After Studio’s artistry in TVC content is sprucing up the VFX scenario

The visual effects industry in India has recorded an unprecedented growth over the years. While mainstream movies have made extensive use of VFX, shortfilms, OTT content and TVC’s seem to be catching up at an unbelievable pace. It is interesting to note that the maximum amount of content that we consume in this day and age is invariably enriched with VFX.

We paid a visit to one of the hottest Indian VFX studios, After Studio and discovered that VFX content is not just limited to silver screen. Today, it has expanded to a wide array of projects across the content spectrum in view of the digital age that has provided a  fillip to the demand for picturesque visuals.

After Studio has done tons of projects for both OTT and TVCs. So we were curious to know the difference between work for TVCs, short films and OTT content and the movies?

In conversation with AnimationXpress After Studio technical head Kayash Khan shared, “these are what we call as daily-drivers and are really necessary for us to maintain reality with the current trends in the industry. These projects which generally have shoe-string budgets helps us evolve our workflow on a regular basis. We like to think of them as 20-20 cricket matches without the budgetary benifits. This, in a way prepares us to work better and with more efficiency for bigger projects.”

It is obvious that with the diverse content requirements, there are differences in the workflow. At After studio, they have different team members and strategies for TVCs, OTT content aimed at maintaining different workflow. Khan expressed “Since TVC’s are short-sprinted, the team is usually a bunch of expert generalists who can do a bit of every everything. Although this team is smaller in number, they develop as a team much faster and there is greater transparency which helps them fail fast and mature even faster. On the other side teams for movies are broken-down into departments where there are experts in every department to cater specific requests. Fine details cannot be missed in such projects which is why there is a huge demand to better the workflow for such projects.“

Here is one of the exaple of their TVC projects:

There are various trends in the TVC sector . Khan stressed on the adaptation of an ACES-based workflow for colour grading and VFX which is one such example where it diminishes the gap between the pre-production and post-production process in any and every workflow. According to Khan there are lots of challenges as well that they face when creating VFX content in TVCs for the brands this includes “shoe-string budgets, maddening man-days, rapid technological changes (both hardware and software) and lesser time to re-skill with constant on-going projects, shifting creative goals/ changes, providing tech-support to the artists, being confident that we can deliver a large quantity of work at a high level of quality quickly and lastly clear descriptions of what exactly would be required in the final shot.”

The OTT Gold Rush is real and we were curious to know how after studio is managing the workflow for OTT platform, TVC, movies and others. Expanding on the same tangent, he reveals that the TV side is rapidly changing and there are shorter schedules but still demand for highest quality possible.” This can be a tricky thing to manage especially with the usual challenges that VFX studios already face. Also, since the work is packaged in various studios at once therefore, collaborating work with other vendors has become crucial. He says “we are currently building our pipeline from the group-up so that we can perfect this to a maximum degree.”

After Studio currently has 250 employees working on various projects this includes both movies and OTT content as well. Some of the big contents in which they are currently working on are Street Dancer, Laxmi Bomb, Sorarai Potru (Tamil movie), Vijeta (Marathi movie), Teri meri heri pheriya ( Punjabi movie), Criminal justice season 2 (Hotstar -DI), Hotstages season 2 (Hotstar DI and VFX).

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Ice Media Lab’s bengali animated short, ‘Lyaad’ truly depicts why it’s the best boon a bong can get!

If one asks me, what would give a true-blooded bong solace apart from Mutton Biryani and ‘Bhaat Ghum’, my answer would definitely be ‘lyaad khawa’. Being a resident of eastern and sweeter region of India, we tend to ‘eat’ everything – from water to cigarettes to even lyaad. 

Lyaad is an emotion for Bongs, and it probably just got portrayed on screen beautifully in the musical animated short film, Lyaad produced by Ice Media Lab, a digital first content shop working with vernacular languages stories. Clearly, its tagline is a big win and resonates so well with the bengalis –  Lyaad : The best boon a bong can get!

Lyaad, a verb, means “doing nothing” and being in a voluntary slumber-state. It is a way of doing nothing effortlessly, yet never feeling bad about it. This film also marks acclaimed Bengali actor Ritwick Chakraborty’s foray into animation. Chakraborty has been the protagonist of three national award-winning films in three consecutive years. 

Helmed by notable national award filmmaker Pradipta Bhattacharya, Lyaad is a musical journey of a man, Kinkar, who’s bogged down with the corporate workload, courtesy his boss who’s no less than a devil and an ever-demanding wife. Stressed personally and professionally, he looks for some solace in an unlikely ally. Raja Da, the king of ghosts (Bhooter Raja) appears to give Kinkar the boon of ‘lyaad’ that’s missing from his life and what follows is a hilarious roller coaster of an epic slumber and a trip to fantasyland!  

The concept of Lyaad stemmed out over a lazy Sunday afternoon skype ‘adda’ between a Bengali tech geek Shankar Seal in Seattle and his musician friend Anirban Ajoy Das in Kolkata. What followed next is 65 days of madness and meticulous animation to execute the animated ride. 

Pradipta Bhattacharya

Talking to AnimationXpress, Bhattacharya revealed, “When the producers Ice Media lab came up with this concept to do something around ‘lyaad’, I knew I have got something exciting and  fun to work upon-something that is very different to what I was doing all this while! I wanted to do it in stop motion animation as I have keen interest in that space and wished to do some good work in this medium. Being initially associated with multimedia animation and those stuff, after this opportunity came after a long time, I decided to keep a 3D background, a part stop motion character and live character and visualised the entire thing.From the very word Lyaad.”

Bhattacharya is extremely respected in the Bengali film industry for his critically acclaimed films like Bakita Byaktigato and recently released Rajlokkhi-O-Shrikanto. 

Released last Saturday, 11 January 2020, on YouTube, Lyaad is conceptualised by Seal; edited by Bhattacharya; produced by Debojit Saha and Ambarish Majumdar of ICE Media Lab. 

Mentioned Das in an official press note, “The arrangement of the song is in the jazz blues genre with a flair of hip-hop intonations! However, the sound design is very distinctively different from a regular jazz number though.”

The animation style is unique and interesting which has rarely been seen to be used rampantly in the animation industry or  in the Bengali film industry. The much efficient team used software like Maya, After Effects for 3D animation and hand painted stuff for 2D frames.

“We have used 2D and 3D for backgrounds mostly and majorly stop-motion. It’s a mixture of 2D, 3D, hand painted frames. Since budget and time both are quite less, thus I used animation to the best of my ability within that radius. I collaborated for Lyaad with Ritwick more so, to check the bandwidth of what kind of work, rather good work can be done in this format within the limited budget, as I have planned a serious serious short animated film. Thus, this film acted as a learning experience for me as how to utilise and stylise animation techniques in stringent timing and finances, yet make the content interesting,” added Bhattacharya.

Chakraborty expressed to us, “Quite contradictory to Lyaad, the making of the film was very challenging given the special format of the film. This is the first time I’m acting in animation and that too in a new technique. This is what fascinated me to accept this offer. The technique is very interesting as it’ll be shot in Croma later and I had to think what to do where and when. So, I had a creative contribution towards it.”

Debojit Saha

Commenting about the partnership, ICE Media Lab creative head and managing partner Saha said, “Our collaboration with a creative wizard like Bhattacharya expresses our deep interest to do premium content catering to regional diaspora across the world. With the current digital ecosystem, our content lab is working relentlessly towards enabling seamless harmony between craft, science and business. We have exciting days coming up!”

The rest of the team that worked on Lyaad include – 

Music and Lyrics : Anirban Ajoy Das

Singer: Dibyendu Mukherjee 

Animation: Amit Kumar Bagchi

Cinematography: Rana Pratap Karforma 

Associate Director: Arunava Mitra

Line Producer: Soumen Mitra

“When Pradipta who was a batchmate approached me for Lyaad I was a bit surprised as use of animation in a Bengali short film was something unheard of. Then I spoke to the guys at Ice Media Lab and got a clear picture of what they were trying to do as the producers. This was going to be the first Bengali short film involving a live action character and animation. We used extensive hand drawn imagery as background and then converted them in software to get a multilayered background and the compositing with the real character was done using after effects. This was a tough job to achieve given the time limitation and the restricted budget in the short film ecosystem. The film is now available in ice media lab’s YouTube channel for people to see,” Bagchi told AnimationXpress.

Amit Kumar Bagchi

Amidst the fun and quirk and Chakraborty’s effortless acting as Kinkar, Lyaad subtly delivers a message that’s strong and very important – about doing NOTHING and taking a break sometimes. It’s okay at times to switch off your tensions and enable your ‘LYAAD MODE’ to escape from the daily monotonous routine. So take a break, make your ‘LYAAD MODE ON’ as life in the land of ‘Lyaad’ is amazing as “Nothing happens, nobody comes, and nobody goes…!”

All hail, Lyaad!

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‘Adda52 Rummy’ celebrating Makar Sankranti by unveiling offers for Rummy buffs

January is the month of Celebrations with Makar Sankranti and Republic Day leading the charge Adda52Rummy, has made the month of January true to its festive and patriotic celebrations by hosting most amazing offers and happening tournaments.

Many juicy offers are launched to relish in the month like Sankranti tournament, Republic Day Sale, Bumper Offer and Go Goa Tournament are ready to rock entire January.

Sankranti Tournament

Sankranti Tournament has begun from 7 January, this tournament will end with a grand finale on 15 January during Makar Sankranti offering prize pool of Rs 51,000.

Daily Satellites: Users can play Daily satellites held from 7 January to 14 January, 7.30 PM onwards and win a ticket to grand finale. New users can play daily satellites with a free pass by making a first-time deposit. Existing users can play daily satellites with 50 loyalty points. Daily satellite seats are limited to 30 everyday.

Grand Finale: New users can play grand finale with direct buy-in of Rs 500 or by winning Daily satellites. Existing users can play Grand finale with 500 loyalty points. Play grand finale on 15 January  2020 from 7.30 PM onwards and win from a prize pool of Rs 51,000.

Bumper Offer

Just by making a first-time deposit, users can avail 100 per cent cashback, 100 per cent moneyback and free satellite tickets to most happening tournaments of the month which is, Sankranti tournament and Go Goa Tournament.

Users can win bumper offer by making an FTD and playing rummy games between 10 January to 19 January. The 100 per cent cashback is divided and offered within five days of FTD based on the games played.

Go Goa tournament is live from 6 January to 19 January 2020 offering one night and two days couple package in five-star hotel at Goa worth Rs 45,000 to top six winners.

Other than this the winner can present the ‘Man of the Match’ cheque to the winner of Indian Super League (ISL) match. This episode will air live on Star Sports on 25 January at 7.30 PM!

Join the tournament qualifiers from 7 January  to 19 January with entry fee of Rs 75. Play the finale on 19 January at 10 PM and win the exciting rewards.

 

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Limited password requirements doom security for MSP users

Managed service providers (MSPs) are a smart play for individuals and businesses who know they want a space on the internet but don’t have the tools or the knowledge to build and maintain that space for them. It’s not unlike a business park renting out office space and providing management for the phones, lights, security, and so forth. It’s your space, you just don’t own it.

MSPs often promise fantastic security and all sorts of bells and whistles to gain your business, but unfortunately, that does not include smart password management for most of its customers. There rarely are any set password schemes required by an MSP, nor insistence that you change said password after a set number of days. It’s a bit like renting out a storage facility. The owner doesn’t really care what type of lock you put on the door, how many keys you make, or who you give a copy to. As long as you’re paying your rent every month, they’re happy.
But what if way too many people are using the same lock and key? That’s the fear for swirling the MSP community. Part of the issue comes from a study by Dashlane representatives and the University of Virginia Tech found that in a database of some 28 million people, more than one-half, 52 per cent, were using the same password for multiple services.

That’s the best news that the hackers of cyber criminals of the world could hear. It means that by cracking one code for one person, you can gain access to multiple accounts without having to break a sweat on any of the others.

It doesn’t help that a survey done in the UK found that the password was cracked the most time for data breaches worldwide was “123456”. Clearly there are more than a few user errors going on to have such rampant password problems across the world. Bad password habits don’t just affect the person who gets hacked, they affect that person’s business, coworkers, and pretty much anyone else who is in your address book, your instant messenger, or connects to you on social media.

Why? Because hackers don’t just want your data, they want it all. And that means using spyware to sniff around your system and see who all they can connect to. Once the malware is in your address box, it can send phishing emails and other spam to your contacts and try to similarly hook them. Even if it only ensnares one person out of one hundred, it’s worth it the hacker because that propels it forward to the next person’s contact list and the opportunity to take over even more inboxes, credentials, and data.

The best way to avoid this type of scenario is to lock up your passwords in one proficient password manager such as Dashlane. Using this software will mean only managing one master password which controls all of your official logins and passwords on various websites. When you want to log in to a site, simply enter your master password which will, in turn, open its vault, extract the master password, and give you secure access that is nearly impossible to be accessed by a cyber-criminal.

                             

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Disney+ downloads reach almost 41 mn, according to Sensor Tower’s new report

Disney+, a streaming service from Walt Disney, has continued to go strong in terms of user growth in just two months of its debut, as Disney’s stocks rebounded modestly higher.

Launched in the U.S. and Canada on 12 November, Disney+ has “been downloaded almost 41 million times across the App Store and Google Play and has generated an estimated $97.2 million in user spending,” as per mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower’s new report released yesterday, 14 January.

The reporter further added that Disney+ has generated an estimated $97.2 million in user spending on mobile in its first two months. Walt Disney itself announced 10 million Disney+ sign-ups a day after the debut. 

In December 2019, Apptopia reported that Disney+ app downloads reached 22 million, marking a 42 per cent jump from 15.5 million downloads two weeks after launch. But the methodologies of Sensor Tower and Apptopia may be different. The Dow Jones media giant will give its next subscriber update with first quarter earnings on 4 February.

Disney+ is already giving tough competitions to Netflix, Amazon and AppleAs Variety reported, separately a survey by YouGov and Variety Intelligence Platform found that Disney+ (76 per cent) received high marks (a score of 4-5 on overall satisfaction with 5 being highest) from more streaming video users than for Netflix (74 per cent), Amazon Prime Video (66 per cent), Disney’s Hulu (64 per cent) and Apple TV+ (48 per cent). 

These numbers don’t include any demand for Disney+ on smart TVs, gaming consoles and devices like Roku and Apple TV, which stream video to televisions. 

Disney+ is the biggest hit in the US. Sensor Tower said 84 per cent of Disney+ mobile revenue and installs have been in the US in the service’s first 60 days. Disney Plus also streams in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

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ESFI reveals qualified teams for quaterfinal of e-Masters Chengdu 2020

The regional finals for Asian Electronic Sports Federation’s (AESF) first edition of Asia Esports Championship e-Masters Chengdu 2020  has ended and Team India is  all set to fly for e-Masters quarterfinals to Chengdu.

Team India for Arena of Valor team: Sonukaran J M (Captain), Shinil R, Aditya Katoch, Manmohan Singh and Aakash Chadalavada, Dwayne Fernandes (Substitute) and for Warcraft III: the Frozen Throne Arun Mozhi Varman have qualified  for the quarter finals and will be flying to Chengdu .

According to the Esports Federation of India’s (ESFI) official Facebook post (which is subject to change)  the quarter finals to take place  from 22 February till 25 February 2020 and the final will commence from 28 February 2020 till 1 March.

For PES 2020 Indian team played really well( Moin Abdani and Akshay) they  won against Srilanka, Maldives and Pakistan for semi finals of regional qualifiers however lost to Uzbekistan and Malaysia which resulted end of journey for team India.Also for League of Legends team India lost to Pakistan and missed the slot for Chengdu.

Esports Federation of India (ESFI) director Lokesh Suji Lokesh Suji  quoted, “its worth mentioning that though our PES team did not qualify for the main event at Chengdu but Moin and Akshay’s performance at Thailand Qualifiers was exemplary and commendable. We wish all the very best to Team India (AOV & Warcraft) for e-Masters main event to be held in Chengdu from 22 February onward.”

Finally AESF have the shortlist of teams which will proceed to the next stage in Chengdu, China this 28 February to 1 March 2020.

Arena of Valor
South East Asia  (group A): Vietnam and Philippines
South east Asia  (group B): Thailand and  Indonesia
East Asia: Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong
South and Central Asia: India

Warcraft iii:  the Frozen Throne
South East Asia:  Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia
East Asia: Republic of Asia  and Chinese Taipei
South and Central Asia: Kazakhstan and India

PES 2020:
South East Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia,Vietnam
East Asia: Japan, Hong Kong,
South and Central Asia: Uzbekistan
West Asia: Syria

 

League of Legends:
South East Asia: Thailand,Philippines
East Asia: Chinese Taipei, Korea
South and Central Asia:  Kazakhstan and Pakistan
West Asia : Syria

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“Today’s readers are more aware, tech savvy and opinionated” – Tinkle editor-in-chief Rajani Thindiath

Tinkle completed four decades in the comic industry and is still a popular kids’ magazine in India. With celebrations galore at the office, Tinkle is bringing some fun and exciting puzzles for the young readers.

On completing four decades, Tinkle editor-in-chief Rajani Thindiath said, “We have followed the path that Uncle Pai and Subba Rao (whose idea it was to start a children’s magazine) have laid out. Our young readers are the ones who guide us in what goes into the magazine—from new characters to features. Their suggestions and ideas have played a great role in Tinkle’s enduring popularity. This has helped Tinkle keep up with the times, incorporating learning with a whole bunch of fun.”

Beginning from the first fortnight of January, Tinkle is carrying a puzzle with ‘Tinkle’s 40th anniversary’ as its theme in every issue. Also featured in every issue is a piece from a special 40 years of Tinkle jigsaw puzzle. Those readers who collect the pieces can complete the jigsaw at the end of this year.

The biggest change Thindiath noticed has been in the kind of readership. She finds today’s  readers more aware, tech savvy and opinionated. This has reflected in the storytelling and the characters. It has also been her attempt to continue the diversity that Tinkle is known for by exploring the different regions, festivals, and communities of our country. “We have also consciously attempted to be gender neutral, equalise gender roles, introduce more female protagonists —from SuperWeirdos and WingStar to NOIS and YogYodhas—and include characters with disabilities in our stories,” Thindiath added.

Tinkle has been the favourite amongst all age groups. It has been 40 years and the popularity is only growing. The generations may change, the team may shift and the reader base may vary, but the love for Tinkle was and will always be similar for every reader. Cheers Tinkle! We wish that Tinkle remains the favourite amongst many more generations to come.

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‘Call of Duty: Mobile’ to roll out season three of the battle royale mode

Call of Duty: Mobile is one of the  fast growing online battle royale multiplayer titles that also recently won Google Play’s Best of 2019 winner’s award. Activision to roll out new additions of the game which have been officially revealed. Season three of the battle royale mode of Call of Duty: Mobile is now confirmed to roll out for the game by mid-January.

The new season will also bring new maps, a new ranked mode season for BR and MP, a new Battle Pass, and more. With the new update a new map called Scrapyard will soon be introduced in the multiplayer mode. This will be the first map to be released in Season 3 and is a recreation of the classic three lane Modern Warfare 2 map.The medium sized map is said to be aimed towards close to mid-range combat opportunities.


A new Rapid Fire mode will also be introduced in the multiplayer mode, wherein players will get access to infinite ammo, infinite grenades, sped up operator skill cooldowns, and faster recharging scorestreaks. This new mode promises fast paced gameplay and will be a limited time mode available for everyone when Season 3 launches.

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Meghan Markle might voice a Disney character for a cause

After the announcement of Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry stepping back from their senior position in the royal family to be part-time royals surfaced last week, Markle seems to be taking the royal-exit seriously.

In a video, taken in July at the London premiere of The Lion King, Markle casually chats with Beyoncé as Harry seems to tell Iger, “You know she does voice-overs,” gesturing to his wife. He adds, “She’s really interested,” suggesting this was the moment that kicked off the upcoming project between Markle and Disney.

Markle is said to have inked a deal with Disney. The report claims she recorded the voice-over prior to her and Prince Harry’s six-week holiday in Canada. The Sussexes won’t be profiting from this deal. Instead, Disney has agreed to make a donation to Elephants Without Borders, an organization that helps protect the animals from poaching, in exchange for the duchess’s work.

The pair have interacted with Disney publicly throughout the past year. When their son Archie was born in May, the company gifted them a Winnie the Pooh cartoon featuring the new family.

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‘The Day Henry Met…’ season four premieres on Nick Jr and adds a raft of new broadcasters

The latest season of Wiggleywoo’s hit series, The Day Henry Met… has recently been completed and premiered on Nick Jr too in the UK and Ireland on 7 January and will launch on Nick Jr in Italy on 20 January prior to going on to air on Nick Jr in 178 countries.

Other broadcasters who will air season four include RTE Jr, TV3 Catalunya in Spain, Kids Central in the US, TVP in Poland, Ceska in the Czech Republic, Eesti in Estonia and Viaplay SVOD in Scandinavia. Earlier seasons have recently been sold to Playkids, OCS, iDipper, TFOUMax, Azoomee and Kanopy, Itunes, Google Play, Hoopla, BusyBee TV Roku, Microsoft XBOX, all for VOD, and TV Azteca in Mexico. The series airs on a range of Free TV channels including Milkshake! in the UK and Ireland, RAI in Italy, ABC in Australia, TVO, TFO and Knowledge in Canada and on many SVOD platforms.

Two new publishers, de Agostini in Italy and Agyra in Greece have signed up to publish a range of books based upon the series, Di Costa in Italy have created Henry Easter eggs with a gift inside and there will be a Henry promotion through kiosks in Italy organised by Teaser Lab. LMI has taken on the UK licensing and merchandising rights in the UK and 25 airlines are featuring the series in their inflight entertainment.

Every day Henry meets something new:
The day Henry met a compass!
The day Henry met a cookbook!
The day Henry met a Surfboard!

How exciting, I wonder what Henry’s going to meet today?

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