Following a great response to the previous two series of workshops, Graphiti School of Animation is offering its fourth set of free workshops for students, parents and anyone interested in knowing more about careers in the field of animation. They would also get an insight into the animation industry.

The Session dates are 4th July, 11th July and 18th July 2008. Each Session is been scheduled to be held at 12.00 noon at the Graphiti School of Animation.

The workshop will deal with basic issues like:
- What is animation? What are the steps involved in making an animation film?
- Is animation a formula for successful career?
- What are the Job opportunities in Animation?
- Can anyone animate or is it limited to only a particular group of people?
- Where and how should I learn Animation?

Registrations details for the workshop are given below :

Pre - register for the workshop and book your time slot, call Graphiti on 022 24440107 or 022 32448544 or sms at 09833841580. You can also visit www.graphiti.net

The address of the workshop is
Graphiti School of Animation
404, Udyog Mandir No 2
Mogul Lane, Mahim West,
Mumbai 400016
Phone No: 32448544 / 24440107
training@graphiti.net
www.graphiti.net

Just received a press release announcing the formation of India’s first ‘Gaming Team’ - “INDIAN INFERNO”

Indiagames, India’s benchmark online and mobile games company and a leading global developer and publisher of mobile games and the E-Sports Council of India announced the formation of India’s first professional gaming team – Indian Inferno.

Team Indian Inferno comprises of Rueben Pereira, India’s No.1 FIFA player and the only Indian gamer to win a medal at the World Cyber Games Asia. Indian Inferno also comprises of India’s No.1 ‘Counter Strike’ game team led by Mikhail MehraAmar Ratnam, Ritesh Shah, Ben Varghese with and Pranay Bhatia. This team won the World Cyber Games-India event in 2007 in addition to winning other gaming tournaments across India.

Some Quotes…

Vishal Gondal, CEO Indiagames said “This is a major step in positioning E-sports as a viable career option amongst the Indian youth. This is the first time that an Indian team will be managed at every stage of their gaming career. Amar, Ben, Mikhail, Pranay, Ritesh and Rueben are extremely talented and we are sure that with the right professional guidance and exposure, they would be able to make a mark for India on the international competitive gaming scene”.

Says, Rueben Pereira, “I have been associated with Indiagames for a long time now and they have played a key role in supporting me and shaping my career as a competitive gamer”

Adds Mikhail Mehra, captain of the Counter Strike Team, “Being professionally managed is going to help us concentrate on improving our gaming skills, while the team atmosphere helps keep the competitive and motivational forces active”

As part of the agreement Indian Inferno will represent Indiagames in both national and international gaming tournaments as well as conduct nationwide gaming workshops for aspiring gamers. Indiagames will in turn manage their gaming careers in terms of endorsements, providing world class training facilities and a platform to showcase their talent. In addition to Indian Inferno, Indiagames also intends to support city specific gaming teams.

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ABOUT INDIAGAMES LTD .
Indiagames Ltd is India’s benchmark mobile and online games company and a leading global mobile game publisher. The Company is engaged in publishing and developing games across various platforms including Online and Mobile. Indiagames’ products are developed and published across all major technology platforms and are distributed through partnerships with mobile operators in over 75 countries.

In India, the Company also distributes games via its consumer focused website and operates a broadband Games on Demand service located at http://www.indiagames.com. Indiagames has over 300 employees and offices in Mumbai, London, Los Angeles & Beijing. Internationally the company publishes mobile titles via its IG FUN brand. Key investors include UTV – India’s foremost Media & Entertainment Company, Adobe Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc.

Indiagames, IG FUN and Beat This are trademarks of Indiagames Ltd.

ABOUT THE E-SPORTS COUNCIL OF INDIA (ESC-I)
The E-Sports Council of India” (ESC-I) is a centralized administrative and governing body for the competitive gaming industry in India. Its primary objective is to plan, regulate and organize e-sports events at various levels. ESC-I is a common platform for competitive gamers, event managers and potential sponsors. Under its aegis, ESC-I will introduce scholarship programs, training for both, gamers and game officials, seminars, counseling and also organize International tournaments like WCG, WCG Asia, the national gaming league – GoD League and the Indo-Pak Cup amongst others.

Animation lovers of India, unite! And do something to stop this movie from shaming us in front of the world!

It’s been a long time since I last blogged but this frightening piece of news brought me back from my brief blog hiatus. Apparently, India’s First 3D Mainstream Animation Movie is about to be released on 18th July. It’s called Icy N Spicy - A Journey to Tonga and is produced and directed by Anil Goyal, “a most experience person in the field of 3d animation” (that’s what his website claims). You only need to take a look at the stills from the movie (see below) to know why it is something we all need to seriously worry about.

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Just received a press release from NDTV Lumiere that they will be releasing ‘Persepolis’ in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore on June 20th, 2008.

I am really looking forward to this. I don’t have the details but once I do, I shall put them up here on the blog. It is sad that they seem to be releasing the film only in 3 metros. I am sure there are a lot of people in smaller cities who would have liked to see this beautiful film.

Persepolis is writer-director Marjane Satrapi’s magical and ingenious award-winning story of a young girl coming of age in Iran, that is both lively and thought-provoking. The animated film is an adaptation of graphic novels about her childhood. Persepolis, which has won, among others, the Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes in 2007, and an Oscar nomination in 2008 sees Iran through the eyes of the precocious and outspoken nine-year-old Marjane. Critically acclaimed and widely enjoyed, Persepolis is a magical and ingenious film based on Satrapi’s own experiences of growing up in an increasingly fundamentalist Iran.
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The Annecy Festival is exactly a week away and with India as the Focus Country this year; everyone is excited about the implications. NASSCOM is taking a large Indian delegation to Annecy including some of the biggest and best studios in India - Toonz Animation, Paprikaas, Accel Animation, Sanra, Kahani World, Big Animation, FX Labs, ettaminA, Blowfish FX, Dawson, Cornershop, Graphiti, Green Gold, Picasso Digital, to name just a few.

NASSCOM is organizing THE INDIA PAVILLION together with Government of India - Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at Annecy 2008 – the world’s largest creative festival for animators and the animation world.

The 27 square meters large ‘Indian Pavilion’ is the largest showcase of Indian animation companies at any single event and the stand will present the logos, play the show reel and display the logos of all the participating companies. The ministry and trade delegation will be meeting several counterparts from other countries and discussions will range from proposing growth initiatives including co-production treaties, reciprocal participation in trade shows and official visits by trade delegations between themselves. To celebrate the ‘Spotlight on India’, NASSCOM and the delegation will be the hosts for the opening gala evening on the 10th where an Indian Fair has been planned. A show-reel of student and professional films compiled by ASIFA India will also be showcased by the delegation. A handbook on India, with updated information on the industry and profiles of visiting delegates will be presented.

Speaking about this Col. S V Ramachandran, Regional Director, NASSCOM said, “NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum has decided to participate in selected international markets as a platform to present the Indian Industry. MIFA at Annecy is the largest ‘pure play’ animation market and NASSCOM’s participation last year convinced us about the possibilities for our members and the positive role the government can play in turbo powering some of the initiatives.”

I caught up with Biren Ghose, CEO Kahani World Inc. and Chairman of the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming Forum and here is what he had to share about NASSCOM’s role at Annecy and in the country’s Animation and Gaming scenario.

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nextMEDIA - The Future of Digital Content is where the world’s content creators, broadcasters, financiers, carriers, digital publishers, technology solution-providers, and advertisers meet to extend their knowledge and nurture key business relationships. The conference is set in spectacular Banff, Alberta, nextMEDIA is the sister event to the world renowned Banff World Television Festival. The event takes advantage of the synergies connecting the television and new media industries by facilitating a high-value networking environment.

Attendees at nextMEDIA gain an expert understanding of the most important areas of development in the interactive media industry and learn how to create and execute profitable digital media strategies.

AAA caught up with Biren Ghose, CEO of Kahani World Inc. who is one of the prominent speakers at the digital content show in Banff, Alberta, Canada from the 6th to 8th June 2008, where India is featured as the “emerging market” for discussion. Biren Ghose will be presenting his thesis on “Storytelling 2.0″ which will explore how storytelling will change in a world where the viewer will influence its course.

There is a panel on emerging markets where key decision makers from major media companies network in a retreat based environment. Key participants featured here include:

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Learning animation is not just about learning how to use the software. Art, literature, history, story-telling, film-making, music, acting… many different things go into it. You also need to watch a lot of good films to be able to create great films. That is what the students of NID, India’s premier animation school, do. But they don’t just stop at watching the inspiring films, they go one step ahead. They share them!

So here is a very nice effort by a bunch of NIDians - a blog where various contributors upload links to some amazing short films from across the world. Smit Shah and Rohit Iyer kick-started the film-recommendation network and were later joined by a lot of their peers. See the blog - DEKH BHAI DEKH - subscribe to it if you like and then come back and read this wacky interview with the duo that started it all!

AAA: How did you come upon the idea to create a blog like this? What was the ‘inspiration’ or thought behind it?

SMIT: All through my stay at NID, I came across a lot of good short films, animation and otherwise which we used to share amongst each others. But by November last year I realised there were a lot of people who had left NID, and we couldnt keep up with exchanging these films. So to share these inspirations I started a mailing list which had a lot of NIDians as well as non NIDians. Anyone who was interested could ask for an invitation to the mailing list, and a lot of people wanted the archives of those good films. The idea was simple, growing into a ‘one good animation a day in your inbox’. It was also to provide as much information about the film maker and the production houses. We try to look for more information about the film on the net and include it as well. It wasnt until mid jan that this mailing list was converted to a blog, and what an appropriate name Rohit came up with.

ROHIT: I’m sure Smit must have started it out of boredom… or to show off (he likes doing that!). He started sending everyone these mails and he added me to the list. Me… I’m like efficiency - as cool as it was to have the links in my inbox every day, I got kind of fed up of being linked to a trazillion different video sites. So I figured the best way to do this is to have a blog where we could embed the videos and group members could sign up and post new videos and an update would be sent to subscribers’ inbox through a feed. This really helps because you can look at the videos at a glance and not sift through lots of emails to find something.

So we also invited all the people in the mailing list to be part of the blog, so anyone can sign in and post stuff. There was a concern about what’s the point in having a blog like this when there are so many other such blogs/sites online already. So after some thought, we kind of figured that these are videos recommended by people we KNOW and not just random shorts. The idea behind posting on the blog is that we want to share what WE like and express our tastes and discoveries through this, as opposed to creating some sort of archive.

The name “Dekh Bhai Dekh” came about because when creating the blog, I had to give it a name and I preferred something in Hindi. Trivia: Dekh Bhai Dekh is the name of an old TV show from nineties starring Shekhar Suman, which used to air on Sony Entertainment Television!

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On Saturday, 31st May, 2008 at the P C Saxena Auditorium in IIT Powai, Mumbai, TASI is holding session on Pre-production for Animation.

Three speakers will share their recent work and elucidate on the entire process of conceptualizing and planning up untill the actual production begins.

Santosh Sawant - Creative Director, Phoebus Creations, Mumbai

Uttam Pal - Independent Animator & Film-maker, Mumbai

Rudra Matsa - Founder & CEO, Panel Animation Studios, Hyderabad

With examples from their own films, the speakers will take you through the process from concept to the final blue-print. Phases discussed will include intellectual property (IP) creation, story, script, storyboarding, animatics, character and environment design, colour keys, sound design and much more!

Visit the TASI website for more information.

After spending two full days at the CGTExpo 2008, I must say the experience was unique. Hundreds of volunteers from all over the country, the CGTantra team, the Nine team, the participants and the supporters, all put in their best to make the event a truly successful one.

The planning was perfect, arrangements flawless and the least possible glitches ensured that everyone had a lot of fun and went back having gained something. Newbies, students, job-seekers, curious spectators, anxious parents of would-be animation students, were all milling around together in the two main halls and two smaller ones.

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