This business is back breaking but a whole lot of fun. This business is not only about 2d or 3d but varied things. This business thrives on creativity and content. The second day of Anifest India 2011 the 26th of August saw aspects of Making an episodic series, to the screening and voting of Independent Professional Films and Special mentioned by jury movies. The sedentary nature of animators work and his or her lifestyle urged the TASI members to call upon a doc! Then the joys of Comic Art & Illustration enthused all followed by a presentation on Intellectual Property Creation, Protection & Monetization.
If you ever were under the impression that language differences is a barrier in communicating then you are mistaken. On 26th of August 2011 Vishnu Athreya from Cartoon Network spoke on their major creation Roll No 21, an episodic series. Vishnu with Divya Chandel, the writer for Roll No 21 and Ah Loong from Animagic Malaysia have created a Krishna that every child can relate to.
Vishnu said everything just fell in place so well. Cartoon Network wanted a Krishna with whom children could relate to. They have created a Krishna who is edgy, naughty, funny and powerful. There is humor most importantly which is very difficult to derive when the story has mythological characters. Roll No 21 is not bound by any time frame or period, its innovative and very novel. The story line has a twist, the twist that allows children to enjoy the nuances and values of the story but narrated in a "cool" way.
Divya the writer for the series says, they had to constantly think of gags and slapstick humor for the series. Keeping in mind the sensitivity of mythology they have produced a very loving character in the form of Krishna and his exchange student Kris.
Vishnu emphasized that whenever the Villain is funny and truly characterized, depending on his evil plans the Heroes character builds up. He also says all of it has been derived from real life. Kanishk / Kansa the villainous School Principal, his minions like the Math teacher, the watchman is the gatekeeper and also has a booth, from where he can connect to the Gods in heaven.
The characterization is done very articulately, and this is one mythological movie that was developed from character to production by Ah Loong and his team at Animasia in Malaysia. Ah Loong took the audience by surprise when he mentioned about the Indian influences in Malaysia. They worked on the characters after doing a lot of research, they understood that Lord Krishna is blue and chubby but finally they locked upon a cute lean Krishna.
Ah Loong, the director at Animasia presented the characters they created, the whole lot of props they created and how they did the animation. With the help of Divya's English script, they did the lip-synching and later Divya worked with her team on creating lines in Hindi, where the English line and Hindi line would start and end together.
It was really overwhelming to watch how Animasia adapted the Indian aesthetics and created a very likeable series for the Indian audiences. The cartoon series made with the help of flash, Ah Loong showed the process of working.
The Translation from script to screen-
The first being storyboarding and animatics
The second the key animation
The clean-up and adding the background is the third stage
Then it goes for post production
And finally its sent to the sound studio for sound design etc.
Ah Loong made a presentation of the Animasia studio, and he showed us the entire team working with him. It was enjoyable, through animation they have conveyed a thousand words.
"'Art of Living' is important than other art"- Dr. Pinakin Shah
They say "Health is Wealth" and one does know why. An animator's job is pain-staking and stressful. To bring this into limelight, an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Pinakin Shah was invited. On asking the question, it was observed that there were many young animators who suffered from severe back problem. Dr. Pinakin points out the root cause of the problem since the evolution of man and the current lifestyle. He scientifically explained the reasons and causes with help of simple animation and diagrams.
Lack of exercise, fatigue, careless posture, lack of relaxation, long hours of sitting, tired muscles are the culprit of back aches. Some other causes are the bad sleeping habits, bad working habits and too much of travelling which indirectly affects the back.
Statistically, back ache is an age old problem; also it is a global problem. With few simple measures it can be easily avoided. The doctor suggested avoiding taking load on back, having a customised chair at the work-place, avoiding comfortable sofas and avoiding neck stress. He suggested the youth for meditation, massage, yoga and other relaxation techniques.
Dr. Shah equated pain with sickness and pleasure with fitness. He explained this in a very simple way and gave us few advices.
P- planning time
L- laughter
E- Eating habits and diet
A- attitudes of mind and body
S- servitude-altruism
U- upbringing
R- relaxation
E- exercises
The session was an interesting one. Everyone enjoyed Dr. Shah's friendliness and appreciated his counsel. There was a huge applause from the audience for him. There was an interactive session where students and animators asked questions pertaining to good and fit health.
Saumin Patel's inspiring session on Comic Art and Illustration displayed his artworks since his college days at J.J School of Arts up till his recent professional works. One could easily mark the difference from the simple sketches and rough strokes transforming into fine and polished digital work. In this session, he brought out the differences of time by mentioning the easy access to resources, use of internet, the attitude of youth and their sense of responsibility.
However, the journey of an artist is never easy, he mentioned about his struggles and explained the outlook of the society towards fine arts. "Mediocrity gets praised like anything in our society", said Saumin Patel, when he realised that the crowd dint understand art as much to appreciate it. Saumin Patel, who is highly inspired by Indian mythology and Indian settings also reflected in his works.
As an inspired youth, he has also replicated Mario Miranda's illustration. He has made illustrations for Westside and ClubGreeting.com. He, also, initiated working with comics for Parle G, creating the superhero Suryaraj and its villains like Terrolene and Neuraal. He was also hired by Virgin Comics, which gave him a life-turning break. His inclination towards comics was finally recognised. He, later, worked on Mumbai Macguffin and Mukesh Singh's Devi.
Saumin Patel has a very unique style and he is very creative. His advice to the youth is not to waste time on social networking sites, to get inspired by what is around you, to make a mental note of everything minutely, research on subject very closely and accurately and protect the idea and stay true to it.
The last session of the day was dedicated to Intellectual Property. Rajiv Chilaka, who is the CEO of Green Gold Animation. He is also the creator of Chhota Bheem, Chhota Bheem and Krishna, Krishna cartoon series. He holds a Master's degree in computer Science and a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Mr Rajiv Chilaka has been instrumental in shaping the foundation of Green Gold Animation from its inception. His passion and interest in animation led him to further study this form of art at the Academy of Art, San Francisco, USA.
Ms. Gowree Gokhale heads the IP, technology, media and entertainment law practice of the multi-skilled, research-based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. Her specialisation's also include litigation and dispute resolution, franchising, pharma and life sciences laws, commercial laws, HR laws. She is a visiting faculty at Institute of Intellectual Property Law Studies at Mumbai.
Together, they both introduced an important session on Intellectual Property- creation, protection and monetization. It must be questionable to many of the readers how is this affiliated with animation, but one must know how this infested many of the students and professionals with the awareness of legal aspects of IP. They lectured on the property creation and development. They enlightened the audience with the means and strategies for protection and contractual issues at the time of monetization of the IP.
There was a Screening of Films selected by the Jury for Special Mention as well as Films that had got nominated for Professional Independent Films Category TVCA were screened and voted for the winners to be announced tomorrow...
