All Entries Tagged With: "Animation"
Oh dear! Is that an animated Lalu?
Just when I thought that Indian animation had redeemed itself for the atrocious ‘Icy n Spicy’, I received a reminder that we have a long way to go, courtesy - the animated avatar of Lalu Prasad Yadav. A three-member team of enterprising animators from Patna have created a ‘cartoon clip’ based on the Indian Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, and even got his approval for it!
Animated Lalu
Good bye 2008!
What a year it was, for Indian animation and for me personally as well. A roller-coaster year one may call it. Ups and downs, highs and lows. Memorable moments and some, unfortunately, ‘trying-hard-to-forget’ ones. A year that saw the launch of many new animation training institutes and studios, the formation of strategic partnerships, major acquisitions and tie-ups, a couple of announcements about new animated features/series and also the scrapping of highly-publicised, prestigious ones. A year whose first half saw more jobs than people but ended with the equation reversed - layoffs and yet more layoffs!
Toonz to animate Santa Claus for 2010 Christmas release.
Toonz Animation is all set to foray into feature-length 3D animation, and how! The Thiruvananthapuram-based studio which had earlier created the animation for Hanuman is now going to animate the life of Santa Claus.
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’.
Recession in the industry?!! Don’t press the panic button just as yet.
Now that the noise has died down and the dust has settled, the casualty is slowly beginning to show. For two years everyone was shouting from the rooftops about the animation boom in India. Institutes proclaimed India needs animators and ill-informed parents poured out their hard-earned money into many an unworthy school. Many people left their well-paying jobs and successful businesses to enter the animation industry. All of a sudden everyone wanted to be in animation.
The hype was not all bad. Many more people began sitting up and taking notice of this thing called ‘Animation’ than before. Students and parents alike opened their eyes to this new career prospect. Existing animators began celebrating their new-found respect in the eyes of their detractors who had so far looked down upon their choice of vocation. All-in-all the Indian animation industry saw a spurt in interest, enthusiasm, educational avenues and job opportunities. Within a year, more than 70 animated feature films were announced. Actual work began on a far lesser number of movies.
But the latest news coming out of studios is not good. Many production houses and studios have folded up. Others have laid off a majority of their employees. People have woken up to the fact that making an animated film is no cake walk. There may be a lot of enthusiasm and ideas but the lack of funds, acute shortage of ‘talented’ artists and short-sightedness of studios have become major obstacles.
