|
Hollywood to Bollywood
Courtesy : A. VENKATA NARAYANA
Digital animation has become essential from Hollywood to Bollywood. Will India
become a new outsourcing hub? For more than 95 years, the animated cartoon has
entertained people in cinema houses and on television sets, with a cavalcade of
cartoon characters that have captured the hearts and imaginations of fans in
every corner of the globe. Animated features have become cult films and the
drawings, or "cells," used to create them valuable works of pop art. This
legion of animated heroes marches on in a vast array of cartoon productions,
and whether they are reruns of old favorites or the debut of new characters,
cartoons still stimulate laughter. The king of animation was Walt Disney, who
gave us Mickey Mouse. He also created the first full-length cartoon feature,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). His classic films that followed,
Pinnochio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, all made before 1950, have
enchanted, warmed hearts and brought tears to the eyes of generations of
children and adults.
Technology evolved, and so did the animated feature film. In 1968 the Yellow
Submarine challenged the Disney model. It was an odyssey featuring The
Beatles-cartoon John, Paul George and Ringo-and audiences were receptive. It
proved there was room for animated films that were less Disneyesque. Disney
continued to make popular animated feature films. After Walt Disney's death in
1966, Disney studios successfully carried on, leading the field with
blockbusters. Then, in 1977, George Lucas stunned the world with Star Wars and
Steven Spielberg with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The films created a
new definition for special effects. Lucas proceeded to develop this new digital
art in the studio he founded, Industrial Light and Magic. Five years later,
Disney released Tron (1982), a film replete with striking computer-generated
visual effects. Digital animation was evolving fast. There were more Star Wars
episodes, and there were new concepts like Chicken Run and Shrek.
Animation may be synonymous with cartoon films, but its applications are varied
and ever increasing. The 2D and 3D animation productions are used not only for
cartoon films but also in TV news, entertainment, advertising and for public
service announcements. Remember the movie Twister, where the cow flew across
the screen? Or Independence Day where the alien spaceship threatened the
existence of planet Earth? What was common between Indian movies Lagaan, Aks,
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Raju Chacha and Hindustani, and Hollywood films
Titanic, True Lies and Deep Impact? Apart from being big budget movies, the
common thread running across these was the use of special effects and animation
in varying degrees, a phenomenon hitherto confined only to Spielbergs and
Lucases.
Although 3D animation is a recent phenomenon in India, it became a rage in
America in the early 1950s. Several studios began turning out 3D feature films
and short subjects, to the delight of moviegoing audience. The technique was
used in cartoon as well. In 1953 Paramount's Famous Studios created two 3D
cartoons, Popeye: The Ace of Space and Boo Man. The following year Warner
Brothers added its own 3D favorite, Lumber Jack Rabbit. But for full impact,
the viewer had to wear special glasses.
India is coming of age in the animation field, and it is emerging as a new
destination for the international animation and special effects industry.
Although digital animation in India may still be in its infancy, it has been
used here in filmmaking for three decades. Renouned animator Ram Mohan provided
footage for Mrinal Sen's film Bhuvan Shome as early as 1969. It was the first
Indian feature film which had animated footage as an integral part of the
story. In 1977, Mohan also did animation for some scenes in Shatranj ke
Khiladi, a much-acclaimed film by Satyajit Ray.
With American, Canadian and Euro-pean companies beginning to outsource their
work to Indian animation companies, the business mood now in this IT-enabled
service sector is upbeat. According to an independent trade survey conducted
recently, the Indian animation industry, which is now pegged at $550 million,
is expected to grow at 30 percent annually in the next couple of years and
reach a level of $15 billion by 2010.
To meet both the domestic and export demand, some 40-odd Indian companies are
making strides into 2D and 3D animation market. More than half-a-dozen Indian
entrepreneurs have set up state-of-the-art special effects studios in
Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram to compete
with players from Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, who garner a major chunk
of global animation business. Some of the leading Indian animation companies
are Pentamedia Graphics, based in Chennai, Jadoo Works in Bangalore, CD India
in Chandigarh, UTV Toons in Mumbai, Moving Picture Company in Film City, Noida,
Heart Entertainment Ltd. and Color Chips India in Hyderabad, and Toonz
Animation India in Thiruvananthapuram. These companies produce animated films,
and co-produce features for American and Canadian clients.
This is no surprise to filmmakers. "We have traditionally been a creative
country. Stories have been told in various forms-art, dance, painting, and
temple sculpture. Animation is just a modern form of story telling," says Rajiv
Marwah, CEO of Jadoo Works in Bangalore. With the animation industry set to
grow exponentially, Jadoo is focusing on training 2D and 3D animators.
According to him there is a dearth of professional institutions in India which
provide technical training in quality animation, resulting in a shortage of
animators with the requisite skills. The awareness of animation as a career
needs to grow. It is just beginning to develop as a lucrative career option.
Pentamedia, subsidiary of a computer software company Pentafour, both based in
Chennai, has unveiled Sindbad: Beyond the Veils of the Mists, the first
full-length Indian animated 3D film using the technique of "motion capture."
Motion capture uses several infrared cameras and computers to simultaneously
film one subject. When computers gather together all the digital data from the
shoot, the product is a three dimensional, animated figure-a stunning image at
a fraction of the cost of traditional animation technique. The film was
completed in a record time of 18 months instead of the usual two years and
more, and the total cost of the film was about $14 million. The average cost of
such productions anywhere else in the world is around $40 million. This was
possible because it was made in India. "What we have done for the first time in
India is capture the motion of real human beings and apply them to
digitally-created 3D models. The technology to make this possible was developed
in-house by us," says V. Chandrasekaran, CMD of Penta-four Software and Exports
Ltd.
Indian animation has touched new heights of achievement with Sindbad. The most
important aspect of the film is the quality of movement of character designs
and background layouts. It involves wiring actors with reflector balls and
capturing the actors' movements with a camera. The movements are then applied
to computer-generated animated characters to make them lifelike. Such
sophistication shows something that Indian companies have to offer to Hollywood
production houses. It remains to be seen if Hollywood takes the bait and starts
looking seriously at India to outsource its special effects and animation
requirements. Pentamedia has joined hands with an American company, 3DMax, to
create high-end digital entertainment content using cutting-edge tools for
Internet, cinema and television. The joint venture company has proposed a
project, to bring two of the greatest movie stars of India, M.G. Ramachandran
and Raj Kapoor, alive through digital animation and photo-realistic 3D
graphics. The movie will have Tamil and Hindi versions.
UTV Toons, a premier animation studio founded five years ago in Mumbai, ranks
among the country's top outsourcing destinations for both flash and traditional
animation. It won the runner-up award this year for its production, Meena in
the City, at the Asian Technical and Creative Awards. Firdaus Kharas,
co-founder of UTV Toons, opines that India has the maximum potential in 2D
animation. "India should pitch for this segment if it wanted to be noticed in
the international animation scenario," said Kharas at an animators conference
held last year in New Delhi.
Another Indian company taking a shot at the animation market is Toonz
Anima-tion India. It was set up in 1998 by Bill Dennis, who worked with Disney
Feature Animation studio for more than two decades. Toonz won several
assignments to produce commercials for Cartoon Network. It will also be
producing original programming based on Indian folk tales. Toonz created a name
for itself within two years of its launch. It bagged the first prize at the
World Animation Festival 2000 at Los Angeles for the short film Stone Crusher,
which was made for UNICEF. Toonz is now trying to build a reputation for
animation films based on Indian mythology. Dennis claims that Toonz can offer
better quality animation at rates that are 25-40 percent lower than those of
other Asian studios.
The scenario in Hyderabad, too, is very promising. Heart Entertainment Limited,
parent company of the Heart Animation Academy, can currently deliver 20-25
episodes a year of 20 minutes duration each. It has a state-of-the-art 2D
studio; Warner Brothers' Histeria, Tommy Nelson's Crippled Lamb and Little Dogs
on the Prairie are some animation features in its portfolio. It has done a
pilot project for Walt Disney, and is also working for Canada's Amberwood
Productions. Heart Entertainment deals in 2D animation. "It is a
labor-intensive profession. The Hercules, an 86-minute cartoon feature by Walt
Disney, required 907 artists, 699 days and around 1,23,840 drawings," says
Venkat Akkineni, managing director of Heart Entertainment, India's first
full-fledged animation studio to commence production and training facilities
concurrently.
"2D animation, especially for cartoons, being expensive, will not be the cost-
effective business for TV channels," says Akkineni. "But in the recent years
the trend has changed. It can do what live action cannot. It is more educative
and entertaining. Even the most serious subject can be put across in a humorous
and simplified manner. With so many TV channels, the scope for animation in
this country will be upbeat."
Animation in commercials will take the lead. Akkineni thinks 3D animation will
be the leader as far as commercials and movies are concerned and 2D will take
first place in Web and TV cartooning. Indian films are using the 3D technology
because 2D is not viable cost wise. "And we do not deal with this, as we are
not a 3D studio. This has been a deliberate move because the best way to go
about 3D animation is to acquire 2D experience. And we will shortly plunge into
3D," Akkineni says. In order to meet the production requirements of Heart
Enter-tainment, the Heart Animation Academy trains students in the techniques
of filmmaking. The Academy trains the country's largest pool of artistic talent
to meet the growing needs of the animation industry.
U.S.-based production companies which earlier outsourced most of their
animation works to other Asian countries have now started considering India as
a greener pasture. It remains to be seen how Indian animators, elated now with
the business potential in the field, deliver in the long run.
Back To Headlines
|
