Source: Press Release

ZEE Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), India’s first Classical & Digital Animation Institute established in 1995 has teamed up with the prestigious TEESSIDE University, UK to offer a Bachelor’s degree program to the Diploma holders of ZICA. Both the parties have finalized the formalities.
TEESSIDE University, UK stands among the top ten modern Universities in UK with an investment of £100m on its town campus at the heart of Middlesbrough, UK. It has some of the most affordable University-managed accommodation in the UK. (Survey by Accommodation for Students in 2007).
“ZICA’s initiative would bring an opportunity to its DAFM students, completing the two years program at ZICA, to get a bachelor’s degree by attending only the final one-year at Teesside University. Also with this now we have planned to launch a batch of Diploma in Animation Film-Making (DAFM) Course in January 2009, wherein students can give four hours a day in the evening at ease”, said Mr. J R Poonjani, Centre Head, ZICA & ZIMA.
“We decided to take the Teesside decision so as to satiate the students who give priority to the degree program and through this they can also go ahead with their specialization in Computer Animation, Digital Character Animation or Creative Digital Media from the well known prestigious & dynamic University of TEESSIDE, UK. So, now other than taking up a job in top production house, ZICAites can also opt for a one-year degree program after completing their two-years of DAFM course.”, he concluded.

Source: Press Release

An adventure fable sourced from the vast collection of stories from popular children’s magazine Chandamama would be seen on the big screen soon. The monthly has tied up with Thiruvanthapuram-based Toonz Animation Ltd to produce a full length animated feature film based on a story from the vast library of Chandamama on an estimated budget of a whopping Rs 200 million.

“We have entered into a deal with Chandamama where we will go through their entire library of over 15000 stories and select a suitable one to be made into an a 90-minute animated flick,” says Divas Sadasivan of Toonz Animation.

Legendary film-makers B Nagi Reddi and his friend Chakrapani had conceptualised Chandamama in early 1947 and the company had been publishing stories in print as well as electronic media in 14 languages. The library of Chandamama has over 15,000 exclusive stories.

L Subramanyan, CEO of Chandamama, said millions of Indians had grown up with Chandamama over the last 60 years. “The proposed animated film will help us reach out to the current and future generations of young people,” he said.

The move is part of the expansion plans of the children’s monthly which has already ventured online with its website and runs a 4 hour radio programme broadcasting legendary stories from the magazine every Sunday on a private FM station in Chennai. Soon the stories would be also made available on mobile phones too.

“Creative teams from both companies would work jointly and select one story most probably bearing towards adventure which would be then scripted for the movie”, J Subramanyam, CEO of Chandamama said while speaking to the press.

“The emphasis worldwide is on content that has local appeal. In animation most of the work has been on characters that are mythological. We wanted to do something different and since Chandamama is loved by children and adults alike we think this film would appeal to a wider audience and more people would be tempted to watch,” says Sadasivan.

Toonz, which has previously worked on fully animated films such as ‘Hanuman Returns’ and a 2D animated television series ‘The adventure of Tenali Raman’ says it now wants to move away from mythology

Source: Press Release

Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd has announced the launch of their first gaming portal for the international markets - Zapakworld.com at Casual Connect held at Kyiv, Ukraine. This initiative marks the company’s entry in the international market.

Over 50 international developers have already signed on with Zapakworld.com to provide games. Zapakworld.com is the world’s first multilingual user generated gaming website currently available in Spanish, French, Russia , Portuguese, English and Hindi. More languages will be added at regular intervals. At present, more than 12,000 single player games are available on the website. Zapakworld will introduce multiplayer games on the portal soon. There are games available from all the genres of casual gaming including racing, cricket, shooting, arcade, action, strategy, puzzles, and cooking etc.

Zapak also announced their plans to launch their casual gaming business in Russia . Zapak’s strategy is to focus on BRIC nations to create its global footprint. The reasons for the choice of BRIC nations are similarities in consumer behavior and digital trends i.e. PC and internet penetration. Zapak is looking at launching this business in Russia through a joint venture route and is scouting for a potential partner.

Speaking on the occasion Zapak COO Rohit Sharma said, “After creating an internet gaming success story in the Indian Market, Zapak is now creating an offering for the global consumer with Zapakworld.com.”

Sunil Doshi, the producer of successful films such as Bheja Fry and Mixed Doubles, and CEO of Alliance Media & Entertainment has acquired distribution rights for 11 Miyazaki films worth $10 million (around Rs 48 crore), through an agreement with Studio Ghibli of Japan.

The films, including titles such as Nausicaa – The Valley of the Wind, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, would be distributed exclusively by Alliance in India under the label Junior.

With planned releases in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages, Doshi intends to dub the films in local languages to make it more accessible to audiences from non-metros also. Besides Japanese animation content, the media company is also releasing content from Scandinavian and North American countries for children.

Doshi will begin production for his forthcoming kid’s film in the next eight months and is ready to release Azur and Asmar, a French animation film in January 2009. “We intend to release at least one animation movie a month, and also produce one children’s feature film annually,” he says.

Alliance Media is also in talks with multiplexes for special weekend morning screenings for children and teenagers in metros, followed by smaller cities at special ticket prices starting at Rs 70. The company also has plans for television syndication, home video distribution under the Junior label as well as merchandising.

Source : Press Release

HotMuggs, a stylised drinkware concept, has entered into an alliance with Yash Raj Films for producing licensed merchandise on Roadside Romeo. With about a dozen characters in Roadside Romeo, this is the first animated film - an India-U.S. co-production of Yash Raj Films and the Walt Disney Company, and is scheduled for release on October 24, 2008.

With the concept of film merchandising catching on in the Indian film industry, HotMuggs has incorporated a first time concept of incorporating cool one-liners from the movie like “Tension Not”, “Stay Cool” and “I’m Good Na” on the muggs. These mugs not only appeal to the movie lovers but also to a wider audience who emote with the appeal and positioning of the characters from the movie.

The merchandise has been designed, manufactured and marketed by Hot Muggs, and will be available at malls, bookstores, and concept shops in over 40 cities across the country. Cartoon characters-based merchandising market is expected to be in the region of Rs.300 crore. Hot Muggs plans to promote the merchandise through a multi-channel promotion campaign with emphasis on below-the-line activities and other promotional programs.

Mr.Rishi Jain, Managing Director – HotMuggs, said, “The product class of Hot Muggs, the concept of entertainment, funkiness, adventure, adaptability has an ideal connect with Roadside Romeo. Characters such a Romeo - a small cute looking pet of a super rich human family, Laila - the hottest girl ever, Charlie Anna - the dreaded Don of the Slum, these characters lend itself to being merchandised. We are upbeat about the fact that we not just offering a product or merchandise, but an object of desire that one would want to own. “

Source: Press Release

Graphiti School of Animation has opened admissions for it’s 6-month specialisation course in animation called G CAT Expert for which it is conducting counselling sessions and opens admissions. The 6-month specialisation is targeted primarily at people who have some knowledge of animation and are looking to hone their skills or to further their careers.

The specialisations being offered are Modelling, Texturing, Rigging, Animation, Lighting and VFX & Compositing. On the basis of the requirements of the animation industry, various studios are clearly identifying the need for specialisation in animation training. Most studios have expressed a requirement for specialised artists and are ready to pay a premium for them.

According to the heads of studios employing Graphiti School students, “There is a marked difference in quality – the students are well-rounded animation professionals with their basics in place.”

Mr. Pandyan, CEO, Graphiti School of Animation says, “Given the requirement of the industry, we were the first training institute to offer specialisation courses. We got a very good response for the first batch of students”.

For more information visit the Graphiti website

To register, call 022-32448544 / 9833841580 or write to training@graphiti.net

Source: Press Release

ANTS (ANimation Training School) headquartered in Bangalore, has expanded its operations from just animation training to animation and gaming production by launching its production arm Antroid Productions. The studio aims to take up outsourced as well as original IP projects and already has a few projects in the pipeline.

“We always aimed at setting up a production house sometime in the future but decided to focus on one thing at a time. In the beginning we kept our focus on academia to produce the required expertise for the industry and now we are ready for production,” ANTS MD Chetan S.

ANTS will now be operational through two divisions, namely ANTS Academy and Antroid Productions.

With an investment of Rs 50 lakh, the 7500 sq ft plus production house is equipped with state-of-the art technology and an experienced team of 15 people. Antroid Productions has already received projects related to game art and game development. The studio will also produce animation and VFX. In due course of time, the studio plans to induct students passing out from their own academy.

Regarding their future plans, Chetan commented, “Currently we are just beginning with production work for clients in gaming and are concentrating on producing content of the highest quality for them; but our long term plans include animated features, TV series as well as visual effects.”

“In the next five years, we hope to see the studio triple in capacity and involved in IP production across all verticals,” he concluded.

Source: Press Release

The National Film Board of Canada is celebrating World Animation Day, October 28th, with a 13-city tour of Get Animated!, a series of free public screenings from the NFB’s Oscar-winning animation studios. The NFB is also offering free streaming of two acclaimed NFB shorts on its website through to November 9, 2008.

Get Animated! will showcase new creations from Canada’s public producer, for young and old, from October 22 to November 9, 2008. The NFB website provides complete details, along with free streaming video of NFB animated shorts, at www.nfb.ca/getanimated

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Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, Toronto, Canada, and Frameboxx Animation and Visual Effects Mumbai India, have announced an agreement to jointly offer Post Graduate Certificate Programs in Animation, Visual effects and Gaming in India. The formal signing of the agreement took place on October 7th 2008 in Mumbai, with H.E. the Consul General of Canada gracing the occasion.

Seneca is internationally renowned for training and offers over 144 courses in different disciplines. Over 100,000 students pass through its 8 campuses in Toronto every year. It is recognized as a leader in the animation, visual effects and gaming education sectors and many of its alumni are renowned artists recognized by world audiences for excellence in their craft.

Animation training giant, Frameboxx brings its well established credentials with over 40 training centers in India and overseas. The Frameboxx incubation center in Mumbai will provide additional leverage. A pioneering initiative, this center provides an in-studio experience to successful Frameboxx students. A state of the art facility, fully equipped with the latest technology and a panel of experienced industry professionals who mentor each batch, ensures that students are fully prepared to meet the challenges of the professional work environment.

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