Overview:
The Spiderman, jumping from one building to another with the support of thin threads in the air, Hrithik Roshan crossing over the straight steep heights of mountains in film ’Lakshya’, My friend Ganesha, Dashavtar, the peculiar looki
ng aliens roaming the Earth, Hanuman fighting with monsters etc- all these and many more characters have emerged on the screen owing to the multimedia and animation technology. The animation film, Toy Story-3 by the Hollywood producer Unchrich Lee was the number one grosser last year. This film has earned 1.1 billion $ from its worldwide exhibition. Animation is being used today in almost everything right from the video, music or video album to films and serials. Apart from these, animation is being used in television, product promotion, website, architecture website and virtual reality. As a result, this sector has emerged the most favourite sector as a career seeking.
Animation industry in the country, according to an industry forecast, is poised to touch a whopping $15 billion by 2015. While this phenomenal growth is mostly attributed to growing international animation assignments, trained manpower in the industry still remains a major challenge.
The country today has nearly 10,000 quality animators, even as the fast-growing animation industry is expected to need additional three lakh animators having received high-end training in 3D animation, digital film production, post-production and visual effects for TV and feature films by 2014. Animation has gained importance with the convergence of information technology, communication and entertainment.
I have heard many people describe the animation industry as ‘cool’, ‘interesting’, ‘glamorous’ and many such similar terms. Well, no wonder 3D animation jobs are so highly sought after these days.
In such a competitive environment, this is where a CG artist has to excel in packaging and promoting himself. You will have to learn the art of networking first of all. In many instances where the bigger studios are concerned, submitting show reels might not be sufficient to warrant the HR’s attention, because big studios have lots of work and that means they are BUSY. If you participate in trade events like software launches or trade exhibitions, chances are you can get to know a lot of studio executives. By getting to know somebody directly and having a name to contact, you might get your demo reel viewed much faster as ‘you know somebody’. And if your reel is any good, chances are you will get hired, especially if the studio is in a hiring mode.
Getting an internship during your education is also a good method of paving your way to getting your first animation job. If during the internship you exhibit yourself to be a conscientious worker with good habits and skills, you might just get a job offer upon graduation. Many 3D artists got their jobs this way, so this is a very valid method of getting your first job. Another spin off from this method is by offering to work for free. Look upon it as an opportunity to learn from working professionals and to gain experience with the latest softwares and real-world projects. If you show yourself to be sincere and dedicated enough, you will be eventually offered a position within the organisation or at least be recommended elsewhere.
Creativity and imagination is essential
You can become a better artist only if you can express articulation and the thinking of people through the medium of art and try to minimise the gap of thinking in between the both. In order to gain mastery in the field, you will have to take a methodical training into the field which could be had by taking admission into different types of courses in the field. If you are a 12th pass in any stream, you can take admission into the courses. If you are computer friendly, short term courses would be highly useful for you. According to experts, the greatest challenge in this field is to establish equilibrium between your own imaginations and the imaginations of others.
Types of courses in animation, multi media
- Bachelor in multi media,
- Bachelor in animation,
- Bachelor in digital media,
- Bachelor in games and interactive media design,
- Bachelor in graphics design,
- Bachelor in visual communication,
- Diploma in multi media and animation.
The skies of hopes
There are strong possibilities of the development of multimedia and animation in India, because of the abundance of richness of talents available. The expansion of multimedia tools is in big areas which includes from entertainments to educational tutors. Famous for its strong IT service through the world over, India is attracting the attentions of many gaming countries of the world. Cartoon films in India used to come from abroad till some years past, but not now. Due to the increase in the trend setters in the country, cartoon films are now being produced in India itself. 2D and 3D animation and sound effects are used in these types of films. If you have the creativity in you, there are opportunities infinite for you to go up the pinnacle of ladder. Numbers of channels are increasing in great numbers of late. These channels need programs in great numbers to be produced. Therefore, there would be great demands in this field for Designers, Sound Recordists, Compositors, Specialists, and Animators etc.
Outsourcing became a boon
The problem of brain drain was perceptible some years back when there was migration galore of the Indian talents to foreign lands. But the changed form of outsourcing is a boon for us now. The projects being outsourced here are chiefly software projects, multimedia projects, research and development projects etc. The projects that costs two lacks rupees in India costs 20 lacks in developed countries. In this way, multimedia projects in India are very cheaper compared the developed countries. And this is the reason why the noted film and animation companies of the world over are outsourcing their projects to India in big scales. Some well-known and renowned Hollywood big players are:
- Fun Bag Animations,
- Warner Bros,
- Industrial light & Magic,
- Disney etc.
There is no dearth of works for creative people in this field nor there a limit to salary either. After being attached with this field for 2-3 years, one can earn 60-80 thousands pm a senior animator.
Many other roads to the career too
- Gaming Industry in India has already become a great sector of possibilities due to the big number of the youth force available in the country. On an average, there are the requirements of arts, designs, programming, sound and support where youths can try their luck. If data are gleaned, then only 2%of the mobile users do the downloading, which is expected to increase in coming years.
- Advertisement Industries’ demand of animators these days are in both the fields – off line and online. You can try your luck in this field if you have in you the deep understandings of multimedia technology.
- Entertainment Industry: The rise of IT Sector, expansion of the cable TV, and the fast changing face of the entertainment industries has pitched four moons into this sector. Due to the specialisation in the different fields, several streams have flowered up, where students are trying their luck. Demands in the sector of graphic designs, cameramen, sound recordists, compositors, games design specialist animators are the most. Their greatest specialties are to make works computer friendly.
- E-Education: Along sides the entertainments in this field, work opportunities in the field of education has also expanded. These people can seek work opportunities in the field of e- learning. Also, there are several animation companies which develop their animation and sell them on handsome price, which are used in the e- education fields. Here, it is tried to clear the concepts with helps from better contents, illustration and animation.
Noted institutes in India for animation
- IIT, Mumbai, Guwhati,
- National institute of design, Ahmadabad,
- Jagran Institute of management and mass communication,
- Viztunj College of Media and Design, Bangaluru,
- Arena Animation Academy,
- Academy of Animation and Gaming, Noida.
- CG Mantra, Delhi,
- Heart Animation Academy,
- Maya academy of Advance Cinematics, New Delhi, Mumbai
- Gecko Animation Studio, New Delhi.
This article has inputs from Aldric Chang – a creative businessman who is active in music composing and production, internet marketing, casual games production, animation production, cartoon production
Leave a Reply