HYPE!

There is so much hype here in india about animation. Everyday there is something or the other in the newpapers and online news services jump over one another to print the latest statement from the animation companies. Its really ridicilous and i think its giving birth to insane hype and is presenting an image that is as close to being absolute falsehood as possible.

I am upset that media only focuses on these things and doesnt really probe behind the statements.

Media should focus on the art of animation. What makes animation they way it is? Why is it so hard to produce? What are the characteristics of companies such as DreamWorks, Disney, Pixar? Why do they produce such good content? Where is the empashis laid in such companies? What is it going to take to do work like that here? What steps need to be taken to open India as a market? What is story and storytelling? Artists need to develop observation and sensitivity. Press needs to show that these things are lacking. When press comes out with statements like India will do the next big movie in 6 months time they need to know that there is an animation community out there laughing at them.

whats gonna define animation? OR my reactions on seeing narnia

wrote this abt a month ago.. dont know why it didn’t get uploaded.. any where here it is.

Finally saw narnia in the theater. It took a while to come out. about 12 of us from the studio went to see it. Let me first say that the visuals were absolutely stunning. The modellers and the fur guys couldn’t resist exclaiming wow every time there was an aslan shot. Congrats to R and H for such a wonderful achievement. The whole look flowed together with a cohesiveness rarely seen in a live action special effects extravaganza.

Technology is so advanced. It seems like nothing is impossible. If we can dream it we can create it. But one thing i noticed at narnia was that the audiences are so used to getting this quality of work in their movies that they take it for granted. Fewer people go to see movies just for effects alone as they would have a decade ago. CG has become a part of the filmmakers toolkit. Its absence is noticed and not its presense. For some reason the only thing that continues to attract audiences to theaters is still the same thing that used to 2000 yrs ago.

Story, drama, emotion, appeal etc. These things never ever get old. No one ever gets bored of these.

As CG becomes more and more powerful these words the only thing thats gonna differentiate a good movie from a bad one is still these basic ideas. I think the future of animation is still what it always was – appeal.

Pixar disney

I know I am little late commenting on this. But I am not a commentator.

Anyway, I can make some observations. I havent spoken to any friends at pixar so i dont know what their take it. But I think this just means good news for the industry. I cant interpret it as anything but good. I think this gives the industry a great sense of direction. The focus has been reinforced on quality and storytelling as is sometimes forgotten.

Raise a glass to the future of the greatest art ever!

cheers

Spline Doctors

MY God what an awesome reference!!! I cant believe it took me so long to find it. I am sure everyone knows abt this by now. A blog by some of my past instructors. Its like being in class all over again. LISTEN to these guys. They teach how to make magic……Spline Doctors

Back from nasscom

Phew whats a hectic few days. Lots of 5 am wake up calls and 11 pm dinners. I was in NASSCOM thursday and Friday and we flew back from hyderabad on friday night. Flight was delayed by 3 plus hours. So it took off at 1130 pm. The return flight was like a who’s who of bangalore animation business. Rajesh was there, thhe guys from virgin and dr nandish from paprikas besided modi and bill. Lots of vendors sun, amd and ibm also were sprinkled around the cabin.

Back home and back to team. The next day we had a seminar. More than 120 people showed up. We had seats for 67 in the screening room. It was standing room only and then even that was gone. Great time for the AC to break down. But people bore it bravely as they put up with my bad jokes and listened as bill aaraty and raj spent time convincing them why the computer is not such a great thing. The mind is…

Why is this so hard to understand???? The computer doesnt do anything its the person behind it. learning a software is not gonna make u an artist. Its just so frustrating when students for takshaa ask for xsi or maya or max. Even after all the lectures abt art, it still comes back to software. They think that knowing software will get them all there is to know about animation.

Here r my notes from the talk as nasscom. I used some of it and did not use a lot of it. And I said somethings not in these notes.

NASSCOM_notes.pdf

clarification

Business standard did misquote bill and I on key facts but I did speak to the journalist. In my previous post I was refering to the awn article which sourced the business standard article and then further misquoted the misquotes. I immediatly came out with the blog post but avoided mentioning AWN. I Also took this up with AWN and they very kindly corrected the article. The revised version of which appears here ——> awn article

Nasscom

I am off to nasscom hyderabad on Wednesday. I am pretty exicted to meet the rest of the folks involved in animation in india and i think its great to have a forum like this to exchange ideas. Lots and lots of great people expected.

Very exicted to meet everyone. If one reading this is gonna be there and wants to hang out email me at mittina@hotmail.com