Chembur, Mumbai : The Stage is being set for Anifest India 2011. 25th of August 2011 is designed by TASI to begin the most amazing 3 days For The ANIMATORS - By The ANIMATORS.
The distinctive creations of the well-known animator (any guesses) on the Anifest TASI website are a welcoming sign. The action and animation seen in the characters enjoying themselves thoroughly is just one fourth of a reflection of 25th - 26th - 27th August of Anifest India 2011 - The days of culminating the joys of this Vast Industry of Animation.
The Buzz is on, Anifest is getting stronger by each year. This festival is shared by all and the camaraderie and interaction, eagerness and interest has built it into one of the most awaited festivals.
A little flashback - 2005 - "Anifest India welcomes 220 folks of animation from all over the country..."
Today Anifest India welcomes over 3,000 Folks of animation from various corners of the world.
The common conversation between the audiences present for Anifest is how they are going to implement every bit of gyan the speakers gave.
Just take an example of a group of students: let us call them budding artist one two, so on and so forth.
And their topic of conversation is the very first session of Anifest 2011 on the 25th of August – The Making of Hop and X-Men - First Class presented by Debaprasad Bhowmik and Sean Fernandes
Budding Artist 1: R&H is the place to be yaar!
Budding Artist 2: You saw the number of hands that went up to work at Rhythm & Hues after watching the showreel of the studio shown by Sean Fernandes- the lead in Camera tracking & Matchmove. Their reel is so inspiring and so are R&H's studio hubs at LA, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Malaysia. In the case of Hop, the Camera tracking was done in Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia, the look was developed in Mumbai, the footage was composited in Hyderabad and the final shots were done at the LA office, they work in perfect tandem. Plus their work culture makes you work harder to reach there.
Budding Artist 1: Yes Sean Fernandes, is from Goa, there is talent all across and at Anifest you get to meet all these talented people. X-Men First Class was an awesome movie. R&H worked on Emma Frost: A telepath who can also change her body into diamond form, Mystique- a shape shifting Mutant and Angel Salvadore: A mutant with housefly wings and acidic saliva.
Budding Artist 2: Arrey I know, I have seen the movie, but how they have worked on it was something I learnt today. The shot where Emma Frost cuts the huge chunk of ice with her diamond hand was brilliant. I was completely unaware of the technique of camera tracking and the use of LIDAR – the laser way to capture the mesh and wireframe of the object-ice. The matte painting used and the set extension, the use of 2d and 3d without a seam was so neat!
Budding Artist 3: My favorite part of the presentation was when Sean explained in simple words the transformation of Mystique – the dissolve effect. Also it was something innovative of them using and actual huge diamond shape instead of a chrome ball for the diamond effect on Emma Frost. The tracking shots and the plates, the effects passes shown for Mystique's transformation from Raven to Rebecca was also interesting.
Budding Artist 4: I felt I was in a cool classroom learning animation when Debabprasad Bhowmik the Animation Team lead at R&H showed us the making of HOP. Russell Brand's expression study clips to EB (the Easter Bunny) playing the drums was a treat to watch. The chick behind head banging on EB's drum beats was hilarious. Kudos to Bhowmik's animation!
Budding Artist 2: They have to go through so many animation stages, from the blocking stage, the rough stage, final stage to lock stage and final composite we could actually see how the animation was refined and intricately developed. The ear simulation to the sticks hitting the drum at the right beat, it was perfected.
The conversation would be endless, since the audience couldn't stop raving about R&H after watching the trailer of Alwin & The Chipmunks- Chipwrecked and Mr Popper's Penguins…R&H truly is Imagining The Universe Pixel by Pixel.
There is a lot to yet reveal in the field of animation, it is an art form that extends to various occupations and at Anifest you get the right idea of Alternate Careers in Animation.
Mr. Ajay Saran Sharma from Tata Motors and an ace at Automotive Design presented the intricacies of designing for a car. His presentation was short and precise, beginning from the classical approach, process and tools, moulding as per Indian context how cars are designed he ended with showing how product briefs and their interpretations vary based on geography and traditions.
Ever thought how much thought goes into designing a car? Where may you contribute in designing a car when you are a visualizer and designer and don't know the technicalities and mechanism of a car? Ajay Sharma believes drawing skills and aesthetics of understanding the target audience requirement is the key to a successful design and its designer. He mentioned cars are so much like characters, their look of cuteness and seriousness comes along with the characteristics of the owner of the car. Conceptualization leading to theme selection, its really important to understand the logic behind a car's working and the need of the user. Ajay showed us a few examples where the car's headlights, the grill, the bonnet changed according to the size of the car. Few companies like Honda would experiment with the grill but certain manufacturers like the BMW wouldn't change the grill but would experiment with headlights to retain their identity.
Everything begins with pencil and paper, so is the case in car designing. Ajay showed us few sketches and then digital representation of the car with the help of the software ALIAS and something very interesting was the life size clay model of the car. This clay model would give a picture of the inside of the car and the outside. This would become the prototype for the manufacturing of the car.
Car designing is still in the nascent stage in India, but this field is something to explore. We can make a guess by the interest shown by the audience. The questions endless, Ajay graciously answered all of them and also advised to have a look at Car Design News - a website on all about car designing.
TASI celebrated the completion of 10 years and the team celebrated with fanfare and a whole lot of creativity – it was like sharing all the fun and festivity with the TASI members. To know more on TASI completing 10 years you can check out the following link:
Anifest invites all age groups, everyone from all over India whoever is an Animation enthusiast and want to gain more knowledge and information. And to teach the ropes of animation they had invited the best amongst the fraternity – Mr. Chetan Sharma. Chetan Sharma director at Animagic has been awarded 14 National and International Awards. He presented the facets of directing and designing for a feature production- Tripura.
Chetan Sharma began his career when he was 15, a self taught person and an avid fan of Amar Chitra Katha - he dreamt of many movies and Tripura is the epic story that he created as a director at Animagic. Together in co-production with Amar Chitra Katha and Turner Entertainment Networks Asia they worked on an old but fresh epic story Tripura – The 3 cities of Maya.
Animagic worked on the characters, their design and mythic personality, the visual developments through layouts, backgrounds and the storyboard. They also worked on the color scripting of the film and recording the dialogues and performances. Tripura is one project that has been conceptualized right here in India and then outsourced for production in Malaysia at the Inspidia Studios. It is first of its kind, its heart right in place, very Indian with mesmerizing and strong characters and design, a mythical story less told, making it very intriguing and the perfect balance of elements to capture the imagination of the audience.
Chetan took us on a voyage of how this humungous idea struck them and how they derived the strength to complete it successfully by keeping all faith, a story of Shiva that had to be told. The characters are larger than life, keeping in mind their power and divine nature. The characterization of Shiva and the interpretation of the Tandav are unseen and very unique; they again fulfilled their aspiration of making it cosmic. The birds flying at the sway of Shiva's arm, the tremble of the earth beneath his feet, and the strength of his limbs flowing in waves of strong beasts were primeval in essence.
A strong believer of Shiva, Chetan also has the belief that sophisticated content can be created in India. He further described the methods of characterization, from research they learnt, that the Asuras were more ruled by their ego that led to destruction. This helped in creating characters that were less cutesy and true to nature.
Chetan worked relentlessly on the storyboard and the Color keys. Maya the Architect of Tripura had created an extensive world- the world that could behold the drama and the scope. Animagic designed to match that magnitude. He went further by sharing with us the voices and the actor's clips and how hard they worked in getting the right voice modulation and mannerisms of each character.
The audience was in awe and there was so much more that Chetan shared. A self disciplined and passionate learner, he had his fundas right and urged students to inculcate them.
Funda 1: If you are learning to sketch, OBSERVE – observe the person, you will then draw and transfer the life of the character in front of you on paper.
Funda 2: If you have dreams of creating, then begin work on it right away, learn the path to achieve that goal, don't keep dreaming, realize it. And it will only come with practicing and passion.
Funda 3: Its never too late to learn something, keep going.
Funda 4: Be amongst people who don't deviate or belittle you but have at the least four friends who know the field and inspire and believe in you, who push you to attain better heights.
Funda 5: If you are inspired by some works, then break down the elements, draw each element and understand how the creator must have gone through the process of compiling it. Inculcate it in you, take it all in and one day you will develop your own style of creation.
The crowd was infused with a renewed enthusiasm and energy after the session. After that Anifest had in store the screening of THE LOST THING, the Oscar winning Animated Short Film, this year. It was pure entertainment, a deep thought in the form of the lost thing. The audience was lost in the movie.
Later the voting and screening for TVCA began, TVCA this year round saw great entries coming from all corners of the world. When we say all corners of the world we mean from Poland, Israel and Russia. Tasi had last year showcased Madgascar Carnet De Voyage by Bastien Dubois, the very same movie was nominated this year at Oscars under the Animation Short Film Category.
The Student's category had a lot of participation from the world over. Here are the Nominations:
