Mar
24
Mar
24
MPC Bengaluru team delves into the creative and technical making of the Academy Award-winning film ‘The Jungle Book’
Posted in: AnimationThe 18th edition of FICCI Frames saw some of the most insightful sessions that were a tribute to the year 2016 and covered the trends of 2017. Of these, was the making of The Jungle Book by MPC Bengaluru, a studio which contributed to a major portion of the making of the fully CG generated live-action feature.
MPC Bengaluru created a pipeline in 2009 to connect them to the other MPC branches around the world – London (headquarters), Vancouver, Los Angeles, Montreal and many more. A team of around 400 artists from MPC Bengaluru worked on the making of the Academy Award-winning film, beginning from pre-production to the final delivery.
The team worked on not only animation and VFX, but also on the creation of a number of assets including the animal and bird species, foliage, rocks, boulders and entire environments and backgrounds. A group of 10 artists visited places in north and south India to get references of the landscapes, sunrise and sunset. They also took 360-degree shots of trees, plants, boulders and rocks amounting to 30 TB data to get photogrammetry textures. To combine the pictures and create a CG effect, Autodesk’s Recap was used.
MPC Bengaluru, asset site supervisor, Lincoln Fernandes said that the film sets were large and high-resolution images made them heavy. Due to this, they kept certain elements like mud and grass in presets. The asset creation team had to create all assets from the ground level – skeleton, body and size of fur coat. They had to understand the anatomy of each animal to give them perfect movements while they are walking or in action, and while saying dialogues. To get these references, they had to depend on images and videos on the internet. Assets, HOD, Prashant Nair explained that the director did not want any exaggeration in terms of movements of animals and facial muscles while speaking. The animals seemed larger than life only because they were from Mowgli’s point of view.
Voice artists recorded the dialogues and the animators heard the clips multiple times to get the correct emotion to animate the facial expressions and the muscular systems of the animals. They could not break the anatomy of animals just to depict an emotion. It had to be done subtly, yet in a way that the audience felt it, because it was, as the team call it, “a movie about emotions”. A lot of research and development went into the study to make it look real.
The movie was shot in stereo, with two cameras. For work on post-production, the challenge was to capture the motion of the real camera on virtual camera. Roto Anim was used for casting shadows in the post work.
Tremendous amount of research and work also went into lighting, shadows and composting work. Shadows had to be created. CG replacement of the actor who played Mowgli had to be created. Certain parts of Mowgli’s body were CG generated in some of the sequences. Vines, rocks, and blending of the elements in naturally occurring phenomenon required minute detailing and hours long of work. Mood lighting was used extensively as the film had a deep connection to emotions.
A team of 34 compositors worked on “deep compositing”. The average render time for one frame was 19 hours. One sequence took about 40 hours of rendering. But everything was so well planned that time required for research and post-production did not fall short, and 100 per cent was given for every shot.
All sites of MPC working on The Jungle Book from various parts of the world were connected with Multisite Pipeline. The software Alice was used for crowd simulation. Papi was used for transformation of objects and subjects. Furtility was used for fur, hair and grass simulation. Kali was their destruction algorithm which destroyed property based on its matter. Besides that, they had an asset management system which was completely data driven. For micro services, Amanda was used. Shot Grid and Pronto were the production management software while Python and C++ were the core languages. Houdini, Katana, Maya, Nuke and RenderMan were some of the other software. Lastly, Google proved useful for cloud rendering.
The goal of the team that worked on The Jungle Book at MPC Bengaluru has always been: “the larger we get, the more work we do”. The team never forgets that they are artists, which motivates them to deliver every shot with equal precision. The team explained how all the artists working on this film worldwide delved into its heart and soul. Only then, did this path-breaking film came to life.
The post MPC Bengaluru team delves into the creative and technical making of the Academy Award-winning film ‘The Jungle Book’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Mar
24
Doordarshan positive about launching a kids channel; experts discuss its need and opportunities
Posted in: AnimationAre we creating sensible children programs? Kids’ channels in India are roughly about three per cent of the total number of channels with limited Indian content. Programming for children for television is a responsible job; sensible children’s programming has the objective of making youngsters imbibe a sense of responsibility and morality.
To strengthen the kids’ content industry and bring about sustainability, stability and growth to the artist community and other stakeholders in the industry, India needs a Free-to-Air Terrestrial Kids Channel.
On the third day of FICCI Frames 2017, this burning issue in the Indian media and entertainment industry was addressed. The session ‘India needs a DD Kids Channel’ was hosted by FICCI AVGC Forum, chairman, and Punnaryug ArtVision, founder, Ashish Kulkarni, and a panel of speakers including Supriya Sahu (Doordarshan, director general), P. Jayakumar (Toonz Media, CEO), Rajiv Chilaka (Green Gold Animation, founder), Munjal Shroff (FICCI, co-founder and Graphiti Multimedia, director and COO), Shravan Kumar (Children’s Film Society India, CEO), Shukla Das (filmmaker), Gautam Talwar (Culture Chaant, founding director) and Ketan Mehta (Maya Movies, owner) who shed light on the needs and opportunities of having a DD kids channel.
One point that was unanimously made was that India is rich in culture and that there has to be a way to bring the kids in contact with it through the medium of entertainment. Considering the unique culture of India, our M&E industry cannot give the excuse of not being able to create global content. “Animation is the fastest growing industry when it comes to kids entertainment sector,” said Ketan Mehta. He said that technology is going to drive the mind-space in future and the media can leverage this and capture the mind-space.
The emphasis on creation of kids content will be on rural areas because it consists of a major chunk of kids population in India. Since Doordarshan is the only channel to have such a wide reach, it is the only capable broadcast channel to make kids content available on a wide scale nationally.
Giving example of his five year old daughter, Gautam Talwar shared that he was not happy with the language children used when exposed to the current content for children. Instead of complaining, he thought of finding a solution, which led him to start a YouTube channel called as Jalebi Street, to offer content based on Indian culture. Children form a formidable personality within the first seven years. “They pick up everything from the environment. What they see and what we show,” explained Talwar, stating a research.
Shukla Das, who spent seven years of her career working in Doordarshan, was asked to revamp the kids programming section when she had joined DD. She created conceptual programming, imbibing values such as friendship, morals and learning from mistakes. “Entertainment is natural to learning,” she believed. Children are the future of civilisation and they need to be exposed to the Indian culture through media. Commercial channels cannot do this because they have to earn money. “Only Doordarshan can do this,” Das firmly said.
Through five years of experience, Shravan Kumar said that children like stories. “Once storytelling is done, kids will automatically engage,” shared Kumar. Values, entertainment and learning can easily be communicated once kids are engaged. He believes that the strength of this medium lies in having “a vast resource of stories”. Hence, contribution to invest in future generations should be the top priority of content creators.
The team at Graphiti are passionate about bringing the dying visual culture to life. Through their upcoming show called YOM, they are trying to bring children in contact with our oldest tradition – yoga. The Jungle Book (1967) was Rajiv Chilaka’s first exposure to animation. Quoting Albert Einstein, he said, “When you tell a fairy tale to kids, their minds expand; once their mind expands, it never goes back to the previous level.”
P Jayakumar believes that unless we mold the kids, we cannot have responsible citizens. Creating the right ecosystem, software and programming are the challenges, and the task has to be taken as a social responsibility.
The Doordarshan team travelled extensively to villages to talk to people. Almost every house had a connection except for one. One house did not have a DD Free Dish and Supriya Sahu enquired why it didn’t. The owner of the house replied that the DD dish provided 80 channels but not a single one for kids. “So when children want to watch something, they have no other option but to subscribe to private services,” Sahu said. “So it makes not only a good business sense for DD to launch a kids channel but also important from the Indian context.”
After GEC (general entertainment channels) and movies, kids is the third most emerging genre in terms of viewership and marketing potential, and considering the fact that most of the leading public broadcasters of the world have a kids channel in their network, DD must forfeit this emerging space.
Sahu assured that at DD, they are working hard to create a dedicated Content Think Tank comprising eminent and experienced personalities to rope in the best content and mentor progression. They are building a lean but highly efficient team of individuals to source content, manage transmission and promote and market the channel. The agenda involves development of 1,000 plus hours of content as per the path which will be laid down by the Content Think Tank.
To shape the young impressionable minds, it is significant to cater to children and their parents more substantially and effectively. Content creators and broadcasters should be motivated from within to provide a platform for kids to be inspired by Indian heroes and ethos. Sahu mentioned that they will also collaborate with National Centre for Animation, Visual Effects and Gaming started by ministry of information and broadcasting.
Sahu also gave insights into their revenue sharing model. They plan to have a strong and attractive digital platform to popularise the content and provide a quick medium for feedback by all stakeholders. This will be driven by innovative marketing and promotional mechanism. For a public broadcasting channel, it is not possible to rope in a lot funds for the launch of a channel. “Since we already have so many content creators, why don’t we have a model where we can share,” she said, implying that content can be provided by the creators and they will provide the broadcasting medium.
“We have digitised our terrestrial network,” announced Sahu. What it means is that viewers will be able to view content on their smartphones without having to consume the internet thus avoiding data costs. They have already done this in 19 cities. “Any smartphone will be able to have Doordarshan channels.”
The enlightening session was followed by a few questions and answers. The impact that Indian culture can have on children through the medium of entertainment cannot be undermined, and Doordarshan taking a lead will only increase the scalability of it. To add to it, animators and artists from the leading studios of India extended support. The panel discussion provided a promise of a great prospects in the kids entertainment segment and we eagerly await for a colossal change to happen!
The post Doordarshan positive about launching a kids channel; experts discuss its need and opportunities appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Mar
23
E08 How to make a bowl of bean sauce noodles with just ONE noodle in office? A super noodle.
Posted in: Animation
How to make a bowl of bean sauce noodles with just ONE noodle in office? Easy-peasy. Want one? hahahha
Miss Xiaoye， a walking recipe from Mars.
facebook▶Miss Xiaoye
Weibo▶办公室小野
Mar
23
Don’t try this at home! The Nitro Chair wasn’t exactly the best idea we’ve ever had but it turned out that I actually don’t like going 300 mph.
Video Owned by: Discovery Channel
Mar
23
By The Name of Boston
Posted in: Animation
William Boston lives in the desert and doesn’t care for many things though he does have one friend, a scorpion named Chester. Written, Directed, Animated, and Narrated By Grant Kolton Sound Design By Ross Kolton Festivals: Monstra Festival of Animation, Lisbon (Best International Short Short Film/Silver Peanut Audience Award) Short, Sweet Film Festival (Best Animated Film) Los Angeles Short Film Festival (Best Screenplay) New York International Children’s Film Festival Anifilm, Trebon Czech Republic Melbourne International Animation Festival Australian International Animation Festival Animation Now! New Zealand British International animation Festival Crossroads Film Festival LA Indie Film Fest Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival Krok International Animation Festival Klik! Amsterdam Animanima International Animation Festival Carousel International du Film de Rimouski Milwuakee Film Festival
Mar
23
The Future of Music
Posted in: Animation
Enter the world of Carré Bleu, an artist and composer who is shaping the music of tomorrow by creating gravity and time defying human instruments. in this surreal pop mockumentary, Carré Bleu opens up about his exclusive music production methods. Making of: https://vimeo.com/157950364 Full track by Polar Youth: https://soundcloud.com/helloplay/polar-youth-searching-free-download © Copyright Hello play! 2016 Website: helloplay.be Facebook: facebook.com/helloplayers Twitter: twitter.com/helloplaybelgiq Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/helloplay – CREDITS: Director: Greg Barth Original Musical Score: Polar Youth Cast: Carré Bleu – Eryl Lloyd Parry, Balloon Popper – Will Vincent, Foam Falling – Lexi Jakk, Vacuum Player – Samuel Franck, Flying Vortex – Yingzhen Liu, Glass Smasher – David Moss, Stair Master – Tobias Rose DoP: Pau Munoz On set VFX Supervisor – Ronen Tanchum Post Production and VR Technology – Phenomena Labs: Effects – Ronen Tanchum Compositor – Tal Baltuch 3D Tracking: Peanut – Amélie Guyot, Peregrine McCafferty Additional VFX UK: Johannes Sambs Gaffer: Max Halstead Art Director: Will Vincent Art Department: Rosalind Gahamire, Isobel Irwin, Lauren Veevers, Juhee Hahm, Clare Lewis, Clarissa Collins Costumes provided by Mai Gidah Additional Costumes: Juhee Hahm Mix and Mastering – Nookaad Productions Produced by Blinkink and Phenomena Labs Agency – DIGIZIK: Producers: Hugo Donkin, Greg Barth Cameras and Lenses generously provided by SeeSense Filmed at Clapham Road Studios Executive Producers: James Stevenson Bretton, Bart Yates
Mar
23
Break Down
Posted in: Animation
Breaking up is hard. Especially with David. Short of the Week – Online Premiere Starring Davey Johnson & Kate Freund Written & Directed by Christopher Winterbauer Produced by Thomas Horton Music & Sound by David Boman
Mar
23
A Mighty Nice Man
Posted in: Animation
Patricia Highsmith’s haunting story of a day in a young girl’s life when a kind stranger comes to town. ‘A Mighty Nice Man’ is this week’s Staff Pick Premiere! Read more about it here: https://vimeo.com/blog/post/staff-pick-premiere-a-mighty-nice-man
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