graphic novels, Pop culture publishing,  DC Comics (Random House India), Marvel Comics (Hachette India), Lion Comics (Tamil), HarperCollins India, Scholastic India, Bangalore’s very own – Manta Ray Comics. There will be some of best and most awesome International and Indian Merchandise at the convention, especially for Bangalore.

Cosplay (Costume contest), one of the major attractions at Comic Con India, will be more exciting than ever! Comic Con India will continue to give assured prizes to everyone in costume, but now there are 5 categories that have been created to increase your chances of winning gifts.

Each day, one winner will be chosen from each of five categories -

1. Comic book/Graphic novel
2. Animated Series/ Movie
3. Manga/Anime
4. Sci-Fi/ Fantasy
5. Gaming

Both days, One lucky winner out of the chosen 5 will get the awesome chance to WIN a GOLDEN TICKET to Goa!!

There is going to be a special session with Jerome Saincantin from Cinebook UK; a special session with columnist Jerry Pinto, author of Comic Con India’s Best Cover Award winning ‘When Crows Are White’ by Scholastic; a special session on Self-Publishing in the Indian Comics Industry; Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) Mega Quiz for fans; and lots more.

ACK Media, the house of Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle Magazine, the most respected names in Indian comics, and Comic Con India, India’s only convention for graphic storytelling and comics are proud to take their initiative Comics for a Cause a step ahead with a special sale of original comic artwork and covers at Bangalore Comic Con 2013 with all proceeds going towards Project Nanhi Kali.

Also, there are going to be some exciting giveaways which include exclusive Myntra Bangalore Comic Con 2013 Limited Edition Swag Bags, made only for the event to be given to the chosen few! (First Come First Serve, will be giving out only a few thousand)

Now, after years, the comics’ community in India has a platform where they can meet and interact. Comic Con India is a unique event celebrating the illustrated medium, which brings together the whole comics industry and related fields such as Merchandise, Toys, Games, Films and Animation, along with fans of this culture from all age groups.

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