Hasta La Motion!

Mumbai-based animation studio HopMotion opened a new facility close to Hi Tech City area in Hyderabad. The 3,000 square feet office space opened its door in December 2017.

Apart from working on shows for television, digital and OTT platforms, the full-service 2D animation studio has also invested in creating its original IPs. “To cater to the booming digital content market internationally as well as in India, HopMotion has been growing at a great pace and needed to expand its capacity. This was the main reason behind starting a new production facility in Hyderabad,” says HopMotion founder and CEO Anish Patel.

Mumbai will remain as the centre of operations functioning as the creative hub housing writers and content development staff, while the Hyderabad facility will function as the production studio for 2D and 3D animation and will house storyboard artists, animators and video editors.

Neel Lukkani, an industry veteran with 15 years experience and one of the founding members of HopMotion, will head the Hyderabad facility.

The new studio can accommodate 50 artists and also has a classroom for training. The company’s on-the-job training program will begin in summer this year, for young animators looking to kick-start their careers in animation. Talented young entry-level animators will be trained in Toon Boom Harmony and Story Board Pro and will have the opportunity to work side by side with industry veterans.

The on-job-training classroom at the Hyderabad facility

On choosing Hyderabad as the location of the new studio, Patel explains, “While Mumbai is rich in creative talent when it comes to writing and live-action content, Hyderabad has a large pool of talented animators skilled in both traditional animation as well as digital. Everyone recognises Hyderabad for its IT talent but it is also a hub for VFX and animation talent. So it was the obvious choice.”

The studio follows a completely digital pipeline and is powered by Toon Boom Harmony animation software and Story Board Pro. Toon Boom’s India representative Hans Van Der Sluys adds, “As HopMotion expands into Hyderabad with a new state-of-the-art Toon Boom Harmony studio facility, we look forward to working closely with the team and helping it with software support and training needs. Currently, there is a huge demand internationally for studios who provide high quality 2D animation services and HopMotion is well placed to cater to that demand. We wish them the very best on their new expansion.”

The team at the new studio

Patel exclaims, “HopMotion was founded in 2013 and started with a small team of animators. Over the years, it has grown from strength to strength. Our core passion has always been to tell stories and create a slate of original IPs, the first of which titled KuKu Mey Mey will be out in India later this year.”

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