The Truth about Animation 24 JAN The word animation attracts a lot of interest and enthusiasm. The possibilities and the intrigue of the medium attracts a lot of youngsters and enthusiasts. However, there are a lot of myths and misgivings associated with animation. One needs to clearly understand what it takes to be an animator. Here’s an overview of the animation industry. It takes 16 years for an artist to become an Animator – Walt Disney. It’s a jungle out there. There are a whole lot of so-called “Animation Institutes” charging a hefty sum to make animators out of freshers. The reality is that save a couple of reputed institutes, there are no animation institutes in India! Most of these so-called animation institutes are nothing but a sham and a money making racket. As any accomplished 3D or 2D Animation expert will tell you, the route to becoming an animator is not learning softwares (3D or 2D), multimedia or Flash but to know art. If you “know” a paint or 3D program, and if don’t know how to paint and draw its of know use. The computer is merely a tool in the hands of the artist – you! All aspirants must have an art background. Fine arts is preferred but even graphic arts will help. One of the simplest benchmarks is that it takes at least 3 years for anyone to learn the basics of animation. So patience is the name of the game. Life drawing is an integral part of training in animation. Career in Animation? Planning a career in animation? Please leave all the gloss and glamour usually associated with animation aside because the animation industry in India and overseas (save for a few big studios abroad) is ailing economically, struggling to keep itself profitable and afloat. A film is projected on screen running at 25 frames per second. Animation requires you manually create every single frame in there. Think about the effort involved in making a 1 minute animated film?! If you aren’t dissuaded enough, then there’s more… Keep in mind what Disney said (16 yrs= animator) and you shall be closer to the truth. The fact of the matter is that not only do you need to be an artist, most of the time you need to be a visualiser, technician, cameraman, actor and director yourself. In short a multi-faceted versatile personality. There are no shortcuts. Leave aside at least 3 years to study animation intensively. After that, prepare to starve yourself for another 2 years with meager salary to hone yourself. And then perhaps you’re qualified to be an animator. Mickey mouse in 1928 – the process of personal growth in animation takes long. Learning Animation If there are no appropriate training schools in India where do we go? Well, that’s a million dollar question. This is the reason that despite the hype surrounding animation in India, we still don’t see good quality stuff coming out of our studios. Lack of trained, skilled professionals is one of the industry’s weaknesses. And most professionals have learnt in the studios themselves and on their own reading books on animation and experimenting. National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (nid.edu) is undisputedly the best (and perhaps the only one!) in this field. Although not having animation as a separate course, its design course is strong and specialization in animation is also adequate. NID has produced some world-class animators of late. Admissions are tough and fees are high so you shall be lucky if you get in. If planning to go overseas to learn animation Sheridan College, Canada (sheridanc.on.ca) and California school of Arts (also known as CalArts) are the premier institutes one can get admission into. However, be forewarned that you need a great portfolio to get admission in these. A still from “Dhak” – award-winning film done by NID student Rajesh Chakraborty. Learn online. Another interesting way to learn animation from the leading animators around the world is online. To tap on the enormous power of the internet to hone your skills and to learn tricks and tips is absolutely essential. Animation Mentor (animationmentor) has a unique way of teaching animation online and is taught the best industry professional in Hollywood. Animation World Network (AWN – awn) is the biggest animation portal. AWN offers entire database of studios, schools and institutes throughout the world and is an indispensable website for animators. You may also buy/sell animated software, DVDs, chat on live forums, get tips to build your portfolio, find out tricks about Sp.effects (also known as VFX- Visual effects) done in Hollywood movies or know the latest industry news worldwide. The best site on special effects is vfxworld which includes an advisory panel as well. For aspirants having a specific interest in gaming, well either you can be a hardcore gaming programmer, in which case you don’t need any of the above skills mentioned and just need programming skills. Else you can be a gaming visualiser and animator, which effectively means the same pre-requisites which are required for being an animator. 3D or 2D or Flash? Traditionally there have been many art-forms of animation – Cel-Animation (also know as 2D, traditional and classical animation), Clay Animation (also known as stop motion animation- still used even today albeit sparsely) and others. The Amaron commercials on TV are done using clay. Created by Vaibhav Kumaresh. Since the advent of the computer age in the early 90s animation got a fresh lease of life when the 2D animation process speeded up manifold. Computers are used to digitally ink and paint the drawings, thereby cutting down staff strengths to less than 1/3. Introduction of new possibilities – 3D and Flash animation which were done almost entirely on computers led to the growth of these 2 techniques. Its very subjective why you would want to get into either of these techniques. 3D is currently more in demand than traditional 2D. Whatever you choose the bottomline remains the same – Art, Aesthetic and design skills are imperative to create good animation in either of these streams. Don’t expect to produce any worthwhile professional results in your animations in 3D / Flash animation without training in the fundamentals of 2D traditional classical animation. The History If India is still catching up with the west in terms of quality of animation, it is largely due to the lack of animation culture in this country. For example, while in America Disney was ready to release his first feature film “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs” (1935), Dadasaheb Phalke was dabbling to make India’s first experimental animated short film using matchsticks! The fact of the matter is that till today India has not been able to achieve a production of Snow White… quality and magnitude and that speaks volumes of how far behind India is. Still from “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs” produced way back in 1935 and Disney’s 1st feature film. © Disney. Still from award-winning film “Ek Anek Ekta” (1974) one of India’s earliest animation short films. And whereas animation is considered to be an all encompassing all audience affair, in India it is still widely perceived as “cartoon films for children”. Of course, with the advent of 24-hour cartoon channels this perception is changing rapidly. Till the early 90s India produced animation content worth only a couple of hours in its entire history. All this changed in the mid 90s when India started doing contract work for American companies and today India is estimated to produce about 80-100 hrs. of animation per year. Understanding Animation business. The animation business is a complex and expensive one. Animation creation itself can be cost prohibitive because the infrastructure and manpower requirements are daunting. Animation markets worldwide can be generally divided into 2 broad categories – Outsourcing and Original content. Bulk of Indian companies are involved in the outsourcing business. Outsourcing business consists of companies that are involved in servicing contracts for the west (akin to the Infosys, Wipro and others in the IT industry). Being in the outsourcing business allows companies to scale up their size (typical size of a company involved in the outsourcing business is 100+ people) and ensure steady stream of money. The down side of this model of business is that the company that usually bids the lowest gets the contract and also that none of the contract companies own the Intellectual property (IP) of their works, which is where the real money is. Also that none of the content that is created for outsourcing may be relevant to the local Indian market as it is been designed to cater to the contractor’s need. Eventually all outsourcing companies will need to move over to owning/creating their own IP animation properties if they have to survive in the long run. Original content is creating own indigenously designed stories, characters and owning the IP (Adventures of Chhota Birbal, Tenali Rama, Panchatantra etc. are examples of Indian IP in the animation space). These stories built for the local tastes, sensitivities and appeal. However due their local flavour, the animation property may not sell overseas so recoveries on the cost prohibitive animation properties may be negligible making them unviable. In due course of time and with localization being inevitable in all spheres of business, we shall see more original content creators in the animation industry. These companies are also higher up on the value chain and likely to succeed in the long run. Examples of Indian IP award-winning animation series “Adventures of Chhota Birbal”(© CB Media Ventures (I) Pvt. Ltd.) and “Tiger” (© SETMax India) The Opportunities The global animation business is valued at more than $50Bn. India’s share in that is a paltry $250mn. Which accounts for merely .5% of the entire market share. Therefore, although the road is long and the current scenario not so happy, there are plenty of opportunities. The industry is also experiencing a robust growth of 30% compounded annually. So while there are about 10-12,000 estimated professionals in the animation segment, there is a huge gap of trained, experienced animators and professionals serving the industry. In the 3D segment of animation there are several specialization one can work on i.e. Modelling (requires understanding of human and animal anatomy. Sculpting background helps tremendously), lighting (cinematography background, art and aesthetics pre-requisite), setup, rigging (understanding of locomotion and movement of joints and their constraints), texturing (graphic, realistic drawing skill required), animation (great understanding of classical principles and understanding of movement imperative), technical programming, asset management and creative direction (film-sense and language, overall strong aesthetics and art requirement pre-requisite) among others. The highest requirement is in this genre. However, to become a proficient 3D animator, one must have strong creative skills and good understanding of the classical animation principles (2D). 2D – In 2D the following skill sets are broadly required- In-betweening, storyboarding, animation, layout, designing, clean up, studio manager, digital ink and paint and checker among others. A lot of the 2D animators have migrated to the 3D genre due to better opportunities in that sphere. Drawing and designing skills are pre-requisite in most 2D animation functions. The process of 3D and 2D pre-production (prior to animation) is almost the same. “Shrek” © Dreamworks SKG. Flash requires knowledge of classical animation, designing and knowledge of the softwares associated with flash animation itself. Flash animation is usually low cost, high volume business. Generally speaking, if a 2D-3D animator is typically required to produce only about 2-3 seconds a day, a flash animator is expected to produce 10+ secs of animation. Gaming industry can be broadly considered as a cross between the IT sector and the Animation sector as it requires designing, logic, visualization and programming skills besides others. Typically pay scales in the animation industry can be upwards of Rs.5000 p.m. However, if you’re really proficient salaries can be as high as Rs.100,000/- p.m. The Indian Studios There are more than 100 big and small animation studios today as opposed to merely 2-3 about 12 years ago. The entire list of all international and Indian studios can be procured from aidb. Conclusion; If you want to be a part of animation, there is only word that can keep you going – Passion. You get into the animation segment for the love and passion and not the just the promise that it holds out for the future. Despite the Herculean task involved in becoming an animator, once you are one you wouldn’t want to swap your job with anyone else. Animation is exciting and fun to create. As the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius said “Choose a job you love and you shall never have to work a single day of your life”, he probably meant the job of being an animator.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 19:25:00 +0000