the duo were completely exasperated, the files were not in order, the folks had to be mollycoddled, it was just chaos.

I was looking at the level of organization the two were at (they had shot lists, descriptions, with images at the press of a button) i wont go into any more detail but it was shocking how prepared they were.

on the other hand the studio folk were more like headless chickens, most apologetic, which is terrible because some of the work was pretty good.

The coordinator spent more time saying ill give it to you later than anything.

At a studio level what we lack is organization and confidence.

then again, i was only there for 2 hours….

He said about training and about the very profession of teaching. Yes he is bang on target by mentioning that even the training institutes don’t care about the education they are providing, all they want is money. But his views that we don’t have enough teachers just because teaching is a looked down profession is like completely missing the bus. Who said teaching is looked down badly upon? Not at all, it’s a very respectful and a noble profession.

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“and the ones who are in the production house would not think of changing to a teaching profession as the pay is not on par and they will be expected to be skilled in more than few softwares and few disciplines in them like modeling, texturing or animation, etc., and also because of fear of losing the challenges faced in the production. Teaching on other hand is slightly monotonous job with limited challenges.”

These are contradictory statements. A person whose primary motive is to make money won’t care about less whether he is being challenged or not. How do you define what is at par or what is not at par? For example, if for me at par is say rs. 50k salary, but I am aware that the CEO is earning probably 10 times than that, wont I accept the job if they are ready to pay me rs. 50k? Of course I will! Just because my salary is not par with the CEO’s salary doesn’t mean I won’t take the job. If that was the case, then there won’t be any teachers left, all would join the mainstream jobs. Teaching is a different vocation all together which whether you like it or not, everyone cannot do. And nowadays teachers are paid quite nicely also.

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“They will be expected to be skilled in more than few softwares and few disciplines in them like modeling, texturing or animation, etc”

This is a very important comment and requires to be addressed at a broader level. It means that even those in production are not taking the part of teaching seriously. Why should an animator if decides to teach, needs to know modeling, texturing and so on. Animation itself requires many many years of deep study. It shows that he is himself being prejudiced and judgmental that if I become a teacher I won’t focus on one thing but rather touch the surface of everything. He is himself doubting his own methods. It’s the thoughts which create the circumstances most of the time. If animation education is bad this is the reason.

Training in India in Animation is still very cheap compared to outside. But what hurts is that the training they are providing doesn’t justify the price they are charging. And if you’re talking about animation education specifically there is no less or more (in terms of quality). All are bad (though new ones are coming and hopefully they will be different).

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“The awareness and scope of careers in animation industry is still very less. The student population is more driven to take up professional careers. Many students who enroll for animation courses are people who have graduated in totally different discipline, Or are students who could not make it any other field and a career in animation industry seems to be a last resort as the admission into the institutes are not based on any merit system or entrance tests.”

I would put it in a different way - awareness “of” the scope of a career in animation is less. It’s a very nascent industry for India. So we are not sure how it actually works, what are the skills desired and how to train them. Of course a very fraction of the people knows about this but majority have no clue. We are still following the trial and error process whether its education or production. People are coming from graduating in different fields because when they graduated animation as a career didn’t exist! If anyone is able to gain admission into any institute since there is no merit based entrance system, by no means it means that he will actually get a job. Of course if he has the skills he/she would make it, but my point is Animation is certainly not a last resort as it is a very challenging job. Our entire education system is based on learning from books, rules, formulas and so on. But in animation what works today may not work tomorrow. Every day we need to think out of the box. The better we realize this the better for all of us. People who think that lets go into animation, it easy work and easy money, sorry to say but you all are gravely mistaken. First get your facts right, know about animation as a career and then decide whether you want to do it or not. By having this misconception and spreading it, instead of solutions all we are creating is more problems for the long term.

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“The whole animation industry be it training division or production houses are of people from the first generation of direct exposure to this animation field. This is not the case in Hollywood or other international studios.”

I am sorry but what is first generation has to do with the overall standard of animation? And what do you mean; this is not the case with Hollywood and other international studios?

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“It would be asking for more from Indian animation industry who have just started making animation movies or series compared to other studios in the world.”

I completely agree but nobody is willing to accept that we have miles and miles to go. We are in the illusion that we are as good as other international studios like Pixar, DreamWorks, and ILM and so on. The first step to finding a solution is to first accept that we have a problem. “Problem ? What are you talking about…there are no problems man !” You got the picture?

I totally agree with Gaurav, the difference between us and them is huge and it flows from top to bottom and vice versa.

Yes we definitely need more “good” schools who actually know what are they suppose to teach and then design a proper curriculum to execute that.

P.S - This is just my views to the comment on this post. For my in depth comments on this post visit my blog.

OR

direct link - http://abtheanimator.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-views-on-getting-indian-animation_24.html

This difference carries itself through all the way to the top of the heap to producers and distributors or animated content.

NID and JJ are just two schools, we need a ton of them, maybe not as good but at least smart enough to bridge the gap rather than work as a training chop shop which does a 9 month program and announces animator….

As for the training part, in a culture where the teaching profession is looked down upon like its for people who could not make it in the industry. currently the situation in training industry in India is staffed by people who have a very little or no working in a production house, and the ones who are in the production house would not think of changing to a teaching profession as the pay is not on par and they will be expected to be skilled in more than few softwares and and few disciplines in them like modeling, texturing or animation,etc., and also because of fear of loosing the challenges faced in the production. Teaching on other hand is slightly monotonous job with limited challenges.

The training industry in India is mostly franchisee based except a few training institutes. Most of the franchisees who invest in this field are least inclined towards art or quality or animation for the sake,the first priority is money compared to quality training.

The training in India is also priced high and and only those who can afford are able to get into good schools. This scenario might be a reason for not being able to tap all the potential that country has, And those who settle for less have to compromise on quality.

The awareness and scope of careers in animation industry is still very less. The student population is more driven to take up professional careers. Many students who enroll for animation courses are people who have graduated in totally different discipline, Or are students who could not make it any other field and a career in animation industry seems to be a last resort as the admission into the institutes are not based on any merit system or entrance tests.

The whole animation industry be it training division or production houses are of people from the first generation of direct exposure to this animation field. This is not the case in Hollywood or other international studios.

It would be asking for more from Indian animation industry who have just started making animation movies or series compared to other studios in the world.