They came, they shared, and they won over the hearts of the Indian VFX community,
even as the VES stalwarts were overwhelmed by the passion, energy and enthusiasm which brims in the Indian VFX community!
….things will never be the same for Indian Visual Effects!
Featuring in-depth presentations and interactions with International stalwarts including VES Executive Director Eric Roth, Academy Award Winner & VES Vice Chair Tim Mc Govern, Double Negative Chairman & VES UK Board member Peter Chiang, the Visual Effects Society’s five city tour of India, initiated by N. Madhusudhanan and organized by AnimationXpress.com stayed true to its purpose of knowledge sharing, community interaction and exposure of the highest level of work between Indian & International VFX.
The tour which drew house full & hysteria in every city it traveled to including Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai was generously sponsored by Image, Autodesk, Pixion and Sahara One. It also enjoyed the full support of ABAI, ASIFA India, NASSCOM, FICCI & NID.
Indian studios that presented alongside the VES included Prasad EFX, Nipuna, Indian Artists in Chennai; Paprikaas, Pixelloid, Firefly in Bangalore and Prana, Rhythm & Hues India and Pixion in Mumbai. Additionally the VES presentations were also a part of the program in NID Chitrakatha at Ahmedabad and ASIFA India’s International Animation Day celebrations in Hyderabad.
“I am feeling so great” shared Venkat, an animation student from Bangalore, “Academy Award winners and stalwarts have come half way around the world and are presenting us with case studies. They are talking to us on a one on one basis, explaining the technicalities of shots, it’s awesome! It gives me the confidence that India has a bright future in VFX and that my classmates and I have chosen the right career.”
While attending the VES presentation at Ahmedabad, ettaminA Studios CEO Amit Anand shared, “This is fabulous, I want to bring my entire team to attend the VES event in Mumbai,” and sure enough, he did that.
The VES members were all praises for the energy, enthusiasm and passion that radiated from the Indian artists and students. “The depth and breadth of
knowledge as well as their eagerness to know more reflected from their questions,” shared Peter Chiang.
“I am truly impressed with the level of commitment and passion that I have seen all around throughout the five city tour and I hope that our visit will create many opportunities for joint productions and collaboration in the future,” shared VES Executive Director Eric Roth.
Studio Heads, VFX supervisors, CG Artists, Compositors, Matte Painters, Students, Enthusiasts all participated at these events and benefited from it. The Animation & VFX community showed up everywhere!
The first VES presentation in India began with Chitrakatha at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad on Oct 27, 2007. Attended by creative directors, artists and students of all stripes, the VES session was lapped up with rapt attention. One could sense the awe in the audience when Eric Roth played the montage of the VES 50 all time Great VFX, one could see the connect when Tim Mc Govern gave a candid, and genuine address about how India will play a very important role in the future of VFX.
And did it ring a bell when while starting his presentation, Peter Chiang actually mentioned that “Design is the core element in any VFX work”?
The next destination was Hyderabad, where in-spite of a delayed flight that touched down at midnight, the VFX heroes were received by hundreds of students at the airport with garlands and tilak. Truly a sight to be experienced!
Here the VES presentation was within the program line up of ASIFA India’s International Animation Day celebrations at the Shilpkala Vedika Auditorium. The 2300 strong crowd, the fun filled atmosphere and the artistic corners of the IAD celebrations were a delight to be part of. Besides giving their presentations and answering questions, the VFX experts were literally thronged by the crowd, signing autographs and being clicked from mobile cams….
What was extremely touching to see was the enthusiasm with which the artists and students came up to the experts with questions and the patience and attention with which they were answered.
In Chennai joining the welcome by the Image team were the rain and cyclonic winds that gracefully subsided in time for the Chennai event, the next morning.
Held at the Chinmaya Heritage Center, and attended by around 600 artists and students, Indian presenters including Kavita Prasad (EFX), VSM Mohan (Indian Artists) and Algarsamy (Nipuna) presented alongside N. Madhusudhanan and the VES stalwarts.
Another highlight of the event in Chennai was the presence of several VFX experts from the South Indian Film & TV space including Venkat Krishnan from Oysterr, Stalin from Nipuna, Subheesh & Elango from Jupiter, Viswam & Subramaniam from Chandamama, Sukumar Subramanian from Sanra Soft, Hima Kumar and colleagues from EFX amongst many others.
From Chennai, the tour continued to Bangalore, where ABAI’s strong support to AnimationXpress.com and the VES tour ensured a strong audience of 550+! Presenting here alongside the VES stalwarts were Yugandhar Tamareddy (Pixelloid), Veerendra Patil (Paprikaas) and Nagesh H (Firefly).
The presentation by Yugandhar was first rate and the highly interactive manner in which the young expert went about presenting, augurs well for the future of Indian VFX.
The last stop of the tour, but not the least by any means was Mumbai. A 500 strong audience with a large presence of professionals added to the punch for the finale! Indian Heroes presenting alongside the VES Stalwarts in Mumbai included Prana’s Samir Hoon, Pixion’s David Crawford and Prashant Buyyala from R&H India.
The objective of the road shows was interaction between VES members and the Indian VFX professionals and students and this aim was fulfilled very well. The sharing of knowledge, the answering of queries, the initiating of business networking.. it all took place during this tour.
N Madhusudhanan, the initiator of the tour shared, “Its a dream come true, I have been dreaming of this for the past four years. I am very happy that Indian VFX has reached a different level altogether where there will be a lot more hollywoood projects coming in here.
“We have some very big and exciting plans for the indian vfx artists as well as studios. I would like to take this opportunity to thank VES, Animationxpress.com, and all the sponsors, supporters and artists who made this possible” he added.
The VES stalwarts can now be accessed for any knowledge as well networking related query on the email id connectves@animationxpress.com “Depending on the kind of question it is, it would be either answered in house from AnimationXpress.com or be forwarded to representatives from the VES.
The Indian VFX professionals and students learnt a lot about the VES and the VFX scenario in Hollywood, while the VES members came to know about the Indian scene. The feedback from the audience in the cities are testimonials for the positive way in which the programs have been taken, while the VES stalwarts have expressed how happy they have been with the outcome of the entire event. The win-win situation proved fruitful to the cause of VFX.
In fact this is just the beginning of a new chapter of collaboration and co-relation between the Indian VFX industry and the global one.