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Return of Hanuman - An Animated Stance
iView Author:
P(L)AYBACK (Mumbai, India)
Email:
playback2007 [at] gmail [dot] com
Return of Hanuman - An Animated Stance
A cauldron full of fun ! A light hearted, breezy yarn which demystifies and delights ! Sitting in an audience full of restless children, I couldnt help but notice how Anurag directly connected with them. They relished the irreverence and guffawed at the tounge-in-cheek humour.
“The little birdie with a crush on Hanuman”,…”Menaka.com”,…”Shukra TV”,…”Narad doing an impromptu rock guitar lead”,…Anurag’s imagination runs wild, giving TZP’s Ishaan a run for his money ! ( kiddin ! ) :)
( Catch my critiue on TZP at http://passionforcinema.com/taare-zameen-par-a-tale-of-two-ditties )
The true critics of this film are the children and their verdict is unanimous as we jostle out of the theater. Three cheers for AK !!!
However, this being an animation film, I feel compelled to address the animation as such. Evidently we are still miles away when it comes to international standards.
The question I want to raise is “WHY’ ? Is it because we simply dont have the talent ? Or is it a case of the wrong people at the job ? ( I have heard of BCAs and MCAs in the industry just because they are more conversant with computer technology !) Given a choice I would hire actors and train them in technique. ( With available technology, drawing skills dont matter so much ! ) I refuse to believe we dont have talent. Maybe its the courses costing lakhs which have become mandatory portals to the industry, more often for the well heeled than for the talented.
I am treating Return of Hanuman as a case study and by no means are the points raised by me hereafter unique to this production alone. From hereon it may get a bit “technical” but please bear in mind that I am addressing the good folks at TOONZ.
Lets start with character design and overall visual style. The attempt towards an indigenous character design scheme is commendable but why spoil it with the blatant ” classical and neo disney rip-offs” and a host of other “inspirations” ? Uniform character design lends integrity and “character” to the visual language. ( Watch “Road to El Dorado” where even the horse conforms to the overall design scheme inspite of evident “animation formula breakdown” challenges this would have thrown up.)
If one uses 2D and 3D in the same film, the idea is to make them seamless and attempt a “2D look”. There are many software solutions which render 3D scenes with a “2D look and feel”.( Watch “Aladdin” to understand what I am talking about. The carpet is 3D, but it blends in perfectly.) The 2D-3D motion match when Hanuman enters the volcanic goo was nice though !
A thing which really puzzled me was how a team which could pull off “hand drawn motion control simulation sequences” have trouble with fundamentals like perspective drawing and more importantly,…walk cycles ! — If you cant execute a biped walk-cycle, you arent an animator yet ! I hardly saw even a single satisfactory walk-cycle in the entire movie !
The 2D background plates were very unimaginative and dull. I am sure we have excellent artists who could have delivered much better.
Here is Anurag surfing on the high waves of a wild fun trip and contrast this to a team of animators who are unable to give almost anything in the form of backup or input.
“Takes”,…”Double Takes”,…”Holds”….there is so much in the trained animators arsenal. In fact one of the primary reasons the animation is so drab throughout is because the animators dont seem conversant with the fundamental concept of “anticipation”.
Conventions in composition like “framing to line-of-action” are not adhered to. These conventions are important and only add to the richness of the visual experience.
The reason knowledge of acting is fundamental to full-motion character animation is because it lets animators “stage” actions with precisely timed key frames and even improvise. Ofcourse, I must comment that this film had the best keyframe breakdown I have ever seen in Indian Animation.
In fact a very good pre-production exercise would have been having separate animation teams for key characters and putting them through a “improv-acting” workshop.
And, maybe they should have been handed out mandatory subscriptions to MAD Magazine ! ( Keeping in mind the tone of the film ! ) :) — Thats “unadulterated inspiration” for you ! Copying from “Lion King”, “Shark Tale”, “The Mask”,…and a host of others wont help you in the long run ! :)
The “depth of field simulation” and the “stroboscopic simulation” didnt escape my attention, but they are only gimmicks without the backing of strong fundamentals !
Loved the sweet rendition of the “Hanuman Chaalisa” and the caricatures in the end credits.
Coming from the assumption that Anurag is not fully conversant with the intricacies of animation, this is a brilliant effort indeed ! And my “disillusioned critique” notwithstanding, I am positive, “No Smoking” was the best Indian film of 2007 !
As a parting thought I would like to state that I am aware of the practical limitations of the film-making process and would be happy to know that most of the afore-mentioned shortcomings are a result of these.
Power to Anurag Kashyap ! Power to Indian Animation !
77 Responses to “Return of Hanuman - An Animated Stance”
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Pointless and full of the writer him/herself review. Review begins with “oh I know all” kind of a shitheaded stupidity. Aren’t the print media enough that we now have to read such stupid authors on PFC?
@ Stayback,… I dont follow…And, pray, how am I classified as “stupid” ?
@P(L)AYBACK
I’m agree with you here, We need this kind of details,
You have raised lot of Importent questions,
Nice movie. Heavy needing a dictionary review… all you wanted to say could have been said rather more simply, just like the movie.
@ Don G …Sorry, will keep that in mind for the future.
@ Shekhar …Thank You
great analysis playback.
raised very important questions here. especially about framing to line-of-action.
but i think anyone can be an animator, if he has the passion for it and a passion for details. i love the way the japanese anime industry works. they create magic even from hand made drawings. it’s just that animation is not taken seriously in india. any animation movie which comes out is instantly labelled a children’s movie. does not happen in japan. and pixar has ensured it does not happen anymore in america either.
anyway, these are changing times for indian animation industry. atleast the hanuman franchise has opened up the doors for this genre in india.
i had asked anurag kashyap in one of his posts to write an article on the creative process involved in making hanuman returns. let’s hope he does so soon and give us his insights on the topic.
Bugger P(L)AYBACK, Superb piece mate!!
your “Here is Anurag surfing on the high waves of a wild fun trip and contrast this to a team of animators who are unable to give almost anything in the form of backup or input” sums-up the film brilliantly.
these days i seem to be prone to Temptations.. 2 or 3 of them would be:
1. to paste your in-FAMOUS comment “Such a pointless and stupid article ! Wondered why write such stuff but was silenced by the readership and comment traffic. Maybe PFC is just a platform for bored 9 to 5 jobbers to indulge in a little pseudo-intellectual warm-up on tea-breaks provided by their employers. Hardly see any serious professionals !” to your review. lol
2. to demand on Apology from you for the same. but, i guess, i fully understand the Anger.
3. to Abstain, thanks to your review, from reviewing Hamuman myself.
4. to Ask you to mail me, & Reveal yourself :-) going by this current serendipitous piece, i seem to have a clue as to who you Might Just be..
Who the Hell is P(L)BACK, Mr. Thanikachalam please reveal:-?:-?:-?
@ Thani …@ KJ
Thank you. Dont worry, I aint anybody famous,…at least not yet ! :D But do please email me if you want to. Best Regards.
Yet to see HR (no, that doesn’t stand for Himesh R.), but I don’t expect a lot out of animation made in India. I myself work in an American company which breathes video/audio/image/graphics on a daily basis. But I have seen the Indians who work for the company, even being in a super-creative environment like that and having access to all kinds of software ‘toys’, they are just not inclined to ‘play’!
Why??
Why the Indian creativity has to be limited to largely melodrama or emotionally overdriven bullshit?
I was in a film making class at a community college here, where some young american kids take the class! I was quite pleasantly surprised with their thought process, their ability to think whacky and different. And it sure reflects in the movies like Nemo or Cars or Lion King.
We have the ability to program the most complex database or search engine or web development platform in the world, but when it comes to apply the same maths skills to animation movie, we suck!!
Well, there might be other partial reasons such as budget and non-acceptance of animation ‘movie’ by the real Indian audience, but I doubt how much of animation is taught in film institutes in India!! I am just hopelessly hoping that some day I will proudly accompany some of my colleagues to an Indian animation movie!!
Good write-up P(L)AYBACK.
Though it confuses me time and again as to why do people still like a movie even if its not well crafted? Story alone is enough to redeem a film? Sadly, the general public hardly cares how much effort goes into every detail of an animated film, more than a live action i dare to say, as every single piece of detail is created from scratch. Hence a movie like Krishna and even the first Hanuman become a super duper hit.
Its ironic how a team of cg artists bust their ass off on a high end production like Ratatouille to achieve the insane quality and at the same time a bunch of “animators” churn out mass produced sub standard animation which does equally well (if not more) business at the box office. I feel angry when stories with good potential are shabbily executed. And they get away with it. Because we as an audience haven’t matured enough yet to demand nothing less than high quality output on screen (though that true of general films too but i digress).
I’d disagree with you on one point about today’s technology being good enough to allow the artist to get away with minimum or no drawing skills. At least for a skill like animation, i believe the animator must at least possess a good hand for arcs and basic shapes with which he can pose his characters on paper first. You see, traditional art background goes a long way into establishing your fundamentals. These later on help you use the available technique. This is why studios like Pixar or R&H and lot of other big wigs stress on traditional art skills for lot of positions, including animation. I myself don’t know much about traditional fine arts or painting. Photography is something that I’m trying to catch up on. Yet i’m interested in learning them which would help improve my cg lighting and rendering skills. For now, what has helped me so far is observation skills (hey that shot looks good, lets pause the dvd and study its breakdowns) and an eye for detail (by checking other people’s work on various forums and realising how much attention they have paid to detail in their work). That at least should be the pre-requisites if not necessities.
I’m horrified to learn from your article that basic walk cycles haven’t been achieved properly. Any two cents animator today can at least try to improve his skills by going through Animator’s Survival Kit. I fear its the lack of passion and the complacency with which one views one’s job and responsibilities that result in sub standard work. Did the studio not have enough time to polish this film? I doubt it. Didn’t they have a good crew?
Again, relatively average artists can actually produce good work if supervised by the right person. A great supervisor who has the penchant for quality and an excellent eye for detail can actually teach a lot to his team and keep on updating the versions his team shows him until they hit it right. At my first job in Prana, I got to work under some amazing supervisors who ended up indirectly teaching me so much about composition, staging, lighting and most importantly not being satisfied until you get the best output (which can be frustrating at times but in the end improves my own art). Some supervisors have had years of experience at cg meccas like ILM and Pixar. Many of the animators there had come from other indian studios like Toonz or Crest or DQ where i am sure they never got to do high quality work. But the same people realised their true potential under good supervision and when given a chance to achieve international quality (they recently finished short film Chubbs Chubbs 2 and some of you might have seen the Tinkerbell trailer from last year, rest is still in production so hush hush), they achieved that. Of course, credit goes to their innate talent and passion too.
A director actually goes a long way in giving the right notes to artists so that they can give him/her the desired results. So I don’t think its entirely the crew’s fault that they failed to “give almost anything in the form of backup or input”. You see, most of the time an animator does bring in his/her own acting skills and nuances to a character’s performance but its all relative to how much the director guides him/her to achieve that. So its actually the director who gives the right inputs and communicates well with the artist to hit the right poses or achieve the desired action. Trust me on this. For this the director too should have a little bit of basic knowledge about animation principles which you too have pointed out here. This isn’t so hard to do today with thousands of online forums and books like survival kit. Also the animation supervisor works in tandem with the director to make sure that whatever he wants is communicated aptly and clearly to the animation team. In essence the supervisor becomes the animation director. But in the end, it all comes down to how much eye for detail and performance you do have or rather how much of that are you willing to translate that on screen, of course at the cost of a little more time and more painstaking efforts (which might be the case here as mostly indian studios are concerned with rushing the movie’s release rather than the quality).
On another note, i felt you were quite lenient here when it came to showering praises or softening the critiques on this movie while imho i felt you were a little harsh on aamir’s tzp. I am not implying a sense of vendetta or something but maybe you did expect a lot from him and somewhere felt let down or whatever it is that made you write the way you did. Maybe you could have added something on the lines of “As a parting thought I would like to state that I am aware of the practical limitations of the film-making process for a first time director and would be happy to know that most of the afore-mentioned shortcomings are a result of these.
Power to Aamir Khan ! Power to more sensible Indian Mainstream Cinema !”
hehe, but not to take away anything from you, that was a good write up too and now you have followed that up with another one. :)
will write a post soon.. playback fully agree with you.. we have the skill, the talent the imagination..what we don’t have is time and money.. ratatouille or any other animation film takes three to more years mininmum, and a budget of around 60 plus million dollars.. what you saw was done in less than eight months and the climax was hurried to meet deadlines, …and a budget of 9 crores that is 2 million which went over by another.. we are hoping for the film to be a success so we get the kind of time and money we need.. we need backing for animation.. we do better animation when outsourced to us because budget is granted to us.. Toonz actually saved the film by finishing it or we would have released an incomplete film.
@bollywoodplusplus
There’s a total lack of quality animation training in this country. Shops like maac and arena fleece kids into believing that they’ll become good artists by just hitting a few knobs and buttons i.e. more stress is paid on the software rather than the art itself.
“We have the ability to program the most complex database or search engine or web development platform in the world, but when it comes to apply the same maths skills to animation movie, we suck!!” I don’t quite get that statement. Math skills have got next to nothing to do with animation skills. Are you talking about the software being incapable of doing the animation by itself or .. actually, i still don’t get your statement. Off the shelf software packages today are insanely capable of producing extremely photo realistic animation at the hands of a deft artist if course. There still aint no “make me go-awesoem pretty” button in any software that’ll do the work for you.
But yes, we do desperately need quality training here. Some better studios out here are giving their artists a chance by holding regular classes or seminars or training but that requires youto be employed there in the first place. Which instead requires you to already have some amount of talent and skills. NID does have animation course but as everyone knows the selection process is staggeringly stringent. I had casually checked out Whistling Woods last summer and though their labs looked resourceful and well equipped i don;t how the actual training quality is. Also, unacceptably high fees. Given these circumstances, i sometimes feel that indian cg artists are actually swimming against the tide to make their dreams happen. Despite a lack of a formal training structure, you are now witnessing a boom in the number of studios mushrooming here and the projects being off shored to india. Its high time someone got around to setting up an affordable and quality training program here.
and the reason is what sachin says.. audience gets easily satisfied so the moneyman doesn’t care much.. but yet i take the blame for it.. it is not the animators fault.. choices in the end were made by me..
@ Anurag
Rightly said, budget and time is actually a constraint but given the amount of money spent on live action films on promotions alone, I feel its a lack of a collective will form the producers who only want to milk the animation franchise and not actually set the bar high. Its akin to the lack of political will our country has.
And what can the artits do other than achieve the quality they want to on outsourced projects. i would actually like to let you in on a secret Anurag. 8 months for your film. My colleagues have actually finished a complete 3d animation feature in that amount of time for Weinstein! And the quality is at par with international standards. It might as well be the budget which if suitably increase will allow you to hire more talented artists to achieve better results in less time. And also hire, like I said before, experienced supervisors to guide the whole process. A lot of things besides time and money go into this equation but yes, the big wigs here have to open up their purses and not just whore around with this medium.
damn the typos :o
to your credit Anurag, you tried but in the end only so much can be done in the given time. Financial constraints often cripple any production. But yeah, i do wish you all the best with this movie and hope it does extremely well for you to attempt another one sometime later. And please do consider me as a part of your crew for any future animation endeavours! :d
@ P(L)AYBACK & Sachin -
Can you guys do a post on the state of animation in india based on ur experience, and how it compares to the rest of the world? Sorta like a primer or Animation 101?
much appreciated. Thanks.
An anime is completely different from a Pixar or a Disney Film. I would not want us to be like either of ‘em. We see colors and shapes differently, so that should show up in our animation. Which sort of does in Hanuman and Hanuman Returns. Perhaps that is due to the technical flaws. But, people connect to it. It is old-skool type of animation. I would prefer Indians sticking with their own technique and style…
I fear that people will not connect with Dinsey & Yash Raj’s ‘Roadside Romeo’ no matter how much technically it will be good. That will just look out of the place.
Also, the more animation films becomes successful in India - the more players - producers will be ready to jump in the bandwagon - and invest heavily.
And we would need someone like Aamir Khan or Ram Nikhumb, to…..
Hi dabba,
Thanks for considering me worthy of writing anything on the topic. But i only have over 2 years of experience so far so i don’t know if i’ll be able to do justice to the collective experience of the indian animation industry as a whole. Also, i am really not much familiar with other studios here besides my ex-employer. However, what i can do is put down my personal thoughts and how it felt like working on a outsourced project or how animation is something i picked up as a profession and now is intricately weaved with my grand film making notions. I had actually posted earlier in another article about coming up with something on the same lines but as always is the case, when you are asked or suggested to do something it takes a lil effort to gather your thoughts and write. Unlike replying to posts like i’m doing here which is merely a more spontaneous reaction.
Maybe i need a writing 101 class from Mr. Kashyap, eh?
But yes, suggestion considered and i’m now seriously going to do some research for it.
@honhar goonda
Good points you’ve raised. I agree that neither of the styles are something we should strive for. Its should be unique and should have something that audience here can relate too. I remember the classic “ek titli..” (link for fans http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ek-anek-hindi-commercialad-from-old-times-doordarshan-dd/4075363934) and such spots on DD and though they were very simple yet stylized, its mere remembrance touches me deeply now. The sam ecan be said about Miyasaki who reflects his culture so stongly in his films that even though its mostly local settings and characters, it has a universal relevance and appeal.
Roadside Romeo didn’t even generate a smile out of me but the people around me in the theatre were in splits. And they had watched only a trailer. I felt the character was trying to look, feel and act too uber cool and could sense a bit of pretentiousness in the whole set up. Sometimes i truly question the indian audience. But i’m sure it was funny to them. :-|
And one more thing;
entire Animaion didnt happened in one place ,
Toonz Studio outsource some of the scene outside of India, to fasten the production, for them it was just like another job(Where they dont know sensibility of Indian Cinema like “Rajanikant” “SRK” “Sholay” and things like that,
here in Toonz . I was on the other Project, while ‘Hanuman Returns’ production was happening, I was watching Animators, they used to work day and night, and enthu about it
Hey Shekhar,
really like your Animated Hat character. Very Burtonesque.
Hey Sachin, check out Older Posts too:)
I like your work too, So finish yaar ,
Hey Anurag
“Brahmachari hai, bandar jaat ka hai” :))
“Ab to Avatar leneka bhi Time nahi hai” =))
i can totally understand that we can never have the kind of money required to make animation like ratatouille. but small details can be taken care of.
i remember seeing the making of batman the animated series and they said that the dubbing was always done before the animation began. and 3-4 different storyboards with different kinds of details were created. this took care of the timing and exact lip synching. i find that missing in indian animation.
another thing is that first the indian companies must join hands together to make a production suite suited for the indian style of animation if a certain min. level of quality is to be achieved.
but i do agree skill is quite important in this area. modern softwares re quite powerful to handle everything else. look at what a freeware like blender 3d can do. if anyone can catch hold of the free 10 min. movie elephant’s dream, do see it. it is amazing to see what a 17 mb open source software can achieve.
also, look at the level of detail that went into making akira. it’s 20 yrs old but the 160000 cell details still make it one of the most spectacular animations ever.
but i think hanuman returns was a a step further in the area i believe. atleast it’s better than any of the previous indian animation i’ve seen as yet. there’s no pt. in going 3d when u don’t have the resources to go full fledged physical in a 3d environment. that HR sticks to 2d lends it a physical freedom that was missing in say a bal ganesh.
i think the animation industry has just taken roots inindia with not much experience to gain from. it should only get better from here.
I think we have to take inspiration from Movies like
“Triplets of Belleville” (French Animation Film),
rather than “Ratatouille”,
check out the site
(you must please)
http://www.sonyclassics.com/triplets/
“Triplets of Bellleville”
clip
http://youtube.com/watch?v=je1zUVDpx-M&feature=related
check it out (2D animation Mix with 3D element)
@K J
While i do agree with what you’ve said about Elephant’s Dream’s achievement, i would like to re-iterate the fact that actual talented brains and hands, well skilled at what they do and a team of thorough film makers spent a lot of their time and effort in that production. While i don’t expect the oridinary lay man to know much about what goes into an animation film, i expect a lil more than that from pfc users. It just puts me off sometimes when the software is sung an ode to without even a single mention of the people who actually operated that software. After all, its just another tool set (equate it to a painter’s brush and his palette, or a sculptor’s chisel or a potter’s clay). Probaly 17000 man hours and more went into the film than a mere 17 mb software. But i see your point. The tools are available, its only the human element thats missing here. But pray do give a thought or two to the poor artists who slogged on such projects, of course assisted by their softwares ;)
the thing with indian studios is that they are all up and coming now so there’s such a fierce competition to poach each other’s projects and people that a collective “suite” would probably take a while. i agree with you that though budget might be a constraint here bu at least small details or rather basic details must be taken care of. like character design and colour schemes and palettes (which my better half just reported to me as being really atrocious). Seems though like the movie’s a hit with the kids. All the best for the whole HR team!
@ sachin
what u said was exactly my point too. i do realize the kind of effort that went into making elephant’s dream. but all i was saying was that it is only the human element missing in our animated movies. my pt. was to show that with time and effort (extraordinary amount i know) we can achieve a certain minimum quality of animation here. so i was only reinforcing the pt that u made that even with lack of funds we can achieve a much higher quality than what we have at present.
No Shekhar, I disagree (i seem to be starting all my posts with an agreement or disagreement).
Inspiration can be drawn from Ratatouille too. It was a great piece of film and for me crossed into the realm of animation art. Triplets is right there in that same realm too. Good you posted the link here. Remember that shot from Ratatouille where the camera takes us through the gutters and pipes in the ground and then slowly moves up through floors and walls into the room? Man, we see such detail in the textures and such change in the lighting moods that I was like awestruck. It would have taken so much to choreograph and achieve the realism and beauty of that shot!
I say we should be inspired by all kinds of work. Even bad ones so we know what to avoid.
And to all PFC users, you must check out these few links for animation short films:
A poignant and touching tale in an abstract form by Eb Hu - http://hybworks.co.uk/lalaland.htm
A bunch of French students (yes students, check out the pro quality of their work and film making. I watched this without sub titles and understood every bit of it! Thats master craftsmanship. I hope they have a subtitled version now) - http://www.hugh-lefilm.com/
An atrociously funny and sweet short film for cgtalk.com Strange Behaviour competition - http://www.linesmakeimages.com/ (download the film Polkarella)
Phenomenally talented Shane Acker’s award winning short film 9 which is being made into full length feature produced by none other than Tim Burton. How i;d love to work on something lik this! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=964QHmjLqa0
Thats it for now. Will post more if you guys want. Enjoy!
@K J
no problem then. i did see your point like i stated earlier. just that it irks me sometimes when artists are not even mentioned when softwares are being applauded in the same breath. but its ok. thats my issue. i guess i was more of reacting not to your post but to the general junta’s perception of us computer graphics/ 3d animation artists. the moment we drop that term, people go like “Oh cumpooters and all… achcha achcha, badhiya hai” lol.
^including my family of course 8-|
@sachin
would love your take on japanese anime. what do u think of the animation quality of metropolis?
@K J
i’m not a big fan of japanese anime and have never had the inclination to watch their films (except for Miyazaki). Though heard a lot about this never got around to watch it. I can actually point out the number of sci-fi anime films i’ve watched on just two of my fingers. Ones i remember are Ghost In The Shell and Apple Seed. And though 3d, the anime form of Final Fantasy, Advent Children was good too. The work was jaw dropping awesome in that. Yeah, i honestly know its unbelievably pathetic for someone into animation. So will probably need your recommendations of some anime films you liked so that i can be more well versed with that genre too.
Do you strongly recommend Metropolis?
Oh! How could i forget to link the legendary Jeff Lew’s Killer Bean? this guy’s a legend in cg circles. Having worked on movies like Matrix and other big productions, he quit his fat paying secure hollywood job to struggle for 4 years and make his own feature film! Yes, a full length animated feature film! A one man show! I urge everyone to check out his website (http://www.killerbeanforever.com/) and read his story as its so inspiring! Btw, here’s his old killer Bean short film which is the basis for the feature. Killer stuff i say!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CppM9HL3j4
@ Sachin,…I agree with many a point u put up ! When I say drawing skills arent important, I mean u can base your work in 3D and render to 2D.
@ Anurag ! I understand ! But good plans work out. And if you know your job,you can plan to budget ! Maybe its just a competence problem ,…maybe its not ! Anyways,… great work ,…Anurag !
@ Anurag,… Please dont take any blame ! You did a good job ! I know !
Sachin , Nice Links there ,.
the scene you mention from “Ratatouille” is great indeed,
I wanted to say that “Triplets of Bellville” is 2D Film, and there are these CG elements in between, and that kind of Quality is
achievable in here , with small setup, provided dedicated artists,
I was watching “Making of “Triplets” the other day,
and its seems to me that they had very small team,
it was very Inspiring,.
:)
@ dabba ! Sure ! will do ! :)
@P(L)AYBACK
k, i got that. my apologies for the misunderstanding. and somewhere down the line, i think you rightly mention competence. people here, i have seen, do not feel responsible for their work or don’t “own” it enough to actually do the director’s vision some justice. they just view it as yet another job. which is cynical i feel. this field lets you do so much more than just move around a few cubes and spheres. its like an indie film maker’s wmd.
it was very principled of anurag to take the blame upon himself and not pass the buck to the animators. but i guess, the movie is still going to be a success, which i hope it does. at least that’ll bring in some more dough into this genre and also probably force someone to raise the bar of indian animation and not just churn our animation films but quality animation films.
btw, while some of you might be aware of this short film by ruairi robinson, here’s the link anyway. http://www.ruairirobinson.com/fiftypercentgrey.htm
for some weird reason, now that i have watched no smoking, i found certain thematic reminders between the two.
another great person i admire form the cg world is tomek baginski from platige films. he makes such soul stirring short films that you forget its actually all animated. truly a great film maker in his own right. my comments are turning out a lil long winded but can’t help it. guess it deserves a post of its own.
hey shekhar, glad you enjoyed those links. i truly hope its an inspiration for you too to do better work. i’ll keep them coming!
chavanni ko lagta hai ki percept kee farmaish par anurag kashyap ne RETURN OF HANUMAN bade shahron ke multiplex mein jaane wale bal darshkon ko dhyan mein rakh kar fil banayi hai.kya desh ke waise bachche unke dhyan mein the jo angreji nahin samjah sakte?chavanni aisi soch se asahmati jahir karta hai.
ise bhi padh len…
http://chavannichap.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_5274.html
Ich glaube nicht, dass er selbst, die das Kino f
Educating write-up Playback. Thanks! Got a studied insight into animation.
About the competence…I agree with Anurag when he says its all here but we lack time and money. Animated films are not big here unless they are Disny/Pixar wonders. As usual our producers want to play safe until Indian animation films are proven money-spinners. The lack of mainstream funds is a symptom of lack of trust and belief in the medium. (Have you noticed that like cinema and theatre, animation films too have begun by mythological films which are the surest way of attracting audiences?) It is but natural that it would trickle down to the commitment of the team who would be unsure and not ‘passionate’ about delivering their best. Superiority of exposure or technology is not the problem as I see it. Once again, we are looking at the West to imagine,innovate and inspire for us to follow. We are too far away from coming into our own as we are yet to see the medium as something belonging to us, disposable to our imagination…
About the film not catering to the world of small-town children- It is a completely misguiding statement. I thought the sensibilities of the film were very rooted and more for the gilli-danda playing child rather than the computer-games freak. The success of the film is that it takes even the latter into its world and has lots to offer him as well in terms of contemporariness :)
Take a bow yet again Anurag! :) And, eagerly awaiting your write-up on your experiences with HR!
Nothing to do with the animation of the film but since we are on HR have to mention I am in LOVE with the songs! ‘Aasmaan ko chhookar dekha’ has been playing on loop since Friday!
The rest are equally enticing. Hanuman Chalisa, Blackhole, Superman, Dhishum Dhishum are all in the realm of the songs we used to hear in the pre-cable days….a very ‘chaddi pehen ke phool khila hain’ feel to it but with a lot more pizzazz! Songs are as much a trip as is the film!
bollywoodplusplus
quote - I was quite pleasantly surprised with their thought process, their ability to think whacky and different. And it sure reflects in the movies like Nemo or Cars or Lion King. - unquote
nemo - a fish is lost. and is being searched by sea creatures. and in process you will find all clinched human characters as fishes. may be someone was board with human being. so he planted same thing in sea.
cars - same again a girlfriend, a boyfriend, an old man. and all that hollywood crap. this time with faces as bonnets. this is creativity. =)) well than scope is unlimited. can do it with cycles. cockroaches, beetles, washing machines and what not.
>:) ~:> 3:-o =:) :))
I spent 1200 bucks nd walked in with ma 7 friends… We were kind f odd out there in da hall, evry othr person had a child with him!!! Still we njoied th experience nd no1 ws complaining!!! Just 2 in 7 were AK’s fan rest 5 didn’t knew who he is…
Gr8 JOB sir,
I bow to you!!!
@ Fatema…Thank you
interesting statistic! about 500 views & 50 Comments.. that’s like one in every five reader is piqued-enough to talk..
and very constructive discussion around ‘The Return of Hanuman’.
Damn Cool P(L)AYBACK!!
should’ve said ‘one in every ten’. but still as Coolo..
@ Thani…Thank you once again ! Was waiting for a post from you on New Years Eve
P(L)AYBACK, coming right up.. New Years Eve..
@ Thani :D
looks like am in some animation class. so many jargons!! even a simple film like hanuman sounds more complex than no smoking. playback, was there a way to make these things sound simple. not everyone here knows about every jargon and term used in animation.
@ fanatic,…making an animation film is indeed a complex process. Sorry for the technical jargon, but I did warn in advance on the post. If there is anything in particular you would like me to explain I will gladly do so !
Strange ! I just saw a new post by Thani,….and then it disappeared !
it will reappear in 3 hours time!
WHY????
:(
A well planned pre-prod package, ENOUGH time and a nice budget….. asking for nothing much.. but these things can make the difference.
@ Vinu
Hey ,are you Vinu from Toonz?:-?
Read many of the comments and return comments… I can’t agree more!
As Anurag mentioned, and as I have mentioned in another article of mine “Time, Quality, Money, You can pick 2″, it is high time to get into a mode of producing the best possible film with the best possible time with good enough monitory support. Believe me, there is no dearth of talent in India. Supervisors are just HELPLESS if they are not provided enough time and enough resources to come out with what is expected.
Does anyone realise what it takes to do a great Animated film. It is a all a combination of Time, Money & ofcourse talent. We have the last one in plenty. Here most of the decision makers are impatient tight with their purse.
Another important element to make a great movie is the experience. How old (or young) is Indian animation Industry. What is the meaning in comparing with the works done by companies like Pixars and Disneys? In my opinion, the reviewers also should also have patience.
Indian Artists are presently in a panic and greed. Hungry for challenges, greed for money. How many of them are patient enough to complete a production in one studio and then move on. Moving to many studios in fact is good for the artists personally but always a huge setback for the studios.
I think this scenario will continue for the next one or two years.
Then….
I really long for a scenario where Artsist move between the studios with lot of conviction and passion. I reallly long for a situation in which the studios talk each other ask for certain skills available which could be spared ofr a certain period of time.
This can only happen if the industry matures. Till them lets have patience. There will be enough money and confidence with the investors ONLY if the decently made film with many many limitations works in the Box Office. And I am happy that it IS working.
Things will improve…
Be impatient to get there.
Be Hungry for quality.
Be ruthless in criticism at same time appreciate efforts.
Be hopeful.
Be Confident.
Be proud about whatever Indian Animation Industry has achieved in this short span of just two years.
Cheers!!!
@ Hari, …broadly speaking, what kind of qualifications do your animators have at TOONZ ?
They are mainly from Fine Arts Schools, Visual Communications and also guys with strong left brains at the programming sides…of production…
Thanx for the response. Do Fine Arts Schools teach animation ? The only V-Comm course which teaches animation in the country is NID. All the others either teach software or illustration.
And, programming ? …Dont tell me you guys write custom programs to create FX ? I think you meant people who operate software.
P(L)ayback,
To comment on the animation program at NID, they do not have a program that intends to teach applications and software. Instead they teach a process of film design that incorporates the use of various media and techniques one of which is software programs.
I do not know too many fine arts schools that offer animation as a specialization, though some have introduced a very tiny module within the syllabus. IDC mumbai happens to be one place that offers a special animation program.
@ Mr Ganguly,…thats exactly what I said. That NID teaches animation. The rest teach software.
Prosenjit is right. And you are also right.
There are no Fine Arts Schools which Animation as Major. right. Fine Arts schools are Animation Schools.
When I say some guys we have are from Fine Arts background, that doesn’t mean that they come straight from Fine-Arts school and join as Animators. We have an Academy and we train them in Animation and we teach the software also. Also we need to realise that these days, understanding the software are also equally important. The guys who do only Animation can be Directors. As of today we need more Animators who can work on production in tight schedule and who can work in a team.
And for your information, at least 30% to 40% of the 3D Animation and VFX production are purely technical and they use great number of scripts. The guys with programming background work in these areas.
Animation per se is one of the many processes in the pipeline. There are many elements which makes a shot work. That is why Animation film making is complex process in which a huge team has to work in perfect sync.
The programmers here write customised plug-ins to be worked along with standard software.
Hope it is clear.:):):)
@ Hari ! It is clear ! … U know what sums up the problem with animation in India is your designation,… Chief Creative Officer ! …Whom do you report to ? A Major General ? :D … its ridiculous ! Or is it a take on CEO vs CCO ? …Do u know u could have had all three ? … Money , Time, and Quality…if u had a plan !
May be Major General, May be President, May be anything… But that doesn’t matter here. As long as you take things in the right spirit…(In fact I report to myself personally and also take the blame gladly if things don’t work.. even if it is due to someone else’s or the system’s fault.) :)
@P(L)AYBACK, It will be great if you could come up with a suggestion which could work and on how one could have all the three just if one had a plan. That would be a great contribution to the Global Animation Industry because this is a global problem …;)
I only wish this was a simple problem:(
Cheers!:)
@ Hari …Thanks for not whipping my arse for that comment ! :)
A complex problem is nothing but a set of simple problems Hari,…trust me.
I could come up with effective suggestions. If you are inclined, we could have an email discussion to start with ! Power to Indian Animation ! Cheers ! :)
Hey, man, P(L)AYBACK, cool. I live in the present and I believe in what I do.
I like your definition about a “complex problem” :)
shoot a mail… Lets discuss.
In fact I am planning up t open up a discussion on an ideal situation Indian Animation Industry to have a healthy Studio culture across the country by having committed, dedicated talented Artists going between Studios and doing great projects wherever it is…I think it is worth to stop this stinking poaching what is presently happening. That way Corporates will also be happy and responsible and most important of all, it would be rewarding to artists creatively and monetarity.
This way the true artists will survive and the so called artists will slowly fade away. Survival of the fittest.
What do you think?
@ Hari,…you are thinking in the right direction. Love it ! …And yeah will email you shortly…btw…whats your email ID ?:)
rhkvarma [at] rediffmail [dot] com
@ Hari. Thanks…will email you shortly.