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?

You can visit the Classic Animation website here.

Shemaroo Entertainment’s ‘Bal Ganesh’ won the award for the ‘Best Animated Film’ & the ‘Best Animated Character’.

What’s interesting is that of the other nominees in these two categories, ‘Ghatothkach -Master of Magic’ was also a Shemaroo production, whereas ‘Return of Hanuman’ and ‘Dashavatar’ though produced by Percept Picture Co. and Anushvi Productions respectively, are being distributed by Shemaroo.

Singapore based Toonz Entertainment, which owns the Indian animation studio Toonz Animation India, has tied up with Gang of 7 Animation USA and Hyde Park Entertainment USA to produce a CG animated feature film “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus”, based on the classic book by L. Frank Baum, the creator of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Apparently, this is the first time a story explaining Santa Claus and all the Christmas traditions has ever come to the big screen. The movie chronicles the life of Santa Claus and will be directed by Tom Tataranowicz, Rich Arons and Dick Sebast, who have supervised Disney, Marvel and Hanna Barbera features. A supporting team of artists, who have worked on pictures like ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Iron Giant’, will also work on the Santa Claus movie.

The project is currently in its pre-production stage, with production set to commence in November at Toonz’ Technopark campus. The movie is expected to be released in time for Christmas 2010. Hyde Park will distribute it internationally and share North American rights with G7 Animation. Looks like mythology will just not let go of its spell on Indian animators!

Waltz with Bashir does mix in some live footage towards the end of the film and I hope it doesn’t go down the same path as Alvin and the Chipmunks did last year, getting disqualified later on a small technicality.

Meanwhile, we Indians patiently wait for someone to create an Oscar-worthy animated film. It is interesting to note that the official Indian entry for the Best Foreign Film category - Taare Zameen Par - has animation integrated into its story. In fact, for the very first time clay animation has been used in any Indian mainstream aka Bollywood film. Will be nice to have it in the final 5 nominations - would be a mini-salute for our talented animators - Dhimant and his team, Vaibhav and his team and the team at TATA’s Visual Computing Labs and TATA Elxsi.

The trio comprising of Rohit, Avinash and Akhila review a different movie every few weeks and their podcasts can be downloaded from their blog twoandahalfiyers.blogspot.com. This is their very first review of an animated film and though their podcasts can get quite lengthy, I highly recommend them.

Their reviews are witty, tongue-in-cheek and well-rounded, covering every aspect- right from the story, the cast (for live-action films) to the direction and the film-making itself.

A preview…

“This week, the Two and a Half Iyers investigate the curious incident of the dogs in the night-time. Jugal Hansraj’s directorial debut is India’s first big-budget-anthrophmorphic-talking-animal-bollywood-extravaganza, Roadside Romeo.”

Download the podcast here.

It is encouraging to see our young artists observe, analyze, express and discuss their views and use the internet to share them with the world. I wish them all the best!

Thanks Akhila, Avinash and Rohit for sharing the podcast with AAA and for mentioning AAA on your blog.

Roadside Romeo, Laila and Charlie Anna

Before you jump to any conclusion, let me clarify that I’m talking about movie merchandise here. The highly anticipated, first ever feature-length 3D animated Indian film may not have set the cash registers ringing or earned too many fans, but a tie-up between YashRaj Films and HomeShop18 will allow you to own a range of specially designed ‘Roadside Romeo’ products including a special bed sheet with dazzling images from the movie, branded Water bottles, tiffin boxes, CD cases, pencil boxes, mugs and notebooks.

HomeShop18 promises free home delivery in 1700+ cities and all the products come with added benefit of cash on delivery. They are already promoting the merchandise throughout the day on their TV channel and all though this is their first tie up for an animated film, they have already had other Bollywood tie-ups for two movies prior to this, namely Drona and Love Story 2050.

Merchandising seems the only salvation for Indian animated films as they stand today for multiple reasons. So far, none of the animated films made in India have been able to really set the box office on fire, not even Hanuman with all his might and power. The makers of Hanuman 1 recovered their costs almost solely through the sale of merchandise and not from the sale of tickets or DVDs. One must keep in mind that Hanuman was still a lovable and familiar character that appealed to children. One cannot say the same about Romeo and Laila though.

While Indians flock to the theatres to watch a Disney, Pixar or a Dreamworks film, our own film-makers have failed to win over audiences. Worse still, audiences in India (and very often, the film-makers themselves!!) are still confused about animation itself - is it meant for kids or adults?

Besides, the quality of animation in our films - and there is no other way to say this - sucks! We have some brilliant animated advertising commercials being animated here. But when it comes to a full-length or even a short animated film, we fail miserably, time and again, on both levels - story-telling as well as the animation itself.

Another big stumbling block is the budget itself. While a live-action “star” can earn in Crores for just one film, budgets for animated films are far less than that! More on that in another blog.

Many more animated films are in the pipeline. Many of them announced in haste. It would help the film-makers to keep in mind that Bad Film = Low Earnings. Unless and until the quality of Indian Feature animation and story-telling improves, the only revenue option for Indian animation film-makers is going to be merchandising, which is just a by-product of the actual film. You make a great film, merchandise will sell anyway. One cannot compromise on the film quality and then expect the merchandise to recover your investment!

Until now the only truly ‘artistic’ animated films from India that I had seen were either independent films or student films from institutes such as NID and IDC (IIT). But large scale productions have always fallen short at some level. Maybe it was the lack of vision, time, patience, knowledge or perhaps all of these. It can’t be budgetary constraints - an individual superstar’s fees for a single Bollywood movie can fund an entire animated film! But Arnab Chaudhuri, the man at the helm of Arjun, surely knows what he is doing. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design and ex-Turner Creative Director, he seems to have what it takes to do justice to the story and the medium.

The animation style appears to be a combination of 2D and 3D - the final look and feel is of 2D animation but the fabric, the water and the movements of the characters are distinctly 3D. The film is reminiscent of Disney’s Prince of Egypt while Arjun could easily be the long-lost brother of Tarzan! The script writers seem to have taken a few liberties with the story but that is what great story-telling is about; retelling an age-old tale and embellishing it with one’s own visual interpretation.

This is the second Indian animated film that holds a lot of promise, after Yash Raj Film’s Roadside Romeo, which is an out and out 3D animated feature. I am looking forward to both of them and so is the entire Indian animation community. The Indian audiences have got a raw deal from some haughty, talent-less so-called animation film makers - a case in point being the makers of the recent ‘Icy n Spicy’, who thankfully got the boot from the audience! Roadside Romeo and Arjun should more than make up for it and once and for all dispel the myth that Indian animation lacks talent and vision when it comes to original IP productions. Until the movie releases, enjoy the trailer

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.

NDTV Lumière is the first movement of its kind in India that aims to meet the long-existing need of film enthusiasts. It will provide access to top quality cinema from across the world, premiering the best of world cinema in Indian theatres. The films from NDTV Lumière will span across genres from drama, animation and comedy to horror, thrillers and political dramas. These films include popular, critically acclaimed films from across the world and also the finest award-winning international cinema international film festivals. At NDTV Lumière, the endeavour is to create awareness of current global trends in an industry that is constantly evolving with the continuous influx of new talent, and to offer audiences a wider variety of films to choose from.

SEE THE TRAILER

The name of the film is a clever play on words (an ant is called a Cheenti in Hindi) and has absolutely nothing to do with the 1964 Ian Fleming book - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or the 1968 film by the same name. It is actually based on ‘Lal Kalo’ (Red Black), a popular Bengali children’s novel by Girindrashekhar Basu.

After an investment of two years and rupees five crore, I just hope that the story is well crafted and engrossing. The characters are quite intriguing and very colourful and it looks like the creators have deliberately given the film a children’s illustrated novel feel. Personally, I am happy for two reasons:
1) That they have strayed off the beaten track of mythology.
2) They have maintained an Indian Folk Art style in the look of the film and not tried to just ape Disney.The lip sync seems a bit off in the online trailers, but I do not want to judge them by that at this point. Here are some more clips from the film - all of them songs (How can any Indian film be complete without song and dance routines and dream sequences?!!)

C2B2 is the story of two warring kingdoms of ants (red ants and black ants) the twist being that Lohit, the Prince of the red ants and Krishna, the Princess of the black ants are in love with each other. The film works on the premise that - War Never Pays and that unity and peace are the driving factors of a nation’s health.

The characters have been sketched manually in the classical style by a team of 80 animators. The six songs in the film have been sung by the likes of Ustad Rashid Khan, Shaan and Shreya Ghosal. The post-production, including dubbing, has been done at Fiesta’s studio in Mumbai. Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang features the voices of well-known actors like Ashish Vidyarthi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Asrani and Anjan Srivastava.

A sequel is also in the offing, besides which they are also planning a 3-D film based on Dwarkaprasad Chetri’s ‘Bhootnath’.

The Elecom group is based in Kolkata. Fiesta is a Mumbai-based complete post-production facility, which in the last three years has been involved in the post-production of major Bollywood blockbusters like Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Corporate, Bhoot, Koi Mil Gaya, Iqbaal, Murder, Hum Tum, Kaho Na Pyar Hai etc. Ellecom Fiesta Entertainment Private Ltd. is the collaboration between these two companies for the sake of producing animation films.

Click here to visit the C2B2 website