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02 Animation Xpress Magazine | June 2016 CONTENTS Special Editorial Special Editorial 06 PixStone Images: Visualising a great future 16 BigSharks Studio: The minnow which wants to be a VFX big fish Cover Story Feature 08 Indian Animation and VFX industry earns its stripes globally 17 Riva Animation dives deep into Bollywood 11 FICCI-KPMG predictions for Indian Animation, VFX & Gaming 19 Toonz Media Group: Sketching out a $1 billion roadmap 12 Baahubali: Showcasing India’s VFX mastery Column Column 20 Premium Games - The new flavour for Indian indies 14 Animation’s Real Star 22 The role of education in India’s AVGC transformation 08 19 17 20 Animation Xpress Magazine | June 2016 03 From the EDItoR IN CHIEF Indian VFX: Editor in Chief The growth urge ANIL WANVARI There has been some cynicism about the Indian animation, VFX and gaming story. Indian studios have mainly been involved in low end labour intensive outsourced jobs like wire removal, keying, matchmoving and rotoscopy, is some of the criticism that has been hurled at the 400 odd CG and VFX service providers. Hence, the Indian AVG industry should not really pat itself on the back. However, we at AnimationXpress.com believe that the industry is penning a script that can only see it emerging as the winner in the global game. Who would have thought that an Indian company – Prime Focus World - would end up owning more than 80 per cent of an award winning global studio such as Double Negative and emerge as amongst the world’s top 3 VFX studios? People may argue that investments going into VFX in India are not big enough as in the US. Indeed, neither are the overall production budgets. They are minuscule compared to what is invested in a single film by a US major studio. A young India - more than 57 per cent of its population is below 35 years in age - has developed a taste for quality visual effects in big budget international films. The box office collections of some fantasy and superhero Hollywood releases have recently surpassed those of local Hindi film productions. Nevertheless, an interesting story is beginning to unfold in the Indian AVG world. Even as Artist: Renjith G India – under a business friendly government – from Toonz Media Group is beginning to rewrite the rules that had made it a difficult place to do business over decades, a new bunch of film and entertainment professionals and entrepreneurs are venturing out, willing to risk it all, in order to leave their stamp globally. Take the case of ARK MediaWorks’ which 04 Animation Xpress Magazine | June 2016 has tapped into this hunger for spectacular Something that Prime Focus has done effectively cinematic storytelling through its fantasy VFX by acquiring other outfits globally and earned www.animationxpress.com spectacle Bahubali: The Beginning. 25 per cent the film making world’s respect. Not just in June 2016 of its $18 million budget was kept aside for India, but all over the world. Publisher and Editor in Chief 4,500 to 5,000 VFX shots. Its gross box office Anil Wanvari collection has crossed the $90 million mark Scale is important in VFX, almost as important Director -Commercial & Revenues worldwide, giving producers the confidence that as quality and timely delivery. And the smaller Anoop Wanvari yes indeed audiences in India and overseas are studios need to show they can consistently open to queuing up in cinemas to watch CG- deliver on all three parameters. Director - Operations & Resource Management heavy films from India. Larysa Savinska For starters, a couple of them – or more than a ARK Media roped in a clutch of 17 studios to couple of them - could partner locally to go out General Manager Deepak Kumar roll out the VFX vision of helmer S. Rajamouli and present themselves to Hollywood. Pooling and VFX supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan. Among resources together would give them access to Editorial them: Hyderabad-based Makuta and Firefly capital and talent. And that could help give film Prerna Kothari Ronald Rodrigues Creative Studios. makers in the US the confidence to give them Krishanu Ghosal complete VFX projects – rather than pieces. Vivek Kapadia Other Indian studios that have been leaving Ad Sales their imprint on the VFX map include: Prasad The fact that Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Neha Singhal EFX, Red Chillies VFX (owned by Bollywood Khan and Ajay Devgn are excited about visual Bhavika Bharambe star Shah Rukh Khan), Tata Elxsi, NY effects and are investing in studios should give it Shruti Gadia VFXWAALA (owned by Bollywood star Ajay a further fillip. Now what’s needed is even more Design Devgn), Riva Animation and VFX, Digikore governmental support and incentives to studios Visesh Wanvaari Studios, Anibrain Studios. which snare large scale VFX projects and in the Jay Hasija process help give an outlet to CG artists’ talent Animation Xpress India Pvt. Ltd. The list could be longer and indeed will grow as well as generate employment. C350,Oshiwara Industrial Center, New Link so as more investments are poured into VFX by Road, Opp Oshiwara Bus Depot, Goregaon (W), Mumbai, 400104, India Indian producers of Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi If a small nation like New Zealand can produce movies. a Weta Digital, surely Indian visionaries can [email protected] do so too. There’s talent aplenty, hence India ©AnimationXpress.com 2016 What some of the smaller studios could do is definitely can produce more than just one Prime think strategically on the way forward. Focus World. Animation Xpress Magazine | June 2016 05 SPECIAL EDITORIAL PixStone Images: Visualising a great future ohn Devasahayam is pleased as punch. basis,” says Devasahayam. PixStone Images has 12,000 sq ft of swanky The IT veteran made a mark for himself studio space in the developing industrial suburb Jas an IT professional over a three decade Over the past four years, PixStone Images has of Perungudi in Chennai. 250 dedicated, hard- career. But these days what’s keeping him worked on over 30 major motion pictures, a working and creative artists work in multiple excited is the success that his Chennai based few TV shows, music videos and commercials shifts through six days a week to meet all client studio PixStone Images has achieved in just four and recently, the company has ventured deadlines, while adhering to the highest of years of existence. into the Virtual Reality space with a keenness to quality standards. explore this new technology that everyone has PixStone Images has earned a name for itself as been talking about. Leading this entire initiative is Devasahayam. a Prep Comp services provider in South India An entrepreneur to the core, he has slogged it and more so globally. Its core competence lies in Primarily into working with Hollywood out for 33 years in senior executive positions serving as a very effective off-shore partner for based Conversion Studios, the studio and built successful IT Companies. Industry Stereoscopic conversion, VFX and VR studios roughly a year ago started delivering peers have labeled him as one of the pioneers by handling a wide range of Prep Comp work VFX services as well. of the IT distribution business in India during that is manpower intensive. the early days of growth in IT, specialising in Some of the services it offers include rotoscopy, large scale IT outsourcing. “We have innovated, created and utilised our prep, compositing, matchmove and rotomation. very own proprietary delivery model of IDS or Among the big titles that it has lent its expertise to He leads a management team with individuals India Delivery Studio to deliver work on a cost include: The Walk, Gods Of Egypt, Transformers: Age who bring innovative technical skills and a effective, consistently reliable and scalable of Extinction, Guardians of the Galaxy and Godzilla. business oriented focus that makes PixStone 06 Animation Xpress Magazine | June 2016 SPECIAL EDITORIAL Images unique within the outsourcing industry. As an outsourcing leader, the studio believes in organically building up its workforce by that alert everyone in the value chain and thus constantly training fresh artists. It also holds prevents any complications that could adversely workshops to identify and groom leadership affect its partner’s production deadlines. The from within, ensuring a tightly knit delivery goal of IDS is to offer a client partner client a force consisting of multiple delivery units which thoroughly reliable offshore delivery team that it work well in sync with each other. can be in control of. The studio believes it is important to cultivate Through the concept of IDS, PixStone Images The secure studio space (with security exceeding relationships with all its clients; be they big or dedicates a specific process oriented team and MPAA norms) has been physically audited and small. Through the company’s model of business studio space for its clients. This team works on approved by Paramount, Sony, Fox and Disney/ and production practices, it has established understanding the client’s pipeline and attuning Marvel, with Disney/ Marvel re-auditing strong working relationships with all its partners. each and every member to his or her production PixStone Images recently and approving it again. standards of efficiency and quality. Some of them have gone on record to state that In this technology driven world, where tech their PixStone partnership has been one of their The PixStone Images unit then effortlessly keeps changing at a blink of an eye, the best experiences in outsourcing out of India. works as an extension of the client’s production studio keeps in mind to constantly upgrade its Others also have said that they have full faith team, offering complete transparency through hardware.