The preparations have been hectic. A lot of hard work has gone into organizing this year’s Anifest India, as always! With an expected turnout of over 1500 people, this long weekend is going to be one hell of a big party, with lots to do, lots to learn and many many people to meet. I’m going to be there - to participate and also as one of the committee members of TASI. And I do hope many of you join us. For details, do visit the TASI website. I haven’t had a chance to update the AAA blog because I have been handling the responsiblity of maintaining and updating the TASI website as well. I will be covering the event on all 3 days - 15th to 17th Aug. But it will be a lot more interesting to attend it rather than just read about it later.

So be there… Or be square!

The Annecy Festival is exactly a week away and with India as the Focus Country this year; everyone is excited about the implications. NASSCOM is taking a large Indian delegation to Annecy including some of the biggest and best studios in India - Toonz Animation, Paprikaas, Accel Animation, Sanra, Kahani World, Big Animation, FX Labs, ettaminA, Blowfish FX, Dawson, Cornershop, Graphiti, Green Gold, Picasso Digital, to name just a few.

NASSCOM is organizing THE INDIA PAVILLION together with Government of India - Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at Annecy 2008 – the world’s largest creative festival for animators and the animation world.

The 27 square meters large ‘Indian Pavilion’ is the largest showcase of Indian animation companies at any single event and the stand will present the logos, play the show reel and display the logos of all the participating companies. The ministry and trade delegation will be meeting several counterparts from other countries and discussions will range from proposing growth initiatives including co-production treaties, reciprocal participation in trade shows and official visits by trade delegations between themselves. To celebrate the ‘Spotlight on India’, NASSCOM and the delegation will be the hosts for the opening gala evening on the 10th where an Indian Fair has been planned. A show-reel of student and professional films compiled by ASIFA India will also be showcased by the delegation. A handbook on India, with updated information on the industry and profiles of visiting delegates will be presented.

Speaking about this Col. S V Ramachandran, Regional Director, NASSCOM said, “NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum has decided to participate in selected international markets as a platform to present the Indian Industry. MIFA at Annecy is the largest ‘pure play’ animation market and NASSCOM’s participation last year convinced us about the possibilities for our members and the positive role the government can play in turbo powering some of the initiatives.”

I caught up with Biren Ghose, CEO Kahani World Inc. and Chairman of the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming Forum and here is what he had to share about NASSCOM’s role at Annecy and in the country’s Animation and Gaming scenario.

Q. As Nasscom delegate, what are you planning for the Indian Delegation to do at at Annecy 2008?

Biren: I have suggested that the main agenda for this delegation is to launch in the animation world the same main agenda that represents NASSCOM’s winning formula in the Indian IT industry. The goal at Annecy will be to use the festival and its spotlight on India to take forward the Indian animation in a glamorous and focused manner.

NASSCOM has a 7 point focus and our team will meet various people across these topics. These are:
1. Strengthen the brand equity of India for outsourcing and products
2. Partner with Government of India and State Governments in formulating enabling policies and legislation. Partner with global stakeholders for promoting the industry in global markets coproductions, etc.
3. Continue to be the thought leaders in creating the industry information for animation, gaming and VFX and deliver world-class research and strategic inputs for the industry and its stakeholders.
4. Expand the quantity and quality of the talent pool in India
5. Continuous engagement with all member companies and stakeholders to devise strategies to achieve shared aspirations for the industry and the country.
6. Encourage and facilitate members to uphold world class quality standards and enhance operational excellence.
7. Aim to uphold Intellectual Property Rights of its members.

Q. What are the main events that the team is participating in?

Biren: There are different team members and they will derive different benefits at the festival.

The India Pavilion will:
a) Act as a nodal point to receive enquiries for products services and collaborations with the delegation members.
b) Provide the professional syndicated showcase which will enable countries irrespective of their size to present their credentials in the international market.
c) Disseminate information on the Indian market and profiles of the delegations
d) Act as a networking point through the daily wine and cheese networking afternoons to the end of each market day! [3.30 to 4.30pm on the 11th to the 13th June 2008 at the India pavilion]
e) Develop a presence in a location that becomes a standard meeting point for companies that want to do business with India particularly the creative talent and producers from UK & Europe.

The Power Panel [on the morning of 12th June, Thursday] will:
a) Formally announce the government’s participation and patronage for this sector. Ms. Asha Swarup, the Secretary [the highest official in the Indian Government] for the information and broadcasting ministry is personally coming to chair the panel and to assess the potential for the Indian industry in the future.
b) The NASSCOM President, Mr. Som Mittal, is personally coming to his 1st international market in this sector to show solidarity with the initiative.
c) The Power Panel will have a mix of the Indian team presenting their viewpoints and also expatriates pointing out why India is such a strategic location for the future.

The Gala Evening is the best way to create an Indian buzz – we are expecting that the entire opening party shall have an Indian theme!

Q. You have been to various international animation events. What, in your opinion, makes Annecy particularly popular?

Biren: Annecy has already become a favourite business development venue exclusively dedicated to animation for (a) concluding European-Indian co-productions, (b) advancing strategic alliances, (c) seeing cutting-edge new pitches and competition films, (d) being the most beautiful surroundings in which the market is held. I am delighted that we have over 20 companies signed on to be center-stage at the MIFA market. The approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to participate at Annecy to help promote the Indian industry is a significant honour and breakthrough for the industry and they are working to reciprocate the government’s interest in powering this sector.

Q. Annecy is also a major festival for competition and exhibition. Is that also of interest?

Biren: NASSCOM also works with academic and industry advisors to formulate world-leading operational excellence standards. The forum is considering putting up a major festival and, for the past few years, already runs the “creative super pitch” which is the #1 pitching event in India attended by the best jurors from across broadcasters, distributors, etc. The Government has also asked NASSCOM to advise it on a national; Animation & Gaming School to be put up by the Government of India as a model institution.

Q. What is NASSCOM?

Biren: NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the Information Technology & Business Process Outsourcing industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, of which over 250 are global companies from across the US, UK, EU and Asia -Pacific. NASSCOM’s members are in the business of Services, Products, Technology Infrastructure Management, R&D services, E-commerce & Web services. Engineering services offshoring and Animation and Gaming are the sunrise sectors.

NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in these fields in India and employs over 2 million professionals. It therefore is the #1 in its representation. It is a not-for-profit organization.

NASSCOM has been a strong proponent of global free trade. It is committed to work proactively to encourage its members to adopt world class management practices, uphold highest standards in quality, security and innovation and work to retain India’s competitive position in a dynamic world with sweeping changes. It anticipates that, by 2010, India’s IT-BPO industry could potentially generate US$60 billion in export revenues, account for 8 percent of the India’s GDP, pay for a massive infrastructure build-out and sustain around 10 million jobs.

Q. What are the aims and objectives of NASSCOM?

Biren: Among its ‘Aims and Objectives’ is to drive the overall growth of the global sourcing market and maintain India’s leadership position, by taking up the role of a strategic advisor to member companies in the Indian IT-BPO sector. NASSCOM’s varied strengths include creating and influencing government and public policy, international trade development, research and market intelligence services, and access to an international network through 17 Memorandums of Understanding and linkages with 40 industry associations across the globe. This enables NASSCOM to advise members – both established and emerging companies to further their growth.

Q. Does NASSCOM cover all aspects of India or is it confined only to big companies in big cities?

Biren: NASSCOM endeavors to narrow the digital divide in India and enable all citizens particularly the economically deprived sections to get the benefits of technology. It is working with many state governments to use animation as a means to develop employment including in smaller towns. There is also a pioneering initiative in the social sector being championed by the NASSCOM Foundation, a separate trust set up to create this empowerment for the under privileged.

Thanks, Biren! We will catch up with you soon to learn more about the NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum.

TASI’s much awaited ANIFEST INDIA 2008 will be held this year on August 15th, 16th and 17th at IDC, IIT Powai in Mumbai.

They have already announced the ‘Call For Entries’ for the Viewers’ Choice Awards and this time there is an added category too.

1. Short Films : Students

2. Short Films : Professional

3. Advertising Commercials

The last date for submitting your entries is 15th July, 2008.

Lots of exciting stuff is being planned and with the beautiful IIT campus as the backdrop, there will be many interactive and hands-on workshops this year.

Further details will be announced soon, so stay tuned!

Last evening I attended a Book Signing by Lord Jeffrey Archer at the Landmark Book Store in Andheri, Mumbai. It was one of the most beautiful and inspiring evenings of my life and I will soon blog about the experience and why I have chosen to include him, a story-teller par excellence, in this Animation related blog.

Today and tomorrow (21st and 22nd May) is the IAI - Industry Academia Interface organized by Animation Xpress. I went for the session today and was stunned by the abysmally low turnout. Either people weren’t informed or they weren’t interested Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the future of Animation, Gaming and VFX of India. There were more speakers than audience, though the line up of topics was very good. Sad!

This weekend - 24th and 25th May - is the CGTExpo 2008, CGTantra’s brand new attempt at reaching out to more people. All About Animation will be there with a stall so anyone who wants to meet me can drop by and find out more about AAA.

See you at CGTExpo!!!

http://www.cgtexpo.com/masterclasses.html

See the details of the sessions and speakers.

Annecy is an International Animated Film Festival held every year since 1960. It has been showcasing the very best in animation for over 45 years, making it the industry’s leading international competitive festival.

Click to view bigger Poster

Annecy is a festival where people meet other people and together they share projects, screenings, markets, etc. By putting the focus on one country , the aim is to making the world of animation discover or emphasize on a country where animation is strong, growing, interesting, different or even unknown. Indian animation is surging and it is very crfitical to see what is being produced in India. This years Focus country is India and it will be a great platform to showcase Indian talent in the world space.

A selection of choices films from the Focus country are put together in form of 80 min programs. If possible conferences, exhibitions, meetings and presentations (and even sometimes publishing) are also included.

Submission Categories:
The following are the five main categories available for submission to the competition this year:

1. Student Films
Films made by animation students in further and higher education.

2. Professional Films / Independent Short Films
Films made by professional animators and studios

3. Professional Commercials and Promos
Films made by professional animators and studios, can be Short films, public service messages, Documentaries, etc.

4. Professional Films / Independent Films
Films made by professional animators and studios TV serials, episodic animation, etc.

5. Feature Film Clipping / Sequences
Films made by professional animators and studios

FAQs

Q. What is the Annecy?
A. Annecy is an International Animated Film Festival held every year since 1960. It has been showcasing the very best in animation for over 45 years, making it the industry’s leading international competitive festival.

Q. What is the aim of the Country focus ? India 08
A. Annecy is a festival where people meet other people, and together, they share projects, screenings, markets..etc. In the stream of world animation, the focus aims at making the world of animation discover or emphasize a country where animation is strong, growing, interesting, different, unknown, etc. Indian animation is surging,and it is very crucial and important to see what is being produced in India. This years focus country is India and it will be a great platform to showcase Indian talent in the world space.

Q. How is the country focus program different from the Annecy film competition?
A. The Annecy Film Competition is a contest between films from all over the world which are preselected by independent committees, and awarded by a specific jury.
A focus on a particular country is completely different from this. A selection of choices films from the Focus country are put together in form of 80 min programs. If possible conferences, exhibitions, meetings and presentations (and even sometimes publishing) are also included.

Q. What are the categories of the 80 mins country focus program?
A. The following are the five main categories available for submission:
- Student Short Films
- Professional Short Films
- Professional Commercials and Promos
- Professional TV Series
- Feature film clipping / sequences

Q. How to Submit a Film?
1. Download the Entry Form
2. Add in the information and required data in the form
3. Please Send the completed form along with the DVD and DigiBeta tape of the film to the address mentioned below.

Asifa India,
c/o Rhythm & Hues Studios India Ltd.
Prism Towers, ‘A’ Wing, 3rd Floor,
Mindspace,
Goregaon- Malad Link Road,
Goregaon (W),
Mumbai
India 400062
Ph: +91 22 40034567

Please note it is very important that you complete all the required information to represent your film in the best possible way

Q. When is the last date for sending in entries?
A. 10th March 2008.

If you have any further questions please feel free write to info@asifa.in or feedback@allaboutanimation.com

Panel Comix launches Happy Days and Little Pandavas Comic.
Hyderabad, 12th Feb. 2008

Panel Animation Studios Pvt. Ltd. launches its comics division Panel Comix, with “Happy Days”, India’s first film based comic and “Little Pandavas - The Beginning”, based on the 90 minutes fully-animated feature film, as its first offerings to the public.

IG Fun & INDIAGAMES to bring the award winning ‘BioShock’ to mobile.
Barcelona, Spain, Mobile World Congress, 12th Feb. 2008

IG Fun LLC, the international publishing arm of Indiagames Ltd, India’s benchmark online and mobile games company; today announced it will bring BioShock, one of the most awarded PC & Console games in the history of gaming, on the mobile platform. IG Fun secured the global rights to develop and publish BioShock for the mobile platform from 2K Games.

DQ Entertainment Limited & Percept Picture Company enter a three animation film co-production MoU.
Chennai, 11th Feb. 2008

Recognizing the potential and acute need for high end animated Indian films in Indian animation industry, DQ Entertainment (DQE) and Percept Picture Company (PPC) proudly announced their 3 animation co-production memorandum of understanding signed recently. The films are slated for 2009-2010 release and will be in the genres - Mythology, Super Hero, Bollywoodish and Animal Kingdom.

Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. Launches Recruitment Drive.
Mumbai, 8th Feb. 2008

Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. is an original animation content creator. With a vision of becoming a global leader in content creation. Graphiti is expanding it people base in all technical and creative departments. Graphiti is looking for professionals who have the passion to create original ideas and develop them into final animation properties.

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) and Prime Focus form Strategic Alliance.
Mumbai, 5th Feb. 2008

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging and Prime Focus have entered into a strategic alliance that will allow both companies to expand their abilities to offer their state of the art digital post production capabilities to filmmakers on a global scale. The agreement will provide filmmakers around the world with access to the expert talents and services both companies have been providing through their state of the art facilities. It also allows both companies to manage their workflows more efficiently between Warner Bros. MPI in Burbank, and Prime Focus’s facilities throughout multiple locations in India and London as well as in New York, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Los Angeles.

On the first day of the Chitrakatha Festival at NID, there was a special presentation by Binita Desai, Associate Professor, Animation Designer, DAIICT, Gandhinagar, to commemorate the completion of 20 years by the animation department at NID. She has generously shared the transcript of the presentation for our readers.

A wonderful selection of films by students through the years was screened after Binita’s compelling talk on the origin of the animation department at NID and all the people that made it possible. Here is a list of the films that were screened followed by the transcript of Binita’s presentation.

9816DN by Vivekanand Roy Ghatak - 1:32 mins. Year - 2000
A non-narrative tale of the Indian Railway, about a traveller completing a long, tiring yet adventurous trip.

National Highway by R J Mistry - 3:10 mins. Year - 1984
A film on drunk driving on the Indian highway and the dangers of it.

Patang by Binita Desai - 2:15 mins. Year - 1984
A poetic impression of the famous kite festival in Ahmedabad, India.

Protagonist by Prakash Moorthy - 3:15 mins. Year - 1987
The age-old story of divide and rule retold in a small village in Kerala.

A Summer Story by Nina Sabnani - 3:15 mins. Year - 1987
A modern version of the Panchatantra tale of the Thirsty Crow.

Give the earth a break by Anil Bose - 2:18 mins. Year - 1993
A tale of the origin of earth, its growth and finally total disaster.

Hypocrite by Manisha Mohan - 4:00 mins. Year - 1992
The story of mindless civilization that puts nature at stake.

His Master’s Choice by Shreenivas Bhakta - 6:55 mins. Year - 1994
A light-hearted look at colonial imperialism in Bengal in the early 20th century

Antagonist by Sekhar Mukherjee - 2:10 mins. Year 1996
An ironical tale of the feudal electoral process in a pseudo democracy where the king wins an unfair election by crushing the hope of the population.

Oops by Sukanya Ghosh - 3:09 mins. Year 1998
Funny tale about the pranks of a little girl and her cat.

Utsav by Upasana Natoji 1:25 Mins. 2000
Non-narrative experimental animation celebrating the festival of Navratri.

Ate by Gautam Singh 2:09 Mins. 2001
Story of a spider who is trying to escape the enemy - a ‘flycatcher’ and how?!!

If Only by Sweta Bhatnagar 1:22 Mins. 2001
A short reminder of the near-future crisis - ‘drinking water’.

Dhak by Rajesh Chakraborty 3:02 Mins. 2002
A non-narrative animation on Drum-beating during the festival of Durga Pooja.

Sarama by Shailja Jain 5:04 Mins. 2003
An ironical tale of the life of misery of urban animals.

Khintikiri Pinta by Pushan Chakraborty 5:34 Mins. 2004
‘Khintikiri Pinta’ is gibberish slang hurled by an angry kid at the sun. The film unfolds to reveal an interesting relationship build up between the arrogant chilc and the innocent little sun-kid.

It Was Raining by Partha Das 1:40 Mins. 2005
Each window of every house has its own story.

The Rain Dance by Vijay Arumugam 7:50 Mins. 2006
The monsoon fails to show up in Mannargudi. Most of the people belonging to the village have left the place seeking better life outside. Karuppaiya’s family stays back in the hope that the village will prosper and flourish again.

Bald And Beautiful by Bhanu Prakash 4:37 Mins. 2007
An autobiographical film, portraying the director’s own life experience and linking all the events with his hair.

Binita’s presentation on 20 years of NID: (Transcript)

“There was animation at NID even before there was a department. To mention one great name Leo Leoni. I would here take the names of Claire Weeks, R L Mistry, Narendra Patel, NarayanBhai, Ishu Patel, Ram Mohan, Roger Noake, Joan Ashworth, Cathy Greenhalgh, I S Mathur, Vikas Satwaleker, Ashok Chatterji, Bhimsen, Kantilal Rathod, Len Lewis of Shootsey, Richard Purdum Studios, Aerial Image Opticals, John Challice of Eyeworks, Bob Godfrey, Barry Parker, Raoul Servais, Chitra Sarathy, Nina Sabnani, Subhash Kotwal, Shyam, the UNDP, myself and a host of others who have all in either a direct way or indirectly contributed to the creation of a department and therefore contributed to the history of Animation at NID. Graphic Design students graduated from the Under Graduate progamme at NID doing their diploma projects in Animation, that, I think is great generosity.

1980 : The first formal initiative was with Claire Weeks there was a total of seven members to be part of a one year workshop in Animation which was extend to two. There were as part of this initial group 7 members - two from NID - Sailesh Modi and Mita Bhagat and Shyam and Subhash Kotwal, from the JJ school of Arts and three from MSU at Vadodara, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chitra Sarathy, Nina Sabnani and myself. Learnt our first skills in Animation with ClaireWeeks. He was exacting and pushed us to create precise work. We viewed on celluloid several animated films combined with the film screenings done in Mr I S Mathur’s class on Cinema Appreciation. It was a huge number of screenings, all we remember is we saw till our eyeballs were hanging on strings!! Analysing, critiquing and writing about them, was an integral part of seeing cinema.

The workshop ended. Chitra, Nina and I were invited to stay. Chitra joined the then Calcutta cell and conducted several workshops during her tenure. We helped her by our periodic visits to support her effort in animation. An NID-made Animation stand was sent off to her so she could make films and she did. Having worked with Oxberry precision, this home made contraption was a tremendous story of perseverance but not precision. But it worked in its strange old way. They did make films on it.

Ishu Patel has conducted several works every time he has visited the country apart from all that we learned from him strictly in animation, he gently reminded us to work to the bone (which we did) but to party hard as well. We only needed someone to tell us to party. We marveled at his energy and his amazing skills. Being ambidextrous is unthinkable for most we barely manage to use one hand to capacity, but here was this man who painted like a wizard with both hands. He would fill with one and shade with the other.

Our designations kept changing from Design Trainees to Faculty Trainees and during the time under the UNDP training programme we worked with Roger Noake (from The West Surrey College of Art and Design) who was invited to be at NID for six months to introduce us Chitra Sarathy, Nina, R L Mistry and me to a different kind of Animation from the world of Disney which Claire brought in. European, Czech and Polish animation turned into a fascination. R L Mistry during this workshop made a film called National Highway which was to got him the National Award.

The UNDP training programme in 1985 took Nina to Ghent in Belgium and Holland and me to Studios in London and we spent a better part of our time at the West Surrey College of Art and Design (where Roger Noake was teaching) exploring new styles and techniques. Being students again was fun. Being there and visiting institutions like the National Institute of Film and Television was a rewarding experience which allowed us to make friends and establish Professional contacts that have benefited NID subsequently.

It was in 1985 that we started conceiving a programme for post graduate students in Animation. Nina, R L Mistry and me from the animation department came together with others to start work on the programme. Being the first coordinator of this programme is the reason for me to be standing here and making this presentation.

The first programme : Prakash Moorthy, Basav, Shouma Banerjee were part of the first batch of students. The programme was ambitious in the beginning and it progressively got fine tuned as we went along. We modified the programme each year and systematically for close to four years until we arrived at something that we were satisfied with. We kept up the programme and regardless of a critical mass we went on. In the light of this, NID’s generosity as an institution and its willingness to take risks to start new programmes is undisputed. Nina and I were roughly 22 years old and were given the responsibility of starting the Animation Programme. It started as a Post graduate programme every alternate year and in time found a route for under graduate students to join in. We had a mandate for when it started and we tried to improve each year. Today I do think I can say we have a special kind of animation here at NID and it is what we have collectively figured out. We tried to build it into the programme subversively sometimes and overtly at other times. It’s been rolling and will roll on for long.

Narendra Patel who was then doing his Diploma film provided us the additional strength and wisdom to fine tune the programme. More importantly he gave us the courage and knowledge to handle the Oxberry camera. We would tinker and repair the camera ourselves with the help of Harikaka in the workshop, as we could not wait for Peter Neilson to come from England and help fix the camera. Harikaka was a store house of applied knowledge and we enjoyed the challenges together and it was extremely valuable. Dealing with the mechanical world was easy; we could see, hear the errors and identify the problems. The electronic world is too silent and illusive for me.

Working with celluloid was a dream and a problem. Mistakes had to be on the drawing board. Learning to flick your drawings and point out errors as a skill was fine tuned. All line tests to check movements were done on sound film, processed in the photography studio by twirling the film back and forth and drying it on the lawn. This was then seen on an editing machine!! There was no room for errors lest it had to be done again. The line tester, Quick Action recorder was comparatively a boon, but it also altered animation.

Joan Ashworth and Cathy Greenhalgh who we had met in London during our UNDP training subsequently came to NID and conducted a model animation workshop when the second batch of students had joined in and some of them still work with model animation. Our contacts increased and the thoroughfare in the department of animators from around the world increased. The NID department never struggled to find students after 1989.

Building the Animation film collection was something that all of us did with a vengeance. It is today a massive collection and I reckon everyone has been adding to it like they have been honing the programme after many of us have left. There are innumerable stories but I think to give you more than this would be too burdensome.

I would like to applaud Shekhar and his dedicated student bunch and Isabelle for this effort. They have turned the department festivals we had by opening it out into to a larger audience and meaningful place for exchange. Thank you Cartoon Network.”