Nasscom
in India puts the animation marketsize at over Rs 2000
crore, the industry is getting bigger, craving for high-quality
animation - now even the Indian film makers are following
the Hollywood footsteps
With
– Hollywood blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, the Matrix
reload, Finding Nemo, pretty much dominating the box office,
even Bollywood (Mumbai) is catching up with special effects
embedded in Koi Mil Gaya, Rudraksh or Jajantaram Mamantaram.
It's safe to say that digital filmmaking has arrived in
full force and special effects are no longer so special.
Stars
Wars, released back in the dim past of 1977, not only
made its creator, George Lucas, a very wealthy man, but
more importantly, it changed the way movies were made.
No longer did a film need actual human beings to carry
the story when multi-million dollar animated and special
effects could do the trick.
This
public taste for eye-popping effect work has proven insatiable
and created a growing industry for computer animators.
"According to Nasscom, the overall size of the market
in content development, animation, engineering and design
is a whopping Rs 2000 crore in India. So this industry
is growing quite extensively and a desire to see high-quality
action is driving the animation market," says Naveen Gupta,
Vice President, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC),
who is spearheading the company’s efforts in the animation
education sector.
"There's
always jobs for talented animators. At the beginning of
this industry it was strictly the technicians who were
using the software and it was tough to use. But slowly
artists have seen what the technical people have been
able to create. If you get an artist behind these machines
and on the software, you start to develop incredible work.
What has happened is that the artists have flooded into
the market over the past three years and bar has continually
risen." He explains.
MAAC
with its set of 30 centers all over the country - offers
7 different courses in areas like animation, composition
editing, visual effects and sound editing. “We have close
to 1000 students enrolled with us and we are offering
education in Discreet and Maya software,” he added.
In
keeping with the industry trend of expansion, Maya too
is planning to have more than 50 centers by the end of
this year and is starting the expansion process by opening
its centers in Bangalore and Chennai.
"The
high-end studios like Crest Communication, Jadoo Works,
UTV, Padmalaya Telefilms, Movie Pictures and Sahara TV
are now pushing the digital envelope because of the high
standards being set up globally. Now even Hollywood producers
are looking at India as a favorable destination for outsourcing
the content. We are engaged in talks with some foreign
production houses for developing 3D animation, " Gupta
informed.
Certainly
there is a growing demand for highly skilled computer
animators, not just tech--heads, but artist who can work
in the digital world. "I think things will become 100
per cent digital in the next five years, and I may be
stretching it," Gupta quips.
At
present a fresher having animation and visual effects
knowledge can start by earning close to Rs 7,500 per month.
“This is an industry where your creativity is being rewarded.
We have seen people starting their career at Rs 7,500
and soon moving upto Rs 25,000 in no time,” he added.
With
more and more Hindi movies now going in for 3D animation
and visual effects, which was predominantly regarded as
a Hollywood phenomenon – Bollywood is now all set to follow
the footsteps of its big brother.
