Co-founded by Gautam Singh and Vivekananda Roy Ghatak in 2007, Rocket Science Animation (RSA) has already become a name in the industry. Specialising in wild character design, stunning animatics, quality animation, animated TVC’s and channel packaging, they keep creating crazy concepts and ideas. Now they’re currently developing a 2D animated series for kids titled Jiya ki Duniya.
Jiya ki Duniya revolves around a six year old girl called Jiya and her grandfather-a retired army officer, who indulge in various adventures and spreads awareness about the environment-issues like recycling, renewable energy, pollution, global warming and so on through funny stories.
Presently working on the pilot episode which will be completed in a couple of months, the episodes will tentatively be of four-five minutes each.
Here’s what the co-founder duo of RSA have to say about the series:
What was the inspiration behind this series? Is it based on any real-life characters?
Singh: Yes. My six year old daughter. We thought it would be great to have a protagonist of that age as girls of that age are smart, funny, inquisitive, ready for any adventure and of course they have tons of fun.
The other main character is her grandfather. He is inspired from almost any grandfather who are set in their ways, stubborn, and have their own point of view. We wanted to capture that fun factor in the series that exist between most grandparents and their grandchildren.
Who owns the IP? Can you elucidate on the process of making of the series? About the techniques used?
Ghatak: Rocket Science Animation owns the IP as of now. We have been working on this on and off for the past four years now. We have gone through multiple ideas and storylines.
We planned to do it in 2D (Flash) created lots of assets , then wanted to do it in 3D so created all the assets in 3D. Now we are again doing it in 2D (Flash). It’s a continuous work in progress, and I think we did overthink about it a bit. It just needs to be done and dusted now.
Who’s on board to direct the series? How many episodes have you planned for now?
Singh: The series is being directed by both of us. Vivek is the art and animation director while I’m working more on the story ideas and scripts. Right now we are creating a pilot of five minutes duration. We want to do 10 episodes at least.
Can you tell us more about the animation format used and the reason behind adopting that technique?
Ghatak: We are using Flash as the tool as its the simplest tool for production. Animation can be done fast and cheap if we decide to outsource animation later. We would have loved to do it in 3D ,but the 3D process is very time consuming and expensive. In flash, new ideas can be implemented immediately, render times are irrelevant.
What’s special about the series which will make it stand out?
Duo: We want to tell good stories. That’s our main goal. Good stories that engage children or grown-ups. A little bit of education if it happens through these stories will be great! We want to create wonderful worlds and characters and do everything we never get to do in client projects.
How has technology played a part in making of this series?
Singh: Not much. The toughest part is coming up with new ideas and characters. Technology is still zero in that department.
What message do you wish to spread among the kids through this series and the titular character?
Duo: We want to engage kids with good content, innovative ideas and stories that drive them to learn about the environment around them.
Though it’s still not finalised about which online portal(s) will be airing the series, the creators already seem to have merchandising ideas in place. Let’s hope Jiya gets all the love she deserves!