Mumbai based Climb Media India has entered into a joint venture with Rahul Commerce Pvt Ltd (Kolkata) to form Metaphor Studios, a new classical animation studio in Kolkata.
Headed by Kireet Khurana, Climb Media India is the holding company of 2nz which was one of the first studios in the country to get into original animated IPs.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Kireet Khurana stated,”We are very glad to form Metaphor studios in collaboration with Rahul Commerce Pvt Ltd (Kolkata). I personally believe that there is a lot of talent hailing from the North East in the Indian animation industry and inspite of that there are hardly any studios in that region. With Metaphor we look to tap into that rich pool of talent”
“Metaphor will also be the animation production services arm for Climb Media and will be involved in offshored assignments from abroad” he added.
Speaking on the new development Deven Shah, Business Head of Metaphor Studios observed �We sense a great opportunity in the animation space. With 2nz’s stake in the company, quality is a given. Kolkata’s considerably lower cost of infrastructure and animation production will ensure competitiveness for a sustained period. We shall leverage our market presence and reputation to get outsourcing jobs�
Metaphor has also roped in award-winning animation director, NID alumnus Rajesh Chakraborty (of â€?Dhakâ€? fame) as Creative Consultant, also on board is S Shankar as Studio Head. Shankar’s earlier stints include Heart Animation Academy which he headed, ZICA and ICAAT both for which he was the regional Head. The studio is currently in the process of recruiting Classical Key animators and IB artists.
“We want to a build a strong team on a qualitative level, however we are not looking at scaling upto 200 people overnight. Plan is to have a nice core team of 5-6 people, and a lean yet effieicient team of around 25-40 people to begin with. We will get in experienced talented artists so that we can work faster yet retain quality levels” concluded Deven.