One got a sense of Dj Vu as leading Industry professionals from across the country got together with Rajesh Turakhia, Naveen Gupta and team on a chilly Saturday evening in Chandigarh to launch their brand new Animation / VFX educational venture Frameboxx.
The Industry delegates that specially flew down to India‘s greenest city for the launch included experts like Rhythm & Hues India‘s A R Seshaprasad, Pixion‘s CB Arun Kumar, Contiloe Films‘ Rohit Vaid (who is directing the 3D Animated feature Maha Yodha Ram), Zoo Group India‘s Nicholas Camecho, Artery Animation & VFX Yunus Bukhari and Technical Director Yogendra.
Speaking at the occasion, Turakhia shared, “At Frameboxx our philosophy is that ‘every frame counts‘ and the entire Frameboxx team takes a pledge that we will impart the best of education to our students with the best faculty, infrastructure and a curriculum that will be designed based on Industry feedback.”
“The last time I went about doing this, we managed to do well and got about 10,000 students in five years. This time around with Frameboxx we plan to achieve the same in one year,” He added.
Naveen Gupta added, “We thank the industry for the unconditional support they have given us as we launch this new venture and we will utilize all our experience, expertise and resources to provide the Industry with the best possible trained talent that it needs.”
Frameboxx commences operations with 11 self owned centers across the country including five in Delhi, one each in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Gurgaon and Dwarka and couple of centers in Bangalore.
Industry Speak at the launch
Nicholas Camecho: “We have had good professional relations with Rajesh and team for the past four years and we see the growth in the Industry with lots of work coming into India. We will offer all support to Frameboxx in terms of experience as well as knowledge sharing and I wish the venture all the success.”
CB Arun Kumar: The expansion of the industry necessitates the need for more education. As a growing studio and even as a growing Industry, the biggest problem we face is the paucity of talented people. I am very confident that Frameboxx will come up with some good solutions for the Industry, not just in terms of numbers but they will also raise the bar in terms of quality.
AR Sesha Prasad: My congratulations to Rajesh and Naveen for their new venture. The Industry has grown in the past five years and so has the need for more and more trained talent. I am confident that Frameboxx will deliver good education. Turakhia and Gupta have always supported the artist community and knowledge sharing events and we are sure that the industry and community too will come forth and share their knowledge and support for Frameboxx.
Rohit Vaid: There is great potential in Animation and I must add that it is not about the technology but its all about story telling. With so many Indigenous IPs being worked on, creative talent is the need of the hour and it is great that Frameboxx is being launched at such a juncture and I am sure with the combination of their Industry and Animation Education experience, Frameboxx will deliver the talent.
Yunus Bukhari: There is a talent shortage today, but things have changed a lot since 2001, when I was involved in the VFX for Devdas. Back then it was extremely difficult to get trained artists, there were hardly any good animation education happening. That time was just when Mr Turakhia had launched his earlier animation education venture and in the past seven years, he along with his team took it to dizzying heights with full industry involvement.
Today the industry is on a different level of growth altogether and I am sure that the education that will be provided by Frameboxx will also be of a different level.
The press conference and launch culminated into an evening of celebration attended by Industry delegates as well more than 100 members of the Frameboxx team from across India.
“We have begun with 11 centers, and will soon reach 21. The plan for next year being to reach 55 + centers including training operations in 10 International locations,” concluded Gupta in a small presentation during the evening…
The developments over the past three weeks have stirred and created a huge buzz in the industry and education circles. When it comes to the Animation student, the end result in the long term is that pro active as well as reactive educational institutes across the country will infuse greater amount of resources dedicated for the students in terms of infrastructure, faculty, quality of teaching, involvement with Industry as well as other amenities….
So as the turf blazes, the status quo is ‘Advantage:Student‘ and may all the good educationists from all sides win!
And yes, best wishes to Frameboxx at its launch!