Like every year, this year too, Anifest India promises a fabulous line up of sessions covering everything from comics to VFX, preproduction to stereoscopy, and writing to gaming. There’s also alternative careers in animation – automotive design and medical animation. Besides specialists will also cover IP & copyright (creation, protection and monetisation) and an orthopaedic doctor will talk about back care, a very common worry for animators. Read on…
VFX Case studies: X-Men First Class & Hop
Debaprasad Bhowmik & Sean Fernandes from Rhythm & Hues Studios, Mumbai will give an overview of the work flow including topics like Background preparation, Modeling, Look Developement, Tracking, Animation, Technical Animation, Lighting & Compositing. Tracking & animation will be discussed in detail using shots from Hop & X-Men First Class as examples. This will be followed by an interactive session where everyone will get an opportunity to discuss & ask questions.
Debaprasad Bhowmik has been working as an Animator with Rhythm and Hues Studios – India, Mumbai for more than 4 years. He has worked on numerous well-known projects like Alvin and the Chipmunks 1,2 & 3, Land of the Lost, Yogi Bear, Aliens in the Attic, Marmaduke, Hop and the Academy Award winning movie The Golden Compass. He holds a Masters degree in Communication Studies specializing in Video Production. He started his career as an Animation Apprentice at Rhythm and Hues Studios.
Sean Fernandes has been working as a Camera tracking & Matchmove Team Lead with Rhythm and Hues Studios – India, Mumbai for more than 4 years. He has worked on well-known projects like Yogi Bear, Marmaduke, HOP, Fast & Furious 4, The Vampire’s Assistant, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2. Before joining Rhythm and Hues Studios – India he worked as a network engineer in one of Goa’s leading newspapers but it was his higher calling for VFX that uprooted him from his blissful life in Goa and brought him to Rhythm and Hues Studios . He has mentored and trained artists across 3 facilities in his capacity as a lead match-mover.
Automotive Design
Ajay Saran Sharma of TATA Motors Design Studio will present Automotive Design – the classical approach, process and the ‘tools’ used. He will talk about moulding the process in the Indian context with the help of some case studies. Ajay will also show how product briefs and their interpretations vary based on geography and traditions.
Ajay Saran Sharma has been working with the Automotive Industry in the Design/Styling Function since Mid-1998, first at Daewoo, then at Maruti/Suzuki and now at Tata Motors. He has done his Bachelors (TIET/Patiala) & Masters (BITS/Pilani) in Mechanical Engg. followed by a Masters in Industrial Design (IIT/Delhi).
Direction & Design for a Feature Production – Tripura
Chetan Sharma from Animagic Studio will showcase the making of Tripura, an epic story and the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ behind it. He will present the characters, their design and mythic personality, the visual development of the story through layouts and backgrounds, along with the storyboard, which is the blueprint for overseas production. Chetan will also talk about color scripting a film and recording dialogue and performance. This will be followed a Q&A session.
Chetan Sharma is considered by many to be India’s foremost classical 2D animator. A self taught artist, he started in animation at the age of 15 and went on to win the National Award as the Best Animator in 2005. He has a vast experience in live-action films, designing and storyboarding some acclaimed commercials and films like Happydent, XBox 360 & Ekalvya.
Making of an Episodic TV Series – Roll No. 21
This session will have an in-depth analysis of the popular episodic TV series Roll No. 21 with the Writer (Divya Chandel), Director (Ah Loong) and the Broadcast Channel (Cartoon Network). Witness the entire fascinating journey of an animated TV series – including the concepts, ideas, development, scripts, designs, art and animation. Also get an insight into the broadcast channel’s point of view.
Ah Loong is the Director of the TV series – Roll No. 21 and the COO of Animasia Studio, which he founded with 2 other partners, Edmund Chan & Raye Lee. ). This Malaysian studio is known for creating ‘mind-blowing and eye-popping animation series targeted at children around the world! Ah Loong started his first venture – Fossil Multimedia Workshop in 1996, with just 3 people, developing E-Learning Games, E-Books and also creating animated concepts during their free time. But his dream was to produce animation for TV and today it has come true, with Animasia Studio and its team of over 140 animators, having produced over 200 episodes of TV animation series in HD format.
Divya Chandel is the Writer and Script Supervisor for of Kumbh-Karan and Roll no. 21 aired on Cartoon Network. She is also developing some animation projects for Amar Chitra Katha to be aired soon. Divya’s first stint in animation writing began with the series The New Adventures of Bal Hanuman for Percept Pictures. In the past, she has also worked for Mid-Day television and on many award winning documentaries.
Comic Art & Illustration – An Artist’s Journey
Illustrator and Comic Artist, Saumin Patel, will chronicle his journey and evolution as an artist from his early days to his current projects. Then, using examples from the three major markets of comics, Japan /Europe and America, Saumin will demonstrate the diversity of the medium that is today a source of inspiration and base material for many other mediums like animation and live action films etc. The session will also illustrate how the medium of comics can teach a lot about storytelling and execution of the story into a sequential format.
Saumin Patel is a comic book artist & illustrator with a BFA degree from Sir J.J Institute Of Applied Arts. Currently, he is independently working on various visual development projects for feature and ad films and is also developing stories in graphic novel format with various writers and film directors. He has worked with the several top ad agencies and TV channels in India and also did a stint at Virgin Comics. His quest now is to tell stories through the medium of comic books and films.
Health Care for Animators
This special session by Orthopaedic doctor Dr. Pinakin Shah is a must-attend for every animator. Dr. Shah will be getting to the root of back problems that are every animator’s worst nightmare. He will explain the anatomy of the back and why it is so vulnerable. He will talk about the factors that cause back failure, life style changes that can help alleviate them and what doctors can do for you.
Dr. Pinakin Shah is a renowned Orthopaedic doctor, specialised in conservative & operative treatments for trauma, spine, joint replacement, hand surgery, ortho-plastic surgery etc. Apart from practising he has also written 3 books on the topic and has attended various conferences and workshops, where he has presented his papers. He has even created an educational CD using animation called ‘Back to Health’, a complete do- it-yourself health care guide.
Copyright & IP – Creation, Protection and Monetization
Rajiv Chilaka of Green Gold Animation Pvt. Ltd. will speak about Intellectual Property creation, development, monetization, and overview of L&M (Licensing & Merchandising) activities, all critical components of the business of animation, using Chhota Bheem as a case study. Gowree Gokhale of Nishith Desai Associates will cover the legal aspects of IP that is created in the animation industry – means of its protection, strategies for protection, and contractual issues that arise at the time of monetisation of IP.
Rajiv Chilaka is the Founder & Managing Director of Green Gold Animation Pvt. Ltd. He is the creator, director and producer of many of India’s most popular children’s animated properties, such as Chhota Bheem, Krishna Balram & Chorr Police. Leaving behind a highly lucrative software career, he founded Green Gold Animation in 2001 and over the last deacde has produced over 200 episodes of animation content. Rajiv has also started a Licensing & Merchandizing company with Distribution network across India.
Gowree Gokhale is a partner in the international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates, and their Technology, Media and Entertainment law practice. With over 15 years of experience, Gowree has established her expertise in Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment and Technology domain and also in litigation arbitration, HR & Pharma domains. Gowree is a Solicitor and a registered Patent & Trade Mark attorney. She is a visiting faculty at Institute of Intellectual Property Law Studies at Mumbai.
The New Dimension: Converting 3D to 3D Stereoscopic – Case study: Delhi Safari 3D
These days, both International and Hindi movies are increasingly being released in 3D stereoscopy. The session aims at giving an insight into technical aspect of stereoscopy and its impact on the creative process of film making. Anand Bhanushali of Krayon Pictures will use as a case study the experience and learning he gained during the making of Delhi Safari 3D, a unique feature project that had already been made in 2D and had to be re-looked and re-rendered entirely in 3D.
Anand Bhanushali is a Technical Director at Krayon Pictures. He has more than a decade of experience working on several projects with well known studios in India and has been an integral part of soon-to-be-released Delhi Safari 3D, co-produced by Krayon Pictures and People Tree Films. He started his career as an intern in Maya Entertainment Ltd., then as a CHF artist and later as a lead in Prana Studios.
Sound Advice – An Introduction to Sound Design Principles for Animation
Dhiman Sengupta will be introducing sound design principles in animated film. He will talk about the various components of sound, types of film sound and the history of sound in animation. Dhiman will also present literal and non-literal sounds, imagination in sound design, the role of music in animation and Foley.
Dhiman Sengupta is a graduate of the Animation Film Design programmes of NID (1999) and has worked in the Industry in the fields of e-learning, broadcast graphics & visual effects. Currently, he teaches in his alma mater, NID, as a faculty of Animation film design. Some of the courses conducted by Dhiman in NID, are Visual Scripting, Title Sequence Design, Sound Design, Music Appreciation & Comic Book Workshop. Dhiman is also a musician, a singer and an avid reader of comics and graphic novels.
Medical Animation
Animation is increasingly being used in medical applications. In this session, Girish Khera of Scientific Animations and Graphics will cover how medical animation is being used to train doctors interactively, and virtually. He will also present a case study on how animation in medicine is coming straight to consumers on their smartphone, followed by an interactive discussion on what it takes to be successful in medical animation.
Girish Khera is the MD of Scientific Animations and Graphics. With an Engineering degree from Stanford University and having worked for McKinsey and Company in England, Girish has brought his background in Science and Technology as well as International Business together in building Scientific Animations. Girish has been a speaker at numerous animation events in India.
The Small Studio – Panel Session
An interactive session about the challenges faced by small animation studios in India and the opportunities, with Ambar Nair (Triplewire Visionworks/BFX CGI), Charuvi Agarwal (Charuvi Design Labs), E Suresh (Studio Eeksaurus), Phani Eggone (Firefly Creative Studio), Vaibhav Kumaresh (Vaibhav Studios) & Chetan Sharma (Animagic Studio).