The season kicks of with the much-awaited and resilient ANIFEST INDIA ‘09, which battled the killer flying pigs (you know what I mean!!) to emerge a winner. Now slated for 18th, 19th and 20th of September, ANIFEST INDIA will retain its flavour and all its fantastic sessions except for those by Nate Wragg and Christian Krupa who had to return to the USA. Instead we have a super VFX bonanza from Sony Imageworks - Behind the Scenes of ‘The Watchmen’ and ‘G-Force 3D’. TASI has done a superb job of getting an assortment of topics together all at one venue - Anifest India ‘09 is being held at the Convocation Hall, IIT Powai, Mumbai. Registrations were closed in early August itself as the number crossed 1500 but spot registrations @Rs.400/- all inclusive might just be available if you reach early on the days of the event.
For all the details including sessions, speakers, timing and the TASI Viewer’s Choice Awards, visit www.tasionline.org

Next up is the week-long International Animation Day celebration by ASIFA India sometime in October-November. Every year, 27th October is commemorated as International Animation Day across the globe. ASIFA India has been celebrating the occasion with events held across various cities in India - typically beginning with an all-day event in Mumbai at NCPA where the Awards of Excellence are given out. While I’m still awaiting details about this year’s festival, the Call for Entries for the 8th Annual ASIFA India Awards of Excellence are open. For details, check out this link. Hurry, the last date is 13th September 2009.

Then from Oct 29th to 31st we have the second edition of Chitrakatha - An international student animation film festival organised by the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. What’s even cooler about the festival (besides the fact that you get to interact with probably the best talent in the country) is that it is being held against the beautiful backdrop of the NID campus. If you missed it the last time, make sure you don’t miss it now! They also have announced a call for entries - one for a student category and the other for teachers. Check it out here.

Make the most of it and don’t miss any of these celebrations of the Art of Animation!

10th August, 2009

Important announcement from TASI Managing Committee

Friends,

As all of you are aware, for the past 4 months we have been working overtime to organize this annual festival. The pre-selection jury was working from 10.00 am on Saturday, Aug 8th till 3.00 am, Sunday morning (over 17 hours!) to select films for screening and voting at the festival. The entire operations machinery is at present geared to conduct this festival successfully and all arrangements are in place. Everyone has given more than 100% to ensure that we have a rocking Anifest India 2009.

Today we are unfortunately forced to POSTPONE the festival till further notice for the following reason:

You may be aware that India and more specifically the city of Pune, is grappling with the outbreak and spread of the highly contagious H1N1 virus, more commonly known as Swine Flu. Efforts are on to contain its influence and spread. Schools in Pune have been declared closed for the next 1 week. In Mumbai, as per news reports, 2 schools have declared holidays for the next 8 days. There are advisories to avoid public places and large gatherings so that this menace can be controlled quickly.

Anifest India has received 1500+ confirmed registrations and a LARGE number of people are traveling from out of Mumbai for this festival. Under the present circumstances, as a responsible organization we have taken a decision to avoid gathering such a large crowd in close proximity to each other for 4 days under one roof. We know that this will mean substantial financial losses to the Society since a large part of the organizational expenses have already been incurred but these are inconsequential compared to Public health and safety which is far more important than any disappointment or monetary loss. We are all extremely frustrated that we have had to make this call since so much of hard work has gone into the organization of the fest BUT we believe that going ahead with the event under these circumstances is not at all advisable.

We trust that this extremely difficult decision will be supported and appreciated by all. TASI promises to bring the festival back on as soon as the conditions on the ground improve. This is our commitment to our community.

This decision by TASI is in General Public Interest. Please do not create panic and spread rumors. You are advised to keep yourself updated of the latest developments from official Government sources and news channels.

Our best wishes to all our friends in Pune and everywhere else in the country. Please take all necessary precautions as advised by the Government.

Please watch this space for updates and further news.

TASI Managing Committee

Remember the dates: 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th August at the Convocation Hall, IIT Powai, Mumbai

The TASI committee has worked extra, extra hard and got some super-speakers all ready to share their knowledge with the Indian animation enthusiasts. Here is the basic information (click on the posters to enlarge) and if you want to know more, just go right ahead to the TASI website - www.tasionline.org

First, a very big thank you to all those who have been waiting patiently for new updates on the website and blog. As most you must be aware by now, AAA is a one-person effort at spreading awareness about animation and sharing knowledge as well as industry news. AAA is not a funded company but the result of an individual’s passion for the art of animation.

For the past couple of months there has been very little activity on the site and blog because I have been busy working on some other projects. As these projects, which essentially fund AAA, are almost reaching closure, I assure all my readers that come June, AAA will be back in full swing. In fact, with a lot of new features as well as some important announcements. Therefore, I request all of you who have been patient for so long to just bear with me for another month, and I promise not to disappoint you.

Also, to enhance some of the features, I am moving the site to another server in the coming weeks. This will enable me to host many of the new services/features that are being planned for AAA. During the shifting process, the AAA website and blog will experience downtime for 24 to 48 hours. I will post an announcement 2 days before the actual migration. Once the transfer is complete, you will find AAA at the same url as you always have - www.allaboutanimation.com

Looking forward to rekindling the active relationship with all readers from June onwards. Do send in any suggestions that you have for improvements to the website!

Thanks to all the supporters, friends, colleagues and especially, all the readers!
Akshata

Animated Lalu

I don’t know what their real motivation behind this was but the theme is sure to get them a lot of eye balls. They have already been covered by the Indian press and have been interviewed by television channels in India. I managed to catch a glimpse of the animated clip during one such interview and was horrified by the crassness of the content. The voice-over is pretty accurate no doubt but watching a semi-dressed Lalu in a vest and lungi, carrying a ‘lota’ for obvious reasons and being chased by a cameraman is not my idea of entertainment. Worse still, Lalu’s character then enters a loo and the cameraman focuses the camera inside the loo through the keyhole. Is that supposed to be funny? What on earth are Indian audiences going to be subjected to next?!

In terms of design, the quality is poor - very, very primitive and the animation is limited. The only saving grace is the guy who voices Lalu’s character - he is spot on.

The creator - Pawan

This is supposedly the first clip the team is about to release. They are looking for sponsors/financiers for subsequent episodes. The team members named in the news reports were Pawan - the cartoonist/animator and brain behind this project and Shashi - the voiceover artist who has mimicked Lalu’s voice quite well. You can read the IBNlive report here and watch the TV interview below. Would love to hear from my readers what they feel about this one.

If you are unable to view the above clip, see the original video on the ibnlive website

images courtesy IBNlive.in.com

Masterclass with the Master himself!

A REMINDER: TASI is organizing an interactive workshop on Character Design, Concept Development and Production processes on 5th December, 2008 from 3 pm to 6 pm at Whistling Woods International, Goregaon, Mumbai.

The Father of Indian Animation, Ram Mohan or ‘Sirjee’ as he is fondly called will be conducting the workshop and this is a session which should not be missed.

Ram Mohan needs no introduction. Any Indian animator who has not heard of him should not be doing animation!

So make sure that you are there with your sketchpads and pencils to learn from the Master himself - for details of the workshop and to register online go to the TASI website (click here)

CGTantra event postponed

Please inform everybody you know might have been planning to attend the event tomorrow that it has been indefinitely postponed. We will post updates as soon as we get them. As of now, as a sign of respect to those who were affectd in any way by the Mumbai terror attacks, and considering the safety of all those attending the event, it has been postponed to December. Details will be announced later.

What happens after a year remains to be seen. By then, if the situation is improving outside of the industry as well, then one couldn’t be asking for more.

The subject of recession particularly pertaining to the Indian Animation industry has been addressed before in this blog. Read here.

Sources from the company revealed that VCL, which is a division of Tata Elxsi, plans to increase its headcount from the present 300 to 1500 animators and special effects artists over the next three years. Having completed ‘Roadside Romeo’ they are now working on three more animation films, TV shows for Germany and bidding for large Hollywood projects.
VCL has already established itself as a force to reckon with having created the special effects for several Hollywood and Bollywood films like ‘Ironman’, ‘Ghostrider’, ‘Spiderman 3′, ‘One Night with the King’ and ‘Drona’, ‘Kidnap’, ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Rang De Basanti’ & ‘Dhoom 2′. ‘Roadside Romeo’ marked their foray into animated feature films.

I’ll keep you posted as more details are revealed.