Hasta La Motion!

It might be just another routine Saturday for a common man, but Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) Banashankari is set to witness an eventful day as its international animation day today!

Yes, you read it right! In case you weren’t aware already, the day of 28 October holds a special significance for all and sundry associated with animation, as International Animation Film Association (ASIFA) proclaimed the global event to celebrate the art of animation.

And MAAC will have a lot of irons in the fire for the day as there’s a host of competitions lined-up for animation gaffes.

Matte painting VFX back-plate recreation, 3D fan art challenge for ‘best weapon’ design; gaming enthusiasts can look forward to mobile game concept design PS and presentation competition, whereas photographers can showcase their photographic skills in the ‘Proud to be Indian’ photography concept. All you have to do is submit a raw image by 2 PM on 28 October.

These events not only provide the participants with a platform to demonstrate their aptitude, but also get recognised with a participation/achievement certificate at the end. Moreover, MAAC also takes the initiative to look into special training on key area where you require to crack the quality benchmark.

Sounds intriguing?

This animation day program by MAAC Banashankari is a great opportunity to hone one’s skills and also testify how well can someone handle a given challenge. And if one is unable to deliver, no worries as the centre will then focus on the areas of improvement by providing special attention.

Now that’s a win-win for a participant!

So if animation is your beat, then participating in these competitions would be the most ideal way to celebrate the same.

The post MAAC Banashankari hosts series of contests to celebrate International Animation Day appeared first on AnimationXpress.

It’s not a common sight to watch kids being pitted against their own parents. The usual lousy, argy-bargies aside, have you ever seen a fierce match-up between two generations of a family?

Brace yourselves, ‘cause the unimaginable is about to happen!

Marvel’s new web series Runaways will see a group of six teenagers trying to throw a spanner in the evil machinations of their parents, who are collectively termed as ‘The Pride’.

Whilst there isn’t any pride in seeing one’s parents hatch a sinister plot, the young adults choose to do what’s right – protect the city; even if it means inadvertently going up against their loved ones.

The official trailer released by Marvel Entertainment gives a glimpse of how the teens from different backgrounds come together after witnessing the shocking reality of their parents. Their lives soon take a nasty turn as strange events transpire wherein they discover some ugly truths, confront deadly villains, and also a hideous monster lurking in the dark.

With Marvel still reeling from the catastrophe of Inhumans, the Runaways look like a relief valve, with an unconventional bunch of protagonists and an interesting narrative cooking a strong build-up in days leading to its premiere.

The series readies for its launch after a production farrago that went on for years, and the maiden season would comprise of 10 episodes.

Based on Runaways comic by Brian Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, Marvel’s new in the line of web series Runaways will premier on Hulu on 21 November 2017.

The post Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ official trailer teases a new generation of saviour appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Animation Screenwriter Vivek Shukla

“Once you are entering into the world of animation then everyday will be animation day.”

This is what India’s leading animation screenwriter Vivek Shukla feels about the beautiful world of animation.He is a freelance screenwriter for animation, live action T.V. shows, feature films and an Indie filmmaker. Known for working for projects like Chimpoo Aur Simpoo (ZeeQ), Akbar Birbal (Discovery Kids),Bunty aur Billi for Toonz Animations (Hungama TV – Disney),Eena Meena Dika for Maya Digital Studios (Hungama TV – Disney),King Vikram for Disney India he is one of the very few writers who are specialised in the art of animation screenwriting in India.

As a person he’s a crazy, creative, charged up and an intellectual  who loves to smile and laugh a lot. Animation Xpress’s Swati Panda spoke to screenwriter Vivek Shukla who unleashed a whole bunch of creative and animated thoughts on International Animation Day

According to Vivek, the definition of animation is liveliness and it covers everything one sees around. To write for animated series,  he used to find innovative techniques like  playing with a pencil to relate to the stories of a pencil and eraser or with a pen and a paper, shoes, bicycle etc. He feels it totally depends on your perspective of seeing these objects and how you experience the liveliness. One can put life in animals or even nonliving objects by imagination. His favourite animated character is Mickey Mouse and he found him a very cute and sweet friend and not a bully.

“Every kid who loves a character whether it is a living or non living thing he wants to connect or relate with it somehow. This is a psychology basically. So when someone connects it has to be friendship between them. And I always  loved Tom, because he was bullied by Jerry all the time “, says Vivek

 Donald Duck  is another of his favourite character and he  was  also fascinated with few Indian animated films for public awareness like  Ek Aur Anekta. Those were days when animation gave the feeling of awe.

“Whatever I used to see as kid, I would also imitate them. I used to love reading comic book and even created my own comic books. I believe that if you love to eat something it is better you learn to cook it. That’s the true love for that thing.”

Writing for animated shows which present the world of kid despite being an adult is quite challenging. Vivek who has a childlike enthusiasm shared added, “To be a child one has to bend, lie down on the floor and see the smallest thing in the world. That’s an exercise. It helps you to bend and see the tiny world around you.”

When he got an opportunity to write for animation then he realised that it his true calling because he felt that he never wanted to write for Saas Bahu shows.

Shukla says, There are two problems in animation screenwriting. One is monetary, other is audience. There is no channelised audience. They are there but we had to find them. Animation had just started in India in the time I started writing. It was very hard. It was like traveling a beautiful journey all alone without money.But I enjoyed the whole process.”

During theatre days, he downloaded the script and started reading it like  a comic book just for curiousity. It taught him how to write,explore and evolve.He is self taught man and never went to any school.

Cinema Paradise is an Italian film which won Oscar for best foreign language film. It keeps on inspiring him and he goes back reading it several times. Its live action film about a kid who wants to be a filmmaker. This film inspired him and he downloaded its script  and it taught him how to write.

Vivek’s journey of animation writing started with Chhota Bheem. He wrote a couple of episodes but he moved on because it was a very format  show, however it was a good learning experience.At that time he came across Disney’s Vikram, Adventures of Bal Hanuman. 

The pressure of time and lack of liberty creates gallows in animation screenwriting process. In animation, it sounds like you can do anything want but it is not like that. There is a process of production where you can’t use more than four moving or animated characters in a frame.

In live action one can write whatever wants and they will easily change it while shooting. In animation one can’t do so. One has to write whatever is going to be seen there. An animation screenwriter can write live action easily but a live action writer has to go through a lot of pain.

Animation screenwriting is one of the most amazing subconscious thing to write. Vivek loves psychology and it is his favourite subject which he uses  in his writing as well. One has to be clever enough to use it as per requirement like a play or a game.

As Vivek  evolved in animation, he found working in animated show Eena Meena Deeka a very tough job to do. It was a chase comedy with no dialogues. One has to write just action and no gags. It has to be funny, out of the box and one has to write the whole script of 7 minutes in not more than two and half pages.

Its like your hands, legs, everything is tied up but one has to jump but still it is a fun and interesting process.Vivek takes around two to three days to develop one episode.

For the animated series, Bunty aur Billy, you will laugh or be surprised to know that Vivek made miniature dolls kind of things for the character. He created a small world as per the details given by the channels and studios.Then he put the character in one room to check if something happens then what is the consequence of the action.

According to him, it shows the animation in front of you it opens the mind. He did that specially for Bunty Aur Billy but he could not do it for Eena Meena Dika because he was one of the writers and had to go there specially and discuss.

For Bunty Aur Billy, the production studio was at Kerala so he got the liberty to do his own experimentation since he was all alone. It was an interesting thing to create a small world in real and moving them in his house. People at his house started calling him crazy and that he’s  behaving like a kid but it worked that way.

Chocolate World was a story for Chhota Bheem series and it was in his mind since childhood. He got inspiration from the film Chota Chetan. In a song the kids jump into a huge cup of vanilla icecream and dip in it and eat it. He wanted to do something like this since childhood. The makers of Chota Bheem congratulated him saying even the makers could not think about it.

Bal Hanuman was a corporate product with dos and donts and had less liberty for a writer. They used to give him a list of monsters. What kind of monsters Bal Hanuman can beat and these kind of stuffs. If one is choosing something like that where one knows what is going to happen next then there is no fun in writing.

For King Vikram he got a lot of liberty to think, because he told them clearly that he needs liberty to imagine. Here he got that liberty.

Animation Industry is evolving because now everyone can see easily available content on the phone. There is a huge market and there are very few writers across the sea. It has to be channelised. People are still not aware of what to do and what not to do to get into this field. Vivek feels that it will take time for people have to come forward to make their own IPs though the process has already started.

Currently, he has started his own organisation called “Ka Kha Ga” which is an interactive writing therapy where he teaches normal as well as dyslexic and blind kids how to write stories without pen and paper using imagination with other senses like touch, smell, sound. He is also developing  a new show which has not been named yet. It is about a princess Ananya who has a big palace that is magical with lots of ancient mysteries around us.

This is Vivek Shukla’s mantra for budding animation screenwriter-“Be more  crazy, talk to shoes, animals, non living things. You will get a story.”

Ka Kha Ga

The post Every day is animation day for animation screenwriter Vivek Shukla appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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