Hasta La Motion!

 Prestigious Pixellence awards throws spotlight on students of India’s leading animation mentor.

Creative Multimedia, ‘India’s Largest Digital Media Academy’ and winner of the Best Digital Media Academy in India Award celebrated ‘International Animation Day’ on Sunday, the 28 October, 2018 at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad, Telangana. Leading lights of the animation, VFX and gaming industries graced the event to inspire students and share their insights.

Studio Eeksaurus founder Suresh Eriyat and the man behind the iconic Amaron Batteries clay animation Commercial, Makuta co-founder Pete Draper, the studio behind the CGI-heavy blockbuster ‘Bahubali’, and Gamitronics founder Rajat Ojha graced the event. Gold Animation CEO Rajiv Chilaka couldn’t make it to the event but he greeted the students through a pre-recorded video and offered his best wishes to Creative Multimedia.

Creative Multimedia Services CEO and MD Raja Sekhar Buggaveeti delivered the inaugural address and renewed his commitment to ‘Enhancing Employability’, following which the guests were invited to address the gathering.

Animation maestro Suresh Eriyat delivers a spellbinding master session

Suresh Eriyat, one of India’s most celebrated animation professionals was the chief guest of the day. Reminiscing his childhood days and retracing his career path, he said that animation was always his first love and that during the initial days of his professional career 20 years back when animation was in a nascent stage in India, he was hard put to make animation films despite his passion as there was little demand for the craft then.

Spelling out his work ethic and citing examples from his past projects, he inspired students to always give their best, saying: “I’m a story teller first and I’ve always strived to do the best with every task, no matter how small or big. As young Animators with a promising career ahead, all of you must explore all mediums, especially the manual versions including stop motion animation and clay animation. Familiarise yourself with these mediums before mastering the animation software so as to build a strong foundation. As future artists, you must build your potential and harness your passion to make films that become benchmarks for animation, not just in India but globally.”

He screened an introduction montage of his best animation works followed by two live action commercials that he created for popular chocolate brands Kit Kat and LuvIt. Post the screening, he recreated the entire post-production process of both films using the behind-the-scenes visuals to give students a glimpse into the process of drawings/sketches, shortlisting ideas, set construction, the lighting set-up, the wire work used to manipulate props and characters and the actual shoot.

His final presentation was a brilliant 12-minute Short Film ‘Tokri’ created by his studio using the medium of clay animation. Revealing that the film has been in the making for 8 years now and explaining the extraordinary time and effort it takes to create just one second of high quality clay animation footage, he delved into the depths of the pre-production process with on-set, live-action coverage of the shoot and the behind-the-scenes visuals of the animatronics, production design, prop design, puppet mock-ups, references, miniature set design and the manual lighting and animation. It turned out to be an immersive master session for students. Encouraging students to raise questions, he initiated an interactive session towards the end of presentation and addressed a wide range of queries on the animation process, his professional experience and career in the industry.

Rajat Ojha puts the spotlight on incredible career opportunities in the gaming space

Gamitronics CEO Rajat Ojha and a veteran gaming professional graced the event as a special guest. He delivered a presentation titled ‘Animation in Games and Career Opportunities’. Commenting on the extraordinary potential that the gaming industry offered for career aspirants he exclaimed: “The Gaming industry is by far the largest industry of all in the digital media and entertainment space, offering more than 200 unique career opportunities. The Indian gaming industry comprising about 450+ Gaming studios is valued at INR 2000 crores, ranked 3rd globally in install rankings and is all set to add 62,000 jobs in India in the next five years with a projected growth rate of 16 per cent. The fantastic growth potential of this virtually recession-free industry is enhanced by the vast demand-supply gap. All of you can expect a rewarding, high growth career ahead.”

Presenting the showreel of Gamitronics and showcasing a range of popular titles including Uncharted 4, God of War, HeavyRain and MSG4, Ojha took students on a steep learning curve, elucidating with illustrations, the behind-the-scenes of the design, the animation types and process levels, in-game cinematics and new-age tools such as motion capture and Euforia which are now being widely used in many games to build virtual skeleton and muscles for characters. Stating that body mechanics and timing are critical skills required to achieving good results, he also dwelt on the vital software skills including Wwise Unity, 3D Studio Max, ZBrush and Photoshop.

Discussing career opportunities in the gaming industry, he advised students to follow a multi-pronged approach including registering at leading gaming events, regularly browsing online gaming job portals, joining industry groups and participating in various industry forums apart from other conventional methods to scout for jobs. The presentation made for a great learning opportunity with invaluable tips for students aspiring for a career in the rewarding, roller-coaster world of Gaming.

VFX virtuoso Pete Draper counsels VFX students

Pete Draper, the CGI veteran with several VFX-related books, tutorials to his credit and the co-founder of Makuta, the studio behind the CG of Bahubali graced the event as a special guest. Pete allowed students a sneak peek into his best CG projects through a crisp showreel and held forth on a range of project-critical tools/effects including mapping filters, lighting, explosions, shading, GI walkthroughs and real time systems. Drawing from his vast experience spanning 25 years, he had several words of wisdoms for VFX students. Stressing on the importance of constantly self evaluation to improve skills, he offered: “your ability to create is inversely proportional to your ability to assess.”

In his brief yet informative presentation, Draper thoughtfully included a section on how to prep for a career in VFX. He addressed a range of FAQs including: How to get into the industry?, How to stand out from the crowd?, What’s most important to build a career in VFX? And how to succeed? Narrowing down to the key factor – the showreel, he belted out seven powerful ideas on crafting the perfect showreel that can help one stand out and compete for the big job. Stating that it takes time to succeed, he gave students his formula for success: Practice> Experiment> Fail> Practice> Repeat. Pete wrapped up his presentation by telling students: “Have fun! This is a creative field and a creative career.” And students did have loads of fun with Pete’s presentation, cheering animatedly as the VFX virtuoso left the stage.

The celebrations ended with the coveted Pixellence Awards for excellence in Digital Media Art presented to the winners by chief guest Suresh Eriyat, special guest Rajat Ojha and Creative Multimedia CEO Raja Sekhar. Buggaveeti congratulated the winners and thanked all the guests for attending the event to make it a memorable success.

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