After having delivered Empire Square for US based youth and music channel Fuse TV, Mumbai based animation studio Animation Dimensions which was established in early 2005 and currently boasts of a 30 member strong team, has its hands full with a couple of exciting projects that are sure to take everyone by surprise and leave them clutching their sides with laughter.
The studio is ready to launch its very own series targeting Indian audiences called Adventures of Loin which is inspired by the characters of Mona, Robert and Loin of the 70s and 80s Bollywood movies. The other series BullsEye is aimed at the international market and revolves around a bull called “Bullie”, its an Animated series in support of Anti-Corrida Campaign (anti-bullfight).
Animation Dimensions CEO- Elizabeth Koshy, who is based out of San Jose CA, shared with Animation ‘xpress,” We have started this studio with the sole intention to create finest Animation Properties from India. Though we have started with Work-for-Hire projects just to ensure that we have skills and talent to deliver for international standards, our long term plan is to have a bouquet which will comprise of overseas outsourced work and also the creation of original content to cater to the Indian and International markets”
“We also plan to be a powerhouse in the burgeoning market of mobile content. The Intellectual Properties will be in the long format, for Movies & Television Series and in short formats for Mobisodes and Webisodes” she added.
In the initial phase, the studio plans to make Adventures of Loin available as webisodes and mobisodes and gradually evolve to the broadcast platform.The webisodes will not be marketed for the purpose of revenue generation but as a publicity material for the TV series while the mobisodes which will be available in 2-3 months may require a minimal download fee.
“The idea is to make this show popular through mobisodes and webisodes first, as this will put us in a better negotiation position with the Channels” commented Koshy.
The series consists of twenty episodes with durations of 1-5 minutes per episode. At the moment three episodes have been worked on with one episode already available on the studio website for free viewing by everyone to get a feel of what the entire series is like. Currently the webisodes have scratch voices but negotiations are on with Shahzad Khan (Son of Ajit) for the voice of Loin & Viju Khote (Andaz Apna Apna fame) for Raabart. Mona’s voice is still to be decided.
Animation Dimensions Studio Manager Anand Pandey shared with Animation ‘xpress, “I have always enjoyed the spoofs on Loin – Robert, but these characters have never been together in any Hindi film, never in a way as we enjoy them in TV spoofs. The jokes on the net give a very interesting read but would fail if we transform them straight into Animation. Animation needs a good mix of comedy, wit and action and this is how “Adventures of Loin” was conceived”
“We have given a lot of depth to the characters of Loin, Raabart & Mona so that when the series is aired on TV, people will be able to relate to them. In fact the television series scripts have been written quite a while ago and much before we started making webisodes. This will be the first fully animated show from India which will have a flavor of dark comedy and will be targeted at a mature audience. We have initiated talks with media partners and television channels for further Animating and distributing this Property” he added.
Show Directors Ajit Mohite and Nilesh Nevgi shared, “We know these characters from other spoofs on TV or Internet jokes, but our approach is quite different in a way that we have discarded the idea of just animating these characters over Internet jokes. We have given them strong characterization and a good setup to explore lot of fun and adventures”
“There will be lot of Bollywood characters who will be featured in this show as well as other gang members of Loin like Peter, Lilly, Micheal etc. We are hopeful that we will be able to draw a good amount of attention from audiences all over India using this show. As a trend happening already, we can feel that the comedy based shows have maximum TRP, and its not very easy to make people laugh. Most of the jokes on TV die out over a period of time. We would like this show to have a good shelf life which will make it interesting to view again and again over a very long period, because we feel that the time of our audience is precious and we want to provide them with maximum entertainment” they added.
While Adventures of Loin is a show that Indian audiences will instantly relate to, Animation Dimension’s other show Bullseye is quite unique in the sense that it not only sports a different kind of humor but also sends out a very impactful message about the violent ‘sport’ of Bull Fighting. Gambling in real money online casinos is becoming popular among Australian players. In this situation players should remember several essential moments like security and bankroll management. Our friends created a list of the top real online casinos after analysing their certificates, payment methods, and games.
Hemant Gaonkar, Animation Supervisor and concept creator for “Bullseye” remarked,”The series is about the bloody sport of Bullfight in which people indulge even today. In this day and age where every one is aware and concerned about their Rights, nobody cares for the Bulls who are tormented in the name of entertainment. Matadors maybe considered very brave to take the risk of jumping in the ring with a red cloth to gain control of the bulls, but …. Has anyone ever given a thought as to how the bulls feel about it??? What if one day mute bulls decide to get back to the Matadors who want to prove their bravery by enraging and trying to control them????”
“‘Bullie’ is a bull who is different from his fellow bull in a way that he is quite intelligent and could understand this dirty game. He takes on all the matadors one by one in a bullfight. In this series we have used the element of humour and have attempted to show what could possibly happen if the tables got turned someday!”
Animation Dimensions Pvt. Ltd. was established in early 2005 as a Flash based Animation Studio in Mumbai and has delivered more then 300 minutes of Animation for its overseas clients in the last Eighteen months. Its previous project, Empire Square was the first animated series on the Fuse TV the US based youth & music channel. Empire Square has a unique look of 70s 8-.bit video games and the response to it has been really good.
“I have graduated myself from animator to technical director to Studio Manager and this journey has helped me to undergo the entire process of Animation Production. I feel that the new breed of Animators have a lot potential and scope to add not just good animation but also great concepts. Being a culture rich country with an ocean of stories to tell, India has failed miserably to create own original content. I strongly feel that concepts in animation often come from within the studio itself. It is very difficult for an outside writer to write a script for Animation. Its always the animators themselves who surprise you with their great ideas and gags. We at AD have done our best to nurture these story telling abilities of Animators, and in return they have given us some fabulous concepts. Now all we need to do is hire an external writer to put their ideas in a script format” concluded Pandey.