Jun 17

VFX ushering the new era of Content Licensing industry in India!

Posted in: Animation

The Market

Indian animation industry continues to gain momentum and gradually started hobnobbing with global counterparts. Visual Effects (VFX) is turning out to be one of the biggest catalysts pushing and spearheading animation and digital gaming industry in India. Moreover, recent advancements in Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR) is further catapulting unprecedented growth in this segment.

As per the industry report, the animation and VFX industry across the country had a market size of around 73.9 billion INR in the financial year 2018, up from about 46.5 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2015. The market size of the industry was projected to be around 151.8 billion rupees in financial year 2023. (Source: Statista.com). In fact, VFX is touted to be one of the most promising industries in terms of employment generation in the time to come.

The challenges

Alike to any emerging sector, Indian VFX and animation industry too has its own set of challenges. Though, the challenges are many, but the absence of legal structure is the biggest concern. Few Indian states including like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana have started becoming vocal about standard regulators including content, price and policy regulation. Piracy is yet another factor which is hampering the growth of media and entertainment industry in India. Moreover, there are hardly few media agencies which are exclusive to Indian VFX and animation industry.

Animation Xpress is one such player, which has served as the nucleus of the Indian animation, VFX, gaming and comics industry online, since its inception. The company has also organised many industry conferences and have media partnered almost everyone in the animation,VFX, gaming and comic events all over the world for the past several years, Animation Xpress is in the midst of a transformation that will add immensely useful engines and features and revolutionise the way B2B happens online in the space globally.

Content Licensing

Internationally, content licensing is a very mature market where broadcasters do collaborations with animation studios for original content- for example, Sonic and Nick for animated cartoons. The trend has just started in India, primarily due to OTT content providers such as Amazon Prime and Netflix which have started signing exclusive content licensing deals with various studios in India. Moreover, the rapid growth in digital space, the industry has witnessed the demand Indian kids’ exclusive content channels such as ChuChu TV, CVS 3D Rhyme on YouTube, around which licensing programme can be developed.

Indian Licensing Expo (ILE) 2019

ILE 2019 is one stop destination to meet top notch animation, VFX, gaming and character IPs. License India, India’s largest and most influential media servicing body is the organising body of ILE 2019 powered by The Economics Times. Animation Xpress is one of the leading supporting partners of ILE 2019.

ILE 2019 is divided into two parts including Labels Conference on day one of the show which will culminate into Labels Awards celebrating the heroes of brand licensing industry. The other part is exhibition arena, which will see the participation from heavy weight licensee and licensor community including TOI – Femina Flaunt, Viacom 18, Shemaroo, Green Gold, DQ Entertainment, Baileys amongst others.

Learn More: India Licensing Expo 2019

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Jun 17

Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans team deliver creative keynote at the Children’s Media Conference 2019

Posted in: Animation

Ahead of the cinema release of Horrible Histories: Movie – Rotten Romans, key creatives behind one of the most popular franchises in family entertainment take to the stage on 3 July for the creative keynote at this year’s Children’s Media Conference (CMC), which takes place from 2-4 July in Sheffield.

In a very special creative keynote, producer/writers Caroline Norris and Giles Pilbrow, director Dominic Brigstocke and original book-series author Terry Deary will reveal the secrets to creating kids’ comedy that parents love, how they made learning such a laugh, and the challenges they faced taking the funniest franchise in history on its biggest outing to date. Broadcaster and film critic (and self-confessed huge Horrible Histories fan) Rhianna Dhillon will host the panel.

First Horrible Histories conquered children’s books, with global sales topping 32 million. Then it revolutionised children’s TV comedy, with a multiple BAFTA, RTS, and British Comedy Award winning BBC series. This summer it storms the big screen in a major new family feature film, with a cast including newcomers Sebastian Croft and Emilia Jones, alongside celebrated performers Nick Frost (Fighting with my Family, Hot Fuzz), Kim Cattrall (Tell Me a Story, Sex and the City), Kate Nash (GLOW), and Sir Derek Jacobi (Tolkien, Last Tango in Halifax). Horrible Histories: Movie – Rotten Romans will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland by Altitude on 26 July.

CMC editorial director Greg Childs says, “As Horrible Histories conquers the world and transforms once again to a big-screen brand, we thought it time for CMC to celebrate that phenomenal success. Past creative keynotes at CMC have explored how a single creative genius finds their inspiration and translates that to the page, stage or screen. This year we’ll consider how the collective genius which is the Horrible Histories brand maintains its mojo and continues to make millions of kids worldwide laugh – and learn.”

The creative keynote will complement this year’s opening keynote on 2 July which will see writer and presenter Nadiya Hussain interviewed by Newsround presenter Leah Boleto.

Hussain’s keynote interview comes as part of this year’s overall theme of Limitless and will explore what kids’ media can do to support the limitless curiosity, imaginations and entertainment appetite of children, while making sense of the near-limitless choice and connectivity available to them. The conference will offer visitors a no-limits exploration of the unprecedented changes facing the industry, including new players and new funding models, new thinking on inclusivity and engagement, and pan-platform brands with limitless ambitions to connect with kids.

Highlights from this year’s conference include: The YACF – A User’s Guide, an insight into the brand new Young Audiences Content Fund pilot (supported by the UK Government and administered by the BFI), which is dedicated to supporting the development and production of public-service programming of all genres and techniques for children and teens up to the age of 18. In this invaluable and unmissable session, fund execs Harriet Williams and John Knowles and head of fund, Jackie Edwards will lay out the intentions and importance of the fund, discuss the story so far and offer sage advice that may be of very practical assistance with applications. Following the session, the YACF team will also host a surgery (part of the CMC speed meetings programme) accompanied by Andy Wright and Christopher Halliday from the certification unit at the BFI, where the team will offer advice and guidance on applications and criteria for the creative industry tax reliefs, including the reliefs for Children’s Television and Animation.

In addition, Harriet, Knowles and Edwards will be attending the International Exchange at CMC, where they will be talking to delegates in more detail about eligibility and suitability for the Fund.

The conference will showcase creative masterclasses on Clangers and Paddington; Stream If You Want to Go Faster, will decode the SVoDs with in-depth research insights; Going Global, looks at internationalising UK children’s learning content, and Are the Robots Coming For Our Children promises to be a lively debate on the advances in AI and the implications for how our children will interface with technology.

The conference, now in its 16th year, expects to welcome more than 1,200 delegates, kicking off with the annual market day, the CMC International Exchange on 2 July which plays host to a wide range of broadcasters, co-producers, funders and investors from across the world keen to meet sellers of content and services.

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Jun 17

Paytm rebrands its gaming platform Gamepind as FirstGames

Posted in: Animation

Paytm is rebranding its gaming platform Gamepind as First-Games. The platform has claimed to have acquired over 30 million registered users since its launch in February 2018.

Earlier during the launch of the Gamepind Paytm said that the revised Gamepind would complement its ecosystem by enhancing its customer experience through a portfolio of games and entertainment content including casual games, contests and sports games, combined with its shopping experience. Gamepind would also act like a marketing and promotional platform for merchants, the company said in a statement.

With over 300 games and quizzes for gaming enthusiasts, the company is clocking a run rate Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of Rs 20 crore monthly, it said.

The fintech firm is also looking to raise $30 million to expand its gaming platform and scale it with more games, as per people familiar with the matter. Players can win Paytm cash, movie tickets, flight tickets, and physical goods such as two-wheelers, as per firm’s blog post.

The platform has also launched a fantasy cricket game, Paytm First Captains, in May, which aims to attract more than a million gamers during the ongoing Cricket World Cup. It has grown five times this month on the back of the global cricket event, the company claimed.

Further, the company aims to clock a GMV of $4-5 million during the world cup. The gaming sector is abuzz with investments and new launches, according to experts tracking this space.

 

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Jun 17

‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’: VFX fuses aesthetically glossed character design and mythology

Posted in: Animation

It can’t just look like big dinosaurs. Jurassic Park has that covered. These have to be distinct. They have to be their own thing. They’re Titans.
-Michael Dougherty

Directed by Michael Dougherty and written by Dougherty, Zach Shields, and Max Borenstein with budget $170–200 million, Godzilla: King of the Monsters has crossed $339.5 million worldwide. Setting the VFX scenario on a whole new level, the monster movie from the Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ takes the viewers for an adventurous ride into the history of Titans through the realm of enchantments and mythical creatures.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.

MPC Film was the lead VFX studio for  Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In a candid conversation with AnimationXpress, VFX Supervisors, Guillaume Rocheron talked us through the process of how he approached the mammoth project.

He revealed that the said movie contained about a total of 1535 VFX shots worked upon by as many as 1500 VFX artists from their studio itself. Rocheron was also involved in Gareth Edward’s 2014 Godzilla which is why Legendary invited him to meet with the director Michael Dougherty for this project.

The film reclassifies the monsters’ designation from MUTOs to Titans. For the monsters, Dougherty wanted their designs to emit a godly presence and evoke a sense of worship, where the primitive man saw these creatures and wanted to give them a presence which would make him drop to his knees and bow to this god.

The director instructed the designers to look at the original designs from every era and distil those silhouettes and those key traits into something more modern. It was important for the director that the Titans were not just simply treated as monsters but a very large animal with a distinct thought process.

When the VFX supervisor was first approached for the project, his initial focus was “how to showcase the creature’s personalities without them ever feeling like a cartoon or over-animated. Mike Dougherty, the director, really wanted to showcase these creatures as ancient gods – mythological creatures,” said Rocheron.


The design of the creature Godzilla contains a lot of intricacies including the spikes, the membrane and so on. To design each element and adhere to one single shot is always challenging.  However, in this movie, there were other mythological characters like Ghidorah, Rodans, Mothra and those character designs for the movie scaled up to a new level.

Upon being asked as to how he dealt with those character designs he replied, “We always try to use natural and real-world references, even though those creatures are fantastical. Godzilla’s details are inspired by lizards, crocodile and Komodo dragons. Ghidorah is mostly inspired by snakes, as we didn’t want him to feel like a western dragon. We looked at vultures and eagles for Rodan, whereas Mothra is a mix of moth, wasps and praying mantis to try to give her aggressive and feminine lines.”

Not only the appearance of the characters is important but also to add life with their behaviours and movements is equally very crucial. “Regarding their behaviour and animation, we again used a lot of animals as references. Bears for Godzilla and wolf packs to animate Ghidorah’s different heads. We also captured human performers as a reference in order to help the animators craft and shape the personality of the creatures,” he added.

The movie has amazing extraordinary backdrops with mythical creatures. The reason behind was that the director of the movie wanted to incorporate the titans as the civilisation of ancient mythical creatures, who have forgotten gods from the ancient civilisation. To visually structure the thought process of the director, MPC took the inspiration of Renaissance paintings of Greek mythology to design many of their shots in the movie.

Given the enormous scale of the project, he ensured that everything panned out smoothly by constantly communicating with the director, the editors and all the visual effects facilities working on the film.

The movie is entrenched in VFX and thus according to the supervisor, “Each sequence presented a unique challenge because of their drastically different environments and moods. A lot of shot design work went into making graphics and iconic frames.”

In terms of the creature’s scale and challenges, “each shot would always require a tremendous amount of FX interactive elements between the creature, their environment and the natural elements such as rain and snow. We often used FX elements to show their relationship to gravity, which is a great visual indicator of scale but that also meant a lot of FX layers in every single shot,” added him.

Hence it was difficult for the supervisor to choose a particular sequence because “so much of the movie has some sort of VFX component to it, from the creatures to the environments such as a giant ice cave, Antarctica or an underwater sunken city,” he added.


 For the movie, every studio has used a different mixture of software, along with a bunch of custom tools as well. According to him, it is generally a combination of Maya, Nuke and then RenderMan or Arnold for rendering.

However, when we asked him about his best memory from the movie he said “Seeing the first assembly of a Godzilla close up, when he is outside over the ocean, in front of the submarine. We did these shots early on as they were our benchmark to create subtle but convincing performances. We knew we were in a good place once we saw it working.”

Overall the movie VFX is overwhelming and the response from the audience also lives up to the expectation thus Legendary plans to create a shared cinematic franchise centred around Monarch which will bring together Godzilla and Legendary’s King Kong in an ecosystem of other giant super-species, both classic and new.

Godzilla vs. Kong is scheduled for release on 13 March  2020.

Although there isn’t any information as who will be supervising the VFX of the said project we are certain that MPC would be the most suited candidate to be tasked with the job. We will keep you updated on further development.

 

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Jun 17

Waste’s 3D animation film, ‘The Anniversary Crab’ depicts the end of the robot beast of ‘Boom Beach’

Posted in: Animation

Remember Boom Beach? Supercell’s globally popular mobile strategy games set in a fantasy tropical archipelago? In the game, players had to fight against an evil foe known as the Blackguard, daily, and every month they confronted the Blackguard’s gargantuan robot beast, the Mega Crab.

To celebrate the end of a year-long animation campaign for Boom Beach, Waste, an independent digital creative agency, has created a rich 3D animation film/clip for The Anniversary Crab that weaved all their previous animations into a rich underwater scene – while playing out in reverse.

Launched in late May, the film shows the giant mechanical Mega Crab being destroyed at the very beginning of the film. The rest of the film is then played out in reverse, as the giant monthly big boss sinks down onto the seabed.

Talking to Animation Xpress, Waste motion director Alex Robinson revealed, “The reverse animation symbolised the end of the cycle of the Mega Crab series. We felt it was an interesting storytelling device that immediately offered something unexpected. To round off our Mega Crab series, we decided to celebrate the videos we had created throughout the year, replaying each one in reverse in a montage.”

The animation was created using 3D Studio Max, Phoenix FD and composited in Adobe After Effects. With a tight deadline, the team worked fast- from scripting, storyboarding, wireframing and delivering the final film in seven weeks.

Robinson added, “The Anniversary Crab was a pretty amazing achievement to turn around in just seven weeks. Our 3D animator and lead motion graphics designer Chip Allcott, might be seeing water simulations for weeks to come, but the level of detail we achieved really paid off. I’m incredibly proud of the work everyone put in here at Waste the perfect end to this cycle of Mega Crabs.”

This film marks the last animation in this cycle of in-game events, and forms part of a series that has delivered a very different Mega Crab film each month, with rich animations that shows a level of stylised craft not seen before on their channels. From binaural sound design to rich 3D environments; from flat 2D illustrations to Chinese calligraphy and ink bleeds; even 8-BIT style animations, each Mega Crab film/clip depicted specific Mega Crab theme of the month.

Waste associate creative director Benny Bentham mentioned, “The Anniversary Crab gave us the ideal platform to celebrate the huge variety of art direction styles we’ve explored over the last ten months for Boom Beach. With a film that shows craft, storytelling and technical skills all working together seamlessly and adds to a rich body of work, we’re all really proud of as an agency.”

Founded 12 years ago, Waste has offices in London and Los Angeles, with 60 specialists covering strategy, creative, social/web content, advertising, digital experiential, DOOH, UX and SEO. As an agency, they believe in expertise and a no-fuss attitude and call this approach – Maximum Digital. Minimum Nonsense. Besides Robinson, Bentham and Alcott the creative team that worked on The Anniversary Crab are creative director Louis Clement and art director Stefano Perelli. 

Their client list includes Supercell, Nintendo, Sega, Warner Brothers, Turner, Ubisoft,  Badoo, lottery brand Camelot and media brand family Oath. The agency also provides digital leadership for energy market leaders Centrica, covering British Gas, Hive, Dyno and Direct Energy.

Being asked about how the idea came alive from script to screen, Robinson informed, “Once we had our idea, we wrote the script, developed a mood-board and defined the colour palette and mood of the film. The next phase involved creating style frames for a key scene, which we created in 3DS Max and composited in Photoshop. After that, we moved straight into storyboarding and shot selection. The storyboards are then turned into a boardomatic. This part of the process allowed us to map out the pace of the film onto a timeline using the storyboard frames that we can then pass onto the animator as a guide for the wire frame animatic. This process are vital to defining the story and making it clear to the client exactly what we are going to do. The wireframe animatic is probably the most important part of the process. The animator created all the scenes- the camera moves, the animation, with oversight from the writer, art director and motion director. Once this has been agreed, we then move into lighting each shot. Characters and backgrounds were modelled in 3D, then seamlessly merged them together. Then every frame was printed out and stop-motion animated. The paper was ripped for a handmade aesthetic – pushing the game assets in a completely different direction.”

Waste achieved the final part of the process which is compositing, through Adobe After Effects. “Using all the passed rendered from 3DS Max, we pieced the entire film together, scene by scene, like a jigsaw puzzle. This is also the stage where the water was brought to life using Trapcode Shine and bubble simulations. The water takes time to simulate, but really adds that final polish. Then we rendered it and made sure there aren’t any bugs before delivering it to the wider world,” Robinson noted.

The creative agency recreated the in-game assets with a new 1940s propaganda art direction, designing and painting elements and assets in 2D. Their brief at Waste was to excite players about the arrival of this iconic foe, so they created a cinematic, dramatic and super stylised concept that surely attracts eyeballs and fulfills its purpose.

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Jun 17

Jerry Liu: A motion designer’s motion designer

Posted in: Animation

In this Motionographer Q&A, we chat with the one and only Jerry Liu and take a look at his amazing new film “What is a Blockchain Game?”.

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Jun 16

ABAI President and GAFX 2019 programming curator Biren Ghose discusses the significance of the upcoming summit

Posted in: Animation

Aswirl with the buzz and excitement around the Bengaluru GAFX 2019, the AVGC (Animation, VFX, Gaming and Comics) milieu can’t wait to jet it down at the city of Bengaluru to witness the superlative summit. Replete with requisite resources and offerings, Bengaluru GAFX 2019 is set to explore the artistry advanced by a variety of storytellers.

ABAI President and the Curator of Programming for GAFX 2019, Biren Ghose.

In order to understand as to what really is at the heart of the summit, Animation Xpress interviewed ABAI President and the Curator of Programming for GAFX 2019, Biren Ghose, while he was at Annecy 2019 the world’s largest animation competition and festival.

What’s the big idea at this GAFX?

This year GAFX will focus on the creative and give more prominence to the amazing imagery that is created by studios right here in Bangalore and in India and across the world leveraging the creative and technical resources from India.

What’s on the show when it comes to VFX?

There is “award-winning”  VFX done with the likes of Sir Ridley Scott – Work by over half a dozen of the most amazing brands around India – studios that are winning awards and projects like

never before!

How do you say that GAFX  brings India to the world?

India is rapidly becoming a global hub for the production of content and is making great strides into the development of IP for film and TV. The community is young and hungry to see what the world produces and showcase its own state of the industry. Many of the best speakers from across the creative pantheon have been to GAFX before and showcased the best of the best work that has won Oscars and VES awards and Cannes Golds’ etc. This year is even more spectacular and you will see how the art form has progressed! you will.

Bengaluru GAFX 2019

What’s special when it comes to animation?

Animation is a medium of filmmaking that continues to evolve at a pace faster than anything else! Also it’s progress informs the imagery for games, AR, VR, and all the emerging formats! We have the best of the best from India and abroad at this event! Screenings of films never been shown outside a theatre. Chotta Bheem King Fu Dhamaka and Krish Trish & Baltibay from Graphiti – shows that are now being picked up by the likes of Netflix and other contemporary platforms.

Is it true that Indian animation and VFX has made great progress?

India is the largest producer of feature films in the world. With the recent trend of mega-budget productions with heavily loaded Animation and VFX picking momentum, Producers who want to get the latest style of VFX or Animation have to go to other locations like L.A, London or New Zealand. This was partly due to the fact, the latest facilities required for the high-quality output was not available in India. Not anymore.

We’ve broken through the mindsets of movie makers everywhere and it is now not a secret that India is at a world-class level when it comes to the top studios in Bangalore and other locations. We’ve demonstrated to the world majors and others that quality and scale is possible across the value chain in animation, games, and VFX.

What local content are you showing?

Over 30-50% of all the content being showcased comes out of master-creatives and their work is done in India but never presented before! Also, every speaker and session either represent India or showcases work that is created in India except the around the world sessions showcasing and benchmarking the boundaries we must explore!

Many local studios have been doing great work around the world? Is Gafx going to show any of this work?

YES! D Neg; Studio 88; DQ; Toonz; and significantly from Bangalore MPC Film, Rockstar Games, MPC Advertising, The Mill, Mr. X, Mill Film and Technicolor Animation & Games.

Games is reportedly the fastest growing segment globally. Is there any spotlight on games?

I know many of you would have played EA’s console game FIFA, then you should know that for the last 8 -9 years the animation art for FIFA has been produced at Technicolor India in Bangalore and our artists know every stadium, every blade of grass, & we love it when people change their hairstyles or teams get a new logo on their shirt because it’s more work and more business for us.

In the four years for Rockstar that started with 20 -30 people and eventually had their own company in India, it’s incredible that they are sponsors of GAFX as well and have delivered the biggest AAA titles and they have a studio of over 600 people!

Similarly, Ubisoft will represent some amazing work they have produced for the world out of their Pune and Mumbai studios.

When it comes to original content development what is the state of the art and how will Gafx throw light on this?

The Karnataka government’s efforts to produce the intellectual property in India has reaped rich rewards – the Elevate and B2B events have taken almost a dozen projects to the world stage. These will be featured at GAFX and will inspire many young people to come forward in this journey…..

Anything that’s very special to you about GAFX 2019!

We are bringing over 650 young aspiring artists from all over Karnataka and will be exposing them to the best of the best in the world – we expect that some of them will one day be in this stage with award-winning content! This is an extension of our Digital Arts Center programme that celebrates 5 years and is a partnership between ABAI and the Government of Karnataka’s KITS.

What connections does GAFX seek to make with global organisations?

We at ABAI are pioneering the “women in animation” theme and are seeking to extend our alliance with the global WIA organisation; we are specially premiering the SIGGRAPH ASIA EXHIBITION – this is a specially-paid entry at their event. Also we are screening the Best Of Annecy both the competition winners and Annexy Kids which will give everyone a taste of what a sterling jury considers the world’s best films in the past 12 months! There will also be a special screening of Graphiti Multimedia’s ‘Krish Trish and Baltiboy’

 

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Jun 14

Bengaluru GAFX 2019’s offering ‘The Sketchbook’ invites experts to shed light on their craft

Posted in: Animation

With each passing day, Bengaluru GAFX 2019’s expanding list of offerings sets the landscape abuzz. Their latest offering, The Sketchbook, a space that sees the intersection of some of the best talents in India shedding light on their wishes, formulas, recipes and confessions through sketches and a breadcrumb trail of their artistic evolution, is decked up to be an immensely stimulating event for the attendees and students alike.

The Sketchbook

An ode to that god,
much forgotten!
Times when they presence matters the most.
Here we gather, an ensemble in celebration….
All Hail the real force of nature – Imagination!
– Manoj A Menon

The Sketchbook comprises of carefully curated artists handpicked for their unique artistic personalities. They are independent creators of content, independent animation filmmakers and illustrators mixed with art directors and principal artists from Top Studios and Gaming companies. The one thing that is common to all is The Sketchbook. It is here that their ideas are born, incubated and nourished before it takes shape on a larger canvas.

In the Clay Garden

The summit is aiming a higher benchmark by flying down such an eclectic array of artists for Sketchbook from different walks of life. The collective brushstrokes is likely to invigorate the spirit of GAFX 2019, setting that bar high on creative summits in the country.

Sketchbook

Curated by PC Vikram and jointly hosted by Manjor A Menon, Venugopal G and BN Vichar, Sketchbook will bring a list of artists from the creative turf. Anand RK, Saumin S Patel, Ratheesh K, Kandha Swamy, Somnath Pal, Vijay Arumugam, Senthil Kumar, Hrishi M Sagari, MK Lathish Kumar, Rajesh PK, Abhishek Kesarkar, Rohan Baikar,
Vajra Pancharia, Prathiksha Bhat, Sri Priyatham, Sanjana Desai, Anandhasai, Shyam Deshpande, Leonard Beltrar, Felix Jackson, Rahul Philip, Ayan Choudary, Bala Sutar, Rajesh K, Pankaj Bafila, Lilian D’Mello, Tarun Kumar are some of the names that will be gracing the event.

Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to share a space with so many of the creative stalwarts. We shall keep you updated on further development.

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Jun 14

DHX Media and Mattel assents ‘Polly Pocket’ season two

Posted in: Animation

DHX Media and Mattel have announced to have greenlit a 26-episode second season of Polly Pocket, the animated series based on Mattel’s original micro-scale doll brand. In addition, Universal Kids, has picked up both seasons, and will begin airing season one in the U.S. this summer.

In the new Polly Pocket series, Polly inherits a magic locket that gives her the power to shrink to four inches tall. Now equipped with Tiny Power, Polly leads her friends Shani and Lila on tiny adventures that lead to big fun!

Season two brings a brand-new format (26 x 11’) where like Polly herself, shorter stories are packed full of even bigger laughs as Polly takes Tiny Power and her newfound tinier Micro Power to the next level. With her best friends and Grandma Pocket by her side, there’s no dream too big, no adventure too small for Polly Pocket!

DHX Media president Josh Scherba said, “This sale to Universal Kids builds on the big success we’ve seen from little Polly Pocket, with over twenty broadcasters and streamers worldwide picking up season one to date. The series is introducing a new generation of kids around the world to this much-loved Mattel brand, and the creative teams at our Vancouver studio are excited to delight fans further with more magical adventures from Polly and her friends in season two.”

In 2018, Mattel relaunched Polly Pocket toys, featuring the original micro-scale size and compacts that made Polly a phenomenon in the 1990s. The beloved brand has sold more than 10 million compacts throughout the years, and the new product line nods to the brand’s heritage and surprise factor, while reflecting the updated look of the characters and animated series.

“Polly Pocket is an iconic heritage IP from Mattel that resonates with both kids and their parents. The brand delivers strong results on shelf and on screens, and we are delighted with the reception from our best-in-class broadcast partners globally, which makes the greenlight of the second series very exciting,” said Mattel Content Distribution and Business Development SVP Fred Soulie.

The creation of the Polly Pocket animated series is part of a co-development, production, distribution and licensing deal between DHX Media and Mattel for new original content inspired by celebrated Mattel properties. In addition to Polly Pocket, new animated series from the collaboration include Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam and Little People.

Other new season one deals include Hulu (U.S.), Videotron (French Canada); Super RTL (Germany); and HBO Europe (Portugal). These add to previously announced broadcasters: DHX Television’s Family Channel and Family Jr (Canada); Sony Pictures Television’s POP channel (U.K.); RTL Telekids (Netherlands); Kidzone TV (Baltics); Lagardère’s Gulli and TiJi (France), Gulli AFRICA (22 African-French speaking countries) and Gulli Girl (Russia); teleTOON+ (Poland); AMC Minimax (Eastern Europe); vtmkzoom (Belgium); Canal Panda (Portugal); Turner (Italy, Middle East, Turkey and Greece); Star Channel (Greece); kidZ (Israel); SABC (South Africa); and Discovery Kids (Latin America).

Polly Pocket is produced at DHX Media’s Vancouver studio with Shea Fontana (DC Super Hero Girls, Doc McStuffins) as the story editor.

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Jun 14

Indian VFX studio ‘Labyrinth Cinematic Solutions’ plays a key role in the VFX of latest Hollywood flick ‘John Wick 3’.

Posted in: Animation

The John Wick franchise has earned a cult following over the years owing to its power-packed VFX-rich action and thrill. Even before the release of the movie, social media had been set awhirl with the leaked footage of Keanu Reeves firing bullets while riding horseback on the sets of John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. The movie managed to dethrone Avengers Endgame with 57 million dollars, surpassing the box office numbers.

A franchise like John Wick automatically presupposes a great deal of visual effects work, given the action-packed sequences and stunning imagery that have become the trademark feature of the franchise.

Like previous iterations, this movie is just as replete with VFX and this time Labyrinth studio, a VFX studio from India also has played a substantial role in creating the stunning imagery. It is perhaps the first time that an Indian VFX studio has been involved in a neo-noir action thriller like John Wick.

We spoke to the VFX supervisor of Labyrinth studios to get insight into the scenes of the movie and how they managed to create the breathtaking imagery in the actioner.

 John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum


John Wick is a popular franchise that has built and earned quite a reputation for its action-packed imagery. We are pleased to learn that an Indian VFX studio has been involved in deploying a substantial number of VFX shots. Could you talk to us through the process?

It felt like quite an honour to get the call for this one as all of us loved the franchise and we were really excited to come on board for one of the most awaited films of the year. We had numerous calls with the VFX supervisor to understand their vision and their expectations. Our meetings with the producer & VFX supervisor had really helped us in gaining their confidence and entrusting us with the most crucial climax sequences. We were constantly in touch with them.

How many people worked on this project from your studio?

We had a dedicated team of about 60 artists on this project. Mix of 2D & 3D.

How many shots were delivered from your end?

Let’s not disclose the number.

How much time did it take for your studio?

We came on board from Dec 2018 onwards.

Action Sequence

 

The movie is making massive waves across the globe. Any special VFX techniques or software you made use of to deliver the shots?

John Wick is known for its action and it’s getting bigger and better with every franchise. Seamless use of VFX has made it possible for everything to look natural and organic. We were assigned a couple of key action sequences like the Bike Chase on the bridge and Horse sequence in Manhattan. We followed the director’s mandate to perfectly blend the VFX components with the high intensity of the live action shots. Along with these we also had tremendous 3D input in the film. It’s best to see Chapter 3 and enjoy the action-packed experience. 

Considering your body of work, you have also worked with OTT giants like Netflix. Would it be too bullish to say that the advent of OTT platforms has given way to high-quality VFX content from India given the fact that Netflix is big on shelling out budgets?

There is certainly a LOT happening in the Indian OTT media and entertainment space. In India, we have the big global players producing out of here, as well as many domestic ones. However, VFX hasn’t played too large a role in any shows that have been made so far out of India… Compared to say a Lost in Space, which we worked extensively… Or A Series of Unfortunate Events which we also did… Both produced by Netflix in the US….compared to those Indian OTT platforms have not bet big on VFX-driven content yet but we are sure it is only a matter of time before it happens…

What message would you like to give to the budding VFX artists and aspirants who wish to work with studios like yours in the future?

Our journey has been exciting and there are some great projects coming out from Labyrinth very soon. As an organisation, we take pride in our projects and we know that great work is only possible with a great team of like-minded people. Anyone who wants to work with Labyrinth should be onboard with this work ethic first and foremost.

Our advice to young artists would be to spend time in getting their basics right before they jump into the field. India has been projected as a major player in the entertainment sector and there are exciting times ahead for all of us.

It’s always reaffirming to hear when Indian VFX studios are involved in the creation of world-class imagery. We hope to see more Indian names rolling up in the credits of movies, contributing to the VFX scene worldwide.

The post Indian VFX studio ‘Labyrinth Cinematic Solutions’ plays a key role in the VFX of latest Hollywood flick ‘John Wick 3’. appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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