Alternate Forms of Animation

In Latin ‘ANIMA’ means soul. So animation is all about giving soul to a character or literally ‘to give life to’.

Walk, talk, sing, and dance… so you thought only humans ….and animals in animation films…could do it? Do you think MAYA and MAX are the only ways to create animation? Think again!

It’s time to get introduced to a whole new world of animation with sand, clay, paper, matchsticks, cloth and even vegetables!

Ever imagined a matchstick walking through a busy street?

Ever wondered what the fruits talk about when left alone in the refrigerator?

Ever put in a thought about what your nail polish bottle is up to when you are fast asleep at night? 

At Arena Animation, Park Street alternate forms of animation are taking over: 

Our students are learning how to create characters out of every innate object around them and literally breathing life into them.

Animation is FUN; it’s all about turning your stupid, crazy and mad feelings into reality…

Experiencing creativity the alternate way, the fun-way.

If you are interested in attending a Free Workshop on Alternate Forms of Animation all you have to do is log on to www.arenaparkstreet.com...

TEACHING THE TEACHER TO TEACH THE TEACHER…

August 15 2008, the day I first stepped on the banks of the Arabian Sea, I never knew that when I would be coming back, I would be enriched with knowledge and memories galore. No, I am not talking about the technical skills only...To internalize all the moments of technical knowledge imparted, ideas shared, concepts cleared, production exposure, and current market trends the three days were not enough. There were so many things to learn. During those three days, the IIT campus was buzzing with talent- both existing and upcoming.

Each and every session was very helpful for the students who are preparing themselves for the Industry. Few sessions like Comic Art, Production
management, 2D Principles of Animation, Acting For Animation and Animation Art
Appreciation there were no such technical discussions (in other words, ‘Software oriented’) but still they are very much technical. Because an Animator should not only have expertise in Tools or software but they also have to know the other important factors which make any film successful.

In this context I can quote Manu Ittina: Animation is a 4 dimensional art form, the 4 dimensions being - design, visuals, emotion and art.

The platform may be 2D or 3D, the basic foundation like idea generation; research work, principles of animation etc. are the secrets of perfection. It is mentioned that story telling is an urge of communication and perhaps Animation is the best way. We must remember the words of Prakash Moorthy. According to whom, through Animation we can express the subjective emotion not objective reality.

So what would be the points to remember?? Students have to study the Method acting, Figure drawing, color concept, human characteristic etc. It is not just the suggestion or comment or a mere observation from the industry experts, the entries chosen as the nominations for TVCA Film Screening Session clearly differentiated the PERFECT from the GOOD or the MEDIOCRE.

Note: This piece will remain incomplete unless I mention the enthusiasm or the interest of our students who went to the platform to share the experience of Sand Animation. It is doubtless a good symptom.

- Arundhati Halder

"CHANGED"

Our train was scheduled at 2255 hours on the 13th of August 08 and I really did not understand why I started getting calls on my cell phone from 8 pm that night. When I set foot in Howrah Station at around 10 in the night, I was nearly mobbed (I’m not exaggerating on this) by our students and their parents. One look at the parents’ faces and I knew they were anxious. One look at the students’ faces and I knew why they had reached the station as early as 8pm! They were excited.

This was the first-of-its-kind trip that students of Arena Animation Park Street were undertaking – the trip to Anifest 2008. This was one of our steps towards exposing our students to the realities in the world of animation…realities they were still unaware of.

Anifest 2008 turned out to be much more than just an eye-opener. It turned out to be a teacher, a thought-provoker, a constant nagging voice inside our hearts telling us to raise the bar of our expectations from ourselves.. The festival ‘by the animators, for the animators’, introduced us to a new perspective – a whole new way of looking at animation.

I had always known that animation is not just about anything and everything that moves. Mr. Prakash Moorthy, added much more to that by his statement - "Animation is the art of movements that are drawn; not drawings that move." From this point onwards, our way of following the sessions of the fest definitely changed course. I won’t try to put three days of Anifest 08 at a single bit of space (they say half knowledge is dangerous.) Rather, I’ll just put up one-liners by people whom we animation lovers look up to… people who’ve been there and done that… the esteemed speakers at Anifest 08.

· It is not enough to tell a story. It is IMPORTANT to tell the story with artistic visualization.
· Even when you sit to write a story for animation, you need to know animation inside out.
· One just can’t go to the computer and start designing when one is not clear about it in the mind. It’s like going somewhere and not knowing the way!
· It’s important to learn to see things differently. To see differently – learn to see what others ignore.
· Software is like pen and paper. Anything you write doesn’t automatically become good. To be able to communicate well, you must have something to say in the first place.
· To reach the specific shot that you want from a general aspect of something , you need a unique idea. There might be a single story and there may well be a thousand ways of telling it. That’s the fundamental difference between story and story-telling.
· Take care about the APPEAL of the shot. It is very important to hit the emotional core of the shot.
· Analyze your strength and work with it. Don’t try to do everything at the same time.
· Whatever is your software or technology (2D/ 3D/ Motion Capture/Motion Control etc) used for your animation, PRE-PRODUCTION and PRE-PLANNING is very important to maintain the correct FEEL of every shot taken.
· The best way to design an original character is to go a little CRAZY while visualizing it!
· Patience till one “HITS THE RHYTHM” is the key to any good animation.
· Love what you are doing – love the process – but never fall in love with your creation… it arrests your improvement.
· Have FUN – it shows in your work!

If I’d have to make an attempt to put my experience of the festival in one line I’d say that – it all begins with the idea, which is very personal and if you are really passionate about it, the ways to execute your idea are endless.

OR

If you know your “why”, you will find the “how”.

- Atreyee Kar

Arena Park Street learns the tricks of the trade with HAT-Trick 3

26th of July, 2008, Kolkata: Around two hundred and fifty serious animation enthusiasts attended the third in the series of HAT-Trick seminars at the Gyan Manch auditorium today. The seminar was conducted by noted Advertising Film Maker Mr. Dibyendu Bose.

A specialist in Post- Production- Visual Effects and Animation Production with Opus Communications, he has worked on more than 250 commercials and corporate films till date with advertising agencies like JWT, O&M, Lowe, Rediffusion DY&R, Mudra, Bates and other renowned agencies in India and South Asia.

He has also worked in collaboration with award winning animators and film makers Sumant Rao and Gayatri Rao of Animagic Studios Mumbai and with post production houses like Prime Focus, Pixion, Western Outdoor, Prasad EFX, Famous Studios and Famous House of animation and Tata Elexi.

The speaker in action

The seminar started with the speaker sharing his experiences as an ad film maker with animators at various stages of his career. To introduce the students to world-class animation, he first showcased a short animation clip made by a few animators working in Philippines – Manila by the name of “Holy Cow Animations” and surprised us by the information that all the animators were Indians. This led us to the realization that like all other fields, Indian talent is truly appreciated worldwide in the field of animation too.

A few audio-visuals

He also went on to say that one of his most pleasant experiences with animators has been their approach to work- they have looked upon themselves as film maker and not as animators only. Conversely, his worst experience with animators has also been related to their approach to work- when it comes to meeting deadlines, most animators do not keep in mind the importance of deadlines for clients.

Listening...thinking...learning

His emphasis on the correct attitude to work drew a lot of questions from the students. The queries ranged from career prospects to costing for production to visualization to story writing to importance of technical skills vis-à-vis the importance of presentation skills. As he went about answering each query in detail, he also explained the complexities of a making an ad film and dwelt on the ethical aspect of film-making as well.

Commenting on the event, Mr. Ramesh Ruia (Centre Director, Arena Park Street) appreciated the change in the students’ attitude which was reflected in the continuous barrage of questions directed at the speaker. “This proves that the H.A.T Methodology of training has made the students sit up and think about doing things in a different manner. They are taking these changes seriously and are becoming more aware of industry requirements, hence preparing themselves better for the industry.”

The speaker himself summed up the proceedings beautifully – “ Tools are like the brush in an artist’s hands, if the idea and creativity are missing, the brush is of no use to him, but if he doesn’t know what to do with the brush, it doesn’t help much either. What is required is a perfect amalgamation of both.

The reason behind the success

"375 Spectators - 180 Minutes - 1 Stage and energy unleashed"

12th of July, 2008, Saturday, Kolkata: ...And he came running down the gallery steps of the auditorium to take the centre-stage only to mass hypnotize his audience “gen-Y” for the next 180 minutes.

The incident - Around 350 Arena Park Street students and 25 of their teachers were held captive in Gyan Manch Auditorium this morning for three hours by a gentleman. He did not possess any ammunition except for a microphone. The anticlimax – the captives expressed a sincere desire to hold back their captor after the three hours of captivity.

The event – The second seminar of HAT-Tricks. The captor – Mr. Prosenjit Ganguly.

The animation students of Arena Animation - Park Street, were not prepared for what was in store for them when they trooped into Gyan Manch to hear Mr. Prosenjit Ganguly speak about “The actors behind the action”. There were many disbelievers in them and many had contingency plans that if the seminar was boring they would head to the nearest multiplex for a decent movie.

As is become of Kolkata and reminiscent of the first IPL match of night Riders at the Eden, power failed when PJ started to speak. There were no presentations, no pens, no paper, no audio visuals with him but PJ continued enthralling the audience with his powerhouse “performance”, and not a single soul moved in the packed auditorium. He was a treat to listen to and to watch as he spoke, mimicked, acted, joked and pranced about the stage, making it his own in his signature style.

He introduced the students to the meaning, the process and the stages of animation development. He explained to them the importance of story, research, concept and the visualisation that goes behind making an animation film. He talked about why a rigger or a texture artist or even an animator needs to understand the story to enable them to do justice to the visualisation of the film maker. He explained that these components were the “actors” behind the “action” or the film.

PJ illustrated to his audience how passion as an ingredient can act as a catalyst in the process that translates ones thougts and ideas into the output of animation.
He implored them to cultivate a habit of continuous practice. Through his mimicry and caricature, he showed them importance of acting sense for creating any animation because sans the knowledge of moods and emotions, one can’t portray that feeling into any character. PJ’s dedication was being reflected through his body language and his assets (his “Desktop” and “Laptop” i.e. a couple of sketch books which he always carries).
The also drew examples from his life and his NID days, making the audience identify the profound values of the design process with utmost simplicity. His talk ranged from the simple differentiation between a story (to be read) and a screenplay (to be performed); from the primary lesson of the vitality of remaining a student for life, to the significant aspects of design-visualization and pre-production like ideation, story-telling, story-boarding and character design (The Actors) before taking the actual plunge of getting a film into the production stage (The Action).

Anecdotes from his student-life at NID brought alive a whole new perspective to the total process of learning and teaching animation. And it did raise a few questions in the teachers’ minds: are we being able to create that environment for our students where they can enjoy their education? Even if the answer to this be in the negative, the light at the end of the tunnel was visible too.

And even as he accepted a small token of appreciation from the spellbound audience, it was a unanimous feeling that it was actually he, who had left them the magnanimous gift of a new dream, a new passion, a new love and a new vision-that of transforming oneself from just a student or a teacher of animation to a film maker. At the end of the day, the audience walked out with the same camera they had walked in with - but with different eyes.

Ninety percent of the audience had come to hear a three-hour long lecture from the man whose abovementioned profile suggests but five percent of his persona. The tricks that PJ held up his sleeves, ensured that a hundred percent of the audience went back home, if not with an amazing growth in their knowledge base, then at least with hearts ignited with a passion for animation. The audience laughed with him, responded to him and felt united with him as he took them through an enriching experience of falling in love with the entire process of animation film-making. They had just been re-introduced to the phenomenon called “animation” by PJ.

After the seminar, the Director of Arena Animation, Park Street Mr. Ramesh Ruia invited Mr. Ganguly to speak to the faculties of Arena Park Street in order to help them carry forward the process of Holistic Animation Training introduced by them and Mr. Ganguly did just that by advising the faculties on how to deliver their training for maximum impact.

“PJ’s suggestions and guidelines will be adopted and synced to our current training methodology and we hope to deliver true animators of the type required by the industry as soon as the students who have undergone training under this methodology start to graduate” said Mr. Ruia. He went on to wish that more PJ’s from the animation industry would come forward in this fashion to guide and help Arena Park Street in taking this process forward.

Apni Pehchan – Your Identity (Good Vs Great)

The difference between “Good” and “Great” is an enigma which has probably never been deciphered appropriately. For one, the interpretation of these aspects about anything is highly context sensitive and can change from situation to situation and from one context to another.

So whether there exists a common thread which if followed would lead from one to another i.e. from good to great in the context of animation film development is the issue which we would like to attempt to address hereunder.

I would personally define “Great” as a function of “Good”.

Greatness = function (Good)

The challenge however, is to define this function especially in context of becoming a great animator.

The simplification or expansion of this complex function, which had eluded me for a long time, finally hit me like a lightning bolt and I suddenly became “Buddha” the enlightened one or the only one to have finally cracked the code. (Just kidding)

On a more serious note, I have been thinking about this for a long time and have been involved in numerous debates with the likes of animators, students and even trainers on this subject in an attempt to unearth the truth.

The responses or outcome of all these debates have yielded complex furmulae which transform the path from “Good” to “Great” into a complex maze of roads with names like “Creativity”, “Designs”, “Unique”, “Hard Work”, “Style”, “Skill”, “Dexterity”, “Story”, “Pride” …and the list goes on and the maze becomes more and more complex…….

I am not convinced. I am not undermining the importance of these issues in the hunt for Greatness. All I am saying is that in the journey from Good to Great, these elements are like the signals which our train driver must obey. They enable us to complete the journey safely and surely, but are certainly not the driving force which propels the train that we are aboard in our quest for “Greatness”. They and similar other prepositions are probably the ingredients behind “Good”. The hunt for “Greatness” is still on.

The driving force, which makes a good animator, The catalyst which triggers the final transformation from “Good” to “Great” in the context of animation film making, I believe is the “Junoon”, “Diwaangi” “Fire” or “Obsession” which comes but from the love for this subject. The process of maing a great film starts with igniting the creative fire within ourselves and converting it into a towering inferno which burns out the volatile matter and leaves behind the residue of “Gold” of “Greatness”

This is the objective of our HAT Methodology. We want to make “Great” animators out of you because everyone else is making “Good” animators, and the industry where you are headed does not need “Good” animators – It needs “Great” ones.

I would welcome comments and debates on this. Please post here or write to ramesh@arenaparkstreet.com. Also visit http://www.arenaparkstreet.com/

Misgivings about the HAT Methodology

A lot has been said and written about the HAT methodology and it is time that we started implementing it effectively without any further delays. We can implement it effectively only if it is interpreted correctly. So let us first clarify misgivings about this methodology.

We all tend to get ensconed in our comfort zones and are very reluctant to break the mould in which we have been living all our lives even though their may be better options available only if take the effort to find it.

Reluctance and misgivings about this methodology stems from this fact. We are all very confortable in doing thigs the way we have been doing and are un willing to take the extra effort to understand anything which is away from our comfort zone. That is the reason there are misgivings about this methodology.

For once this methodology does not say that "tools" or software are not important. We are simply saying that there exists a world beyo9nd this too. All we are saying is that learning just "tools' or teaching just "tools" does not a good animator make.

The Design Visulasitation, Pre-Production and Post-Production aspects of animation film making are equally, if not more, important to the film making process as is production or tooling.

So in effect we are ADDING these aspects to our training methodology and in no way SUBTRACTING anything from it. The aspects other than tooling are a PLUS rather than a MINUS to the overall training that we intend to provide to our students.

Dear Students, Please note the PLUS. and Dear Trainers, Please wake up and smell the coffee. If you want to create good animators, you both need to break your comfort zones and dive head on into this methodology.

In case anyone has any misgivings about this, please feel free to contact me and I shall be happy to assist you in understanding this process. My email is ramesh@arenaparstreet.com

You may also write to me if you want to add somehing to what we are saying. I will welcome comments from the readers on this issue.

Looking forward to a healthy debate.

Arena Park Street students bowled over by HAT Trick of Shilpi Chauhan Chakraborty

Friday, June 20th: In continuation of the HAT methodology, about 100 graphic designing entusiasts from Arena Park Street participated in the first of the trilogy of workshops named HAT-Tricks conducted by Shilpi Chauhan Chakraborty, an NID alumnus and a freelance graphic designer by profession at The Academy of Fine Arts conference room.


Ms. Shilpi Chakraborty started the workshop by asking the students to draw/sketch or paint whever comes to their mind when they think of a celebrity like Bipasha Basu.

She went on to draw a comparison beween “Chacha Chowdhury” the immortal comic book character and a graphic designer and explained to the student that like Chacha Chowdhury, a graphic designer’s “dimag” needs to run faster than a computer. She emphasised that the entire “Design Process” needs to be followed before one sits in front of the computer while designing a graphic.



She illustrated the various aspects of the Process including Purpose, Research, Conceptualisation (Idea/Story), Visualisation (Idea Development / Visual Style) and Implementation. She explained to the students that the moment they sat in front of the computer without working on these aspects, their creativity and ideation process would get subdued by their urge to beautify their designs.

She also showed some animation films developed by the students of NID which were truly appreciated by all. She explained the style, characterisation, dialogues and timing of these films and gave a totally new perspective to animation film making to the students who are mostly tilted towards software and give little importance to these aspects. She expained that the films were memorable because of their uniqueness and this aspect needs to be brought into the designs to be created by them in future.

After explaining the above processes, she again asked the students to redo their concept idea about Bipasha Basu and the results were dramatically different.


The students with good visualisation were asked to explain why they did what they did and the good entries were given spot prizes by her.

Mr. Ramesh Ruia, the Director of Arena Park Street termed the event as the starting point in the process of weaning away the students from their leanings towards tools and introducing them to the design visualisation and pre-production aspects of the animation development process in tune with the Hat Methodology introduced by Arena Park Street.

The Process Note on The HAT Methodology

Animation is an art form which is not only timeless but also contemporary. It is a complex art requiring loads of creativity, somewhat akin to constructing and furnishing a new home to make it liveable.

Similarly, learning animation is not restricted to learning tools or software – just like a carpenter or mason alone cannot build a house for you. He needs support from other allied functions like architect, engineer, interior designer and other functionaries.

The animation development process starts with an idea and ends with a film. A film which tells a story for a specific purpose, be it entertainment, education or even information. An animation student is like the Director of a film who not only has to select a story, but also has to choose his cast, location, music, art, promotion, finance and other numerous aspects. Hence the animation development learning process is incomplete if one learns only the tools (software).

The HAT methodology addresses this issue and is designed to provide “Active” animation learning to the student. A student being trained under this methodology develops a pssion for his line of work and actually thinks, lives, and breathes animation to eventually earn from animation.

Drishti 2008 - The Creative Face of Arena - Park Street

The Creative Face of Arena Park Street
Kolkata:
The art gallery of Indian Museum of Kolkata recently housed a digitally created art exhibition of Arena Animation (Park Street) students that left the audience spellbound. “Drishti ‘08” as was called, displayed 83 digital art work on the 15th and 16th of March 2008.

Noted artist Bijan Chowdhury inaugurated the exhibition by painting a picture of “Porajita Bir” (defeated warrior). Speaking on the occasion he said that it was an honor for him to inaugurate the show. The renowned artist was extremely impressed by the creative talent of the young exhibitors and said that multimedia and computer graphics have become a force to reckon with in the world today. Being very optimistic about the great career prospects in the animation industry, Mr. Chowdhury advised the aspirants that in order to make a mark, one also needs to be aware of Pan Indian and International developments in creativity in this dynamically changing field.

Atreyee Kar, the placement executive of the Arena Animation informed “our students have displayed immense creative talent. Through shows like this we hope to wean them away from ‘tool based’ to ‘design & visualization’ based approach to graphic designing, a demand often repeated by the industry where these students are likely to be placed once they complete their course with us.”

The show was judged by a panel of eminent personalities in the art and advertising fields. The experts included, Mr. Atin Basak- eminent painter and winner of 1999-2000 Charles Wallace India Trust Arts award, Mr. Sourav Pal- B.V.A., Art Director, Ad Infinitus, Kolkata, Mr. Basudev Mali-B.V.A., upcoming artist and sculptor, Mr. Barunansu Sarkar-Regional Head, Aptech Ltd.

The experts were full of praise for the students and encouraged them to work harder. The professionals appreciated this initiative of Arena Animation and for giving the young artists a platform to reach out to the world.

Mr. Sourav Pal said that the merger of paintings and graphics was extremely good and there was a lot of talent in sketching. He also added that this kind of exhibitions would inspire the students to improve their creative skills.

Mr. Atin Basak advised that the students must incorporate more “feeling” into their creations and that he expected Arena Park Street to encourage students to build an attitude of creating beauty on canvas using digital tools.

Mr. Basudev Mali said that the overall standard of works on display was excellent and that it was tough to choose the winner. Mr. Barunansu Sarkar said “I enjoyed the captions as much as the works and the usage of theme based captions enhanced the charm of the digital output. The students have successfully demonstrated that visualization is more important than the tool used to create the final output”.

Debojoy Chanda of Indiatimes.com wrote: “Interestingly, at first glance, one could well be fooled into thinking that the paintings were handmade. Deepmala Srivastava's painting Yaar bina chain kahan re, portraying a teapot and teacups upon a sofa sans any drinkers is as good as manually painted. The same can be said of Debojyoti Mukherjee’s representation of a pastoral setup, named Gori tera gaon bara pyara.

The artistic ideas too were commendable, especially considering the fact that the artists concerned are not professionals. Chandan Das’ Love without End, Amen, a portrait of Mother Mary, leaves a lasting impression upon the viewer. So does Subhajit Adhikary’s An Ocean of Memories, dealing with the lined face of an old woman”.

The winners of the exhibitions were:
1st Prize: Rimzim Sinha for Is raat kee subah nahin, a thought provoking work depicting the agony of a widow and her plight.

2nd Prize: Debojyoti Mukherjee for Mondo meyer upakhyan,(The saga of a spoilt girl) depicting the erosion of values in our society over time.

3rd Prize: Tanaya Ghosh for All I have to do is dream, a touching scene capturing one of the many moments of solitude in old age.

The popular choice awards were won by:

1st Prize: Subhajit Adikary for An ocean of memories, about memories of the times gone by in the eyes of an ageing woman.

2nd Prize: Sandip Chowdhury for Cheeni Kum a realistic detailing of the interiors of a coffee shop.

3rd Prize: Subhashish Samajpati for Love is immortal a 3D graphic capturing the eternal emotion of love.

There were numerous other activities involving the students which were conducted on Day 2 of the exhibition. The visitors could have their portraits sketched by students and there was a perpetual queue for getting one.

Mr. Basudev Mali conducted a clay modeling workshop and showed how in simple steps one could mould clay to create interesting objects like an elephant, cow or tribal doll. The students and some visitors thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and proudly took home their prized clay creations.

Mr. Ramesh Ruia, Director of Park Street chapter of Arena Animation wants to now enlarge the canvas of Drishti to include students and professional from all over India to participate in the competition next year.

Arena Idol 2008 by Arena Park Street

Arena Idol 2008 was organized on Saturday the 12th of April 2008, at Kala Kunj, Kolkata by Arena Animation, Park Street. The chief guest for the occasion was the well known actress June Malia and the Guest of honour was Arijit Dutta, V.P. of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association.

The occasion was the grand finale of the talent hunt in fields like story writing, Sketching, painting, photography, logo and web designing, sound mixing and animation.
More than 150 students from Arena Animation, Park Street participated in the talent hunt and the entries were judged at various stages of the competition by various experts in the relevant fields. During the show, the final nominees’ works were displayed and the winners announced for each category.

The special part of the evening was inviting the parents of the winners on stage to present the prize to their wards. A very touching and emotional gesture, which was appreciated by everyone.

The students’ best projects for each semester also received prizes and “Bheje Ka Kamaal” the 3rd Semester 3D animation by the students was really enjoyable and well done.

The show was anchored by Aditi Paul, RJ of Radio Meow (104.8 FM) and the award ceremony was peppered by performances in mime and short skit by the students. Speaking on the occasion, Ramesh Ruia, Director of Arena Park Street emphasized that “Creativity” was an important part of animation and often training institutes ignored this vital component. We want to create an environment to encourage lateral thinking and wean away the students from their focus on “tools” and guide them in to thinking about the creative side of animation too, hence this event, added Ruia.

June Malia and Arijit Dutta, both re-iterated that the future for the animation students was bright and that there was tremendous scope for building a sound career in this field. Mr. Dutta appreciated the effort by Arena, Park Street to encourage creativity.

The Arena Idol 2008 award went to Noorul Ahmed for all round performance and he received a cash prize of Rs. 5000/- along with a trophy.

A cheque for Rs. 5100/- was also handed over to Asha Niketan, a home for mentally challenged by Arena, Park Street as part of their CSR programme, and the same was handed over to them by June Malia.

Over all a very rewarding and emotional event.

For more details visit www.arenaparkstreet.com or write to mailbox@arenaparkstreet.com

The "H.A.T." Methodology for Animation Training

The HAT or “The Holistic Animation Training Methodology” is a unique training methodology which is proprietary to Arena Animation at Park Street and is designed for Maximum Impact in animation learning and creative take-away by the students.

The methodology fuses and crafts the latent talent hidden in the animation student with the eclectic skills required to be an animator and works to the advantage of both, the learner and the requirements of the industry where they are likely to be placed eventually. In other words the end product of this methodology is a “placement ready” candidate.

Just like one cannot become a “Fashion Designer” by learning “tailoring”, one cannot become an “Animator” by learning “Software” alone.

The H.A.T methodology disengages the student’s mindset from mere “tool” or “software” leanings and forces their creative juices to flow. It teaches them to use software as a tool to achieve their objective and not as the objective itself – a common mistake made by most training schools in India.

This methodology encompasses all the aspects of animation development and makes the student go through the entire animation production pipeline including “design visualisation” & “pre-production”. Emphasis is given on story, screenplay, script, sketching, drawing and other creative dimensions like acting, direction, music, costumes, background and critical analysis to bring out the best in terms of creativity in an animation film.
For more details about the methodology and how it can impact your learnings, please write to mailbox@arenaparkstreet.com