Waltz with Bashir

Well, from Ari Folman, the creator of this compelling animated documentary, actually. An interview with Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post, gives us a glimpse into the mind of writer/director Ari Folman who made this film against all odds and gained worldwide success. He has almost philosophical views on war, forgiveness and politics but those have no place here on an animation blog. What I really want to share here are 5 invaluable lessons gleaned from the interview with this unconventional film-maker. I hope our aspiring animators and film-makers who want to make their own films will take these lessons to heart.

Lesson No. 1: It is all in the story-telling

With a controversial but factual story about war combined with real, archival footage, who would have thought the film would catch the fancy of people across the world? A dark, disturbing subject like war has been tackled innumerable times before so what sets apart this film? The answer lies in the telling of the story. Can you create interest in the minds of the audience? Can you get them involved in the lives of your characters? Can you hook them, grip them, enchant them, make them suspend disbelief and lose themselves in your story? THAT is the power of story-telling, no matter what the subject is.

Lesson No. 2: Believe. In yourself. In your story. In the medium.

A lot of people questioned Folman’s decision to make a film on this subject. They felt his choice of medium was inappropriate as well. He did not have a background in animation either. But he believed. In the story he had to narrate, in the medium of ‘animated-documentary’ and most of all, in himself. The strength of his conviction ensured that the film got made.

Lesson No. 3: Never give up. Keep trying.

The task was daunting. The film was almost experimental and most people had rejected his pitch. Yet he went on undeterred. He not only worked on the film himself, he also went around trying to raise funds. He did everything possible to ensure the film was completed. He had a vision and a task. He went all out to make it a reality, not giving up even once.

Lesson No. 4: Innovate

Sure, there were problems. Unforeseen ones as well as expected ones. With a budget that was limited, Ari and his team reiterated the proverb - Necessity is the mother of invention. When you have a goal, you cannot let anything stop you from achieving it. Try with whatever is within your means but also push the limit whenever you can. Experiment, innovate, turn your shortcomings into advantages, push the envelope.

Lesson No. 5: Do it for YOURSELF

Folman did not make this film to prove a point. He did not make it to win accolades for the animation. He had a story that he wanted to narrate which he wanted to take to people across the world. He was not thinking of audiences or jury when he was making the film. He made it the way it best enhanced the story. He was focussed on the task at hand and gave it his best. That is something most of us do not do. We lose track thinking of the grand prize awaiting us at the finishing line. Do not make the film because it is your class lesson, or project, or perhaps your job. Do not do it for the ‘money’ or ‘awards’. Do it for your own sake - because you have a story that deserves to be told in the best possible manner.

I will leave you with the trailer of Waltz with Bashir and a parting thought. There is so much to learn from the experiences of others. Our animation/filmmaking students sometimes suffer because they do not have good teachers at their schools and institutes, but what stops them from learning outside the classroom?

I would also like to thank all of you who have read my articles and commented, sent feedback, asked questions, given suggestions and encouraged me in any way you could. I have sincerely tried to answer your queries, solve your doubts and share information through my articles. I have also ensured that my write-ups are ALWAYS unbiased and true - if I have praised somebody or something, it is because I truly believe it is praise-worthy. If I have criticized, it is because I have felt strongly about the flaws. All About Animation is neither funded nor sponsored by any individual or organization - it is solely my effort to do my bit to raise awareness about animation in India and encourage our talented animators.

CGTantra Community Honour for Akshata & AllAboutAnimation.com

Having said that, it is really nice to be appreciated by my peers for my efforts. The “Community Honour” conferred on me by CGTantra at their 4th Anniversary event in December 2008 has been a sweet validation of my endeavours and it sure feels good to be acknowledged. Thank you Chand, Abhishek and the entire team at CGTantra.

2009 has begun with a lot of question marks - stalled projects, jobless animators and an overall uncertainty that has beset members of India’s animation community. I will do my best to keep you updated. You will see many new things on the AAA website/blog in 2009. So keep watching

2008 was a year of a lot of frenetic activity on the industry front.

AnimationXpress.com held a series of AITF (Animation Industry Technology Forum) and IAI (Industry Academia Interface) sessions, announced a print magazine, a quiz competition and new awards of excellence and also ventured into something never done before - Animation tourism. Its my sincere hope that it does not lose its original vision in this juggernaut of diversification.

CGTantra.com took its LIG (Learn, Inspire, Grow) seminars to several cities across the country. It held the first ever (and I must say, mighty successful) CGT Expo in Mumbai, launched many new features on their website and finally ended the year with a bang by celebrating its 4th anniversary by confering “CGT Community Honours” on people from various sections of the Indian animation industry and community.

TASI - The Animation Society of India - organised valuable seminars and workshops all year around - ranging from Animation for those who cannot Draw, Music for Animation, The Making of taare Zameen Par, Preproduction, Acting for Animation and the gem of the year - A Masterclass with the Master - Ram Mohan Sir himself! And how can I not mention TASI’s Anifest India 2008 - the 3 day festival at IIT, Mumbai, that saw a phenomenal turnout of close to 3000 people who attended over 15 workshops and sessions. The icing on TASI’s cake was a neat write-up that appeared in Times Of India in August about the sincere efforts of TASI members to give something back to the Indian animation community. (Don’t take my word for it, I am a committee member of TASI this year too after all. Just ask any one who has attended the TASI sessions and I am sure they will vouch for us)

ASIFA India celebrated the International Animation Day with great gusto across 13 cities in India this year. I attended the one in Mumbai and for me the 2 highlights of the day were the opportunity to interact with Gitanjali Rao and watch clips from her latest film ‘Girgit’ and the screening of the Pixar Documentary which I had been dying to see. (It is now available for everyone to watch - on the Wall-E DVD - and I recommend all aspiring animators to watch it)

The proof of the potential of India’s animation industry lies in the fact that the Annecy Festival chose India as the country of focus. The ever-popular animation festival held every year in the beautiful town of Annecy in France put India, its animators and their animation in the spotlight. This was the year when one could not afford to miss out on the festival if one had anything to do with Indian animation. Unfortunately, I was unable to go.

Of course a lot else happened in the ‘industry’ - mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, splits, break-aways, law-suits, launches and shutdowns, but I will not discuss those here.

Then there was the formation of NAGFO and BAGS. What’s that you ask? NAGFO aka NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum is NASSCOM’s endeavour to brign together India’s animation as well as gaming institutes and studios under one umbrella to further their cause, improve standards and benefit everyone within the industry. BAGS is the Board of Animation and Gaming Standards that is emerging from NAGFO that will set guidelines amongst other things for the betterment of the industry.

Industry events that happened this year included FICCI Frames 2008 which was held in Mumbai (which I attended) and NASSCOM Animation and Gaming India 2008, Hyderabad (which I was unable to attend thanks under unfortunate circumstances).

And then there were the films. The Good, the Bad and the downright UGLY!! Enough has been said already about the UGLY aka Icy n Spicy (refer this blog) and I won’t waste anymore webspace writing about it. Gladly noone seems to remember the movie anyway!! Dashavatar and Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang did not do very well at the box office for different reasons. The effort was sincere but did not show through and both did nothing for the Indian animation industry. Everybody waited with bated breath for Roadside Romeo the first Big Banner Bollywood film - helmed by Jugal Hansraj and produced by Yash Raj Films. The creators did push the envelope quite a bit and I have to credit the animators for doing a good job. The tragedy was that this film too failed to excite Indian audiences enough. Partly the fault of the producers who hardly promoted the film and partly the inexperience of the director who is not an animator to begin with. The hype was limited to within the industry and ultimately, neither the voices of Saif and Kareena nor the sincere efforts of the animation team got their due. The film found its audience neither in kids nor in adults. It was wrong to expect Disney/Pixar quality - we pinned our hopes too high. A toddler must first learn to crawl, then walk, then run. Yet, I reaffirm that Roadside Romeo was a giant leap for Indian animation in more ways than one. (I won’t bring up Jumbo because it is not an Indian animated film to begin with and the  only Indian connection, the voice-overs, sounded so awful in the trailers itself that I shall give it a miss!)

Whew! That wraps up this lengthy post. I know I might have missed out a couple of things, if so, you are most welcome to add them in the comments below. I will sign off by wishing all of you a very happy, peaceful, successful, fun-filled and ANIMATED 2009!!!

Do remember to check out the new ‘avatar’ of the AAA blog on Monday - 3rd November, 2008. Have a great weekend!

Yours animatedly,
Akshata

The hype was not all bad. Many more people began sitting up and taking notice of this thing called ‘Animation’ than before. Students and parents alike opened their eyes to this new career prospect. Existing animators began celebrating their new-found respect in the eyes of their detractors who had so far looked down upon their choice of vocation. All-in-all the Indian animation industry saw a spurt in interest, enthusiasm, educational avenues and job opportunities. Within a year, more than 70 animated feature films were announced. Actual work began on a far lesser number of movies.

But the latest news coming out of studios is not good. Many production houses and studios have folded up. Others have laid off a majority of their employees. People have woken up to the fact that making an animated film is no cake walk. There may be a lot of enthusiasm and ideas but the lack of funds, acute shortage of ‘talented’ artists and short-sightedness of studios have become major obstacles.

For sometime now, there were a lot of outsourced projects being done by our studios, besides the in-house developments. Companies needed to ’show’ their prospective clients their team strength so a lot of  average and even below average talent got hired. The cream of the crop was being poached from one studio after the other. As pay scales rose, so did the rate of employee attrition. Now outsourced work has dried up. A few substandard animated releases turned out to be duds (why am I not surprised?!!) And suddenly a lot of hopes have come crashing down like a pack of cards.

Many artists now find themselves jobless. An alarming number of fresh graduates from institutes have secured neither jobs nor offers. As in other industries, animation too is now seeing a massive slow down. So is it time yet to declare this a ‘bust’ quite like the dot-com bust less than a decade ago?

I do not think so. This is just a phase. We have hit a plateau. And I think it is very good. Critical, in fact, for the well-being and future success of Indian animation. Why, you might ask. For multiple reasons:

1. Let this be a wake up call for all those who jumped into animation without a thought. For those who took the plunge not for the sake of animation but at the instance of the $$$$$… They read in the media about the billions of dollars waiting to be gathered and followed the ‘Pied Piper’ to their doom. Art can not succeed without heart.

2. This phase will help separate the wheat from the chaff. The joblessness is short-term. The ones with true creativity and skill will get hired again. The only ones who need to worry are the ones who lacked talent to begin with. The rest can use this time to enhance their skills and glean more knowledge rather than wallow in hopelessness and self-pity. This way they will be prepared when the wind changes and new assignments beckon them.

3. Our film-makers will now focus a little more on quality content than quantity. (I hope!!) Rather than rush through projects at breakneck speed without really analyzing they should be a little self-critical and work very hard to deliver good work. Original concepts and well-executed films will surely succeed and bring the train back on track. We have hit a plateau, yes. But the graph will rise once again.

4. Indians have this tendency to take things easy till a problem of gigantic proportions arises. This recession-like situation should give us a good kick on our behinds and motivate us to do what it takes to get out of it. Talk, discuss, share, try… No point just sitting around and cribbing. Web 2 followed the dotcom recession. Perhaps this is an opportune moment for Indian animation’s second coming.

After talking to many people in the Indian animation industry, I found that most are waiting with bated breath for the Diwali-release of Roadside Romeo. The fate of many an animator lies in the success or failure of this Yashraj film. Studios, production houses and investors alike have put new projects on hold until they see whether the audiences take to the first official fully-animated Bollywood movie. (And no, Icy n Spicy doesn’t count!) From the promos, Roadside Romeo looks promising. The Disney involvement in itself is a quality stamp.

I feel positive that over the next few months, things will improve. I know a lot of my blogs have focused on the problems. But I truly believe that if we pull up our socks, gather the courage to invest confidently and generously in animation, work ten times harder, push the envelope, overcome our limitations and do all this sincerely, we can take forward Indian Animation successfully into its second phase. Cheers to that!

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.

The event began on the right note by starting on time, which is a rarity these days. (God forbid you reach an event before time, you will be left cooling your heels for 2 hours before there is any sign of life! Thankfully, here it was not the case.)

RK Chand from CGTantra and Jigar Parekh from Nine - Making it Possible performed a small ‘pooja’ to begin with.

The show was inaugurated by volunteers, two girls who had come all the way from Jharkhand to be part of the expo. It was a genuinely nice gesture on the part of the organizers to show their appreciation towards the community that has actually contributed towards the success CGTantra.

The crowd began arriving early on Saturday morning. In the foreground is Laura Dohrmann from NVIDIA. Also seen in the middle of the crowd is Nigel Sumner, scene supervisor for ILM who has worked on films like Transformers, Terminator 3, Space Cowboys, Jurassic Park III, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Van Helsing, The Hulk, The Perfect Storm, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, War of the Worlds, Poseidon and Eragon.

The 2 day event organised by CGTantra with the help of Nine, went off smoothly right from the word GO. Apart from volunteers from Mumbai, there were students from all over India who had come just for the event, not only to participate but to help and to volunteer.

The opening speeches!

Student competitions in progress throughout the 2 days of the event.

Bang in the center of the hall was the Frameboxx pavilion which was also probably the liveliest and noisiest stall in the entire expo! Their yellow and black branding was everywhere as the team gave demos to curious visitors and prospective Frameboxx students alike. Large banners announced forthcoming projects including a Character Design contest that begins on the 28th of May.

Also present were Hardware vendors like NVIDIA, Apple distributors and resellers like Unicorn and Ample, Institutes from across India, Studios like Paprikaas, BIG Animation and Lucas Film Singapore who had come looking to hire new talent, Animation-related media companies like Animation Xpress, Animation Reporter, Animation Today and of course yours truly representing AAA, Zapak Games play-zone for gaming enthusiasts, Master Classes, student competitions, everything under one roof. TASI - The Animation Society of India also made its presence felt at the expo, announcing this year’s edition of the 3 day animation fest - Anifest India 2008! It was a place to learn, earn, network, have fun, share, make noise and lose your voice with all the talking!

Some more fun stuff!

Education Pavilion

Studios looking to hire fresh as well as experienced talent.

A huge Gaming Plaza by Zapak - every gamers dream…

Keep playing!

Kreeda Games’ Dance Mela and M M Mukhi & Sons’ Book and CD/DVD stall.

…and that’s Yours Truly at the AllAboutAnimation stall. A BIG THANK YOU to all the visitors and the readers who came specially and told me how much they like the website/blog. Feels great to know that one’s hard work is appreciated.

I sincerely hope that CGTantra keeps organizing more such fests in other cities as well. Kudos to their team!

http://animalssavetheplanet.com

“Forget the films, Watch the titles”

This site showcases some very well crafted title sequences for films and TV shows. Classified into 4 categories - Animation, Motion Graphics, Mixed Media and 3D, it has some popular film titles (Pink Panther, Juno) as well as some which we haven’t seen before in India. The site was set up in 1997 as an online collection of some of the most brilliant and eye-catching title sequences made for mainstream as well as independent films. On the FAQs on their website, they tell us WHY they are doing this…

“Because we love a good title sequence, because we’re into innovative motion graphics, because we can… Femke Wolting, founder of Submarine Channel, curated a program for the International Film Festival Rotterdam several years ago where she showed a selection of the best title sequence designs. That program was called ‘Forget the Film, Watch the Titles’. SubmarineChannel editor Remco Vlaanderen has been collecting and researching title sequences for several years. We’re quite passionate about the subject! “

Worth viewing for sure! Check it out…

At the ceremony on Thursday night, when AnimationXpress co-founder Anand Gurnani was asked,”How important is it to write about animation?” he said that a few years ago, many creative people would have loved to pursue a career in animation but due to parental pressure settled for more secure ‘jobs’ in companies and banks. Luckily, today times have changed. The Indian animation industry has seen an astounding growth and there are several lucrative career options in the field of animation, VFX and gaming. If we talk about it and spread the word, parents will be more open to allowing their kids to follow their dreams and become the future of Indian animation.

So here we are, writing about animation and sharing with our readers the events of the first ever Golden Cursor Awards for Excellence in Animation.  Get all the details right here on the All About Animation Blog.

The Golden Cursor Awards for Animation were presented by Tech2 and Arena Animation in association with Aptech and CNBC-TV 18 and powered by AnimationXpress.com. Mr. Tim Mostert, the creator of the Speedy comic strip in South Africa and Mr. Sunil Thankamushy, Animation Director and Co-Founder of Spark Unlimited.

Although there are many big and small animation awards that honour Indian animators - ASIFA India’s Awards of Excellence, FICCI BAF and 24FPS to name a few, the GCA stands out because it is backed by a big media house. Hopefully, that should put Indian Animation in the spotlight for the public at large as well, besides of course encouraging Indian animation talent.

Audience settling down

The venue was the grand ballroom of the ITC Grand Sheraton in Parel. Scheduled to begin at 6:30, the show finally began at 7:45, kicking off with a ‘rocking’ performance by Kolkata based rock group, Hip Pocket. It immediately put the by now restless audience right back into the mood. Perhaps the organisers wanted to send a signal out to the world - Indian Animation is on its way to rock the globe!

Hip Pocket from Kolkata

The music was followed by some Sponsors’ videos and an introduction of the jury panel and selection process.

Mr. R Krishnan, Global Head, Arena Animation spoke briefly about the industry trends and his company’s contribution to it. He cited low cost as reason for the competitive edge that we have over the rest of the world. In his words, creating animation in India costs just one-fifth of what it would if one were to attempt it in USA or any place else. Personally, I think it is very sad that cheap labour is what is propelling Indian animation ahead rather than good quality creative work. He also mentioned that close to 25 feature length Indian animation films are scheduled for release this year. It remains to be seen how many actually make it to the box office and of those, how many actually are creatively and commercially successful.

Chief Guest Tim Mostert introduced his creation - the character Speedy and then spoke of how India is known for its Food, Cricket and now, Animation. He likened India to a sleeping giant that needs only to be woken up from its complacent slumber. We seem to be waiting for a magic feather, he said, to convince us that we can fly. With our original characters, brilliant palette of colours and personalities, we can create our own unique identity. “Don’t emulate, show the world how powerful you are.” He described the Indian character that he has created - Muli. Tim also spoke about the animation greats like Tex Avery who originally inspired all other artists saying if they were alive today, they would look to India for inspiration. High praise indeed!

Without much ado, hosts Gautam Srinivasan and Urvashi Yadav, both known to us as anchors on CNBC, then got on with the awards. Host Suresh mingled with the audience, talking to some of the eminent personalities, asking them relevant questions. He first got Govind Nihalani to speak a few words about his first animated film which will tentatively release next year.

Mr. C, the animated mascot for the Golden Cursor Awards, introduced the nominees before each award. Tim Mostert handed out the awards, accompanied by various eminent personalities from the Indian Animation Industry. My only grouse was that not a single nominated animation was screened for the audience making it difficult to visualise the creative genius that was being honoured. They could have shown at least a few seconds of each film. Perhaps they skipped it because of lack of time.

The first two awards, given by Tim and Virgin Comics Ceo, Mr. Suresh Setharaman, were Best New Animation Style which went to Levis Slim Fit by Famous Studios and Best Animated Public Service Announcement and won by Vaibhav Studios for Buladi.

The Animagic Team - Sumant Rao, Gayatri Rao & Chetan Sharma

The next two awards were - Best 2D Animation won by Animagic India for Maa-Aa and Best 3D Animation won by Big Animation for Hey Krishna. These were given by Anand Gurnani and Tim.

Host Suresh then caught up with his namesake Suresh Seetharaman, CEO of Virgin Comics, asking him if comics were dead! But Mr. Seetharaman said it couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact he said Indians don’t speak, they tell stories! A very interesting insight.

The award for Best Animated TVC was shared by Famous Studios for Levis Slim Fit and Vaibhav Studios for the Amaron Batteries advertisement. Vaibhav thanked his entire team - the animators at Rhythm and Hues, Music Director Tapas Relia and Chetan Sashital for the voice over. The Best Live Action and Animation Combo Award went to Prime Focus for Fevicol. Crest Animation’s Mr A K Madhavan gave away these awards along with Tim.

Taare Zameen Par’s 2D animated sequence

Best Animated Sequence in a film went to Vaibhav Studios again for the 3 x 9 scene in Taare Zameen Par. Vaibhav sais that this was the first time they had animated for a feature film. Best Animated Title Sequence in a film/tv series was won by Dhimant Vyas for Taare Zameen Par again. He dedicated the award to his late father who he lost just few days ago.

Dhimant poses with his team and family

Dhimant’s Winning Animation

Mr Pramod Khera of Aptech was then asked by Suresh about the current scenario in the country. We Indians seem to be taking over cars, banks and the like but the talent crunch can ruin this streak. When they set up Aptech 12 years ago, they had a tough time convincing people about multimedia careers but now things have changed.

Surprisingly, a young lady from the audience when asked by Suresh to name her all-time favourite animated character, said she doesn’t watch much television. If Indian animation can convert her to an animation fan, then that would be something!

A Jubilant Tapas Relia with his wife

Next came the awards for the Best Lyrics and Best Background Score for an Animation Film. Swanand Kirkire won for the lyrics he wrote for Animagic India’s Maa-Aa and he dedicated the award to Chetan Sharma of Animagic. Tapas Relia won for composing music for Percept’s Return of Hanuman, and cheekily said that after hearing that the Indian Animation Industry is poised to touch the One Billion Dollars mark, he has decided that he wants to stick to making music for animation rather than Bollywood films! Both received their awards from Ashish Kulkarni of BIG Animation who was also on the jury.

Suresh then introduced the grand old man of Indian animation, Bhimsain Khurana, to the audience. Almost everyone in the audience has grown up watching the ‘Ek Titli, Anek Titliyan’ short film on Doordarshan. Evoking nostalgia, Bhimsain declined credit for this film’s popularity. When he created it, he had no such intention and it was a complete surprise that it touched a chord with so many people. He is very impressed with today’s animation. He finds it fascinating. His legacy is being carried forward by his son, Kireet Khurana(Creative Director and CEO of 2nZ Animation Co.) and daughter, Tehzeeb Khurana (Creative Director and Producer at 2nZ Animation Co.), who runs a Toons Club for kids which, she says, is inspired by her 10 year old son.

Up next was Best Animation Music won by Illayaraja for the first ever Tamil animated film - V4. Director of the film Sridevi Rao accepted it on his behalf.

The Voice of Indian Animation - Chetan Sashital

The man behind the voice of Genie in the Hindi version of Disney’s Alladin, Chetan Sashital, walked away with the Best Animation Voice award. Labelled as the most expensive voice in India, he thanked everybody in the voice of Goofy and Mickey Mouse! He also sang Ek Titli, Anek Titliyan - the song that inspired him to enter this field. He also reminded everyone of the other animated film - Tree of Life which had no dialogues, only sounds but conveyed the message beautifully, all the same. In his own voice, he boomed, “And God said, Let there be light! But first, God has to ‘SAY’ it, which proves that the voice always comes first in Animation too.” He profusely thanked all the directors and producers who gave him the opportunity to become the ‘most expensive voice’ but also voiced his worry that voice-casting isn’t done in the proper manner in India. Producers and Directors, hope you are taking note of this!

NASSCOM’s Rajiv Vaishnav was questioned by Suresh - After BPO, KPO and even DPO (Data Process Outsourcing), is there a likelihood of an APO (Animation Process Outsourcing) in the near future? Rajiv acknowledged that the opportunity is there.

The Best Animation Sound Effects and Best Visual Effects in Animation, both went to Big Animation for the film Hey Krishna.

We caught a glimpse of the emerging trend right there in the audience when Suresh asked little Kayva, who happens to be animator Dhimant Vyas’ daughter, what her favourite Animated character was, said Shrek.”Isn’t it a bit violent”, commented Suresh to which Kavya nodded. “Do you like violent films?” She nodded again! Hmmm… Kids are tough these days!

We also got to hear an anecdote from the Father of Indian Animation - Mr. Ram Mohan. When he decided to join an animation job, his mother had asked him, “Is it a government job?” Luckily for him and for the rest of us, it wasn’t and despite all the ups and downs, Ram Mohan, in his own words, ’survived’. He was certainly being modest.

The Best Animated Channel ID / Promo was awarded to Symphonic, again by Vaibhav Studio. Vaibhav credited Rajiv Eipe for brilliant film. Rajiv had designed as well as directed the film. Vaibhav also thanked Roto for the great sound effects.

Online Story-telling Contest Winner - Christopher Paul Mendonca

There was also an online storytelling contest held where one had to tell his/her story within 4 frames.This award went to Christopher Paul Mendonca who was overjoyed.

The Best Animated Character was the Channel V Bai.

IDC Student Ajay Singh Supahiya flanked by his friends and Sumant Rao

Best Animated Short Film by a student went to IDC, IIT student Ajay Singh Supahiya for his Arjun Mahabharat. It was a proud moment for all the students of IDC as otherwise, most of these awards are picked up by NID students. Being from the first batch of Animation students, he felt proud and thanked his professors - Shilpa Ranade and Sumant Rao.

Best Animated Short Film by a professional was Gitanjali Rao’s Printed Rainbow. This film has already garnered a lot of international awards. Unfortunately, Gitanjali couldn’t be there for the ceremony.

Before the Best Animated Feature Film award could be announced, Suresh asked many in the audience to guess who might have won it. Ashish Kulkarni diplomatically said, “Animation is the true winner!” On a more honest note, he said that the judging was done in such a manner that the jurors only gave points and had no ideas as to what they added up to. Percept Picture Company’s Return of Hanuman bagged the honour. Collecting the award from Govind Nihalani, Shailendra Singh, CEO, Percept, said they got lucky! Though many had been striving to take Indian Animation places, they had reaped the fruits. “Animation is a team effort. We Indian animators must work together and show the world what we are made of. Jai Bajrang Bali!” Do we hear the Gods say “Tathastu”?

V G Samant making an emotional speech

The last and most prestigious honour of the night was the induction of Mr. V. G. Samant into the Hall of Fame. The man behind the 2 Hanuman films who began his career in animation in 1978 had a lump in his throat as he accepted his award from Ram Mohan. The audience gave him a long, standing ovation.

Sunil Thankamushy made an impromptu but short and inspirational speech

The celebration ended on a promising note with Spark Unlimited’s Sunil Thankamushy narrating a small story from his NID days and making a wish that the 3rd Golden Age of Animation would occur in India. Amen to that!

All the award winners and jury members then got on stage for photographs. The first Golden Cursor Awards ended with a bang, quite literally as a balloon was burst overhead, showering everyone with festoons and confetti.

Everybody on stage!!

Dinner and Cocktails were served as everybody mingled, winners celebrated, reporters scrambled to interview and take photographs.

Before I could grab a picture of the Star Winner of the evening, Vaibhav Kumaresh with 4 awards, he had disappeared somewhere, perhaps to celebrate the well-deserved victory. But later, over the phone, he did promise an interview. For that and more… stay tuned!

Dhimant poses with his team and family

A few words of advice to the organizers - Next time, please screen snippets from the nominated films or else how is the audience to know why a particular film is winning the award? Secondly, please begin on time (though not many seemed to mind as the cocktails flowed freely before and after the show). And last but not the least, when you have such a big event, be prepared for an overwhelming response and for a 200% turnout of people and plan accordingly.

The response was overwhelming and the verdict at the end of this session on Composing and Arranging Music and Sound for Animation , conducted by Music Director Tapas Relia was a thumbs up! Three cheers for the TASI team!

The session was extremely informative and everyone present thoroughly enjoyed themselves as Tapas took the audience through the process of composing music. Tapas was accompanied by Sound Engineer/Designer Gaurav Chopra who also shared some interesting insights.

The session was kicked of with a brief introduction by Tapas.

“I have been composing and producing music for visuals for the last 7-8 years. ‘Producing’ does not mean financing but composing the basic melody, recording the instruments, arranging tracks etc.

3 years ago, I got a call from Percept Picture Company to compose music for the animated film - Hanuman. I thought to myself, “It’s an animation film. It should be easy, it will take me just 25 days to complete the composition.” But I was gravely mistaken. The process was extremely complex and tiring. I was tried in every way. The time it took me finally was 5 months but I fell in love with the procedure.

Sometimes the composition sounds beautiful but when you match the music to the visuals, you realise that it is just not working and you have to go back and start all over again.”

The relationship between music and animation

“To a lay-person, it might appear that composing for animation and for live action films is the same, but that is far from the truth. Live action film has real people playing the characters. In animation, the characters are lifeless. Animation is after all about breathing life into the characters and music plays a vital role in doing so. Music is the heartbeat that gives life to the characters.

It is interesting to observe that both music and animation are mathematical in nature. In music, there are beats, bars and a tempo for the composition. Songs run at “bpm” or “beats per minute” which is its tempo. Animation has its own rhythm - a frame rate or “fps” (frames per second). Never before has there been a better marriage of creativity.”

Next, Tapas showed an example of the process of composing for visuals with a scene from Hanuman Returns. He showed 2 versions of the same animated scene, each with different music at the crucial moment.

In this scene, Hanuman is born as a human with a tail and he shows his mother for the very first time that he is special. This has been depicted by having Hanuman’s mouth turning red.
“I first did a piece based on the black and white animatic given to me. But when they animated over it and came back with the sequence, I felt that it was not creating the impact that we desired.

There is only so much that can be done in live action because the actor is playing the character. In animation, there is much more liberty. I made the Hanuman track grand with brass and trumpets. That instantly made a difference - the second version was far more powerful and dramatic.

Till the effects and music are added, you will have no idea whether the animation is working or not. It is ultimately a creative call between the director and music director. Some 20 or even 10 years ago, it would have been difficult and expensive to try out multiple variations. It was all live, by hand, with real musicians. It was a laborious and expensive process. Now with the new technology at hand, one can churn out even ten versions easily, though let me make it clear that I do not work that way!”

“For Hanuman 1, I got a call after the entire film had been completed. Usually, the sound is composed first and then animated upon. But I had to work in the reverse order. Thanks to technology and software like Logic I could do so successfully. The first step was to import the visuals into the software and got the tempo (bpm) right.

Animators need to grasp the right approach to music. Remember the guy on the other side ie. the composer is no genius in animation, he often has no clue about the subject. Therefore you need to be very clear in terms of the story, genre, mood etc. Give the composer a great storyboard to work with, you need to convey idea clearly to him. Make a note of the precise duration of every shot, scene changes, character changes, everything down to milliseconds.”

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CASE STUDY - AMARON BATTERIES TV AD:

Tapas explained the music composition for this ad with audio-visual clips of every stage.

“For this ad, I was given the complete animatic by Vaibhav. The concept was - ‘Amaron batteries give you more out of your car’.

Sample 1 - The Animatic
I was given a very precise animatic with the complete detailing of every scene and scene change. If you can not give an animatic, then make it a point to at least provide a detailed storyboard which the composer can align in his software.

Sample 2 - Basic Beats
Using just 3 instruments, I gave the basic rhythm and got the important sync points in beats. I achieved this in half an hour.

Sample 3 - Animation
Vaibhav animated the entire ad on the basis of the beats provided by me and came back in 3 months with the animation perfectly synced with my loop.

Sample 4 - Music
Now I had to give it melody, make it groovy. It was 5 days of work. The results sounded nice but there was still something missing.

Sample 5 - Effects
What makes the animation believable? Music, Voice and Effects!
To make the complete piece more interesting, more believable took us 3 more days as we added various sound effects.

Sample 6 - The Voice-over
Finally the dialogues were superimposed on the animation.

About the Software:
Tapas then gave a quick demo of how he uses Apple’s Logic Pro to compose and arrange music.
Step 1 - Line up all the visuals on a track sheet
Step 2 - Set the click track to the tempo - “click, click, click” - like beats for timing.
Step 3 - Communicate the tempo to the director.
Step 4 - The director has to keep that in mind while animating. There are softwares available to calculate the ‘bpm’. If the tempo is not followed, there will be a mess because unlike visuals, audio editing is complicated. It has to be chopped as per the beats. The ‘thoda sa khiska le’ logic doesn’t work here.

“Gaurav Chopra is a Sound Engineer/Designer, who I have had the pleasure of working with is a pioneer in advertising sound mixing.

Ads are very often chopped from 60 seconds to 30 or 20 after running for a few days because the client doesn’t have the budget. They edit the visuals without the sound and then hand it over to the composer. At that stage, he cannot compose a new track, he has to edit what is there and align it to the visuals. That poses a problem as many a times the edited music and visuals do not sync. There are also editors who know what it is to edit to a beat, they call me and ask me what the tempo for the particular piece is and then edit on the basis of that. The Amaron Batteries ad was one such example.

The session was then thrown open to the audience for questions.

Q 1. As students we use music from existing films/albums. We have no knowledge of music composition. What is your advice to us?
A 1. When you are making your film, you know your genre, the outline of the project. Before you start work, download or gather your music of choice first and then animate. Tap your feet to the rhythm of the music piece - that is your bpm. As an animator, you need to know your music. Take the effort, read up about music, learn. There are lots of softwares available to calculate the ‘bpm’ of a track.

Q 2. Is there a case where the ‘bpm’ changes during animation?
A 2. Yes. Several. That is why I give a tempo track or tempo chart to the animator to use as a guideline.

Q 3. Are transitions also handled in the same way?
A 3. I would cite Amaron as an example, but there were no transitions in the ad. What is important is that in a scene from point A to B, the 2 transition points should not change, you are free to do anything in between. This helps the composer.

Q 4. What is your creative thought process while composing music?
A 4. As far as background music is concerned, it depends on whether the film is live or animated. In live-action, you can even have long silences but it is not so in animation. Especially if the animation is of poor quality! Hanuman 1 had wall-wall music. Hanuman 2 had better animation and better performances by the voice artists. Besides that, it is a healthy discussion between the director and music director. In animation there is a big risk of the music overpowering the animation. As a composer, you have to be careful.

Q 5. If you know beforehand that the 60 seconds ad will also be shown in 45, 30 and 15 seconds, can you plan for it?
A 5. Yes. It needs to be planned at the time of composing itself, not if the client suddenly wakes up and decides he wants to edit the ad. In the case of Amaron, it was well planned. The Amaron ad is fairly linear in terms of tempo, but at times you might need to change the tempo in the middle of a bar. Then it becomes tough. If the key action points are on the beat it is far simpler. If they are not, it might sound out of sync.

Q 6. How would you use sound to create a mood?
(Tapas played a fight sequence from Hanuman 2 without sound)
A 6. This was one of the toughest scenes to compose for. Hanuman has gone to retrieve his friend’s bag which the school bully has thrown over the wall. Once there, he spots luscious mangoes and decides to gather them. The goon and his henchmen arrive just then and want to kill him. A fight ensues. How do you compose for a scene like this? Here perspectives come into play. If you look at it from Hanuman’s perspective, it is ‘masti’ for him. He doesn’t realize that he is trespassing. From the goons’ perspective, they are thinking, “Yeh kaun aa gaya, hatao ise!”
But I have to keep in mind the audience’s perspective, “Ab kya hoga?” They are aware that he is Hanuman, no harm will come to him but yet there is ‘tension’. That has to be highlighted by the music.

Tapas showed Sample 1 with the sound muted. There is no impact. There were self-imposed technical limitations in this project. Hanuman is a Superhero, so I had decided to use only orchestral instruments, nothing electronic like drums.

Sample 2 was played next with only music
Hanuman initially takes it lightly - it is ‘masti’ for him, but later, when they fire at him, Hanuman gets angry. So the mood has been set up by the narrative itself.

Sample 3 had only effects (Tapas made it a point to mention that this was not arranged by him)

When all three were put together, it sounded like a cacophony. In the final mix, because the effects couldn’t be chopped off, some of the music had to be sacrificed!

Q 7. What happens when you get an animation where you cannot match the beats? Do you get away with it?
A 7. Yes, we do have to cheat at times. We try our best to match the important scenes atleast. In the software, we need to align the visuals to a grid. There is a lot of trial and error. For the “Agdam bagdam” song in Hanuman, I spent half a day doing it. Another thing, you will notice that there is a difference in the audio and video version of the songs. Without visuals when you listen to the songs, the adjustments that have been made are glaring and so for Hanuman, we had to create a different version for the audio CD. There is no exact formula, it is mostly trial and error. It also differs from composer to composer.

Q 8. Does the director come with the genre/sample fixed in his mind or is it your call?
A 8. It depends. Most directors come with a more or less clear idea. He is, after all, the director who has envisioned the entire movie. In Hanuman 1, the director - V G Samant came to my studio and said “Just give me good music”. That was it! That was the only input that I got from the director who probably had no inclination towards music. “Good music” is a subjective phrase so this kind of brief does not help the music composer. It was a different experience from working with Anurag Kashyap, director of Hanuman Returns, who came with his own vision of what he wanted me to do.

Q 9. Most of us students are going to work on short animation films. What advice do you have for us?
A 9. I believe, to each his own. The important thing is that nothing should be over and above the narrative. If your animation is kick-ass, you don’t even need music. Let your story choose its music.

Q 10. Indian animation is heavily influenced by the Disney style. Are you influenced by anything or anybody?
A 10. As far as composition goes, there is no such thing for me because Indian sensibilities are different from the Western world. I may look at several film compositions for reference but it is not for the kind of music or genre. I look for how the music is matching with the film, the use of silence, where is the music loud or soft, whether it is wall to wall, and for expressions. Ultimately, you don’t want a soundtrack that either overpowers or, on the other hand, does nothing.

Q 11. Some of us have been making films for a long time, so we think of the music but not in terms of working out the ‘bpm’. It is more of an intuitive kind of music running inside our heads. What do you think about that?
A 11. See, your intuitive music may not even be close to what the composer thinks is music! You need to work out atleast the important parts you want me to highlight. Not many people are using this technique but I am saying this in the hope that you animators will hopefully go on to incorporate this when you become directors. If as a composer I have knowledge of animation then why not vice versa? Why can’t animators learn too?

Q 12. In Hollywood, many films include chapters on Sound Design in the ‘making of’ videos. Why doesn’t that happen in India? Don’t we take our sound design seriously?
A 12. If a film has any sound effects at all, it means that it has gone through the sound design process. It is done for each and every film. There are 3 aspects to Sound Design:
(i) Stock effects from a CD or library
(ii) Folley - live, tailor-made sound effects
(iii) Ambience

Q 13. Could you explain the role of a Sound Engineer?
A 13. (Gaurav Chopra answered this question) I would call it a sensitive issue. We are not called engineers anymore but sound ‘designers’. It is not about music and effects alone but a very important aspect which Tapas earlier touched upon briefly, which is expressions, the mood. No one can teach you music. You learn. Music is about feelings.
The technical part is that sound designer sits and puts together everything. He must be sensitive to music and effects.

I agree that in the current scenario people do not want to work as a team. The visuals support the action. And the sound must also do so but subtly. But nowadays, most soundtracks are glaringly loud, which is unnecessary. These are tools. Look at John Williams’ score.
Watch Jurassic park without the sound - it doesn’t make an impact. Listen to it without the visuals, and you will walk out of the room scared. That is the impact that music can have!

Tapas added, again stressing that the primary reason for not getting great results is that the directors might not be involved in the last and most critical stage because it is a tedious part of music. The director needs to conduct, or else there will be fights.

Gaurav said, sound designing is becoming increasingly important, people are getting credits. I have been developing my own library for a long time now.

Q 14. When we learnt editing, we were told strictly to shut sound and see if the film still works without any sort of sound. Young people these days seem to cover up there mistakes with overpowering music. What do you feel?
A 14. When I get short films, almost every film has reference track. It really doesn’t help me. I prefer not listening to reference. My advice to editors is that they should not shut the music
My purpose is different. References are completely wrong sometimes and they anyway come with conditions
A Director can come with his idea but he must first let me see it without sound and let me decide for myself. Then he can show me what he feels is appropriate. Then we can discuss.
All RGV’s films have references from his own films and that is why they all sound the same. Bhoot is an example of using too much sound.

Gaurav added, In my personal view , the sounds in Hanuman Returns were very scary. The film was meant for kids not adults. They shouldn’t have gone overboard with the sounds.

Q 15. Are you given a target audience?
A 15. Of course.

Q 16. Please elaborate on the components.
A 16. As a composer, when you are talking about cinema where story drives everything, I prefer having all the voices and sound effects in place first. Only then things look real. Sound effects creates the mood, voices create the expression for the character. I need effects, ambient sounds, voices in place or else we are taking a risk. This practice is followed everywhere unless there is a time constraint.

In animation, after scripting, the voices are recorded and only then does the animation process begin.

Q 17. I am learning many things, including drawing. I have often been told ‘creativity can’t be learnt’. Is it true? How do I learn?
A 17. It is correct that creativity cannot be learnt, but then, all of us are musicians in some way. It is about how we pursue it. I came to Mumbai 10-12 years ago and knew nothing about music composition. I took lessons and learnt the skills. Learning music is a misleading phrase. You don’t learn music, you learn an instrument, or you learn singing.

Tony commented, “I guess it is more about how do you learn to appreciate music. You either have it in you or you don’t. It can’t be acquired.”

Tapas continued, “If you are serious about this, I recommend you spend a lot of time in recording studios, read lots of books on the subject.”

Q 18. What are the common mistakes?
A 18. Thats tough to say, but I guess it would be the ‘film rate’. Animation has a frame rate of 25 fps while film has 24 fps. So during telecine and reverse telecine, the frame rate might get messed up and won’t match the composition.

Q 19. We are all animators here. You have explained the technical stuff. Tell us more about the creative aspect, when you get a piece to compose for.
A 19. Creativity is directly proportional to experience. My simple rule is - if I am not satisfied, the music piece will not leave the studio. Do not send it to the producers/director till you are completely satisfied with what you have created. Always try something new. I set up challenges for myself. For example, in Hanuman Returns, I deliberately restricted myself to orchestral instruments.

For songs, I need the lyrics first - for the mood, for the genre. Many composers work the other way round as well but that makes the songs sound like jingles. I cannot compose without lyrics. Creatively speaking it has an advantage. If I create music the lyricist will later write to, it ends up sounding like a nursery rhyme because the meter is uniform. If he writes first, I can set my own meter so the music can be non-uniform.

Q 20. Please throw some light on the instrumentation, on what basis do you select the instruments for a particular piece of music?
A 20. That is a very good question. You do not need to stick to the typical co-relation of instruments, what I would call musical stereotypes. Try something new. The whole approach to a song changes with the instrument and technology makes it easy to try it out. At the same time, I have to do so responsibly.

Gaurav added, “The Dhol is typically used to depict romance, but it can be very powerful too, or even used to depict rage. Creative License is a serious thing. It is very easy to make an album with all the technology at hand.

Both Tapas and Gaurav said that there are no hard and fast rules. You cannot be taught creativity. You can only be taught how to execute.

Tapas then gave a quick demo of the software that he uses and the set up of the ‘workspace’. He also listed the various software that can be used for composing and arranging music.
- Apple Logic Pro, Cubase, Nuendo and Reason

“It is very easy, import the video, move it around and you have a detailed view of every frame in the sequence.The Midi keyboard is only box, there is no music in it. When it is connected to the computer, the sound is triggered from there.

Each track is separate because while editing, if we want to edit just one instrument, it is easy, we have more control. The same applies to mixing as well.

Logic Pro 7.2 is available for Rs.60,000/- and Logic Pro 8 costs Rs.25,000/-

Q 21. Do you get Windows version of it?
A 21. Yes. ProTools is used in audio production and post-production in Hollywood and most of Bollywood and Indian Advertising studios, the reason being - compatibility.

Q 22. What is highest number of tracks that you have ever used?
A 22. 128 - for the Mahabali song. The number of voices used can make the number go up. But the advantage of technology is that you can get four singers and make them sound like 40 by repeating and layering the tracks.

Q 23. What is your take on the eternal debate of ‘Digital’ versus ‘Analog’ sound? eg. Midi versus Acoustic recording. As a composer what is your personal preference?
A 23. In terms of convenience, cost-effectiveness and time-effectiveness, digital is great. But for quality, it is no comparison to live instruments. Specially in instruments like the Flute, the midi keyboard is restricted. Besides, the player can add much more value through his creative inputs. I can use the midi keyboard but I may not know the intricacies of the instrument.

Q 24. Does any class of instruments lend itself better to digital creation?
A 24. Wind and string instruments are tough to replicate, for example - violin, flute but percussion has been more or less mastered digitally and has replaced the use of live percussion instruments. Live recording has better quality. There is more emotion. On the other hand, digital ‘artists’ or ‘music’ you can own for life.

In advertising a lot of digital sound is used. In film, live is still preferred.

Tony commented that in Indian music, it is tougher to capture the soul of the music through digital sound.

Tapas did not seem to agree. “It is not about Indian or Western but about the instrumentation. As a composer I want creative inputs from the musicians and singers. I have learnt to play the Piano but executing a flute is different, so I need a flautist.”

The session ended with Tony thanking Tapas and Gaurav for the wonderful presentation and Shilpa of IDC for making the venue available for the session.

About Tapas Relia:

Hailing from Ahmedabad, Tapas Relia is a Music Composer/Producer based in Mumbai for the last 12 years. He is one of the leading names in the Indian advertising industry with many trend-setting jingles, including the very popular “Kya Aap Close-up Karte Hain” for Close-up toothpastes and the Amaron batteries ad.He also has the distinction of composing for India’s most successful animated film “Hanuman” and the more recent “Return of Hanuman”.