Bye Bye Blogger : My Last Post

All-right, its not that I am shedding my blogger cape and completely moving away from the exciting word of blogging. But I am moving away from Blogger and onto Wordpress(WP)!!! Why ?

•  WP has more features, more ways to customize in terms of themes, widgets. 
• Blogger no longer meets my demands. It was great when I started blogging as its really easy to get started but somehow I felt restricted by Blogger at many different levels.
• No matter what template we choose in Blogger, somehow all the blogger sites have an inherent look which makes all the blogs same to an extent in terms of appearance. 
• In keeping long term view of my plans, WP is way more compatible than Blogger would ever would be. What long term plan? Well subscribe to my blog in WP to stay abreast with all the exciting things I have in the pipeline. 

Now having said, its been a truly enjoyable journey so far here on Blogger. Thanks to Blogger I am now 280 posts old spread across 57 categories! A very big achievement for me when I look back during signing up for a blog and had no clue what I would be posting about!!!

So from now onwards you can/should/better catch my blog posts at -

http://abtheanimator.wordpress.com/

Yay!

Now initially my WP blog may look a bit incomplete and you miss few of the things I have here, but worry not, as I am still in the process of migrating everything. If even after sometime you don't find some thing which will simply mean that I no longer wanted it and will be replacing with much more exciting stuff.

So without further ado, visit my new blog and make sure you subscribe/rss the feeds in order to not miss anything.

Looking forward to your continued patronage as always! 

Cheers,
Anirudh

Animators, here Are Two Absolutely Must Read Articles !!!

There are so many articles we all come across thanks to the million of blogs and other sites. But sometimes few articles actually resonate deep within you and it has affected you so much in a positive way that you want to go on the roof and shout ! Well here are two articles which deserve that kind of shouting on and on !

What's the Most Rewarding Thing of Being an Animator ?  - thanks Shawn(Kelly)

It's All About the Drive  : If You Really Want to be an Animator, It Will Happen! - thanks Aaron(Hartline)


Cheers,
Anirudh

BLOG Revamp, Done !

Hello friends !

Yes! Finally I have managed to change my Blog, more Visually with slight content change which would be more prominent hopefully in times to come.

What has changed -

• I have a plain white theme(template), against the colored them before. I found this more pleasing or may be because I had got bored of the previous template. Also content looks more elegant on a white seamless template. Though I am keen to experiment with different colors using the same template, but for now and for a good enough time this would remain.
  
• I now have a face suitable for public consumption and hence my photo in the Profile !
  
• About me text has changed because who I was when I started this blog and who am I at present has also gone thru many different transformations at different levels.
• The right navigation links is now less cluttered with only those links which I truly like. Before it was all about filling as much on my Blog. I still want to edit/add a few things though. All in due time !
• Post wise, I have a few ideas in mind which would be slightly different in nature than what I have been posting now. Again, all in due time.

I guess that's all about it ! Let me know whether you like this new design or if you have any suggestions in any aspect of my blogging endeavors !

Looking forward to your patronage as always !

Thanks !

Cheers,
Anirudh

Time To Revamp and Clear the Clutter !

Hello friends,

Its been around 2 years since I first took the step to enter the blog-o-sphere. When I started I didn't have much of a road map ahead as to what I am going to be posting now. But within no time, I was in the groove and was having fun posting on my Blog.

Though I was always were picky and careful as to what I wanted to post about, I have realised over time my blog became a bit cluttered. Also I have seen many blogger(s), have a revamp/re-design of their blog occasionally and I thought why not try it myself. I believe this is part of the process of growing up at different levels !

So on a note to clear the clutter and revamp my blog, I have decided to put all my postings on hold and come back with a new blog. The change will be more in the form of appearance and may be a bit about the content as I am still quite clear what I want to share on my blog and so the essence will still remain the same.

If I have made sense so far through my posts, I look forward to continuing the tradition in future too ! :-)

Thank you!

Cheers,
Anirudh

P.S. - I cannot commit a certain time frame, when the revamp will happen, it can happen in a day or a week or a couple of weeks, but its my endeavor to make it happen asap.

Goodbye 2009, Welcome 2010 !

In a few hours, 2010 will be here...whew....another set of 365 days passes by !

Regardless of how 2009 turned out to be for you, its my hope that 2010 will be much much better in all aspects for you !

And it will be if you believe in yourself and do the best you can in whatever you do ! Remember it doesnt matter how you fare in comparison with some one else, but what really matters is how you fare yourself with what you were yesterday and what you are today !

Wishing you a truly fulfilling 2010 ahead !

Cheers,
@|b

Animation Reel September 2009

After much delay, procrastinating and then time managing, prioritizing, I have finally compiled a reel for myself to gauge my progress and growth as an Animator on a consistent basis.

Animation Reel : September 2009 from Anirudh Bhalotia on Vimeo.

If you like it, a lot of credit goes to the wonderful Animation Mentor Community, for their generous and continuous supply of feedback.

If you don't, then its entirely my fault, but please feel free to point out where I can improvise, so that my next reel is much stronger than this.

Thank You !

@|b

Catch Up Time : 26th October 2009

Hello Readers,

Sorry for the very erratic flow of posts since last 4 weeks. Its been a very challenging time since last one month. Challenging physically and mentally, but I would say more mentally. Allow me to explain.

P.S. - What I am about to share may not be interesting to many of you and that's fine. But I believe there is a lesson to be learn from here and hence the very idea of this post.

Also I am not sure whats my real motive is to write this post. May be its a way to share my experiences and in the process feel lighter within myself, may be its a way to let others know what all can happen out of the blue and be prepared for it. Or it may also end up being amusing or stupid or fun to read what ever follows from here on. Or it may be to find out what you would have done had you been in my place. So any feedback is most welcome.


2nd Oct'09, me and my family moved to another house. Fortunately we found another one in the same area where we were staying before, so there was a comfort of knowing the surroundings against exploring everything from scratch.

Now ironically, the main shifting was a breeze, we had hired professional movers and packers to pack and move the goods and thankfully they stood by their claims of being professional and efficient. But what followed(and still following) has been nothing less than nightmare.

I want to add that the amount of phone calls I had to make in the last month, was equal to the amount of calls I normally make in around 9-12 months. Now you may ask why ! Well read before and you will know why !!

Strike ONE (STRIKE as in Baseball, 3 STRIKES and you are down and out)
To begin with, a day before I was about to move, I called my Phone/Internet Service Provider to take a request for shifting my connection so that my old number remains the same and also I 'thought' it would be a faster process against applying a new connection. Alas how wrong I was.

It took 16 harrowing days and 100 calls to get the connection finally set up at my new place.

I would like to mention that on day 15, I was so fed up/frustrated/angry/irritated of this delay which was affecting my other work, I got myself a portable modem which cost me around 3 months of my rental which I pay normally to my Service Provider. The moment I got the modem, it seems as if there was an instant vent up of all my not-so-desirable inner turmoil and I felt so much more relaxed. If only I knew it was just a matter of one more day. Or who knows it was an intentional play of cards by the almighty.

Now the side effects of all this was that I used to be very irritated all day long. The irritation was not entirely because of the delay but because of a lack of concrete response from my Service Provider as to what exactly is the problem and precisely by when can I expect my connection. Everyday whenever I used to call them, they used to say it will be done today, but that today came after 16 days.

Strike TWO
Next came the pain of getting my Air-Conditioner(AC) set up. Now there were two steps in getting it set up. First was to make a provision in my window for the AC to fit in and second was to get the delivery of the AC and getting it fixed by the technicians.

Luckily the AC's were delivered reasonably on time. It was getting it fixed which turned out to be a long long wait. I called the concerned people to come to my house to take the measurements of my AC and do the needful in the Window. The person said he will be at my place in 15 mins.

Can you imagine that, that 5 mins came after 5 days and 25 calls. Even till date I am unable to find the exact answer as to why it took so much time. All I heard was excuses like "was busy", "rains", "weekend came", "I went on leave" and so on. I mean is work ethic totally dead. And why all this was happening only with me ?

There is more, the person came finally, they took the measurements, they said they will have to make an Aluminum Frame to hold the AC to make sure there are no gaps. I asked how many days, they said 2. I thought I have waited so many days, 2 more days wont hurt. I said ok and requested them to speed up if possible. Now my guess is that the definition of "speed up" for that person was to "take extra time". The frame came after 4 days !

Fortunately the final installation was done the same day as the frame arrived. Whew, had to wait close to 10 days for a good night sleep in a cool environment.

Strike THREE
Last week while animating on my desktop, suddenly everything went still in my comp, nothing was moving, I tried to restart using Ctrl+Alt+Del, nothing. Tried to reboot directly from CPU, again nothing !!! Finally I had to remove the plug from the main power source to switch it off.

I kept my fingers crossed and started it again. What I dreaded happened. Monitor started blinking with no display whatsoever. Also the lights on the CPU were not blinking which meant nothing was happening in the CPU. I thought may be its one of those times, when suddenly it goes off and suddenly everything comes back to normal. I tried again 3-4 times, no luck. I decided to give it a break and only after few hours, I tried again, but no improvement. Finally I decided to call my Computer Technician from a Computer Vendor(from where I have an Annual Maintenance Contract) and have a look. He came, tried every possible trick he knew, still no luck. Finally he said he will have to remove the motherboard and take it to his testing center to find the exact cause. He said, if the motherboard is fine, it may be a Power Supply problem in which case, next day itself he will get a new Power Supply. But if its the motherboard issue it can take more time. I asked him how many days. He said he cant say until he checks it thoroughly and promised to give me a call next day itself. Now this was Tuesday. Till Friday I didn't hear anything from him. I called them around 10 in the morning and some stupid operator said that she is aware of my problem and will give me a call back. Till 8 in the evening no call came. I tried calling back but no response, which means they have wrapped it for the day.

I called them the next day and blasted the hell out of them. They promised to call back. Finally after a few hours, the owner(of the company who had my Annual Maintenance Contract) themselves called, apologizing like a criminal pleading for mercy and said they will give me a replacement the same day. Saturday passed, Sunday passed and no replacement came.

Then today I thought enough is enough its time to take some real action. I called them and threaten to cancel all my Contracts I had given them thru various sources. In addition to this I told them to give me my motherboard back as they were too useless to repair it and that I shall get it fixed by somewhere else. They said to kindly wait for one last time and that they will call me in 15 mins to tell me the exact date when I will get my motherboard. They called in 10 minutes and said that on Wednesday they will surely come and fix my motherboard. Now I really don't know whether they will stand by their word or again one of their empty promises, but I am really hoping that they do, as its been close to 8 days, all my animating and other work has been on hold and I am feeling like a new born baby, totally helpless to do anything.

Now is this really a co-incidence that I was been served by pathetic customer service on and on with no end in sight ?? Or is it that God wanted to test my patience and my character ??

But one good thing happened, because of my desktop crashed I was forced to tackle my laptop problem which I have been ignoring for a long long time. My laptop had problem of bad sectors in the hard disk and shutting off automatically and abruptly at no particular interval of time. I got a new hard disk and also fixed the problem of shutting down abruptly. Apparently there was some issue of Thermal Sensors on the CPU. Whatever that means !

FOUR (its not really a STRIKE)
On hindsight may be this is the problem which is making me over-react to the above strikes. Since we moved in, I have applied to a few places(in my city) to offer my services as a 3D Character Animator. Its been almost a month and no replies yet. I understand these things takes time, but is it too much to ask even for some notification, whether yes or no. If its Yes I can jump with joy and even if its No, I will at-least know whats working and whats not and get on to tackling those issues. Some one has said "no news is great news" but here in this case its definitely not doing me any good. I sometimes really wonder, some things/actions/events just cannot be explained in human simply understandable terms.


Now you may be wondering what is the lesson behind all this. For me it is :

1. Things wont be hunky dory all your life. Regardless of how good life is going for you, there will be times when nothing, nothing at all seems to work. Thinking otherwise is being extremely naive !

2. You can never have enough patience because how much ever you feel you are cool and composed, there will be events that will just freak you out and drain all your patience.

3. Every event good or bad is an experience.

4. There IS a reason why anything is happening in your life.

5. To practice letting go. To not revel in good things/event for long and to not drool over not so good things/events for long.

6. To not judge any event, just savor it in the present moment and take it as it comes. The definition of good or bad is nothing but your viewpoint at work.

7. Never never never give up. I will be very forthcoming, this time in my life has tested me the most. But I am determined to not let it get the better of me. I will keep going regardless of what happens. If I have to walk against very strong winds, so be it.

8. Find your own avenues in these trying times, which can make you relax a bit and get distracted from all the negatives. For me its being with myself. When I am alone and quiet I feel my batteries recharging. Introspecting is a very powerful tool. Try it.

9. Appreciate the presence of your near and dear ones in your life. Without doubt I have been in the worst of my moods and behavior in the last one month than I have ever been in my whole life. But I am thankful to my parents for their undying love and support all the while despite my erratic mood swings and temper. I am convinced God made parents because he couldn't be everywhere at the same time.

10. When you are at the very low of your life, see the good part, the only way you can go from here on is UP ! I absolutely feel the same currently.

Before I get deeply engrossed in emotional talk, its seems prudent to wrap this post up. I really don't know what made me write and share all this with the world at large. But I am feeling a lot better, bringing all this up and sharing with you.

If you have anything to share in the context of this post - be it your experiences of testing times, be it advise/suggestions for me, be it about how you would have handled it if you where in my position, please feel very free to do the same.

Thank You !


@|b

Woo-Hoo ! I Am The Winner Of The Animation Mentor Student Choice Award !!!

You read that right !

Just a few hours before, Animation Mentor had their graduation ceremony in San Francisco, US, where I was announced as the winner in the category : Forum Ninja !
(Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the graduation in person)

This is a huge honor for me and I am totally ecstatic at the moment !

Thanks a million to Animation Mentor, you all rock !

Cheers!

@|b


P.S. -For more details on what the award is about, kindly visit my earlier post when I was nominated !

Self Growth : Taming Anger

As mentioned in my previous post, Self Growth is one of my many endeavors I want to explore as much as I can. Though I have shared a few articles here and there, from now onwards I will be doing it on a more regular basis.

I came across this fantastic article on getting a grip on our anger. Though I strongly suggest reading the full article, here is an excerpt which is super useful for me and should be for you too -


"

There’s now widespread agreement among anger experts that it’s better to evaluate angry feelings before acting on or even accepting them. Williams is a leading proponent of this view; he recommends asking yourself four specific questions whenever you feel angry:

1. Is the situation or event that triggered my anger important? That is, is the thing that triggered my rage something that threatens my well-being?
2. Given the situation or event, is my anger appropriate? Faced with the same circumstances, would the average person get angry?
3. Is the situation modifiable? Is there something I can do to change it for the better?
4. Is it worth it to try to modify the situation? That is, is it worth my time and effort?

"

Source for the above excerpt.

So next time you get angry or are on the verge of getting, ask yourself the above 4 questions.


@|b

Catch Up Time : Done With Animation Mentor, What Next !

P.S - It will be a long post but hopefully worth your time ! Thanks in advance for reading.

(This image was chosen after a lot of thought and purpose! Read on to find out why!)

I am writing this post after considerably introspecting my life as it happened in the last 2 years with more emphasis on the course I was doing at Animation Mentor (AM) and how it has influenced my life for good.

First things first, my course finished last week and now I am officially an Alumni of AM and not a student. This feeling itself is wrapped in different layers of excitement, growth, optimism, sadness, inspirational and so on. More on this below.

Almost around 2 years back in September 2007, after working as a full time 3D Character Animator for close to 4 years, I found out that getting up in the morning to go to work was a painful chore and I was really not enjoying my work. The reason I was not enjoying my work was that I was not learning anything new, I was animating like a mechanical mass of flesh, getting scenes, animating, showing for approval to my Animation Director, sending to client, getting it approved....this process went in a circle and on and on. So I felt it was the right time to take a hiatus and get back to some learning before I get totally disconnected from Animation all-together. Around the same time AM had released a couple of its student's work and I had no doubt this was the place to go to and re-invent myself or rather discover myself all over again.

I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and looking back at my life, every event (good and not-so-good) makes total sense as to why it occurred. I also feel it was my destiny that the timing of the release of AM's student work coincide with the time I was not feeling good about my work and it was a signal that it was time to take the plunge.

Now in my community/culture/social circle/mindset of many many people I know....leaving a job and going back to education was considered foolish/stupidity/throwing your leg on the axe and so on. In short it was not favored at all. It was more like once you get a job, work for few years, then get married, start a family and so on. I was strictly against this normal course as I felt we get one life and it’s not about going from one station to next but rather enjoying the time in between. What’s the point of doing things just because others have been doing it and what’s worse is doing it unwillingly. If you strongly believe in something and which you feel is right in the long run, by all means go for it. There will always be naysayers because they don't want others to do the things, which they want to do but cant. They are like fire, you pay heed and it’s like putting fuel to it, you ignore them and they will smoke out soon enough.

So after a month of leaving my job, my journey began at AM and it seemed as if I was in a total different mindset now and that the whole world was working together to make me happy. It was a fantastic change from the mundane job to being a student and learning so many new things day after day. I used to stay awake way past my normal time, yet used to get up with so much energy and passion to start a new day of learning.

Joining AM was without any doubt one of the best decision I would have taken regarding my career. The mentors are top notch people working in the industry since many years in the form of Animators, Lead Animators, Animation Supervisors, Creative Directors and so on. In the last 2 years whatever new Animated Features have released, almost all the mentors are featured in the credit list of different movies. I have never really waited for Credits before, but now it’s one thing which I will not miss for anything, as the joy of watching your friends/mentors name in the Credit list is amazing.

Also what’s the charm of being in AM, apart from the education is the community of people including Mentors, Students and the AM Support Staff. Everyone is so very helpful, down to earth and wants each other to succeed. Now considering that majority of the mentors have a full time job in creating the next blockbuster to entertain us, they make sure to be there whenever we need them. Be it E-critiques, Live AV QNA, emails, forums, they respond as soon as they can. Which in my honest opinion shows them how much they care about people having the same passion and tells a lot about how wonderful they are as human beings. Hats off to the entire AM community!

Its crazy to look back how fast 18 months passed by (It was actually 21 months since I had taken one term break(3 months), since me and my family moved to a new city). The curriculum at AM is very well structured, tight, it forces you to be disciplined and have a very good way of managing yourself and your time. This is where AM tricks you. You join AM thinking it’s all about animation, but you get so much more apart from Animation. You become more disciplined, you value time so much more, you plan your day in order to make it as efficient and productive as ever, you meet so many different people from diverse geographical locations and cultures, you cultivate new lifelong friendships...I can go on and on. In brief AM is a complete package provided you are open to learning and personally speaking it had a very profound positive impact on my life. An impact for which the results are definitely not instant but in the long run, I know and I can feel it that I made a very judicious choice of doing AM.

That's one reason why I am having mixed feelings now since I am no more a student. I am happy to be able to finish AM and excited for what’s in store for me in the near future, but I am also a bit scared to not go off track and get into a comfort zone. Since AM is based on a real industry environment, we have weekly deadlines and a very strict structure of constantly evaluating our work. Now out of AM (at least till I am able to get back to working), it would be no easy task to keep animating and make sure we have deadlines on whatever we do. Without deadlines it’s only a matter of time before I start slipping and losing sight of my goals and tasks. I will keep you all posted on how I fare on this one.

Now a little about using the image in the beginning of the post. Before joining AM, I was not sure about where my life as an animator was going. I was just going with the flow and was totally oblivious of the path forward, whether it was a corner or a turn I had no idea and in all probability either of the two would have thrown me back as I was totally ignorant to see the things in a broader perspective. But now I feel like that little plant/sapling, who at least knows where he has to grow and move on next. It may be small now, but the key is that the foundation/root has been laid and now it’s all about nourishing and taking care. Similarly by no means I am animation-ninja yet, but at least I know (and thank you AM for that), about my strengths and weaknesses, what makes a good animation and an animator, developing and eye for detail, having a good workflow to name a few. (Though I have come across many people who when I say I am doing AM, believe that I need not study anymore and that just being from AM, guarantees me a job in PIXAR or equally big studios. How misinformed can people get? I am planning to have a separate post on this though as this really frustrates me to no end.)

Coming to the million dollar question of what next, now since I am done with AM? Well to start with, my short is far from completion. Only if I was able to limit my short to 30 secs I would have been able to wrap it while in AM, but not compromising on the story I had to increase the duration and now it’s almost double to around 55 seconds or so. I don't regret it one bit, since it’s better to have a longer duration than to trim it to 30 seconds and confusing the audience as to what the short is about. Having said that it’s not that we can do just 30 seconds, I was clocking close to 25 seconds a week when I used to work, but that's a different story and many factors were responsible for that. Each short is different with its own challenges and complexity and each animator have their own skill level. So finishing my short is one the top priorities for me.

At the same time, I am going back and polishing my old shots for my reel. Yes it’s time to enter the big (bad?) world of job hunting and then being a professional animator (good!). After going thru the grind, I am raring to contribute all that I have learned (and continue to learn) to where ever I get an opportunity to work.

I am also thinking of starting new animation shots in different categories like Pantomime, Body Mechanics and Acting. I may also have a progress log here, right from planning to the end to get as much feedback and share a bit about my workflow and also to continue learning from others and growing. Let’s see how it goes.

There is one more area where I have gone a sea change in the last 2 years and that is personality development /self-growth. I have had numerous personal challenges (and continue to have) and thanks to many people and resources online and offline, I was able to overcome many and I am working on overcoming others. This is one area where EVERYONE struggles at some point of time in their life, but are to scared of feared to admit (and it amazes me why, we all are human it’s OK to err at different level and to learn from it). So it’s my deepest endeavor to help people overcome their personal struggles and to share my experiences with them and vice versa. It’s my way of paying forward (and paying back) all the good things I learned from different sources. It’s very important to pay forward any good deeds anyone has done for you, because if everyone does it, the world will be a much better place to live.

So as you can see, I have a LOT on my plate as of now. I just hope I am not eating more than I can chew. Yes I will be stretching myself definitely which is intentional but I don't want to let my task(s) overwhelm me and end up avoiding everything all-together. This is the part where my readers - YOU, can play a huge part to help me be on track. Nothing like having a diverse group of people to bounce ideas constantly. It helps to elevate our perspective at various different levels. This is the beauty of technology and the internet; it makes collaboration and communication so seamless 24x7.

Before writing this post I had a certain idea of what I want to share here, but as I began, more ideas, more thoughts, more content kept cropping and I felt appropriate to share them too. So if you feel this post looks a bit unstructured, my apologies, but please do let me know.

A LOT is coming from my side in the coming days. Tighten your belt and watch this space.

Talk to you soon!

Cheers,

@|b

Woo-Hoo!! Got Nominated For Animation Mentor(AM) Student Choice Awards !

I write this post with utmost humility and humbleness. I have been nominated for Animation Mentor(AM) Student Choice Awards in the category of Forum Ninja and it feels so awesome !

What Forum Ninja actually means is some one who has been actively and creatively involved in the AM Community thru the inbuilt Forum on the school online campus.

For me Forums is a very strong and immensely helpful facet of AM, more so because AM is an entirely online school compared to the other convention brick-and-mortor Animation schools. So the best and fastest way to interact with my fellow students and not just from my class is thru Forums.

To be frank I never imagined to be bestowed by this wonderful gesture by the AM Community and this just re-affirms my faith in AM all the more.

Winning or losing is totally irrelevant as being nominated itself is a huge honor for me considering that these awards are based entirely on the feedback from Students.

Thank you AM !

@|b

Stop Procrastinating - 7 Tips

Its been sometime since I posted something(apart from my Weekly Movie Recommendations) as I have been(and still will be for sometime to come) really busy with my own independent 3D Animated Short Film, which hopefully will be completed in a couple of months. You can get more info on that here. 

But "procrastination" is one area which I struggle almost every day and I am sure each of one us do face it more often than we would realise or care to admit. Many would also use other terms instead of "procrastinate" like "putting things for later", "prioritizing", "being lazy" and so on. So I thought it would be a good topic to dwell upon.  

One of my good friends Josh Corken has a recent blog post on how to stop procrastination.  Its short and concise, simple and well written and I felt it was perfect to get some light thrown on this topic. 

I wont say its the definitive guide but its a fantastic starting point to get the idea across. 

Hope it helps you as it surely helped me to brush over things which I need to be constantly reminded about.

@|b 

Catch Up Time

Its been quite a while since I posted what I have been upto in life in general. My last post was when I was wrapping up my Class 4 - Advanced Acting here at Animation Mentor(AM) and getting ready to begin Class 5 - Short Film Pre Production.

Well now I am wrapping up my Class 5 and getting ready to start my last lap here at AM and finishing (hopefully!) my own independent 3D Animated short film by June 2009. Its amazing how fast these last 3 months have passed. This class was definitely a huge learning for me and I enjoyed every bit of it. Being an Animator doesn't mean restricting ourselves to a mechanical way of working, where we just get our scenes, storyboards, direction from Animation Supervisors/Directors and just get on with it in order to meet our deadlines ! Its an extremely lame of working as an Animator and to be frank I am myself guilty of indulging in it for a long time not so long time ago.

As an Animator its extremely imperative to see the scene as one of the pieces/building block of the entire movie and not see it in isolation. Yes we have to meet deadlines and do justice to the scene given to us, but having knowledge of the entire process till the time it comes to us for Animation can be so much more helpful and venture us into new unexplored but extremely enjoyable territories.

Class 5 - Short Film Pre Production was exactly one such territory for me, where we had to brainstorm ideas, make it into a interesting and entertaining story which doesn't exceed 30 seconds, then do a video pitch, make storyboards, then 2D Animatic from the story boards and finally 3D Layouts translating all our visions from storyboard into 3D and in my case in MAYA. Whew! On thinking back I still wonder how I managed all this (and I would like to believe not too bad at that.)! 

On looking back my biggest fear was making the storyboards and the 2D Animatic since my drawing skills are worst than probably a new born baby ! But thanks to my wonderful mentor Cal Brunker, my wonderful classmates and the awesome community at AM, I was able to sail thru and to get the idea that its not the draftmanship that matters, its how easily the main essense of the story is getting communicated. By no necessarily means I would say its the best 2D Animatic, but I am quite satisfied considering I was so apprehensive when drawing for the first time. Thank you Cal ! 

All these times during Class 5, my entire approach to Animation has seen a new and positive change where now I am not only concerned by the scene I am working on but the story on a broader level because thats what the audience is concerned about. Learning how to develop a story, what all aspects to keep in mind, whats the main essence we are trying to convey, what are the elements absolutely necessary to move the story forward, keeping the audience glued to what you are trying to show them, directing them to specific points on the screen, camera angles, framing, composition, so as to present the story in the most interesting way...I can just go on and on ! In short it was just awesome ! 

So in coming days I am quite keen to post my Class 5 work and to give you an idea in stages as to what all goes from story to storyboards and to the final 3D Layout before entering the Animation aspect which I will be doing in Class 6 - Short Film Production in around 2 weeks from now. 

I am also in the process of starting some new sections on my BLOG, a quick list of what I have in mind - 

• Book recommendations, to start with Animation related and in particular the bigger picture : film-making, composition and story development. 

• Showcasing AM Student Short Films and also having a conversation with that Student and getting some insights on their process of making their Short Film, Animation or life in general. 

So loads of interesting stuff coming out here, so make sure you feed my blog to your RSS/follow my blog/subscribe to updates thru email. 

Ciao!

@|b 

Reflections - Looking back and introspecting at the year that just went by : 2008.

Since last week every medium of communication whether TV, Newspaper, Radio, Internet is flooded with shows/articles/interviews about asking people how the year 2008 went for them.

For majority it was an eventful mixed year and one which many would like to forget what with the economy taking a severe beating, the financial global meltdown, the recession slowly but steadily creeping in, job losses, lays off, meager increments(if at all increments), the many terrorists attacks(for Indians) and particularly the last ghastly one at Mumbai which in a way shook the entire world and made everyone realize that terrorism is a bigger threat than what they would have anticipated.

So it made me think how did i perceive the year 2008 and how it had affected me at different levels of my life.

If i see 2008 in general from a broader majority view, the first half was better than the second half. But for me as a matter of fact the 2nd half was more eventful and favorable than the 1st half.

Jan'08 - July'08 :
Looking back exactly a year from now, i have to say that the new year didn't seem to turn out as i would have expected. The after effects of taking a sabbatical from work and getting back to education and learning was something which i had never imagined. It was getting tougher and tougher motivating myself and pursuing my education. Very often i used to feel, as if my life has come to a standstill and even though taking a sabbatical was entirely my choice and not forced upon me, still i felt whether i made the right decision or not. On top of that whatever i used to do, somehow at the last stage it got stuck. I did try for some avenues to get back in the groove of working, both full time and freelancing, but things never really materialized. What was more irritating was that i didn't knew why it was not working. Talks used to start, they seem to get along positively and then just at the last step, it used to get stuck or have an outcome which i didn't expected to happen. Thankfully my family, my near and dear ones, the fabulous community at Animation Mentor(where i was learning) kept me going, i felt i was not alone and that these things happen when once takes a break from work and decides to study further. They were also very supportive of my not favorable work endeavors and motivated me to keep learning and not letting these small obstacles come in my way. I can never thank all of them enough.

In the first half of the year only, my dad decided to undergo a minor surgery for his nose, a problem which was coming back on and off since quite sometime and it was time to get to the root of the problem and remove it completely. Though by gods grace the surgery was a success, the problem was removed once and for all, still after surgery recovery took a bit longer than expected and it was quite painful for him. But seeing him now, the endurance of pain didn't seem much since he is doing great now. Thank you god.

Immediately after this, a new ray of hope came out of nowhere. My family decided to move to Mumbai as it was more conducive for my dad's work and also for my career in Animation in the long run. For me it was totally like a dream. I had stayed in Mumbai previously for about 2 years and i loved the spirit, the enthusiasm of people in Mumbai and in general the city itself. I had never ever imagined, i would go back and that too with my family staying there itself. Suddenly i felt a renewed spirit just for the thought of moving to Mumbai. From then on i was totally engrossed working out the details of our moving, finding apartments at the same time clearing our stuff in our old house in Chennai. It was a lot of work and i was enjoying every bit of it. It was not that Chennai was not good, we had stayed there for 10 years, just that for some reason it didnt offer me anything new, i was feeling as if life had taken a detour. When i used to work outside Chennai, at any holiday from work i used to yearn coming back to Chennai, the primary reason being that my parents were here and i also had couple of close friends staying in Chennai. But then in Dec 2007, one of my friends went to US for his higher education, another one was deep in a relationship and was getting married in June, so may be all these reason combined, i was waiting to move out of Chennai, so when the Mumbai news happened, no one was more happy than me !

In all the crazy busy work of moving to Mumbai, getting things done, a sad thing happened. My maternal grandmother passed away. It was truly testing times for all of us and specially for my mom. On one hand the big move of moving to a new city and on the other hand the deep loss of her mother. No wonder it says that women are more stronger than men emotionally and rightly so. Hats off to you mom for handling both the things at the same time so effortlessly.

On my learning front, I was in Class 2 - Body Mechanics when the year started and was quite excited for this class as this is one of the most important foundation classes for any animator. It was no easy by any means but thanks to my wonderful wonderful mentor Dana Boadway who had the perfect blend of encouragement and constructive critiques, i learned a lot and was quite happy with what i did in Class 2. Class 3 - Introduction to Acting and it was a huge learning experience for me. I stumbled, struggled a lot, used to feel quite de-motivated when things was not working out as desired, but then i was determined to not let these obstacle put me down and kept holding on. When i look back i am glad i never quit !

Aug'08 - Dec'08 :
I was finally happy with a renewed sense and excitement now since we had moved to Mumbai. Its not the moving which is a long process, but the pre-moving and post-moving activities. Settling down in a new city from scratch is no small task, but its not boring also. New city, new house, new environments...the only thing i personally like to remain constant is change. Getting new connections for internet, phone, cable tv, etc etc...opening new bank accounts, finding whats available where near our place for our every day needs...all these take time no matter how much we try to push it and make it happen. I knew i wont be able to concentrate on Animation Mentor during my moving and hence i had taken a break for 3 months so that i can settle down properly and not do my course half-heartedly. And it was a very very judicious decision the way i see it.

It was barely a week in Mumbai, when i got my first good news. I was selected as a Student Volunteer for the upcoming Siggraph Asia happening in Singapore in December'08. I was totally elated. For me getting selected was huge and considering how big this event is, i was feeling out of this world. Whether this was linked in someway of my moving to Mumbai, i dont know, but all i knew was that moving to Mumbai will be a good positive development for me and my family.

In September my Brother-in-law, sister and niece had come to India for their yearly holidays and one month passed faster than i realised. We had gone to Goa for 4 days and had a super time there. Holidays with families and friends are a must regularly as it strenthen bonds and also makes life worth living for.

They went back in October first week and for few days it seems something was incomplete. I guess all good times comes to an end, so that other in-queue good times can happen as well. For me the best time of the year is from October - January, as the festive season sets in. October is the festival of lights - Diwali, which is India's biggest festival. Its like Christmas in US. Everyone is in a festive spirit, loads of social gatherings, good food, sweets...oh i just love Diwali !

Times definitely seem to fly fast when you are having a good time. November already arrived ! It was time to apply for my Singapore visa. Even though chances of a rejection was quite slim for Singapore, still considering what i had at stake, i was quite on my edge from the time i applied and when i finally got it !

It was December ! Just a week for my Siggraph Asia and Singapore trip. I was virtually on a totally different high.

Siggraph Asia and Singapore trip was one of the most memorable times of my life. Though i would cover those in a separate detailed post, but my reflection on 2008 cannot be complete without what happened at Siggraph Asia. Not only did i got an opportunity to be a Student Volunteer, i also got awarded for being chosen among Top Ten Student Volunteers at Siggraph Asia ! I was totally ecstatic !

Also even after Siggraph, i stayed in Singapore for some days and enjoyed every moment of it. I stayed with my Cousins and 5 year old niece and had a fantastic time. Never felt like i was away from home. Some relationships just get better and better as they age, just like wine !

Christmas in Singapore is a feast to the eyes in every sense of the way. The entire place seems to be in the mood for Christmas. The most happening Orchard Road is decorated fabulously. Hordes of people on the streets, all having a great time. The spirit is for sure contagious !

I guess its already been a more than intended long post...so yeah all in all it was a good year for me, leaving out a few events. Cant complain really, rather i am thankful to god for many memorable times, good opportunities and giving a beautiful ending to the year 2008 !

I have no reason to believe this year 2009 wont be as memorable or even more than last year at different positive levels.

I wish you all, the same, believe me.

Ciao!

Are you on Twitter ?

I hope all of you are on Twitter and are tweeting away to glory !

What ????

You don't know whats Twitter ?

You definitely need to see the video below and get a life !

Gift For A New Year 2009

A new year has come. Along with it, it has brought new hopes, new aspirations, new dreams, new goals, new commitments, new obstacles, new happiness, new sadness, new relationships, new experiences, new learning....in short a new life !! It doesn't matter how you were yesterday - 31st December 2008. Whether you were sick, healthy, financially strong, financially struggling, in despair, in hope or whatever ! Doesn't matter at all ! What matters is how you will be this coming year.

You cannot change the past, almost each one of us look back often and wish what if i had done this differently i would have been have been more happier or more rich or more independent and so on. Get this thing straight - you cannot have a better past. But you can definitely change your present and your future. The best thing you can do RIGHT NOW is to just forget the past, forget the bad times but remember the good times. Learn from your experiences and commit to yourself not to repeat those mistakes beginning today.

One of my dear well wisher sent me this wonderful link and i thought sharing this with you will be the best gift i can give you this new year.

Every time i see this i feel so good and inspired. I am that much more raring to go from that moment itself. Each one of us at sometime face professional and personal challenges. As human beings the least we can do is to encourage others in their time of adversity.

So if you like this clip, please send it your near and dear ones, a friend, co-workers, anyone you care about or who you think can benefit from this.

Wishing you a wonderful new year 2009 !

Life CAN be phenomenal, it SHOULD be and WILL be !

Catch Up Time !

Hello everyone...the 2nd last day of this year, seems a perfect time to have a post about what i have been upto lately and what you can expect in times to come. Since i will have a detail blog on each event, i will just keep it short over here.

Well the last 3 weeks was one of the most amazing (understated word) time of my life ! I was in Singapore for Siggraph Asia, met the coolest and awesome gang of people in disguise of Student Volunteers, made some great friends and also got an award for doing a good job as an SV ! So yeah...it was a fantastic time ! I also got a bit of a time and explore the beautiful island country Singapore. I really am speechless to describe how alluring Singapore is. But i shall try in the upcoming posts.

Also i was crazy busy and hence couldnt post from there and also my regular posting took a backseat. All those stuff will be back from this week onwards. And being the first week of the year thats the least i can do, say something of a new year resolution ! :D

So heres what you can expect in times to come on my blog -

• My progress of my Class 5 - Short Film Pre Production (its finally starting, time flies here at Animation Mentor)
  
• How the year 2008 was for me and in general.
• In-depth Singapore travelog with tons of pictures
• Siggraph Asia coverage
• Weekly Movie Recommendations(starting back from this week)
  
• Some more new sections(which will be revealed as and when required)
  

So make sure you bookmark, subscribe to RSS, subscribe to mail, follow me on Twitter for blog updates, as there is lots happening right here !

Wishing you all a very Happy and Fruitful New Year 2009 !

See ya next year !

Award at Siggraph Asia !

(Only if I knew before, I would have delivered a better acceptance speech ! )

Woo-hoo...

Got an award for being one of the Top Ten Student Volunteers(SV) at Siggraph Asia, Singapore who performed brilliantly during the Conference-Exhibhition and did an extra-ordinary job as a SV. 

For me its a huge honor to be recognized by the Siggraph Asia SV Chair/Committee Members/Team Leads and that too at such a prestigious event as Siggraph Asia. There were around 140 SV's(from different countries) in total and they chose the best ten !!! So you can imagine my excitement !!!! 

Off to Siggraph Asia, Catch Up Time

Hello,

I have been extremely tied up since some weeks, Class 4 of Animation Mentor was super super excited and at the same time loads of work. I learnt so much in Class 4 thanks to my wonderful mentor Sean Ermey and my classmates. Both were extremely helpful and supportive and made sure whenever i needed feedback it was just a mail away.

Also what kept me busy for my preparation for Siggraph Asia as a Student Volunteer. And considering its the first time it is happening outside United States in Singapore, i am all the more excited. Talking to my team members and other Student Volunteers, getting to know them before we meet, organizing some meet-ups, etc and you can imagine i was at the peak of multi-tasking. Its so very important to have a friendly relationship in any task and specially the event of a scale of Siggraph. Many of us are from diverse countries and getting to know them before is so very important. Its these small things which can have a huge difference.

I have tons of events, meeting so many new people(at Siggraph) not only from Singapore but from far away places like US, UK, Iran, Philippines(all sharing the same passion for Siggraph), product(softwares, hardwares to make sure we are always keeping abreast with technology advancements in the field of Animation and CG in general) launches, parties lined up for the coming week and i will be covering it all on my blog as often as possible may be even several times a day. After Siggraph i will be staying in Singapore and savoring it in all its glory. So tons of my experience, travel-log and photos coming up too. Whatever be your interest i am sure you will want to hear all of it and trust me you wont be disappointed. And if you even remotely interested in Computer Graphics/Animation this is something which you don't want to miss.

I have to go now, gotta get ready and leave for airport in an hour !

Next blog update right from Singapore !!! Woo-hoo !!!

Ciao !

Hurray...finally after a long tense wait...Singapore and Siggraph here i come...!

If you remember the post Catch Up Time i had mentioned one anticipated news which i was really really excited about, well that news has come at last ...i got my Visa for Singapore ! Though i understand for tourists, Visa is not much as issue for Singapore, but still these days we never know and considering the fact that 2 of my friends were rejected in the last 6 months i was quite apprehensive, but in the end thankfully everything fell in place.

Now you may be wondering whats the big deal in Singapore...well the reason for my excitement for my visa is actually a way for the actual excitement which is Siggraph Asia. And to top it all, i have been selected as a Student Volunteer, which means i get to access every event on the 4 day conference for free...thats right...the entire conference fees is waived off for volunteers! Of course we will be busy as it is with our volunteering programs(which will be crazy as hell) but still whenever we get free time we can check out all the events which are a huge learning and fun experience. Though i got my confirmation for my selection sometime back, i thought of breaking the news here once i also got my Visa.



Siggraph is the biggest event for Computer Graphics in the world. Thousands of industry professionals, artists, teachers and students come here and converge year after year for the priceless valuable experience it provides. They have an annual conference and exhibition since many many years in the US and this year for the first time they are having one in Asia(Singapore). So my excitement increases even more, considering i am getting an opportunity to be in the Student Volunteering team whose job is to make sure the entire event spread on 4 days goes on smoothly, all events are happening as per planned, all the resources technically or otherwise are in place and available and so on. Its a wonderful way to meet and learn from industry professionals, artists and teachers while assisting conference attendees and supporting conference programmes and events. We also get to interact with new people from virtually all over the world, learn about leadership, team work, challenges and adversity in a very diverse environment. Siggraph is also known for its very high level of educators/masterclass programs and i am eagerly looking forward to attending some. In todays age where technology is ever evolving, its always good to stay abreast of whats happening in the industry. So all in all what more i could have asked for in the formative stages of my professional life.

Apart from Siggraph Asia, i am also eager to savor Singapore in all its glory. Traveling is a fantastic way to learn and experience so much at different levels and specially in a new country. I also have few cousins(with their families) settled out there, so all the more reason to have some fun. So i will be staying till Christmas as i heard during Christmas being out there is an experience in itself. I will be documenting everything with pictures right here also ! :D

I will try to cover Siggraph Asia as much as i can on a daily basis right here on my blog with as much detail as time permits and tons of pictures. So make sure you subscribe it in RSS/Email subscriptions so that you don't miss a single thing.

Also my Animation Mentor Class 4 is coming to an end in December and there will be a break( during the time of my holiday in Singapore) before we start Class 5 in January, so a perfect way to rejuvenate, without any worries of assignments and deadlines, before i dive into the next term ! :-)


Thats all for now...shall keep you all updated as much as i can !

Ciao !