Event Coverage : Anifest India'09 - 18th September, Mumbai, India

Last Friday (18th September) I attended Anifest India'09, an event which is for animators, by animators and which was organized by The Animation Society Of India(TASI). Incidentally it was my first Anifest India whereas it was the 5th Anniversary for Anifest India. Better late than never !

P.S. - This is not the entire coverage of all the 3 days, but whatever I could attend. Also instead of a passive coverage (just mentioning verbatim whatever happened in the event) I decided to throw in my views also, where-ever I felt the need to share something.

Thanks to CGTantra for all the images !

As with every Animation related event in India, I go with neutral expectations, nothing great, nothing less and so far I all the events I have attended I have come out feeling satisfied and content.

The track record continues !

Ok I will admit I had a slightly higher expectations with this one, as this event was focused primarily on Animation, unlike other similar events, where the focus invariably goes to marketing the sponsors, most of the time they are training institutes which makes it even worst and the content of the event takes a back seat. Since this was for animators, by animators the vision itself was a lot different from the organizer's point of view.

Now there is a management lesson here the way I see it. How any event/project turns out, matters a lot on how the people at the helm wants it to be and what vision they have. Here the people organizing and handling were very clear what they wanted and what they didn't wanted and it clearly showed thru out the event. My guess is that around 8-12 people were involved full time since many months chalking out everything for the event. Yes they had the fantastic support of numerous volunteers, may be a hundred overall, but what made them contribute fully and efficiently was the guidelines set right at the start.

P.S. - I would like to add that I was not part of the organizers and haven't spoken to any of them, so I am not very sure how they made it happen, but I sense this must be the framework they glided along. (If any of the organizers are reading this, kindly correct me if I am wrong or if I am missing something)

Now coming back to the event...thanks to the way it was organized, registration, etc was a breeze. In less than 10 minutes I was done with everything and all ready to savor the first session.

I want to add, volunteers do play a huge role in any event. They are like an icing on the cake, if its good, it can enhance the taste, but if its bad it can make the cake taste horrible.

Here all were very smiling, cordial and friendly. In few of my previous events, some volunteers had no interest and it seemed as if were there because a gun was put on their head. You see a smile its contagious, you see a depressed face, its contagious as well. Got the idea ?


First Session : Character Animation & Story Telling by Bill Miller

Bill Miller

Session Brief as given in the schedule - This session explores how a better understanding of story can help you bring out more character and empathy in your animation. Using examples from classic films, we will break down concepts such as, film, structure, scene structure, subtext, character arcs and point of view. Your job as an animator is telling a story and this session will show how to animate your scenes keeping the big picture in mind.

About Bill - Bill had stints in Dreamworks Animation as an Animator, then was a faculty at Takshaa Academy(Bangalore, India) and at present is with Visual Computing Labs(VCL), formerly called Tata Elxsi as a Producer. If you havent heard of VCL, they made India's first 3D Full Length Animated Feature - Roadside Romeo.

They couldn't have got a better way start the event. This event is nothing less than the real meaty/juicy part of Animation and something which at the end of the day is what we Animators strive to excel.

But unfortunately Bill reached the venue late, thanks to the pathetic traffic in Mumbai. It was a weekday and peak hours. I don't blame him.

So the session instead of 10 AM, started around 10:30-10:45 and because the next session was schedule at 11:40, this session hardly lasted an hour or so. What a pity considering that Bill was hosting it very well and kept the audience glued thru out. Now this is a session which deserves a full day for sure. There is so much to talk about, so much to discuss, so much to learn from different footage from movies. I really hope TASI organizes such session for a full day with lunch/tea breaks in between. It would be a real treat(pun intended) for all !

As to the actual content of what Bill spoke out, to me it sounded a lot similar to what Robert McKee says thru his book STORY and in his seminars, which is good because there is no better than Robert McKee to learn about Story and his book Story is without doubt the bible for Story Writing and learning the ropes about it. And since my guess is that 99% of the audience wouldn't have heard about Robert McKee or his book, you can imagine how useful Bill's session would have been to the audience if it was a whole lot longer.

Bill also recommended a few movies which are exceptional from a story point of view and also in the way they are crafted. Sorry but I only remember the ones I haven't seen - Misery, The Verdict.

In the end of the session there was a Question and Answer session, which as always is very very interesting to me !

QNA Session

The questions which stood out for me were -

• What defines a character's personality ?
• How to Animate/Show personality when there is no audio involved ?
  

I really cant recall what was Bill's answer to them, but these are very very important questions and since I have some more from the sessions which followed, I will try to answer them in a separate post. So keep watching this BLOG !



Second Session : Entertaining India by E. Suresh / Rudra Matsa (2 sessions on the same topic)

E. Suresh

Rudra Matsa

Session Brief as given in the schedule - This session aims to explore the future of creating content in India and also for Indian audiences. Watch and learn as those who have managed to cross over, share their secrets to success.

About E. Suresh - Alumni from NID, currently Content Developer at Famous House of Animation.

About Rudra Matsa - His forte consists of Hand-Drawn Animation and also Manga Style of Anime.

Since this session followed up Bill's session, I was really hoping it better be good. And also because Bill's session was not extended even by a minute so that the next session could start on time. Yes I know I was putting undue pressure on the speaker of this session, as all the organizers were doing was stick to a schedule to be fair to all the speakers. But in future, it really wouldn't harm too much to have some extra time in hand for any unforeseen circumstances.

This session was as good or even better than Bill's, primarily because it got the minimum time it deserved. It was not rushed or hurried along. The other reason being that E. Suresh speaker was very good and the content and the topic was very inspiring for me.

E. Suresh is a veteran in the Indian Animation space, who started sometime around 1998, when Animation was hardly known in India. What stood out for me was when he spoke about the challenges/obstacles he faced when he wanted to sell his Animated content, how it was very difficult to sell during those days, how no one was ready to take a chance and buy Animated content. To me this is a very good example, of how we need to be passionate about what we are doing and at the same time add persistence and perseverance in our endeavors. E. Suresh had all three of them and in the end it paid off.

Now I should add here that E.Suresh's expertise is not 3D Animation to the likes of Disney/Pixar (he humbly admitted the same on stage too), but more of other forms say Stop Motion, Cut-out Animation and so on.

Artwork Copyright - Famous House Of Animation

Contrary what media may say, the truth is that Indian Animation Industry is going thru its worst phase, since the boom started in 2005-2006. As of now, Animation in India can be broadly divided into 2 categories - 2D and 3D. Several made-in-India 2D and one 3D feature have been released in India in the last 2-3 years, but overall the performance has been disaster to say the least. So if we can find other mediums/areas in Animation, build our expertise and bring it on to mainstream just like 2D and 3D, it will result to many new, different but positive possibilities at many different levels. New medium will demand more professionals, which in turn will create many new jobs. And once we are able to generate local content which can be consumed by the local market, it will be a turning point for the Industry. Right now 80-85% of the work in 2D/3D is outsourced, but because of the global financial meltdown, outsourcing took a massive hit and India got affected directly as its exposure to outsourcing is huge.

Though the type of Animation E. Suresh is doing, it has a decent local market in areas of Ads, for channels like MTV, Channel V among others but if we able to expand this to TV and Feature, it will certainly help to promote new mediums and at the same time, create new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign markets.

Overall a very good session by E. Suresh and I would love to hear more from him in the future. And I am sure I will !

Next session on a similar topic was conducted by Rudra Matsa. He started by showing what kind of work he and his team was doing, which I think is very very good.

Artwork Copyright - Rudra Matsa

But to be frank, if the enthusiasm level in previous session was 90%, in this session it took a nose dive and was around 40-50%. I think the reason being that the audience was not very sure what Rudra's session was about and they were at some level not able to connect with what he was saying. At-least that was the reason for me, personally speaking. He kept jumping from one thing to the next, which made it worst. To describe it best, it lacked the fluidity and flow which is required to keep the audience engrossed. But I have to give credit to Rudra for attempting this. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a thousand plus audience and host a session. I have no doubt that with repeated attempts, Rudra will be able to host sessions in a much better way.

As with the first session, these 2 session also had some very interesting questions. A few questions were answered just by Rudra and for a few even E. Suresh chipped in with his views. Overall the questions which deserve more discussions are -

• Is India conducive for Content Creation ?
• Proper courses for different animation disciples ?
• Can we position ourselves with our animation in the global animation industry ?
  
• What is the most essential skill to be an animator ?

Third Session : Animation and eLearning by Sameer Sahasrabudhe

Sameer Sahasrabudhe

Session Brief as given in the schedule - eLearning is growing as a massive industry and animation has become a staple component of it. The requirement of the animation techniques and style may be a bit different from the conventional entertainment domain, but the fundamental remains the same. This session will present an array of the existing styles and forms of animation prevalent in the eLearning domain, with a few case studies.

Staying interested in sessions after lunch has always been challenging to me, specially when the lunch served was good, as in this case. What made it slightly more difficult was the nature of the session. It did have many good info. Actually it was suppose to be a BLENDER session, where people from BLENDER, were suppose to do a demo on how powerful BLENDER (as an open source and free 3D application) is compared to other known software like Maya, Max, etc. But due to swine flu scare, Anifest India had to be rescheduled at the last moment and hence they couldn't make it as per the new dates. Still the short Big Buck Bunny which was made entirely in BLENDER was screened and every-time I see it, I love watching it as I did when it first came out.

Image Copyright- BLENDER

Unfortunately that's all I could remember from this session.

In future, I really hope the sessions immediately after lunch are power packed and interesting to keep the momentum going.


Fourth Session : Screening of Short Films made by Students and Teachers/Trainers

I would be frank, I stayed post-lunch primarily for this one. Watching films made by Students is always very very exciting, as it brings so much variety in terms of the films been made, as every student is so vastly different in his/her perception of film-making.

There were around 28 films by students and 4 by Teachers/Trainers.

Without doubt the students film were far far better than the Teachers/Trainers.

All these films were vying for the Tasi Viewer's Choice Award(TVCA).

We had to choose just one movie each from Students and Teachers/Trainers category. So in order to remember which ones were good...I rated them all out of 10.

Out of the Students film, around 7-8 films crossed the 8 mark for me. Many were in between 5-7 and an equal number between 1-4.

Out of the Teachers/Trainers, it was heavily skewed. One was around 6 for me and rest 3 less than 2 !!!

Overall I am happy by the selection of Students Films, but the Teachers/Trainers category could have better selections for sure. May be they got just a limited number of entries and these four were better than the rest.

This session went for a good 2 hours, but the good thing is it hardly felt long. So yes I thoroughly enjoyed this session all the way.

It was tea break and time for me to head back home !

Overall Anifest India'09 performed well on the expectations I had. I have been also told that the rest of the sessions on the remaining days were good and very informative too. Hopefully next year I will be able to attend on all the 3 days.

Kudos to TASI for Anifest India'09 !!!


@|b

Event Coverage - Acting For Animation by Paresh Parekh

Yesterday, Saturday 18th October'08, I attended my 2nd CG Event : Acting For Animation by Paresh Parekh. My first was Case Study by Aardman Animation Studios.

This one was organized by The Animation Society Of India(TASI). Considering the turnout at my first event i was a bit surprised to find virtually no one at the venue. The event was scheduled to start at 5:00 PM, i was there at 4:15 PM and not a single soul to be seen. I thought may be inside some sort of happening activity is on. The venue was a college and so i asked the security guard where the "screening room" was, the place where the event was suppose to take place as per the above official poster for the event and he said there was no such room here and just before going into a shock, one of the members (sitting nearby) from the organizing committee of TASI told me that the event will start only at 5:30 PM and the registration will begin anytime now. Thank god at least i came at the right place.

Finally after 45 mins of walking up and down and surveying the surroundings both inside and outside the college numerous times, i could see something happening nearby, as the volunteers were begun to be seen,people standing in queue for the registration which finally started at 5:00 PM. Still the crowd i was expecting was way less considering that the official time was 5 and by now the place should have been chock-a-block with enthusiastic animators. I found out that the venue actually an "Audio-Visual Room" and not the "Screening Room" was not very big. So the silver lining to all this was the limited turn out. If there were as many people as i experienced in the event prior to this, there was bound to be chaos and a lot of standing audience. Anyways i found a comfortable seat in the air-conditioned room and that was all i cared about.

The session went on for about 4 hours, so i will try to cover as much as i can remember.

The session started by Mr. Ranjit Singh, Hon. Secretary for TASI. He introduced the main speaker for the event Mr. Paresh Parekh. Now a little about Mr. Paresh Parekh -

A Graduate from the National School of Drama (NSD), he began his career as an actor in Hindi & Gujarati Plays under the direction of theatre luminaries such as Barry John, Satyadev Dubey, Ram Gopal Bajaj and Naseeruddin Shah, among others. He has also had acting stints in numerous television serials. Paresh then went on to work as Chief Assistant Director to Ketan Mehta and has been the casting director for some major Bollywood films like Mangal Pandey - The Rising, Rang De Basanti, Naina and the upcoming project Rang Rasiya - Colour of Passion based on the life of Raja Ravi Verma, the painter. He has trained numerous Film & TV actors like Neil Nitin Mukesh, Minisha Lamba, Imraan Khan, Vidya Malawde, Shahnaaz Treasurywala etc. For the last 6 years, Paresh has been training Animation students. Now, at Frameboxx, he is responsible for incorporating acting skills in animation training and the process of film-making.

Now considering the amount of mailers i received for this event, the subject of the session and the topics which were suppose to be covered in this session, my expectations were very very high. And guess what....i was NOT disappointed.

I think for any event, from the first 10-15 mins you can make out how the event will flow thru out. It was no less different for this one. Paresh is a fun and a very animated speaker. I was sure there would not be a single dull amount thru out the session. Though overall there were certain sections where i felt some very important information was not being shared or the content shared was not very convincing, personally speaking, but more on that in the following sections. Now having said that bottom line is i had an awesome fun and i will be definitely looking forward to more such workshops by Paresh or any other person with the same credentials/skills/talent.

Now onto the more juicier stuff !

Paresh started off with asking questions/explaining about actor/character/role. Then he went on to emotions and the different kind of emotions which we human beings can experience like - HAPPY, SAD, LOVE, BRAVERY, SURPRISED/SHOCK, ANGER, FEAR and so on. He told a very interesting thing as to how we get confused between emotion and state of mind. Both may look the same but they are actually two different things. It was just 30 mins in the session and i was already intrigued/excited by what was to come.

Then he went on to different emotions one by one and acted out the variations possible in each. For example when in HAPPY, what changes happen in the face, which part is the most affected like the eyes, eye-brows, mouth, whether the two sides of the mouth has to go upwards or downwards or can be either to show HAPPY.

Then came how does one's body language changes in a particular emotion. For example when you are in FEAR, your body tends to move away from the subject which is causing the fear. Like when lighting a fire cracker, you don't lean towards the cracker while lighting it but away in order to safeguard yourself.

Similarly when in ANGER you tend to move towards the person who is the source of your anger. In ANGER our eyes are generally focussed, our entire body is full of energy and is stiff and due to the high energy, we tend to get very verbal or physical in order to release the energy.

Paresh also spoke about different types of emotions within emotions - ACTIVE and PASSIVE. For example ANGER is more ACTIVE, if some event/person angers you, you don't get angry after some days, but it is instant. Of course if small events over a period of time accumulates and make you angrier by each passing day, thats a different thing but most of the times its in an ACTIVE state.

The above is just a part of what i am able to discuss, as this particular topic went on for about 2 hours or so, describing everything will not be possible here. Overall it was the most interesting part of the overall session. It is these kind of detail, the little nuances which can add tons of life to our performance and take it on the next level. Animation is nothing but observation and this was re-affirmed again by Paresh.

Next topic covered was the importance of staging in any performance. He used the words like POSTURE, GESTURE and EXPRESSION as the main 3 things necessary to communicate an idea or an event. I couldn't agree to disagree. It definitely made sense.

Then he showed(by acting out himself) how a same performance will have different shades when used in different mediums such as - Theatre/Live Action Movie/Animation. Again very interesting stuff.

Then there was 10 min tea-break(extremely welcomed) to help us and more importantly Paresh to re-energize himself before continuing with the session again.

Next was a bit more about acting and actors, line of action and what to keep in mind while posing. Now to me these were the weakest points of the otherwise fantastic session. I am not very sure why it appeared weak to me, may be because Paresh was speaking more in context with Theatre/Live Action whereas i was trying to relate it with Animation point of view. Allow me to get into the details.

The first thing he told was "Actors are liars". The moment this line was said, i was confused and not very convinced. He said if an actor can lie perfectly, his performance is more alive. Now after thinking a lot on this, i am convinced that may be, what he meant was different and that his choice of word "Liar" didn't seem very appropriate to me. This is why - every actor worth his salt always strives to be as true to the character and is always in search of ways as to how he can be the character instead of just acting it out, so that it looks more true to the audience and connects in a more emotional and appealing way to the audience. So i am not very sure where does the "lie" part come in all this. Or may be i mis-understood what he was trying to say.

Then he went on to Line of Action and Posing. Again i was not very convinced or rather it didn't seem very informative to me. Line of action and posing is by far one of the most important things in animation and what i have learnt so far from various sources didn't seem to concur with what Paresh explained. Again i am not sure why, either it was his because he was explaining more in theatre/live action context or may be the words used confused me. He said while posing any character we need to keep in mind the gravity aspect of it. Now in 3D obviously there is no gravity and hence the word itself seemed a bit ambiguous to me. I think a better way in animation context would have been "weight and balance". Now if a character has the required weight and balance depending on the space he is in, automatically the gravity part would be taken care of. Line of action, to be very frank, i don't quite remember what he said as i had a different take on the subject and which seems to be making sense for me so far.

Then there was a QnA session, audience were allowed to ask different question. There were 2 questions in particular which seemed very very important to me, specially for taking into consideration that 90-95% of the audience were students and in their very basic learning stages of their animation career. The two questions were -

1. How to Study video reference/the importance of it ?

2. How to improve my work, how to develop my judgmental/creative eye for my work, what should i do when i am feeling lost or my animation is not going anywhere, where do i go, how to get feedback ?

Now before i get onto the above question #1 in detail, i have to make it clear that what i am saying should actually be said before the "Acting for Animation" session and anyone entering into the Acting part should/must/have to be aware of what i am going to try to explain right now. Now since Paresh's forte is the "Acting" part, i understand why he did not emphasize on the body part and movement much. As far as question #2 is concerned again its a fantastic question for those who are new into the field and also for those who may be slightly ignorant of this one.

1. How to Study video reference/the importance of it ?
Every animator has its own work flow and many of the top animators in the business are no different. There are many animators who shoot a video reference as much as they can and there are also many animators who don't necessary follow the video reference but their work is as much beautiful and fun to see as the animators who follow a video reference. But for students/upcoming animators, i strongly suggest shooting their own video reference and study the heck out of it. Now in the sessions Paresh spoke about studying the acting part, facials, expressions and so on which i agree is the way to go. But what is even more important is to first study the body movements/mechanics or the body physicality like how the body is moving, where the weight shift is happening, how it balances itself out in certain situation and so on. Until you have the body physicality nailed down, until the physicality looks believable with respect to the real world we know of(it also includes cartoony and exaggerated styles of animation), no amount of detailing in acting, expressions/facial can make your animation look nice. The body movements is the first step to any animation. Its the foundation on which you build the acting part on it. You can also take reference from so many online video sites like YouTube and so on, but doing it on your own is a much better way to understand how your body behaves and moves. Study the reference, observe where the main changes in pose is happening, put those main key poses and then push it up depending on the scene's requirement. Everyday i come across many students showing their demo reel or work, where they have added tons of details on the acting and facial part but overall its a complete mess because they have not taken the pain to emphasize/work on the body movement first. So for the first time getting to the acting part directly or emphasizing on the acting part more than the body mechanics(in the initial scene stages) can be extremely dangerous and detrimental to your own work. You can read more on the same subject in the following link -

How do you do video planning ?


2. How to improve my work, how to develop my judgmental/creative eye for my work, what should i do when i am feeling lost or my animation is not going anywhere, where do i go, how to get feedback ?
I am sure each one of us have gone thru this phase(at least i have and still face) many number of times where after a certain point of time, we are clueless as to where our performance is going and no matter how many times we see it, we are just not able to take it forward. In short words, we feel lost. Now for students who are yet to work as professional animators the easiest, fastest and most efficient way to find direction again is to go online. There are many useful sites/forums online such as CgTantra, CGTalk, 11 Second Club and so on, where you can show your work for free to virtually anyone in the entire planet. The diversity of feedback will totally exceed your expectations and will blow you away. You will have students from thru out the world leaving feedback, professional animators from around the world (and many may also be working/or have worked on your favorite movie you thought was awesome and so love watching it anytime), giving critiques on your work and giving their own insights on how you can make it look better.

For animators just started working in a studio, show your work as many times and at different stages to your co-workers, friends and so on. Every one will have their own interesting way of looking it and if 4 out of 5 people are saying that a particular thing is not working, they are probably right and you should think about it seriously.

Now when getting feedback be very open to it. Shed the excess baggage of ego and attitude and develop a thick skin. If you cant, just change your field, you just cannot succeed as an animator anywhere. Period. Dont take any feedback personally ever. Please understand that the person commenting on your work is not an enemy and is not giving you a critique just to level scores or anything like that. He/she is just sharing what he feels about your work and how you can improvise it. Animation is an art and art is subjective. Every one sees art in a different way and interpret in their own way. So listen to everyone's feedback and use your own discretion/knowledge to take or leave the feedback. If you do not agree to something dont go around blasting that person that what he/she said was wrong and you are right. Its like digging your own grave. To put it rather bluntly, just remember a lot has been accomplished before you started animating.


Now in these kind of events the last session consists of an open forum, where anyone can share anything they want to show such as short film or any thing related to art. I think its a wonderful thing to have, as this gives you a ready audience to see your work and get feedback on it instantly and discuss it further on how to improvise it.

In this session, one guy named Prashanth showed his short film. Prashant is a professional VFX artist and the fact that he took the effort to make an animated short film is truly commendable. Whether that short film was good or bad is totally irrelevant and i wont even like to talk about it here. Its the effort, the enthusiasm to experiment is what i am fond of. Even though many people gave their feedback on his work(including myself), some good and some on how to make it better, Prashanth was extremely open listening to the critique instead of debating or arguing his view point. This is what i was talking about when taking feedback. I wish Prashant good luck in all his future endeavors.

Overall it was a Saturday evening spent very nicely and judiciously. Though i am extremely disappointed by the lack of attendance from professional animators/friends who are working in some of the major studios in Mumbai. These sessions don't happen often and that makes it all the more reason to attend them. Anyway its entirely their loss and their ignorance(sorry mates, its the fact. I understand many people may have prior commitment and so on but virtually no one attending is nothing but ignorance. I feel the event was well marketed and the word was spread thru many many mailers and thru appropriate channels.). But in future i really hope to see a lot of turn out and not just from students but also from professionals in these events.

For the organizers i just want to suggest to be as punctual as possible and to make sure that the volunteers or the organizers themselves are the first to reach the venue and that too well before time and to make sure the event takes off smoothly. Or if the event is suppose to start at 5:30, but you want the audience to be there by 5 to reserve their seats, please mention it explicitly on the poster or thru whatever means you are spreading the word. Its definitely not a good things to keep people waiting. Just my thoughts though.

Now this event coverage is not as a substitute for not attending the event. Its just my experience of it and just to give you an idea what these events are about. I had no intention to be biased in the form of praise or criticism. Its my take on the event, you may like it or may not like it or feel i was a bit biased, well fair enough, its your views in the same fashion as my views on the event. So if you had attended the event and feel that i have missed out many parts, do let me know and i will try to fill in as much as possible. After all its only so much one can remember, specially when the event was so much engrossing.

Hope you had fun reading the above and it was informative to you, however minuscule it might be.

Thanks!


P.S. - I WILL TRY TO UPLOAD SOME PICTURES OF THE EVENT VERY SOON.

Asifa India CGMEETUP 13th September - Case Study By Aardman Animation Studios

I went to my first every CGMeetUp here in Mumbai. Infact my first ever MeetUp since my existence as an animator.

The event was organised by Asifa India and was a case study by the world renowned Aardman Animation Studios and was supported by CGTANTRA.

It was a totally fun experience watching the awe-inspiring work of Aardman who have been pioneers in Stop-Motion animation for many many years(or is it decades?).





Alan and Andrew were kind enough to come down to Mumbai, India representing Aardman and sharing their wonderful work(past, present, a bit of the future).

Aardman's Upcoming Projects

The session started with Alan and Andrew both taking the mic alternatively and speaking about Aardman, its history and finally getting started with the case study in terms of showing their work. They have a huge experience in Stop-Motion and have also entered the CG medium, using it in their work as a blend of stop-motion,CG and 2D. Needless to say the end result is absolutely beautiful.

They showed a wide range of commercials, pitches, how does the pitches work(or why it doesn't work as in getting a client or a project), their shorts, their critically acclaimed, multiple award winning short film Pearce Sisters and some of their work done by their amazing team of artists in their own time just as a hobby or to pursue their creative endeavors.





In the end(from Aardman) they also had an interactive session where the audience was allowed to ask any questions they had. Some of the very interesting questions were -

1. Is it necessary to specialize in one field or be a generalist ?

2. How does Aardman decides which medium to use(Stop-motion, CG, 2D) or does it depends on the client's sensibilities ?

3. Recruitment process of Aardman.

4. Suggestions/advise for people starting in the industry and for the entire fraternity of artists on the whole.

At the end of the event, they had an open mic forum where anyone could share their shorts or any news or information about anything they wanted to. Vaibhav Kumaresh another person doing some great work in Stop-motion, shared some of his beautiful work. It was brilliant and extremely entertaining. Also as a person Vaibhav is quite friendly and a jolly good fellow.

I was surprised to see Dhimant Vyas, the guy who did the highly famed animation (claymation primarily) work in Taare Zameen Par. He spoke about his future projects a bit and in general. With the kind of talent he has and the work he has done, he seemed to me an extremely humble and down to earth person. We need many more people like him for our industry, its so very inspiring.

Overall it was indeed a pleasure and so much fun attending this CGMeetUp and now i am eagerly looking forward to the next event. Attending these kinds of events for the first time,i didn't know a lot of people and hence couldn't interact much, but i am looking forward to that in the upcoming events.

:-)