Source: Press Release

Orissa’s capital city, Bhubaneswar, has lately become a favoured location for many leading names in Animation Education for opening up branches, owing to the interest shown by students here towards visual effects courses. MIDDS, Mumbai which has already had success in placements and in getting animation projects for both Bollywood and the TV world, opened up a branch in Jayadev Vihar recently and this course seems to offer more than just software.

Satyam Bansal, MD MIDDS, says students need to be prepared for the practical use of software and hence their course has included value additions. ‘‘Our focus is not only on the software but on the other important skills that an animator should have,’’ he said.

Mr. Sanat Das, Bhubaneshwar franchisee said, “Before MIDDS I had a franchise of another animation institute, but when I saw MIDDS web site I was really impressed with the kind of tie ups MIDDS has. With 4 yrs of my experience in this field I have seen that it  is difficult to meet students’ expectations, but the kind of planning that MIDDS has done for students, it is really appreciable.To conclude I can say that from day one, MIDDS management has really been very co-operative”.

MIDDS’ Professional Diploma in Animation Design of 16 months duration includes value additions like acting, trip to shoots to learn camera angling and light directions, personality enhancement and spoken English sessions too by Veta. The course has just 70 seats to be filled through an entrance also comes with loan options from banks tied up with the institute. Gaming will also be introduced within three months. The course has been designed by an academic panel that comprises of experienced professionals of the industry. This centre is their first in the Eastern Zone would invite related specialists for guest lectures.

Panel Animation has signed a deal with Turner Asia for airing its 60-minute animation movie – Little Pandavas. The movie will be ready in about six months and telecast on Cartoon Network in 24 countries including India, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan.

“Little Pandavas is the first project of Panel E. With this, we are entering the international television market with prime IP content. It is a 52-episode serial, each spanning 22 minutes.” says Rudra Matsa, Managing Director and CEO, Panel E, a newly-formed production company of Panel Animation to focus on entertainment and media segments.

Turner has agreed for a pre-buy deal and will contribute towards production expenses. The movie is expected to cost Rs 1 crore and Turner will share about 25 per cent of the production expenses. In return, it will have the exclusive rights for the movie.

The movie, based on the epic Mahabharat, will have about 200 characters. Panel E is also working on the script for a theatrical release of Little Pandavas, which will have roughly 700,000 sketches made in India and the Philippines.

Maximus - 3D school of Animation & Visual Effects, announced courses on Pixar’s RenderMan in India. Maximus is the first education institute to offer certified RenderMan Training in the whole of Asia.

This is a new and upcoming trend in the field of animation. Maximus is the first certified Pixar’s RenderMan instructor in India as well as the first institute that provides the training facility in Asia.

“We are excited to have Maximus as the first training facility in Asia to be offering RenderMan Certified Training. Also of note is that Mithun, the Tech Head at Maximus is the first Certified Pixar’s RenderMan instructor in Asia. This further strengthens our relationship with Aditya Infotech, as we expand the distribution relationship in to the education market”, said Peter Moxom, worldwide RenderMan Channels Head, Pixar Animation Studios.

Mayajaal Entertainment Limited has created Jai Vigneshwar, the world’s first 2D Flash animation movie (or so it claims!) which will be released on 30 digital screens across the country on Thursday.

“The concept of 2D animation was a laborious process in the Disney Cartoon days when all story aspects had to be literally drawn on a storyboard. But in creating this film, we have used Flash software, which makes the process simpler and more effective,” said Udeep B, CEO, Mayajaal. “2D Flash animation was cost-effective and less time consuming.”

The film is the first exclusive digital platform release across India and a pioneering effort in adapting the Flash-based animation technique to a theatrical feature film, he said. “The pre-production, production and post-production involved over 150 animations and technicians. The film production stage could be completed within six months due to extensive research and development.”

The film is all set to create a new history in movie-making technology. The story delves into the world of Lord Ganesha, showcasing his ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ tales. Every incident revolves around the boons granted by Lord Shiva, which causes havoc. Each time, Ganesha sweetly diffuses the situation with wit and wisdom. “This film will create a new theme of films in the same way as Amar Chitra Katha did to comics,” said Udeep.

The film is being released in English and will be later made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It will also be released on Thanksgiving in foreign markets.

Mayajaal is looking to produce a minimum of two live action films and two animation films a year going forward. The company is looking to add another five screens to its Chennai centre, taking the total number of screens to 15. It is also on the lookout for expanding to other locations including Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Trichy and Pondichery through suitable formats.

Source: Press Release

Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the inclusion of animation as a special category in the Out of Competition offerings.

The segment is to be programmed by Masoud Amralla Al Ali, who retains and expands his role as artistic director of the festival, and Sheila Whitaker. Viewers will have the opportunity to sample the latest trends in international animation and sense the diversity in the art form that is evolving rapidly with new technology.

The 2007 edition of the festival saw its greatest success, growing exponentially since its inaugural year. The fifth edition of the DIFF will be held from December 11th to 18th, 2008.

Read the complete article here.

Source: Press Release

After ‘My Friend Ganesha’, Koffee Break Pictures is working on yet another 2D animation film, ‘Green Chic- Finding Dad’. Only, this time it will be for a cause: promoting vegetarianism.

A 90-minute film, Green Chic- Finding Dad is the story of a chick named Chiclet, which loses its parents to selfish humans. How it takes on these humans to save its father is the story. In this journey, Chiclet, along with his friends Ginger (Monkey) and Quacky (Duck) come across various hardships during which he gets to make new friends as well as enemies. The film is all set for a November 2008 release.

Source: PTI

Actor Aamir Khan’s debut directorial venture Taare Zameen Par, a sensitive story of an eight-year-old dyslexic child, has been selected as India’s official entry to the foreign language category for Oscars at the 81st annual Academy awards. This was announced by filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who headed the Film Federation of India (FFI) jury to select the film in Mumbai on Saturday.

Taare Zameen Par is unique also because for the first time a mainstream Hindi film has used clay animation besides hand-drawn 2D and computer-generated 3D animation to take the story forward. The animation in the film was appreciated as much as, if not more than, the movie itself. So the Oscar panel will not only get a look at one of the better ‘Bollywood’ films but also get a glimpse into one of the best pieces of Indian animation in recent times.

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Source: Press Release

DreamWorks SKG has signed a long-expected deal with Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group of India to start a new $1.2 billion film company. This means the studio co-founded by director Steven Spielberg would part ways with Paramount Pictures.

The Hollywood-Bollywood linkup of DreamWorks and the Mumbai-based entertainment, financial and telecommunications giant caps two years of speculation and feuding between Spielberg and his DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen with executives from Paramount and its corporate parent, Viacom Inc. The deal between DreamWorks and Reliance comes as financing in Hollywood has become increasingly tight due to the credit crisis on Wall Street.

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7Seas Technologies Limited, an independent IP-based game developing Indian company, has launched the Beta version of its mobile gaming portal www.mobizill.com.

Primarily a destination for free user-generated mobile content, the portal gives users the freedom to publish, convert and share ‘user-generated content’ with friends via both web and mobile devices. The website offers a sizable collection of mobile content such as games, ring tones, wallpapers, videos, themes and software. All this content can be easily downloaded and can be optimised for mobile phones.

Mobizill.com users can register themselves with www.mobizill.com either online or through their mobiles and upload their files through the portal which will convert and optimise the content to best fit to their mobile phones.
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Intel Corporation will sponsor a collaborative animation project to produce a computer-generated animated short film for theatrical release. The Mass Animation Project will be open to established and aspiring animators.

Intel is sponsoring the development and promotion of a Facebook Page where animators will be able access a collaboration application built on the Facebook Platform, and will work together to create the animated short film. Starting this fall, artists around the world will be able to contribute by animating small pieces of a five-minute, professional-quality animated short film. The start date will be announced soon.

The Mass Animation project will be produced and directed by industry veteran Yair Landau, former vice chairman of Sony Pictures Ent. and president of Sony Pictures Digital.

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