Lately Landmarvel has been marking its presence at quite a few big trade and industry events? Please comment on your strategy?
We find it very useful to attend such conferences and shows around the globe. It gives us an advantage in terms of contact and business. However these things don’t happen overnight, visiting once is not sufficient, it requires a continuous effort, one has to be present in almost all the shows in 3-4 successive editions to get recognised as a studio. At Landmarvel we have budgeted around Rs.1.5 crores only for our travel and show visits in the next one year.
What was the highlight of your trip to SIGGRAPH?
The most interesting session was George Lucas’ key note address. He made notable comments about the growing importance of Asia and digital art therein. The making of Madagascar was also very interesting and we really learnt a few lessons as to how they came up with the ocean shots and the fur that they have used for the characters.
The experience was really good. We learnt a lot about new technologies, some of these new devices, gadgets and technologies might take some more years to be of any practical use but it was good to experience them first hand.
What about the business aspect?
As I mentioned earlier, one cannot expect much from the first trip, even then we have some good developments and are following up. But I cannot disclose those details at this stage.
How much did your booth cost you? Who was there from Landmarvel?
The booth cost us around UD5000 plus all our other expenses. The complete trip cost us around USD39000. Four of us attended from Landmarvel including our CEO Veerashekar, Myself, Alagarsamy and Ayyappan.
What was the attendance to your booth like? Who were your neighbors?
Our neighbors were Hollywood Times. The attendance to the booth was very good, the crowd was a mixed one consisting of students, producers, animators, directors etc.. We also had interesting interactions with quite a few Indian professionals working in studios abroad. We plan to follow up and hopefully take things to the next level.
Will you be visiting the next SIGGRAPH at Boston?
Yes. Definitely!
What are the ongoing projects at Landmarvel?
Recently we completed more than 30 minutes for the Telugu superhit Athadu the major part was for a stunt sequence and we have got some excellent reviews from the industry. Amongst other films we have Shadi No1 and Aatma in Hindi and Anbe Aruyierae, Thoti Jaya, Mazhai, Kalurien Kathai in Tamil. We have completed close to 156 minutes of VFX in the last 3 months AND I think it’s a marvelous job by the team.
In Mumbai more than 8 studios have shifted or are in the midst of shifting to newer bigger premises. What’s the scene in Chennai?
Our current team size is 85. As I have mentioned earlier too, we will be inducting another 150 more people in the next 18 months and that is our target in terms of manpower. We have already taken up an additional 4000 sq. ft studio space close to our existing facility and are additionally building another 12,000 sq.ft facility to accommodate the additional manpower that we plan to induct.
Parting Shot?
As the whole the industry is looking good and we are all sailing ahead!!