The Women creators from batch one share their experience and fellowship journey with Unreal. .
During March 2021, Asifa India partnered with Unreal Engine and launched its first batch of Women Creators Program to empower and inspire women from the animation and VFX industry to create a community of creators and bring more storytellers into the spotlight.
Epic Games business lead India/ASEAN Shruti Verma: “We handpicked talented women artists from varied backgrounds for the five weeks of WCP and provided them with dedicated Unreal Engine Training to help shape their Creative vision.”
Previs technical director Ananya Srivastava: Linkedin Vimeo
“It was an experience of a lifetime. It was challenging, but the educators and the mentors made the training possible. Despite that I got covid, I was so eager to produce my work. It was a blessing in disguise.”
CG Artist Bharti Harale: Linkedin Vimeo
“Unreal fellowship program helped me to understand the thorough process of filmmaking. With such a powerful tool backed by cutting edge technology I am diving into creating a short film and hoping it would take my career into a completely new direction.”
Animagic Special Effects director writer creator Gayatri Rao: Linkedin Website Vimeo
“Key takeaways from the WCP fellowship for me were :The First was Instant world building and playing with their ready asset library for explorations and second the photo realistic looking Metahumans and watching them come alive in real time was enthralling.”
Director of Photography Gautami Vegiraju: Linkedin Website Vimeo
“My takeaways from the WCP fellowship are: I can learn anything in the world when I decide to. My definition of what a Director ofPhotography can do completely expanded. Now I am working towards being a DP for the Metaverse which includes everything from gaming to AI and beyond. So I am super excited about what the possibilities are for me. I learnt that I had so many transferable skills for my live-action work that I could use for the project and did use them. And I continue to use my UE transferable skills in live-action work and vice versa.”
ODDJOINT Art director Hina Saiyda: Linkedin Imdb Vimeo
“The WOMEN CREATOR’S PROGRAM gave me an in-depth understanding of a system that I thought was purely for 3D and animation.The fellowship was a great way for me, who is from a film background to use the system for virtual productions, storyboarding and shot breakdowns. For me this was a jump into the deep end of the fascinating world of Video Game creation on a real time system.”
Communication Designer Mitra Patil: Linkedin Vimeo
“I had an idea for a long time and I was surprised the way unreal helped me translate those ideas and create exceptional transitions from shot to shot. It was a cinematic experience in real time.”
Phantom Fx executive producer Natalie Millar Jadhav: Linkedin Website Vimeo
“The Unreal fellowship program has changed my life .It was a totally hands on creative and technical experience which as a producer I hadn’t had for a few years. In my current role that experience is giving me the confidence to push our team towards deeper exploration of unreal in our pipeline.”
VFX executive producer Neha Hooda: Linkedin Vimeo
“The most interesting thing about this program is that the course content is very useful . It is structured in a way that anyone from varied fields can learn & understand with the support of mentors .The second best thing is the support system & community that it gets created while pursuing the fellowship.”
Media Monks Unreal Engine generalist Nida Arshia: Linkedin Vimeo
“The key takeaways of the WCP fellowship program are: It gives you support and resources to create “your own film” in a relatively short time. It introduces you to a larger community of creators and mentors from around the world. Its gives you immense visibility in the industry .Most importantly, you gain a lot of confidence because you understand your own potential.”
Emerging Media creative director Parul Wadhwa: Linkedin Website
“I am a very ambitious person, and Unreal was an excellent tool to push my concept to the next level. I learnt quickly what to do and what not to do with the help of the tools and the expertise of my teachers.”
Director, producer, 2D supervisor, compositor, UE artist Pragti Wadhwa: Linkedin Imdb Vimeo
“My biggest takeaway from this program was learning the process of storytelling and making my own short film in Unreal Engine with no prior 3D experience. I had doubted myself and my fellow team members , the unreal educators and my Mentor, made my creative vision possible. I was super excited to also use Mo-Cap for my project Ekam!! A true tribute to be united with universal energy.”
Digital Clay Studios creative producer Pratima Pal: Linkedin Website Vimeo
“Unreal Virtual Production has helped me in my creative journey in many ways: I believe it’s the present and the future of gaming and film production. The possibilities are endless and you get to be a part of it. My film “+ve”, which I made in the program, has so far won 30 awards from all over the globe.We have expanded our company to Germany this year and are currently exploring the markets there for gaming and films.”
88 Pictures lighting artist Rauli Singh: Linkedin Imdb Vimeo
“Unreal has helped me in the creative process ,While creating a short film, a lot more dependencies are there but while working in unreal engine, those dependencies became a power tool and helped a lot with other merging softwares.”
Axis Studios senior asset artist Ria Banerjee: Linkedin Vimeo
“Unreal engine fellowship was such an intense learning experience that i am surprised by myself over what i have managed to achieve at the end of it in such a short span of time.”
Horizon Institute of Design web designer and developer Rinki Verma: Linkedin Vimeo
“I am very thankful to Asifa India for selecting me in the amazing Women’s Creator Program 2021 of Epic Game fellowship. Having no prior experience with gaming and 3d software but through WCP team support, I have accomplished much of what I never thought possible. I am proud to say I had worked hard to be where I am, but I certainly could not have done it without WCP Trainers and my mentor.
Green Rain Studios creative producer Rounak Magoo: Linkedin Vimeo
“I come from a producing background. It was an uplifting experience, where I was able to create a visual montage of the concept. I was very focused and motivated to complete my short. I got to explore a lot of ways with the unreal pipeline.”
Digital District CEO Rutul Patel: Linkedin Imdb Vimeo
“I love to make things look awesome. I love how unreal was able to generate great lighting and moods for my project. The market place was a great fun experience to pick assets and some I go to create myself.”
Arena Animation graphic designer and mentor Shilpa Mehta: Linkedin Vimeo
“The fellowship program was absolutely Epic. For someone like me, who had zero knowledge of 3D tools, to be able to create a short film in just six weeks was an incredible journey. It was possible only because of the in-depth guidance and immense support of all the mentors from Epic Games. Unreal broadened my horizon about animation and gaming.”
Last date of registration is 18 April 2022, 11:59 pm (IST). Click to Register and Nominate here.
WCP batch one had top global mentors including – Dancing Atoms creative director from US Saraswathi Vani Balgam, CDL founder and director Charuvi Agarwal, Marta Ampudia Dalmau, Epic Games tech evangelist Arvind Neelakantan, Epic Games technical account manager Dean Reinhard, Green Rain Studios founder and Unreal authorized instructor partner for Epic Games Karan Parikh.
Here is what the women mentors from the Women Creators batch one have to say about the program:
Please enjoy the unreal films that the mentors had made by clicking on the vimeo link.
Charuvi Agrawal from CDL studio: Imdb Linkedin Vimeo
Marta Ampudia Dalmau: Imdb Linkedin Vimeo
ASIFA International is the oldest reputed global organization that supports animation and is committed to the welfare of art, creativity and the artists with 40+ chapters. Asifa India received its official charter in 2000 it is serving the Indian creative community with popular activities like International Animation Day, Awards of Excellence, CG Meet Up’s and panel discussions with top global experts.
Saraswathi Vani Balgam: Imdb Linkedin Vimeo
Asifa India Events
ASIFA India is spearheaded by “Vani” Saraswathi Balgam and led with heart by an amazing team of Sanjay Khimesara, Sesha Prasad, Ramakrishnan Vinod, Siva Kasetti, Ramakrishna Polina and Priyanka Ajit. ASIFA India is celebrating its 23rd year. It has recently strengthened its Core Group, Team of Volunteers, City Coordinators & evangelists from all across India.
Asifa India Core Team Members
Asifa India President and Dancing Atoms Studios creative director Saraswathi Vani Balgam said: “UNREAL changed my life in 2020, and has given me new creative strength. I am working on writing my preschool show keeping the unreal animation pipeline in my mind.”
Asifa India core committee member and DNEG head of production Sesha Prasad said: “The consumption of content in various forms has created wider opportunities not only for the VFX players but also for a large number of content creators. The unreal fellowship program is a great opportunity to put women at center stage in the creation of some fresh content.”
Asifa India core committee member and Arena Animation president (Horizon Institute of Design & Head) Sanjay Khimesara said, “Asifa India is determined to step up its efforts in building a strong eco-system to bridge the gaps in making India a Global SuperPower in this space.”
Asifa Chief technical officer and The monk Studios & Destiny Logic production and recruitment consultant Siva Kumar Kasetty said: “In 2021, the Indian VFX sector grew by 103 per cent to reach Rs 38.2 billion, while post-production grew by 49 per cent to reach Rs 14.4 billion. The Indian Government has also recognized the prospects of AVGC Sector in mass employability.”
Asifa chief financial officer and Tau Films & Cirqus Arts accounts and payroll incharge Ramakrishnan Vinod said, “First batch of The Women Creators Program has already shown its amazing results and is a significant step to empower talented women creators & provide a platform to express their creativity.”
Asifa India manager and Dancing Atoms producer Priyanka Ajit said, “The mindset and toolset of virtual production can support not only better creative outcomes, but also potentially significant time and cost savings. The women creators in the WCP first batch have proved it right by creating amazing films in just four weeks of training and mentorship sessions.”
Asifa India strives to build a community step by step to empower, collaborate, and create.
You can nominate and register here:
The last date for the same is 18 April 2022,11:59 pm (IST)