All Entries in the "Featured" Category

*EXCLUSIVE* The making of TZP Clay Animation

Remember, you saw it here first!!

Stop motion animation veteran, Dhimant Vyas and Aamir Khan Productions have generously shared photos of the making of the Clay Animation sequences from Taare Zameen Par.

Also read the exclusive interview with Dhimant Vyas where he explains the technique he used to animate these sequences and chats with us about his experience of animating for a Bollywood film for the first time ever. Taare Zameen Par or ‘TZP’ has made Bollywood history by being the first Hindi film to extensively use clay animation in the movie.

Indian Animation Archive: A vacuum that urgently needs to be filled!

Here is something that should inspire those who care about Indian animation and spur them into action.

The Animation Archive is a project of ASIFA-Hollywood, with support from The Walter Lantz Foundation. In operation for two years now, they have put together a wealth of information. It is an ambitious project to expand the offerings of the current ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center in Burbank to include a virtual archive, museum, library and research facility for the benefit of the animation community, students and general public.

Guest Article: ‘Becoming an Animator’ by Gaurav Jain

In three more days, the allaboutanimation.com website will go live. The aim of AAA is to create awareness about animation, especially in the context of education.

Our guest writer for today, Gaurav Jain, producer, Illusion Interactive , has some advice to give to our young animation enthusiasts who would like to take up Animation as a career.

Here is what he has to say:

BECOMING AN ANIMATOR

The Indian animation market is poised for strong growth as IP becomes the order of the day and many youngsters have begun to choose animation as their career path.

Will Kutti Chetan and Friends dethrone our Screen Gods?

At All About Animation, we are constantly striving to promote original Indian animation. Though we have seen that in the last two years, films based on Indian mythological characters like Hanuman, Krishna and Ganesha have been successful and plenty, it is indeed heartening to see a slew of fresh and original animated films finally coming out of our Indian studios. It has been our aim to encourage such ventures and promote them through our blog, website and e-magazine. In this first edition of our series on upcoming original animated features, let us take a look at “Kutti Chetan and Friends” by DREAMS.

Hyderabad-based DREAMS or Deepak Raj Entertainment And Multimedia Solutions Pvt. Ltd. was established only recently in July 2007 by Deepak Subhash Jadhav and V. Rajeshwar Rao. The studio is currently working on 3 projects - Kutti Chetan and Friends, Inside Me and The Trap. Their debut animated feature, Kutti Chetan and Friends, is already past the pre-production stage and into production. The film is slated for release in June 2008.

Interview with Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Whistling Woods International

Every forum discusses the problems faced by the Indian animation industry in terms of quality human resources. It is openly acknowledged as well that the root of the problem lies in our animation education system. Yet, there is no conclusive action taken and studios and institutes keep pointing fingers at one another.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Whistling Woods International Institute for Film, Television and Media Arts seems to have got its fundamentals right with wise planning and a large investment. We caught up with Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Marketing Manager, WWI, and asked him to elaborate on the points that he had brought up during the panel discussion on human resources at the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming Summit.

CHITRAKATHA 2007 - The triumph of originality!

The 3 day Chitrakatha International Student Animation Festival 2007 ended on an optimistic note with the screening of some brilliant, original animated films by Indian Animators. The success of this festival has proved that there is great hope for the future of the Indian animation community. We really do have supremely talented animators in India and NID has been the nurturing ground for a majority of them.

Kudos to the Chitrakatha ‘07 team for having put together such a good show. The selection of films, programmes, workshops and panel discussions was in keeping with the theme of the festival - “everything original”. Right from the posters to the T-shirts to the mascot to the theme animation, each and every element of Chitrakatha had been created lovingly and painstakingly by the students and faculty of NID. A daily newsletter was printed everyday by the students, with interesting tidbits of information and comments and interviews of the delegates. You will find in-depth coverage of the event here on the allaboutanimation blog.

As proud supporters of the festival, we really do hope that they make this an annual event and wish them all the very best!

Day 2 at CHITRAKATHA ‘07 : Highlight - Panel Session on Animation Education and Industry Trends

The panel discussion was a highly thought-provoking and completely interactive session, where several pertinent issues were raised. Moderated by Anand Gurnani of Animation Xpress, the panelists were:

Prakash Moorthy, Head, Animation Dept. Miditech, India
Vaibhav Kumaresh, Vaibhav Studios
Simi Nallaseth, Director, Epiphany Films
Amit Anand, CEO, EttanimA Studios
Binita Desai, Associate Professor & Animation Designer, DAIICT, Gandhinagar
Arnab Chaudhuri, Animation Film Director
Basav Raja, Independent Animation Designer

The first question was addressed to to Arnab, who is currently directing his animated feature, Arjun.

“While directing your animated feature- Arjun, what kind of team are you trying to build and what are the challenges that you face in doing so?”
Arnab: We had a very short time to build the team. The biggest challenge is that the industry is

Chitrakatha ‘07 Day 2 : “Chai Break”

First up on the second day of the Chitrakatha Fest was a presentation by the 2nd year students of the PG Animation programme at NID on their experimental animation project titled “CHAI BREAK”.

A group of 10 students (Aishwarya, Arpit, Grishma, Mrinalini, Debjani, Dawa, Troy, Delwyn, Utsav and Rajesh.) is working on a Sand Animation film under the able guidance of Isabel Herguera. The collaborative effort was screened for the audience and the budding animators explained step-by-step how they went from concept to execution. What’s interesting is