Article from Asia Image written by Indrajit Lahiri dating back to October 2000. This was of interest to me considering that it talks about Startoons's ill-fated alliance with Hyderabad studio, the Heart Animation Institute. Startoons itself would become defunct in less than a year from this article's publication date in the summer of 2001.
Richard Rich's new budding relationship with Crest is also described here.
"India's animation output has always been prolific, thanks to the demand from the local market. But the industry is looking overseas to further fuel its growth
"India is investing big money in 2D and 3D projects to compete with China and Taiwan for a slice of the US and European market," says Crest Communications' vice president of business development, MK Madhavan.
At least 14 animation studios have been launched by major Indian film and TV companies in recent months. These include Padmalaya studios in Chennai, post house Shri Adhikari Brothers in Mumbai, Visha in Pune, Visual Vistas in Bangalore, and Sahara TV in Delhi.
Sahara TV has committed to a 100-seat animation studio loaded with Maya and Animo, while Shri Adhikari Brothers is working out details for a US$1 million investment in a joint animation venture with US based ETI-AM Emedia. The joint venture is expected to produce animation for the international market as well as its own Hindi language entertainment channel.
Some players have already penetrated these lucrative overseas markets. Facilities such as ZICA Studios, UTV Toons, Crest Communications, and Toonzanimation count US and European companies in its client roster.
On the outskirts of Mumbai, India's leading Hindi entertainment channel, Zee TV's maiden 3D animation and live action feature from ZICA, Bhagmati, Queen of Fortunes, is nearing completion. The feature is directed by the head of Zee's Institute of Creative Arts and Studios, Ashok Kaul. This intense story of love and mysticism features well known Indian actress Tabu in the title role; she is courted by Muhammed Quli Qutab Shah (played by Milind Soman), builder of Hyderabad's most famous monument, The Charminar.
The live action segment is presently being filmed in Hyderabad. Over two years, some 100 animators were trained by Russia's Soyuz studios on animation basics, and by Indian experts on technical cinematic expertise. Over 700,000 hand drawn frames were sequenced on Animo and Maya for the project.
Kaul believes that "the artistic skills of Indian animators will surprise". Kaul declines to reveal the cost of the project, but says it will cost a minimum of US$15 million. Negotiations are ongoing with major US studios for a Christmas 2000 release.
In downtown Mumbai, Crest is currently involved in three feature film projects, TV, and what the company calls "sweat" work. The pre-production for one feature (working title: Automation) was completed in the US by studio Rich Animation, which Crest bought out early this year.
Production is almost completed in India and Rich Animation will complete the post production work. Crest Communications is negotiating with Columbia Tristar for distribution. The company recently invested between Rs20-30 million (US$430,000 - 650,000) in 40 Intergraph machines loaded with Maya and Softimage, and 60 animators were trained by their US counterparts for three weeks in July 2000 for this project.
The second feature is a co-production with another US company, which the company cannot discuss, while the third is an animation cum live action film. Crest has contracted well-known scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, while the live action segments will be directed by famous commercials director Prahlad Kakkar. The animation work is to be overseen by Richard Rich of Rich Animation. Costs for the feature film will be shared 60:40 between Crest and Rich Animation.
Crest is also in advanced negotiations to undertake the modelling, character design, and texturing work for a US studio. Because such work is very time consuming and labour intensive, it's commonly known as "sweat work" in the industry.
"Although other Indian companies are investing in 2D animation, we believe that the 3D market is growing. That's the area we will focus on," says Madhavan. The company has an estimated US$22 million worth of projects ongoing.
3D is also an area Mumbai-based Design Mate wants to specialise in, but the company is giving it an added tech twist by developing products for the Internet. One of its projects is a virtual newscaster called Indira; the other is a virtual VJ, similar to MTV's Lili.
The company is in negotiations with Indian news channels to market Indira, and with music channels Channel V and ETC for its virtual VJ. Design Mate is also in advanced stages of completing a 13-episode 30-minute animation TV series for an US-based animation company. Design Mate's creative chief KJS Brar expects a Rs50 million (US$1 million) turnover by the end of its financial year.
While these two companies have chosen to focus on 3D animation, a new set up has struck gold, literally, by concentrating on 2D. Trivandrum-based Toonzanimation won first place in the World Animation Celebration 2000 in Los Angeles recently for its 2D animation short Stone Crusher, against 2,000 films worldwide.
The award marks the first major international recognition given to an Indian studio. The award, in the "Animation Produced for Educational Purposes" category, was conceived and produced for UNICEF to help in their efforts at protecting children's rights in developing countries.
The company completed 20 commercials for The Cartoon Network last year, and is presently working on 44 projects. Their new projects include creating animation based on India's rich heritage of Indian folklore, which the company's finance chief, Jay Kumar, dubs as "high value". Elaborates chairman and CEO of Toonzanimation, Bill Dennis, "We have started developing stories from the Panchatantra, an anthology of ancient children's stories. These stories have been a part of India's heritage for hundreds of years. We have already done some stories, (and are developing) characters for a worldwide audience."
Despite having been in operation six months only, the company has already attracted partners from overseas. Filmmakers Derek Lamb and Jeffrey Half have teamed under the Toonzanimation umbrella to work on a feature film The British Colonel, and well known Canadian filmmaker Ishu Patel is joining forces with the company to explore features with Indian themes.
This is a segment that has paid off for UTV Toons as well. Veteran 2D animator and UTV Toons' creative force, Ram Mohan, says that the company has completed animation for 10 of 16 episodes of a series of 30-minute episodes for Canadian Fun Bag Animation. While animation is being produced at UTV Toons, the pre and post production will be done at FunBag's Canadian studios.
In addition, the animation studio is working on Kong, an animation short for US-based Broadcast Kids Network. "The work for Kong will involve layouts through ink and paint," says Mohan. UTV Toons has recently completed a series of commercials for companies such as Kellogg's Chocos, computer company Aztek, Natraj Pencils, and eight one-minute animation films on cleanliness and hygiene for UNICEF to air in Bangladesh.
Presently, UTV Toons has 88 animators, 100 in-betweeners, and 70 clean up artists. Although it continues to receive inquiries for more work, the company's present capacity is 100 minutes of finished animation a month.
The Mumbai-based animation company is on a continuous drive to train new animators. They now conduct training for 30 trainees in animation basics on a regular basis. By mid next year, Mohan expects to be able to increase capacity to 150 minutes of animation each month.
While they would like more work from overseas, Indian studios are additionally looking to expand the local market. Animators are now making forays into mainstream Hindi feature films. Take animation house, Digital Magic, for example, which recently completed a six-minute animated song sequence for Rajiv Menon's successful Tamil film Kandukam Kandemun.
Despite the industry's seemingly limitless future, it faces a possible hiccup in its growth: talent. India has only one animation school, the Heart Animation Institute in Hyderabad. Launched in 1988, the school has found it difficult to attract students as animation "is not considered a profession by most parents", says Heart's director, Venkat NR Akineni, regretfully.
The institute offers a foundation course, a basic course, and an advanced course, all lasting eight months, supervised by visiting Professor Jon McClenahan from Canada.
The institute also produces animation. It formed an alliance with and invested equity in Chicago-based StarToons International to tap the US market. Heart/ StarToons' recent work includes The Crippled Lamb, based on Max Lucado's best selling book. The video adaptation sold 70,000 copies during the Christmas season last year.
After this success, Heart and StarToons signed a US$1 million deal with Tommy Nelson Publishing for a series of three direct to video releases called Little Dogs on the Prairie for five- to 11-year-olds. The first was released in Easter this year, the second mid this year, and the third is scheduled for a Christmas release.
Nelson has contracted Heart/StarToons for an additional seven shows to be completed over the next two years. The company is working on a pilot project for UTV Toons as well.
Other projects it is in negotiations for are a 26-episode TV series, a 24-minute Christmas video release, and a 75-minute video, all projected for a 2001 release. Heart's future plans include subcontracting 60 projects a year; developing, producing, and selling homegrown concepts to the global marketplace, and achieving US$ 10 million turnover in 2001-2002, and US$25 million in 2002-2003.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US)
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