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

26th of July, 2008, Kolkata: Around two hundred and fifty serious animatio

n 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.