With a vision to produce an animated movie targeted for the global audience, Motion Makers is very close to make its dream come true. Founded in 2011, it began its work creating visual effects and 3D- animations for high end corporate clients.
With considerable, established international experience, Motion Makers have roped in Danny Wilson to direct their up-coming animated feature Nephilim.
Along with original content and IPs, they also offer stereo conversion, roto, paint, television, commercial advertisement, CG and visual effects. The company has attracted over 200 artists from industry giants globally.
AnimationXpress.com’s Niyati Handa recently caught up with Motion Makers’ directors- Rituraj Sethia and Vipul Valvi who spoke at length on the kind of work they carry out, their future projects and their take on the current state of the animation and VFX industry in India.
Excerpts:-
How has the journey been so far?
Vipul: When we started this journey we were just 40-50 odd guys, and we were working in a very small place; the whole idea was to open a big studio and work at a larger scale. Today finally we are sitting in a big office; we have around 200 people working for us. 15 people work for the IT team; around 20 help in composing the stuff, there are 70 animators and few more for rendering and compiling the product. It’s been a really good experience and today we have achieved what we wished for.
How did the idea of getting into the animation and VFX industry come about?
Vipul: In 1993 I saw Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park with my father; I was so thrilled and inspired by the movie that I told my dad ‘I want to do something like this in future’. But no software and technology was available in India at that time. So I started doing research. Spielberg is the man who put that thought into me. His movies motivated me to take animation as a profession.
Rituraj: Motion Makers Academy has been providing education for the past eight years. We have three teaching centres in India, from there we actually moved on to a production studio. Now our focus is on animation, VFX and we want to produce more television series and movies for global audience.
Which are the projects you are currently working on?
Vipul: Our first movie Nephilim will be finished by end of November. We are also planning to take this movie to the American film market. The whole idea was to get into co-production, into screenplay and produce a good feature film that’s how Danny Wilson came into the picture.
Rituraj: So there are lot of IPs that we are working on and developing, but we believe in taking one feature at a time. Our next venture will be Code4 Alien, the art work and concept of the movie has already been appreciated around the world. We plan to start the production by 2015. We are also working on short films and one of them is Queen of Kubama.
Are you an independent organisation and is it profitable?
Rituraj: Motion Makers is actually a part of a group company, the MD Basantraj Sethia is also involved with other construction and real estate companies so our entire funding is sourced through him. Apart from this we are also involved in other business that’s how we manage our finances. Our main goal is to expand the business into VFX, animation and to create a franchise where we can work on different aspects of animation; in short we want to put our work on a global scale so that everyone one day knows about our studio.
Vipul: So, Nephilim is the first venture that we are working on right now, most likely when the movie is set to hit the theatres, that’s the time when we will make our profits and we have high expectations from the movie.
What’s your take on Indian Animation?
Vipul: I personally feel that it’s high time that all the studios in India should come together now. I have travelled around the world for various festivals and events, and I have seen that the studios in Korea work collectively unlike back home, where all the studios try to bump into each other. Indian studios should come together; and decide on a budget, an idea on which they can work collectively that is what will grow the complete ecosystem.
Indian animation focuses more on mythological characters; we need to produce something which will also cater to the needs of people at a global level. Good content is a must, we make Indian content and then we try to sell it to foreigners. Deliver it in a way that your product is accepted and you make profits at the same time.
Danny Wilson (Director of Nephilim): I feel lot of VFX work is same all over the world; you get lots of artists from all over the world to work on it. In India we have offices of DreamWorks and Disney and all their people, who are working in Indian studios, are gaining so much of experience, they learn here and spread that talent in the outside world. India has many talented artists; there are so many studios here which make their own IPs and other products. India’s Motion Makers have come up with their own IP and their plan to take it at international level is just fabulous, I think its one step closer to happening all over India.
Is India still to evolve from the outsourced model?
Vipul: Frankly speaking outsourcing is over. It’s high time that people should start looking for other options like co-producing, get funds through angel investors or venture capitalist. I think its high time now, government should intervene, and they should help us with funds. There are tax rebates in Canada, Europe and even Brazil but in India we don’t have any such facilities.