True that Indian animation is brimming with ambition and talent, but yours truly is just back from China’s CCIF 2006, and if I were to describe in one word, the experience of a 4 full days spent soaking and observing China’s Animation Industry – ‘Inspired’
There’s a lot of overwhelming stuff that our neighbors across the border are doing and that’s good news. Good for two reasons, one is that there is so much more scope for collaboration and knowledge sharing, and two is that with India already being a frontrunner and an extremely aggressive China looking to breast the tape, the entire India, China, Asia Pacific region is bursting with volatility and dynamism. The promise of exponential growth for Asian Animation is not a very distant reality and the major contributors and beneficiaries to that growth – India and China.
Both the countries have their strengths and weaknesses though, and before the winning lines they toe, there’s still some good distance to go.
Complete government support in the form of policies, animation bases, infrastructure, and project development is one of China’s main strengths. Above that the collective burning ambition that the Chinese have of being World’s No 1 in whatever they do makes it extremely potent. Language is an obstacle for China, but that is being worked on, there is a massive English language learning drive taking shape. Another challenge that needs to be overcome for the Chinese studios is in making globally relevant content in terms of culture, humor and story telling.
India’s strength lies in its Entrepreneurs, whose immense drive, innovative ability and resourcefulness is matched only by their ability to grasp and grow quick. It is also demographically one of the youngest countries in the world. Another major strength for India is that it is the land of Bollywood with its own legacy of 100 years of prolific Cinema and entertainment, all this rooting from a culture with thousands of years of story telling. We are also the IT capital of the world and one of the world’s most favored off-shoring destinations.
For India, the challenges lie in terms of getting further government support and manpower training.
Coming back to the topic of the CCIF forum, the summit witnessed a massive gathering of players with total count crossing 1000. And while it was obviously not possible to grasp a lot of the sessions which were spoken in chaste Chinese, the body language, statements and show-reels all communicated one thing. ‘China is not satisfied with having achieved a great lead globally in the Manufacturing sector, the country is keen on creative industries and seeks to repeat its winning act”
To quote an official, “We are very clear that animation and in fact all creative and entertainment industries are going to be key areas of focus. The composition of the economic mix has to change from Mfg alone Creative industry”
Another quote rung thus, “We want to conquer the world” Clear writing on The Great Wall.
The summit included conferences, Awards ceremonies including the China chapter of Digicon 6+2, Local content market place, France Day, Round table on collaboration between China and Korea and many related events. Animation Xpress.com also signed an MoU with CCIF at the conference.
The Chinese content showcased at CCIF was of real good quality. My silly family, Legend of Shang ri la, Shadow of the past, and a host of other series were impressive and highly appealing. The International guests were amazed. “They have really improved in the past 12 months” shared a guest.
While readers can await a series of stories on the state of Chinese Animation, one thing that is most impressive about China is the Government support. Infrastructure, Animation bases, funding, seed capital, policy and regulations, they have it all.
Our neighbors have a good parent in the government.
If only we could have similar nourishing too!