Time, Quality, Money…You can pick 2!
Time, Quality, Money…You can pick 2!
That is the thumb rule in Animation Production
By Hari Varma, Chief Creative officer – Toonz India
Anurag’s (AK’s) mention in his article on his film Return of Hanuman about me as the real hero of the film prompted me to write this note. In fact in Animation, there are no single individuals. It is all the work of a team and I was only a person who gave the right direction and the right decision at the right time. Luckily everyone was okay with it as they started seeing the results.
Honestly speaking I was thoroughly scared when I heard that Anurag Kashyap is going to direct the film. Animation Film getting directed by a Live action film director! That could be the worst nightmare an Animation Professional can imagine! (in fact Indian Animation Industry in India is not yet matured enough to have directors specialized in Animation films)
By the time Toonz got into the picture, the Writer-Director of The Return of Hanuman was already in. I was a little skeptic! Anurag Kashyap? The Black Friday guy? Writing and Directing a Children’s film? That too the sequel to a hugely successful Hanuman? Music and Lyrics part was quite safe with the same old hands (Satish Mutatkar and Tapas Relia).
Anurag visited Toonz before starting the script and we had a good interaction. We exchanged many things and my fear increased manifold. This is the guy who changes his script at the beat of an eye-lid even at the last moment, the guy who becomes ruthless at the editing table (though he is like Edward Scissorhands who sculpts with his scissor-hands) cutting out even his own favourite shots for making the film work, the guy who is just crazy. My God! What are we getting into?
Well, I got a slight relief the moment he mentioned that he is aware about the fact that Animation Film making is not really like Live Action film making and that he would take utmost care that he would control himself. I felt a little sad at that time because I personally believe that a creative person like him should surely be left free and after completing the script we could sit together and make him understand the limitations and possibilities of making and Animated film.
I got the earlier versions of the script (which was written while he was at New Jersey) and it was going fine.
Everything moved fast and the Pre-production was kickstarted in the month of November 2006. The plan was to release the film in the 2007 Diwali. 12 months flat! Sounds fine for a big budget feature film in live action, right?
No Animation professional would EVER agree that it is right! But still, we at Toonz agreed to take up the challenge. After the astounding success of earlier Hanuman, making a sequel would naturally be a huge challenge! We started Animating from the month of February 2007. Upendra, another sweetheart who played a major role in the pre-production of the film was also new to developing storyboards and shots for Feature films.
Time was passing and we started feeling the heat of Diwali fireworks! And then Anurag started to realize the dangers of directing an animated film in the Live-action way. Better late than never.
He realized that many of the things he visualized which he normally get them done in live-action didn’t really work that way in animation production. Any shot added or modified needed to go through the entire pipeline of production right from the pre-production stage. He realized that he cannot just ask for an extra and get the shoot done! Here he is expected to direct 60 Artists to get one character do what he wants! He realized that he cannot afford to call takes after takes though there are no Superstars involved!
But… slowly he came to terms with the reality. We sat together and saw the rushes of the first pass animation. And that was just a couple of months before the declared release date. There were some “brilliantly animated” shots and some were just not working. I had already noted all the creative and technical flaws with their possible corrections beforehand. He was depressed. He said, “I am sorry, but the opening scenes and the climax are not working! I want to re-work on those aspects”. Though he had an idea that it would be costing additional, he never had an idea that it would be costing a fortune! But then if the two major aspects of the film are not working, is there any other option? Unfortunately nothing. Something needed to be done.
Personally I was in a fix because I was wearing two hats. I was aware about the time and money available and I also knew that some thing definitely needed to be done to make the film work. Anurag pleaded for more time and as everyone knows that deadlines are deadlines are deadlines, however ridiculous it is. It doesn’t make any sense if you slip the release date and come out with a great movie.
Only option left was to make the film work and one has to do it in an intelligent way. I decided to have a combinations Money Shots, Good Shots and normal shots. Unfortunately all the money shots had to be re-done or had to be created afresh.
Then I decided to get involved and to do whatever I can to make the film work. I visited Mumbai, took stock of the deliverables and exact dates. Showed Anurag, how a shot could be made different from the existed looks of a Television show. The difference was amazing and everyone attended the presentation including the talented Upendra was convinced that the film need to be given a facelift that could make it look big. I told Anurag to leave it to me and my team. I asked him to start working on the most unavoidable additional shots immediately.
The first thing I managed to communicate to the entire team at Mumbai and Trivandrum was that one need not be so much sticky about 2D or 3D. As long as the scene works on screen by some method, we need to take that route. So I decided to use 3D Particle Animation to enhance many of the exclusive 2D shots and change the negative character to 3D. I knew it was a huge risk to take such a decision on my own at that last stage. But then there was no choice. The only way to make that huge ugly character ugliest and fearsome was possible at this short time only by using this technique. This technique comes from my experience in doing Visual effects for films.
Then I personally added a few ‘masalas’ in the already existing shots to make it look filmy and created some new shots to establish the hugeness of the film. Luckily Anurag and all involved were happy about the final look.
The entire team at Toonz worked day and night to achieve what it is today in such a short time. In live action, though a great actor may feel that he could actor better seeing his own film, no one would like to re-do the same film. You can imagine how difficult it was to motivate a couple of hundred artists to re-do and also work on additional shots after completing the film once.
As Anurag mentioned it is not fair to compare this film to any international film. While those films out there are done in 3 to 4 years time with a budget of over a hundred million US$, our film was done in one fourth of the time and with one-tenth of the budget. I know that the viewers need not be bothered to know what troubles went into the making of a film. They just want to see films of international standards. Yes, that time will come.
This film in no way represents the quality of animation Toonz can produce. We are known for our quality and major Production Studios like Paramount Pictures, Universal, Hallmark Entertainment, Marvel Studios, BBC, etc partner with us even in the creative contribution. And these associations are NOT due to the earlier concept of low-cost labour.
The Indian Industry needs to move forward and if we stick to doing only high-budget, high-profile productions which takes long time to produce, there is bound to be a huge gap in the Animation industry and that is not a good thing to happen for Indian Animation Industry as a whole. One has to remember that almost two years have passed after the pioneering major Feature film in the form of Hanuman hit the industry. In the coming years we will see many more films made taking more time and with bigger budgets.
I would like to make a small reference here about the two different streams of Animation Production. Commercially successful and Artistically satisfying. Both are important. But they are very different. A commercially successful film can definitely be artistic as well but it is not always the case vice versa. Story telling is the key.
It is always a great feeling to see the Indian Animated films for India Audience getting released across the country regardless of the linguistic boundaries and also across the world where Indians long to see. I sincerely thank the Indian audience for getting matured and becoming more demanding to see Indian Animated movies. I honestly hope to see our audience asking for more and more of quality and perfection while appreciating the humble efforts.
Indian Animated Feature Film Industry is at the infancy stage. It is growing and the growth can be faster and meaningful only if the Creative heads and Production heads work hand in hand. The industry needs to be carefully nurtured or else we will be forced to learn everything the hard way and it will take more number of years to become matured.
by
Hari Varma
Chief Creative Officer
Toonz Animation
Trivandrum
Filed Under
Exclusive, PROJEKT iVIEW , Teaching Film-making
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I am just waiting for “Sultan” and nothing else! Ocher is doing a brilliant job and of course with Rajnikanth’s blessings but I feel that this project will open up the eyes of industry in a major way towards Animation!
me too MACHCHAR !!! waitin for SULTAN
I’m wating for “Hanuman 3″
Hello ‘Varma Ji”,
before I posting something, I want to talk to you:)
i have a small question…
Are you guys financially, erm, well off? If so, would it not be more convenient if the company starts producing animation films and looks for the story rather than….? You know like an Animation Film studio house..
Or that is not feasible at the moment..
Good Question Goonda,..
We’ll wait for Varma ji
i’d presume Toonz aren’t capable of making that step but maybe in future they could be… or look into JV… anyway.. still worth asking…
Goonda, what is JV?
Joint Venture.
JV= joint veture
Goonda.
Toonz has done 26 Episodes of
“Adventure of Tenali Raman” . from script to screen, with good quality Animation, ( it was runing on CN)
to be honest, i do not know anything about Toonz and what they have done previously… so was not aware of that or other works. anyway, you work for Toonz, dontcha? So giz us more inside info..
http://www.toonzanimationindia.com/toonz.htm
Hari Hari Bol!
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us.
Here is one of my fav work of animation by the Polish Tomek Baginski.
Here is an interview of Tomek
http://maxunderground.com/articles/2005/tbaginskifa_interview.html
Mainak, thans for the post..!!
And yes… thanx for the Tomek stuff as well! Great work… Amazing!..
Goondaji,
Your questions is a very valid one. Shekhar has given you the link the Toonz website. you will see what Toonz really is. And What Toonz really can.
Now coming to your “small” question of whether Toonz can produce its own films. The answer is, YES! But there are ways to do. Toonz started in 1999 and still going great with bigger and bigger shows under its portfolio.
Animation industry is such that more and more films are produced as Co-production to mitigate the risk and the risk is because of the HUGE investment required if you really want to do a great movie. And Toonz believes in doing great movies.
Toonz is already co-producing a Movie which can turn out to be the best ever produced in India. The film will be released in 2009 Xmas. The Coproduction partners are some of the biggest names in the International arena.
Also watch out for announcements about an Animated film produced exclusively by Toonz for Indian and International Audience with Indian sensibilities.
Also be aware that there are only Huge Budget movie and Good budget movie in the Industry. Huge = Pixar & the likes and Good = somewhere around the Big budget Hindi flicks.
Got it, dear?:d:d
Shekhar,
Come along, lets talk…
:):)
@ Hari Varma -
Thanks for the inputs. what is ur opinion on Pixeon (i think that’s the right spelling)? So good budget is 20-30 crores? i guess i have to make a lot more money before i make an animated short of this quality.
@ mainak -
thanks for sharing with all. tomek is very talented and the poles are very proud of him. I could not go 1 day during my recent trip to poland without someone asking me if i had heard of Tomek.
dabba,
Pixeon has great infrastructure. I cannot comment much on them since I have not worked much with them.
As far as Return of Hanuman goes, all the Visual effects and Colour desaturations were done at Toonz itself. There was not much creative role for Pixion.
I am sure they also found it difficult to manage all that they had to do including colour correction or any online FX in the very less time they had for doing any of the the must-do stuff in Post production. It was evident in some of the shots when I saw them on the screen.
I hear that they are quite okay. I also hear that they are doing a 3D feature now.
Regarding the budget, yes. we can call that a decent budget just for production. But then, time really matters. And also the story and treatment of the film largely decide the time and cost. ( A big budget Hindi film means about 60 to 80 Crores in Total) If you are talking about independant Animated shorts, you can afford to take long time and work at your pace and the team you are planning could be very small which cold be managed easier. So the shorts need not be that costly.
So Hari-ji, when will we know about those exciting animation movies coming out from Toonz?!
It is good to see that Toonz is going in the right direction.
I am always keeping my eyes and ears open for Indian animation films but the mainstream media or any kind.. do not, you know, write about it, that much. If there is anything then it is just a couple of lines. So hopefully, you will write more about the forthcoming movies…. to keep us updated…
@ Hari,
Thanks once again. I am not an animator so have to work with others. I am trying to put together a team, to make a short. It is a dark comedy called Suicide Row. I wrote it as a live action but think animation will be far more apropos.
Can you (I don’t want to impose because it will be time consuming, but thought I will try anyway), or any of the others knowledgable in animation here like P(L)ayback, Shekhar etc talk about the various animation/FX techniques (with more detail than 2D and 3D) along with their pros and cons (time, money, skill set needed etc), potential softwares to use, and examples of films or shorts that employed them like Waking Life (rotascoping), Persepolis, Fallen Art etc., etc.
sorry for the huge ask. i have no knowledge of animation and i am dying to make one, which spells trouble.
Do you have any recommended resources for the types of animation teechniques
@ Dabba … Will surely help u out ! Email me ! Cheers !
@ P(L)AYBACK -
Thanks. I’ll email u shortly.
@ P(L)AYBACK
Check your mail,sent one mail to you:)
@ dabba
You can check my blog,
@ Shimpi….replied
“It doesn
@ K J
I’m Preparing an Article, with my friend
will put it soon:)
Shekhar Shimpi
Another great work of Tomek
I know Dabba…
TOMEK is a hero of animators & Poles.
**********
Last Film - PERSEPOLIS(4/5)
Hey Mainak
What Shimpi?
KJ,
You are spot on right.. who takes the blame for a bad product? That is the question I wanted to get generated in these dialogues. There SHOULD be adjustments in the release dates if that could bring up the quality to a different level I totally agree to that.
We (Anurag & myself) on the creative side HAD fought a lot for getting a little more time. But then, as Anurag had mentioned, the release date was announced and some other fim was also getting released soon.
We are hoping and seriously planning to have better timeframe for our new project and I am sure the creative sould working in those projects would have a great time and we have a great film. much improved ones without any regret!!:):):)
Anyway, thanks for your comments and raising the issue of the necessity to adjust the release dates it that would make a big difference.
Cheers!!:d:d:d
@ KJ …feel free to email me anytime
Hari Varma,
I don’t know much about Animation but I was sitting with some people who are Animation Guru’s and respected in the field. From their conversation I could gather they saying that Toonz took PPC an Anurag for a ride both cost wise and quality wise as they said with the amount of money spent and the quality produced, they could come out of 2 Hanuman movies. What do you have to say about this?
-Machcharjee, What Animation Guru told you this? Please do tell and what points did you gather that led you to this doubt/question/conclusion?
@ Machchar, Ahem !…What was the total budget for RoH ? …and how was the same divided head-wise ? Please enlighten me ! Thanx
Why don’t you guys chillout for a second? So now even if we want to clarify anything, do we have to give the Mahabharat behind it and follow protocol? I just simply asked what I heard, if thats not the case, Mr.Varma will simply say no, PPC is not a fool etc and case closed. Why do you guys have to be so touchy about big peoples articles here?
Playback…Tu Hero hain…You don’t have to stand up with a jhanda proving your intelligence. relax buddy…
Machchar, you actually have not read his article or Anurag’s article, have you? If you did read it, then you would have never raised that sort of question.
My source tells me that you are a
‘tattu’, so are you? Hey, just asking for a clarification.Goonda, u said it..Oz and P(L)back, you too.
Machchar, Animation Gurus may have their opinions. If the Guys you have talked to are “Animation Gurus” and if they are genuine, your interpration is definitely wrong. Better to do some homework and throw the doubt. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean that you can infer anything anytime and put across as opinion of others. Have guts and say with substantiation. Long live Animation Gurus!!
I do not have anything to say about it. And I don’t get provoked at such silly and meaningless doubts/questions/conclusions. Sorry, better luck next time.
:):):)
Honhaar Goonda, kaun tattu hain yeh kaun Jhandu balm hain sabko pata hain…you don’t need sources for it.
By the way I did read all those articles you mentioned. But I guess your little brain does not understand how the industry works right? People are coming out with great 2D Animation movies in the budget of 2 to 3 cr but as soon as a big company like PPC gets involved, no fool animation company would want to work with minimal profits…
If PPC themselves setup an animation studio, employed people on contract basis and if they took a highly skilled guy to head it, I am sure they would have saved a lot! But ofcourse big companies don’t bother with such nitty gritties and prefer to outsource. What happens when they outsource? The bigger the animation company, more the overheads and all this gets added up in the budget. Got it?
Hari, I did not write that to provoke you or anything. All I said was I was sitting with these people who are into Animation themselves and thats what they were discussing. Who they are is inconsequential, but I just wanted to highlight that this kind of talk does exist out there. Nothing personal. No one is accusing anyone of anything. As I said, as long as you and your clients are happy, why are you bothered about what people are talking?
Machchar, not again… You have not done your homework… I am convinced… You have no idea what the deal was and how it works in the industry……
Cool…;):);)
Machcharji,
Thank you for the information..I am also hearing many many such comments. Don’t worry. As long as we are clear and honest, nothing to be really bothered about.
Honestly, I am not really bothered about those talks. I was concerned that people like you should not get carried away and throw that as a great information.
I will give you a clue PPC and Toonz are Partners in ROH. Hope that explains all.
Cheers!:)
Nup Machchar, I do not understand how the industry works, but I at least do not presume how the industry works, do I know?!
I have not heard of any 2d movies done in the budget region of 2 to 3 Crs. Have you? If so, do let me know name of those movies.
How much would it cost to set up an animation studio? And would not hiring people on contract basis turn out to be expensive? What would you have in the contract?
FYI, PPC has not “outsourced” the worked to Toonz. It is OUR project. Toonz & PPC. Got it?
Goonda, the sharp shooter…
If some one can do a GREAT 2D Feature with 2-3 crores, I would also like to know. May be I could outsource to them? Why not?
Hari, as I mentioned I don’t know much about the Animation industry but at least have some idea about how it functions.
According to this article, it costs $6000 USD to produce a 30 minute animation film in India
http://www.indiafm.com/features/2005/10/18/766/index.html
And according to this article, it costs $400,000 to $500,000 to produce one hour of an animation film. That works out to approximately 2 crores right?
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13535009
Ghatotkacha, directed by Singeetam Srinivas also did not cost as much as Hanuman 2.
Kittu, First Telugu Animation movie cost around 5 crores.
Ponniyin Selvan, a full length 2D animated feature produced by a Chennai animation company Mayabimbham Media is in the budget of 2 to 3 crores.
I am not an expert but when I see others doing it for so cheap and when I hear Hanuman’s budget of 10 to 12 crores (I don’t know the exact figure) and that too nothing new or great in Animation, I do become a skeptic.
One advice… Don’t go by the numbers floating around…Most of these numbers are churned out by some research organisations who don’t even know what goes into production of an Animated Feature.
As long as you don’t not know the exact figure and what all heads goes into the budget, your observations need not be right.
The quote appearing in the articles you have linked me is unbelievable.
————————————————-
“To produce a 30 minute animated film in the U.S. it costs approximately $25,000 to $40,000 whereas in India it can be done for as less as $6000.”
————————————————-
This, they are talking about Broadcast and not Feature Film and even that is TOTALLY wrong….
FYI, Feature Animation, costs at least 8 to 10 times more than Broadcast Animation due to various reasons.
In case you like to get educated on this, send a mail to me rhkvarma@rediffmail.com we will discuss.
All I can tell you now is that you are being misguided by wrong information, wrong people, etc. It is a big and evolving subject.Only the guys who are in the industry since its beginning in India can give you the correct picture.
How does $400,000 to $500,000 work out approx. as 2 Crore (Indian Rupees)? It should be between the region 15 -20 crorer, no? How many zeroes are there in a crore?
500,000.00 USD
=
19,655,002.00 INR
My bad.. that is 2 crore…
Mr. Varma, I have asked this question in Anurag’s post, but didn’t get the answer there..so asking again….why this film is not released in Hyderabad?
Machchar, btw, according to this article, in India it is $60,000 to produce a 30 min.. and in US it costs $250,000 - $400,000.
Goondaji
How did you link that article with the words?
I mean without giving the URL?
Mainak,
Don’t tell me you do not know Anchor tag!
I have been searching for a code that would automatically convert a link(URL) into a word, so need to use the anchor tag when posting a URL/Link
Hari, okay I am a total novice at this but look at this example….
I understand only laymans language…
A T-shirt manufactured in India costs 50 cents, by the time it is exported and labeled, the price in $50!
So a HUGE company like Toonz, there definitely will be a major price factor due to the overheads, so many offices to maintain, thousands of people right?
So, if for Toonz it costs 10 crores (taking into account not just the manhours, but all the additional expenses), for a lean and mean company, there is a chance of the cost coming down more than 50% right? Don’t say you have the best of the people. I am sure India has many more talented people.
A product from one of the world’s top 10 multimedia companies compared to a product developed by a small company, there definitely will be lot of difference.
For the Indian animation film industry to grow, they should rely more on dedicated, small and cost effective companies than these global conglomerates. Toonz can be great for overseas work etc where they are used to Hollywood pricing.
Even if you say partnership for PPC, you definitely must have put in the budget how much amount of Animation work you are bringing into the table right?
Please, this is all for informative purposes and if not now, we will never get a chance to clear our doubts.
Okay, $6000 might be unbelievable, lets make it 10 times more expensive. $60,000 for 30 mins of an animation? okay…so that makes it $180,000 USD for a 90 minute feature film right?
Okay, let’s double it….$360,000 USD…
That becomes 1 Crore 44 lakhs.
Okay let’s double this too…okay forget doubling it….lets triple it….Four crores, 32 lakhs.
I still fail to understand that how Hanuman 2 would cost more than 10 crores even with the cost of Director’s remuneration, dubbing, post production, prints etc etc etc put in?
I don’t believe when you say that you cannot make a good quality 2D film in a 2-3 crore budget. So you mean to say it’s impossible?
I am not aware of any quality Indian 2D animation movies, which were done in a budget of 2-3 crores. Are you?! You have not mentioned a single animation movie completed within the budget of 2-3 crore (with proofs)! What is with 2-3 crorer - what is so special about that?
As far as my understanding goes, I do not think an animation studio house can produce a quality animation film for that budget 2-3 crorer. Unless they do not pay their employees.
Half of that 2-3 Cr. would have been allocated to research before they can even start writing a script! An animation film needs a lot of research. It’s not a David Dhawan film!
A bunch of small group of independent people (who know their stuff) can achieve that target of yers as they would not have to pay wages etc, I suppose.
Anyway, Sachin, Shekhar, Hari.. would be the right persons to answer your last question.
maruramu,
We are involved in distribution. So I am not able to answer your query… Sorry. May be PPC or their selected distribution companies may be able to answer this query.
Fkn…awesome… tomek baginski ^:)^ thank Mainak
Machchar,
I repeat, your numbers which you have seen from the articles are WRONG… No company in the US can produce a feature Animation in US$500,000/- Even the lowest Feature Animation produced in the US is US$30mn. And that is INR 120 Crores!!
Please do your home work and do not waste time.
Now coming to your question in the last para (I am answering this becasue Goonda suggested that u might get an answer from any one of the three). I have mentioned to you that you should be aware of the heads of the budget. What this 10-12 Crores budget is all about. FYI film just doesn’t happen and come to theatres. An animated film production is not just start with layout and end with image seqences. There are many things before and after that.
Take it or leave it. This is coming from the guy who has negotiated, implemented, recruited and executed high end project in the US. In India if any studio claim that they can produce a decent feature film from Concept to Screen and to reach the people in 2-3 crores of rupees, either they are BULL-SHITTING or they are producing extremely sub-standard stuff.
Your mention about small studios. Yes small studios with less overheads can also make it but it will take 10 years for them just to do the production. Or the work need to be outsourced to at least 10 small studios for getting the work done in at least 2 years. But then there is no guarantee for quality/consistancy.
Hey Machchar, let the big guys sort out those big issues. You just need to know that you should not get carried away by the numbers floating around unless the source is authentic. That is my piece of advice.
Though you have every right to know the information, there are limitations to every mind. It is like a school boy trying to argue and justify on the National budget.
@ Hari,…u havent yet answered my email !
Hey, P(L)AYBACK
I didn’t get your mail. Just a minute back!…
pls check the email ID. rhkvarma@rediffmail.com
P(L)AYBACK, I am leaving for the day. Will check in tomorrow.
I don’t find what is wrong with what machhar asked. its like a big company saying no small company can do what we are doing which sounds like a big power ego.how can you say that it will take a small company 10 years? many ppl are making animation films and they are not spending 10 crores….. or outsource to 10 different companies? it means only toonz can make animation films? and whats wrong in a school kid talking abt national budget? he has every right to discuss it and ask about it. next time u post ur article put a disclaimer that only positive comments welcome and u dont have time to discuss kiddy stuff.and i saw return of hanuman and it is extremely substandard.what do u have to say abt it.
ravi
and also, pls answer machhars question if it is impossible for a small studio to produce a 2d movie in 1 year in three cr. let the biggest guy in the field go on record saying impossible to make in thjree crores in 1 year.
I notice that in Bollywood people throw these fantastic numbers around. 10 crores for an anime feature of RoH standard? You guys must be joking!
Hari, you have the complete freedom to ignore my comments if you feel they are silly. Why does it sting you so much? I might not know about how exactly the Animation industry works but I know how the IT industry in general works and I speak this as my previous experience as the Head of Biz Dev for one of India’s TOP IT companies.
If you have negotiated, implemented, recruited, executed high end projects in the US, then you are speaking to a guy who has collaborated, implemented and executed projects with the likes of Ram Shriram, Vinod Khosla, John Sculley etc.
Just because I try to act clueless does not mean I am one. If you can’t/don’t want to answer my queries, it’s your prerogative, but using words like “leave it to the big guys” “school kids” etc does not befit you.
It’s an open forum and I raised some issues. You got a choice, ignore me or try to answer my queries.
When you say that no company in the US can produce a movie for $500,000 USD, you seem to be forgetting we are not talking about animation films produced in the US. This is about India and Indian products.
To cut the long story short, you mean to say that
1. To produce a Return of Hanuman quality movie, it would take 10+ crores.
2. If any small animation company tries to attempt it, it would take them 10+ years in the budget of lets say 3 crores.
3. It is impossible to produce a “decent” 2D movie in the budget of around 3crores.
@Honhaar Goonda: Buddy…Just give it a break…I even feel silly replying to you. According to you “Half of 2-3 crores would be spent on research even before they start writing the script”?
Hahahaha! What research are you talking about? Are we making a History Channel mega series to research something? 1.5 crores to research what? Do you know that you write the script, which usually costs a few lakhs, then story board it and then the animation starts? Don’t make yourself seem like a fool in your overzealousness to appear smart. Suggest you to take a chill pill.
lol, Machchar, you’re accusing me for being overzealous and trying to be smart! How ironic! I will admit that, I make meself of a fool now & then, but you…. never mind.
Pixar must have made ‘Finding Nemo’ just like that… without doing any research, eh? You think they did not hire professors or ecologists or oceanologist or went to Australia? You’ve underestimated the budget and now you are underestimating the amount of research needs to be done to make an animation film!
I actually was wondering whether to bother even replying to this Honhaar Goonda’s comment. I am sure everyone out there must be laughing their guts out reading his childish words.
HG, abbe tu kahan sey kahan pahunch gaya….Did you even understand what we are discussing about? Low budget Indian animation movies…possible or not…How does even Pixar or what they did for “Finding Nemo” come into this at all? Let them do what they want…They have the budgets…
So for every Indian animation movie you got to spend crores to research? If I am making an animation movie on a forest, so I should send a team of wildlife and environmental experts to jungles to do research for me? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I don’t know what to say
Animation means creativity unleashed without limits. You have a great story, able to pass that vision along to your animators, that’s enough..atleast for Indian Animation Industry at the moment.
I have not got a problem if people laugh at my comments or think it is childish. I say what I want to. Unlike….
Anyway, you can laugh it off Machchar. And I hope you find a quality Indian animation movie, which was made within a budget of 2-3 Cr. And the film did not require any research.
@Machchar …itna gussa thik nahi. Gimme ur email ID,….I will share something with u
Let the guy laugh, Goonda.. Freedom, man, freedom… India is free country…
According to Machchar, may be it is like this…
Animation is automatic… it is like sitting and writing codes… very objective… every one sees the same… there is only ONE opinion for any film… either good or bad… right or wrong… 0 or 1. But the opinion would certainly be unanimous… You don’t need any research or talent for that… type a story(or some text with Final Draft Screenplay Software - which may automatically create a story!… some printer or plotter design the characters and locations which are universally likeable and believable… get the designs into an “Animation film manufacturing machine” or a Coding Center and set the characteristics using programming… total silence ouside but terrible noices inside… and after a few hours, at the other end of the “Animation film manufacturing machine” the completed celluloid film or a digital movie rolls out… it travels to the theatres chosen by itself on its own… get projected… The audience are filled in theatres show after show… That is their ‘job’..the entire audience say the film is right or wrong… good or bad… claps or hoots… in a unanimous voice…
But alas, the entire audience need to be robots!! they should not have any mind of there own… they all should have been programmed…
No research required…. just a couple of guys to operate the “Animation film manufacturing machine”…and it costs just 3 crores and the rest free…
WOW!!
yes…Machchar stings. Thats its nature…But I never knew that machchar gets stung too. Relax…
For developing the business never go to the rock bottom prices providing just nothing, time or money, for doing a really good job….That can happen only due to sheer ignorance about what it takes to makes a good film…. That is a problem plaguing this Animation Industry.
AGREED… Machchar… you are great… Make a and show a good film which is liked by thinking audience and smart children with 2-3 crores…(INR). Show the world that you can do it! Save the Indian Animation Industry. But this should happen in the next ONE year flat. That is, in year 2008 itself. It should start afresh right from conceot and there should be proof for that… No cheating, please…
Then we will discuss further……..ONLY after that…
Cheers!!! :):):):):)
@ Hari …you got my mail ?
Hey P(L)AYBACK,
I didn’t get your mail!!:(
@ Hari …
Ok ! …Shoot me a test mail at playback2007@gmail.com
@ Hari…Thanks
Looks like I bring the worst out of people
Hari…I’m sure you guys must have spent crores on researching Hanuman and Gabbar Singh
You still did not answer to my points. Or to some other people’s questions above.
In spite of 10+ crore budget, WHY does RoH appear substandard, even though you had 1 year for production, had all the research, had all the money and most importantly, backed by the world famous Toonz?
Does your 10+ crore budget include, apart from the animation, numerous trips to and fro from Trivendrum to Mumbai, 5 star hotels for the director and senior Toonz officials? This is exactly what I am talking about. In a big setup, with big companies involved, they are not bothered about such small things. There is a lot of collateral wastage.
For small companies, based in Mumbai there is no such hangups. How much do you pay each animator by the way? Small companies spend more on the actual product than researches, jaunts etc. That doesn’t mean research does not happen, but it happens out of passion and not money. Every rupee is counted and carefully spent. For Animation industry in India to grow, we need passion, not some hi-fi company used to Hollywood pricing. It will kill the market and scare away people even before they try to enter it.
@ Machchar,…Jhandewala Hero ko email Karna !
Congratulations to Hari Varma of Toonz and to Anurag!
World News section of today’s Washington Post has an article on RETURN OF HANUMAN.
“In India, Gods Rule the Toon Universe” by Rama Lakshmi
i’ve pasted the article kavita mentioned above.. here’s the link (requires you to sign up as a washingtonpost.com member)
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In India, Gods Rule The ‘Toon’ Universe
Hindu Myth a Fount of Superheroes
NEW DELHI — Eight-year-old Tejas Vohra is used to spending most of his after-school hours watching “Power Rangers,” “Transformers” and “Looney Tunes.” But these days, one of his favorite superheroes is a cool cartoon version of Hanuman, the monkey-headed Hindu god.
For thousands of years, Hindus have prayed to Hanuman in times of trouble, beseeching him to perform miraculous feats in their lives. Last week, the god was revealed to Tejas in a movie theater. In “The Return of Hanuman,” the adored deity is reborn as a boy who goes to school in khaki shorts, uses a computer, combats pollution and, most important, smashes the bad guys to pulp.
“I loved the film because Hanuman is a boy like me and saves planet Earth,” said Tejas, a tall, wide-eyed second-grader. “It was awesome to see the gods laughing, singing and flying planes. The fights were really good, and in the end Hanuman sets everything right.”
A number of haloed Hindu gods and goddesses have debuted in the frenetic world of animation over the past five years. Their appearance marks a shift from a decades-long period in which Indian children grew up almost exclusively on American TV and movie characters, including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and Spider-Man.
To many parents, though, the “mytho-cartoons” are more than a novelty; they are a way to introduce the ancient tales to a generation that seems to be losing touch with its 5,000-year heritage.
“We grew up hearing these stories from our grandparents. But my son is learning the epics from animation films,” said Tejas’s mother, Madhu Vohra, 36. “I am happy that he’s imbibing our cultural values in a fun way. He can relate to the tales better this way. And I don’t need to monitor him closely when he watches Indian mythology.”
Like many parents in New Delhi, Vohra recently barred Tejas from watching “Crayon Shin-Chan,” an animated Japanese TV series featuring a foul-mouthed 5-year-old boy.
In India these days, children have a dazzling array of pop-culture choices. Parents worry about them being drawn to Western lifestyles, playing on computers rather than spending time with their families, and gaining easy access to all that is considered cool around the world. When sons and daughters greet their elders with a “Hi,” rather than folding their hands and offering the traditional greeting of “Namaste,” parents cringe.
The new cartoon films address this parental angst by presenting Indian mythology and folklore as cool and trendy. Besides Hanuman, deities featured on animated TV series and movies have included the elephant-headed Ganesha and the blue-bodied, mischievous Krishna. Indian jungle stories and princely tales are also being produced for television and the home video market.
The heady cocktail of ancient culture and popular entertainment has also fueled a marketing blitz, with manufacturers introducing T-shirts, toys and video games based on the cartoon characters.
The new shows have their roots in the explosion of private television channels in India more than a decade ago. It was then that marketers began to search for an opportunity to put uniquely Indian stories in cartoon format.
In 2001, the Cartoon Network broadcast the first Indian mythology show, “Pandavas,” a version of a tale from the classical Hindu epic “Mahabharata” about the travails of five princely brothers. Since then, the channel, which reaches more than 27 million homes, has shown 15 more Indian animation series, along with international programs.
The latest, “Krishna,” was rated the most popular series shown on any children’s channel in India last year, topping a series based on the Harry Potter books, according to Anshuman Misra, the managing director of Turner International India, which owns the Cartoon Network and Pogo channels.
Misra said it’s clear why the myth-based cartoons have become so popular.
“They are successful because there is an element of familiarity with these mythological characters, the stories are timeless, and Indian parents actively encourage the children to watch them,” he said.
A recent study by the Confederation of Indian Industry reported that the nascent Indian animation industry, now worth $285 million, is expected be worth almost $1 billion by 2010. Because of low overhead costs, India is also emerging as an outsourcing hub for international companies such as Walt Disney and Paramount that make animated films.
“But there is a dearth of skilled talent in India, and we end up bringing people from Korea and America each time,” said Hari Varma, chief creative officer at Toonz Animation India, which worked on “The Return of Hanuman.” “So we are opening animation schools across India now.”
“Hanuman” is the second film to take a revered Hindu story line, tweak it, put it in a 21st-century context and bring the gods down to Earth. It shows the gods talking in colloquial “Hinglish,” a fashionable hybrid of Hindi and English. The deities play the guitar instead of the traditional sitar, use the Internet and dodge bullets as if they were Neo, the hero of the U.S. movie “The Matrix.”
Hanuman flies into space, watches over New York with a torch like the Statue of Liberty’s, captures Osama bin Laden and straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other characters speak to Hanuman using irreverent phrases such as “Chill, dude” or “Have you lost it, dude?”
Another big box office hit last year, “My Friend Ganesha,” blended animation and live-action scenes to show the little elephant-headed god snowboarding and being taught to speak English by a nerdy schoolboy.
The next challenge for the Hindu “toon” gods is especially up-to-date. A forthcoming film features Hanuman going to Manhattan, where he helps the FBI battle terrorists.
“Hanuman is the original superhero. He is thousands of years older than Superman, Spider-Man and Batman. He is a brand to reckon with among Indian children today,” said Nadish Bhatia, general manager of marketing at Percept Picture Co., which co-produced “The Return of Hanuman.”
“Every society is looking for heroes, and we want to make Hanuman global,” Bhatia said. “If the Coca-Cola brand can come to India and connect with our sensibilities, why can’t Hanuman go to New York?”
thanx for the article Striker,
It did not Strike me to do so
@Striker, Good thought… of pasting the article…
Thanq Kavita, for the Compliments…
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