Arena Animation - Park Street

Drishti 2010

2010-03-25T14:36:00.003+05:30

The Event
The 8th edition of “Drishti”, the annual CG exhibition and Placement Mela organized by Arena Animation – Park Street, Kolkata is being held on 3rd & 4th of April this year followed by a Placement Mela on the 5th.

The objective behind this exhibition is to showcase the design and film making abilities of the students of Arena Animation – Park Street and exhibit the skills that they have acquired for the viewers to judge whether the impact is Holistic or not.

More than 150 students are expected to participate with their works in this exhibition.

Venue & Dates

The venue:
Ashutosh Birth Centenary Hall
(Inside Indian Museum)
27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road,
Kolkata – 700 016

Time:
3rd April 2010, 4-8 pm
4th April, 2010, 2-7pm
5th April, 2010, 11-5 pm (Placement Meal at Campus)

Chief Guest
Drishti 2010 would be graciously inaugurated by the veteran octogenarian Mr. Mahendra Kumar who specializes in Cut-out Animation and has worked with Directors like Ritwick Ghatak as cinematographer. Mahendra Sir has worked extensively with the stories of Lotte Reineger and his story telling abilities can still raise a few goose bumps for the listeners.

Judges for Drishti 2010

The works of the students would be reviewed by the following judges:

• Mr. Debasish Deb
Mr. Deb is a famous cartoonist and illustrator from Kolkata. Graduated from Govt. Art College. And has over 15 years experience in this field. Presently attached to ‘The Telegraph’ as a cartoonist and has illustrated many children’s books.

• Mr. Ambar Nair
Mr. Nair received his BA in Economics/Finance and Computer Science from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, USA in 1998, and has worked in several industries with leading companies such as Lehman Brothers in New York, Ajilon LLC in Minneapolis and St. Jude Medical in Minneapolis. He has primarily lived in Minneapolis for ten years, working in the consulting industry as well being involved in starting several businesses such as a performance automobile company, a graphic design studio, and a software company, before returning to India in 2004. Though his work experience has primarily been in consulting, he has always had an interest in animation, and worked in the field as a hobbyist up until 2005, when he founded Blowfish FX. Currently he is the CEO of Blowfish Fx.

• Ms. Debjani Mukherjee
Ms. Mukherjee is an independent film maker. She is currently working on a graphic novel, a travelogue. She has started out making films as a student in college, even before she joined NID. She is very fond of experimenting with the forms keeping in mind the narrative (or the non-narrative) and its natural flow. She has worked with sand, film strips, water color on glass and other objects and their expression in animation films. There are about 10 short films that she have completed and few of them are Sattala Bari (The Seven Storied House)-Music Video (2009) {It was nominated at The 16th Golden Elephant Awards, International Children’s Film Festival’ 2009 held in Hyderabad, Nominated at Silver Salt Animation Festival’2010} , Chai Break (2008) {1st Place at Digicon Tokyo, Japan 2008, 1st Place at FICCI Frames BAF Awards 2009,Special Jury Mention at Monstra International Film Festival Lisbon, Portugal 2009,Special Jury Mention at Asifa India 2009, Nominated at Kol.katha 2009}, Tuccho Music Video (2009) etc.

The New Dimension of Drishti 2010

Every year we add a new dimension to this event. In the eighth year, we plan to hold the Placement Mela at Campus on a larger scale where the works of our students will not only be showcased to the people from the industry but also create an opportunity for them to select the right candidates of their choice, based on the quality of work on display. Some of the companies will also conduct an aptitude or technical test for the benefit of the students.

In addition the format of Drishti has been sufficiently tweaked keeping in mind the shift in focus of our students from “software” to animation film making.

Placement Mela:

The placement mela is scheduled on 5th April 2010 and about 6-7 local companies are expected to recruit. Some of the prominent ones among them being:
1. Festoon Media (Web Designing & Multimedia)
2. Animatzione (2D Animation)
3. Club D7 Holidays (Web Designeing)
4. Ani2Pix (3D Animation)
5. Elecom Toons (3D Animation)
6. Blowfish F/X (3D Animation)
7. Tara TV (Graphic Designing & 3D Animation)

More than 75 students have so far enrolled for the Placement Mela and are preparing hard to get that coveted job in the company of their dreams.

Categories

Drishti 2010 will showcase art work of some new categories including

a. Single frame cartoons (Repeat from last year)
b. Visual Story Telling (Repeat from last year)
c. 3D Scenes (New)
d. Students Film (Repeat from last year)
e. Faculty Film (Repeat from last year)

Other Attractions

In addition to the exhibition, the event will be peppered with a lot of activities to keep the atmosphere buzzing and electrified. Some of these activities include a Jam session, face painting and many on the spot competitions including writing captions/dialogues for a set of cartoons.

Mr. Ramesh Ruia, Director of Arena Animation – Park Street said that he was extremely excited about Drishti, since now the students film from Arena Park Street have started getting recognized and nominated in major film competitions. The overall quality of the student’s works has undergone dramatic improvements over the years which is evident from the fact that Arena Park Street ended up winning 9 out of 10 awards in the inter Arena student works competition held recently. These awards were won across all the categories indicating a Holistic improvement in the works of the students. “I hope the hard work of the students get translated into jobs for some of them during the Placement Mela where some of the prime animation companies of Kolkata are recruiting."

Stop Motion Unveiled for the students of Arena Park Street

2009-09-11T15:21:00.004+05:30

Followed by a successful Stop Motion seminar, the students of Arena Park Street experienced a very inspiring and helpful 3 days workshop on Puppet making and Stop Motion, which was conducted by Delwyn Jude Remedios.

About Delwyn Jude Remedios:
He completed his PGDP Animation and Film Design from National Institute of Design. From clay to paper to sand there isn't a medium which he hasn't experienced and brought the best out of it. His film ‘Chai Break’ secured 1st Place at FICCI Frames BAF Awards 2009 and Digicon Tokyo, Japan 2008. It also received a Special Jury Mention at Monstra International Film Festival Lisbon, Portugal 2009 and Asifa India 2009. Another film titled ‘0200’ has also bagged the 1st Place at Monstra International Film Festival Lisbon, Portugal 2009 and 2nd Place at Digicon Tokyo, Japan 2008. His latest film ‘Deluge’ has been nominated for TVCA this year.

On Day 1, an eager bunch of about 15 students were divided into three groups with the assigned task of coming up with a story concept and idea for a short stop motion film. The rest of the day was spent in discussing the ideas and thrashing out the detailing of the characters and the flow of the story, with inputs and guidance from Delwyn.

They were asked to bring the “ingredients” like aluminium wires, thermocole, M-Seal and Leukoplast for the rigging of the puppet the next day.

They ended the day by watching a few short films on stop motion, some of the NID diploma Projects and a full length feature film titled “My Neighbor Totoro” by Miazaki. The students were full of excitement and their enthusiasm and eagerness could be felt by the animated conversations as they trooped out of the classroom.

Some of them took out Delwyn for Chaat and Kulfi in the rain washed streets of Kolkata in the evening. An experience, which they will cherish as memories.

On Day 2, Delwyn taught puppet making using the ingredients the students brought with them and showed them the process and technique of creating a base for the models for the characters of their planned films. Some of the adventurous amongst them even created a quadruped character even though they were only shown how to make a biped character.

Delwyn explained to the students the importance of creating light weight characters to facilitate the animation process.

There was also a brainstorming session for the storyboards of the stories decided upon by the three groups. Delwyn shared a few tips and tricks of drawing and made suggestions for treatment and stylization of the scenes.

There was another feature film screened, titled “Coraline” which left the students spellbound. The session was wrapped up with the screening of a few of Delwyn’s works. The assignment for the day was to complete the storyboard before the next day.

Evening menu for the day was Egg Rolls and more street food, courtesy students.

Day-3 was the day for the final wrap up of the concept and storyboard and the students were told to prepare the animatics for their films before venturing into final production.

Sensing opportunity a lot of students also discussed their upcoming films, projects and concepts with Delwyn and he patiently heard each one out and gave his valuable suggestions for improvements wherever needed. He suggested them to watch a lot of films to enrich their experience of film making by taking pointers and learnings from these viewings.

Since Delwyn had a flight to catch in the evening and wanted to go on a tram ride, the students gladly went along with him and along with the tram ride also treated Delwyn to a river cruise on the Hooghly and fed him ice-cream to sweeten his departure from Kolkata.

Overall it was a fun and exciting experience for this bunch of animation enthusiast from Arena Park Street and they finally bade farewell to Delwyn but not before extracting a promise for him to come back soon.

The students learnt a lot of tips and tricks about animation film making and were left behind with a lot of memories and learning which, hopefully, they would utilize in their next animation venture.

Drishti 2009 Rocks!

2009-06-01T15:02:00.002+05:30

Ashutosh Centenary Hall at the Indian Museum was abuzz with the vibrancy of the creativity of the students of Arena Park Street during their annual CG exhibition and placement mela Drishti 09 on the 30th and 31st of May 2009.

Day -1: Kolkata, May 30th:

The exhibition was inaugurated by the noted cartoonist Mr. Chandi Lahiri. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Lahiri Said “Students shouldn’t clamour for jobs but concentrate on their work and practice at least 100 drawings every day. If they practiced hard enough, the jobs would come automatically”. He went on to emphasise that computers were meant to create what the artist wants and not dictate the outcome of the work. It should be used as a mere tool. Mr. Lahiri was kind enough to sketch an image for the waiting audience.

More than 110 students submit about 165 works in the categories of Cartoons, Caricature, Digital Art, Visual Story, Film Poster & Animation Film

“For the first time ever even the faculties of our institute have made animation films and are competing for a cash reward of Rs. 5000/- in a separate category” said Paromita Dutta, the Drishti Coordinator. “To my knowledge, no other institute in India has ever attempted this and the whole purpose of this exercise is to inspire and motivate the students into making more and better animation films” said Dutta.

The judges, Mr. Sarbajit Sen (Independent Cartoonist & Film Maker), Mr. Amit Sengupta (FTII, Pune alumnus and Film Maker) & Shilpi Chauhan Chakraborty (Freelancer & NID Alumnus) were impressed by the work and felt that the overall quality of student films was as good, if not better than the faculty films.

The highlight of the day was the screening of the faculty films for which most of the audience was keenly waiting. “Deserted” a blend of narrative and non-narrative styles, made by Saikat Mazumder (Centre Academics Head) and Somraj Chatterjee (2D Faculty) about the state of mind of a terrorism victim was simply amazing and deservedly won the first prize in this category

The second prize went to “Jai Ho” by Arundhati halder and Arnab Chatterjee about “Rights being Wronged” by the politicians.

“Journey to Hell”, the 3rd Prize winner was a short story about effects of smoking and had a tremendous impact on the audience.

In the students’ category, “Destination” an experimental film in stop motion was an instant hit with the audience and they simply loved its look and feel.

The 2nd prize went to “Nightmare” a 2D film and the 3rd prize was won by another stop motion experimental film “Every Minute Counts”.

Faculty Films:
1st: Deserted
2nd: Jai Ho
3rd: Journey to Hell

Student Films:
1st: Destination
2nd: Nightmare
3rd: Every Minute Counts

The results of the other categories are listed below:
Cartoons
Winner-Tapon Roy
Runner-up - Soam Sankar Samanta
Runner-up (2nd) - Anthony J. S. Dingdoh

Caricatures
Winner - Runa Bose
Runner-up - Tapon Roy
Runner-up (2nd) - Gopal Krishna Chandra

Digital Art
Winner - Subhamay Sarkar (Fashion)
Runner-up - Deepak Nonia (Yeh jo desh hai mera)
Runner-up (2nd) - Jerry Chan Lyngdoh (Sargam)

Visual Story
Winner - Anthony J. S. Dingdoh
Runner-up - Debashish Biswas
Runner-up (2nd) - Saikat Saha

Film Poster
Winner - Jahangir Alam
Runner-up - Subrata Singha Mahapatra
Runner-up (2nd) - Khokan Pal

The icing on the cake for Day-1 was the face painting which was an instant hit and the students thoroughly enjoyed getting their faces painted with vivid and outrageous graphics ranging from football, spider, butterflies, lizards, dragons and even animals. Mr. Ruia, the Centre director was seen proudly sporting an “Inca” look on his face painted by the students. The frenzy to get their faces painted continued till late in the evening and the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Day – 2, Kolkata May 31st:
Another action packed day with activities and the hall was packed with students, their parents and friends. The highlights of the day were the Magic Show and The Ventriloquist with his puppet. The icing on the cake was the Placement Mela in which two companies interviewed about 65 students.

The students, specially the prize winners were seen proudly escorting their parents and friends to see and appreciate their respective works.

Saikat Mazumder, the Academic Head said that the best part about an event of this nature is the fun everyone has, initially to compete and later while enjoying the appreciation not to mention participating in the various activities. “We all had fun making the films and it shows in the works. We have successfully weaned away the students from thinking just software and the results are visible in the number of experimental films produced this year.” He went on to add.

Mr. Ramesh Ruia, the Director of Arena Animation (Park Street) was extremely elated by the show and said “This year we have enlarged the canvas of Drishti by holding a placement mela along with the exhibition which has boosted the confidence of the students and helped the recruiters to identify potential talent. The thing to note is the paradigm shift from directionless computer works to the creative side of student’s talent. The categories like Visual Story, Caricatures and Cartoons and films have been attempted keeping in mind the requirement to develop the Pre-production skills of our students. Next year we plan to add the dimension of master classes by industry experts and convert the exhibition into an annual fest for our students”.

Stings & Smiles

2009-04-13T14:03:00.008+05:30

The first HAT-Trick workshop for 2009 was organised by us at International Club on Saturday, 11th April 2009 and the conductor was none other than the celebrated illustrator, cartoonist, scriptwriter, film maker and painter Mr. Sarbajit Sen.

“Lines crookedly drawn – features exaggerated – oddities blown out of proportion – we often tend to think that is all about cartoons. Too simplistic, isn’t it” is how Sarbajit Sir introduced visual scripting for comic strips to his audience.

He went on to explain to the audience that cartoons were almost certainly about having fun. Whether it be the about an experience we have on pour daily life, whether about the current trends in news – sports, politics or others, or whether about something totally imaginary.

The art of story-telling, visually, is more complex than narrating and in the process more fulfilling for the creator. For animation students it is all the more important since it guides the film development process and works as a storyboard for the film maker’s script. Cartoons or comic strips are not bound by any language and the medium is powerful enough to communicate without the aid of “language”.

Comics have a visual language which is universal and speaks for itself. To further illustrate this point he shared a “French” comic strip about a man feeding a crow and no one had any difficulty in understanding the story even though the dialogues were in French.

He encouraged the participants to create a story in three or more frames based on their day to day experience, the political situation or anything which came to their mind, to illustrate his point and upon request from the audience, picked up the pen and started illustration on ‘Concept”

This got the students started and everyone squatted on the floor and started “illustrating” their own ideas on paper. Sarbajit Sir encouraged everyone to discuss their ideas with him and approach him if they got stuck....

Students approached him in droves and he patiently went through their work guiding them and encouraging them with his remarks and suggestions. The queue to get their work assessed was increasing by the minute and one could see the happy faces of those who could squeeze through.

Eventually time ran out and Mr. Sen promised that he would look at each and every work in details later and would be happy to leave his comments about them for the students to see.

In the end Mr. Sen encouraged students to scribble a lot and do freehand sketching exercises to improve their drawing skills and asked them to develop their sense of observation of day to day happenings and be more aware of them.

The winning student comic was an entry by Tapon Roy.

Mr. Ramesh Ruia, the Director of Arena Animation Park Street announced that Mr. Sarbajit Sen would conduct a longer duration workshop for the interested students at the academy and those interested could register their names for the same.

The success of the seminar can best be judges by what the students had to say:

“Ek do teen char, Sarbajit Sir is a superstar” - Sushama Shaw

“The program was simply stunning and I learnt a lot” - Tanushree Biswas

“It was an excellent experience as well as opportunity to interact with a person
like Mr. Sen. I enjoyed drawing, sitting on the floor. Thanks to Arena Animation – Park Street” - Kumar Ajay

“Idea of comics became more clear” - Sangita Ray

“This seminar laid the foundation for learning storyboarding, which is so important for creating script for animation” - Tapan Roy

2009-04-11T11:26:00.002+05:30

Biography

Petrov was born in the village of Prechistoye (Yaroslavl Oblast) and lives in Yaroslavl.He studied art at VGIK (state institute of cinema and TV). He was a disciple of Yuriy Norshteyn at the Advanced School for screenwriters and directors (Moscow).After making his first films in Russia, in Canada he adapted the novel The Old Man and the Sea, resulting in a 20-minute animated short — the first large-format animated film ever made. Technically impressive, the film is made entirely in pastel oil paintings on glass, a technique mastered by only a handful of animators in the world. By using his fingertips instead of a paintbrush on different glass sheets positioned on multiple levels, each covered with slow-drying oil paints, he was able to add depth to his paintings. After photographing each frame painted on the glass sheets, which was four times larger than the usual A4-sized canvas, he had to slightly modify the painting for the next frame and so on. It took Aleksandr Petrov over two years, from March 1997 through April 1999, to paint each of the 29,000+ frames. For the shooting of the frames a special adapted motion-control camera system was built, probably the most precise computerized animation stand ever made. On this an IMAX camera was mounted, and a video-assist camera was then attached to the IMAX camera. The film was highly acclaimed, receiving the Academy Award for Animated Short Film and Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

After this, Aleksandr Petrov has maintained a close relationship with Pascal Blais Studio in Canada, which helped fund The Old Man and the Sea, where he works on commercials.

He returned to Yaroslavl in Russia to work on his latest film, My Love, which was finished in spring 2006 after three years' work and had its premiere at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival on August 27, where it won the Audience Prize and the Special International Jury Prize. On March 17, 2007, My Love will be theatrically released at the Cinema Angelika in Shibuya, (Japan) by Studio Ghibli, as the first release of the "Ghibli Museum Library" (theatrical and DVD releases of Western animated films in Japan).

Filmography :

Director1988—Marathon, Марафон (Marafon) (directed and animated with Mikhail Tumelya)

1989—The Cow, Корова (Korova) (after Andrey Platonov)

1992—The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Сон смешного человека (Son smeshnovo cheloveka) (after Fyodor Dostoevsky)

1997—Mermaid, Русалка (Rusalka) (after Alexander Pushkin)

1999—The Old Man and the Sea (after Ernest Hemingway)

2003—Participated in Winter Days, 冬の日 (Fuyu no hi)

2006—My Love, Моя любовь (Moya lyubov) (after Ivan Shmelev)

Art director

1984 By a Wave of the Wand, По щучьему велению (Po shchuchyemu veleniyu) (directed by Valeriy Fomin, cutout animation)

1985—Tale of a Small Fry, Сказочка про козявочку (Skazochka pro kozyavochku) (directed by Vladimir Petkevich, paint-on-glass)

1986—Welcome, Добро пожаловать (Dobro pozhalovat) (directed by Alexei Karayev, paint-on-glass)

AWARDS :

1988—Ottawa International Animation Festival: Welcome, "Grand Prix"

1990—Berlin International Film Festival: The Cow, "Honorable Mention" in the category "Best Short Film"

1990—Academy Award for Animated Short Film: The Cow (nominated)

1990—Ottawa International Animation Festival: The Cow, "OIAF Award for Best First Film"

1992—Bombay International Documentary, Short and Animation Film Festival: The Cow, "Golden Conch for Best Animation Film"

1992—Ottawa International Animation Festival: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, "Audience Award" and "OIAF Award for Best Production Between 10 and 30 Minutes in Length"

1993—Cracow Film Festival: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, "Special Mention for the depiction of a crucial subject in the form of animation"

1997—Cinanima: The Mermaid, "Grand Prize"

1997—International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film: The Mermaid, "Honorable Mention" in the category "Animated Films and Videos"

1997—2nd Open Russian Festival of Animated Film: The Mermaid, "Best Animator of a Drawn Film", "3rd Place Rating by Audience Vote"

1998—Academy Award for Animated Short Film: The Mermaid (nominated)

1998—Ottawa International Animation Festival: The Mermaid, "Craft Prize" in the category "Best Story"

1998—Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films: The Mermaid, "Grand Prize"

1999—Academy Award for Animated Short Film: The Old Man and the Sea2006—11th Hiroshima International Animation Festival: My Love, "Audience Prize" and "Special International Jury Prize"[3]

2006—International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film: My Love, "FIPRESCI Prize for Best Animation" [4]

2007—12th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film: My Love, "Grand Prix", "Best Direction" and "Best Visuals"

2007—XVII International "Message to Man" Film Festival: My Love, "Grand Prix"2007—Academy Award for Animated Short Film: My Love (nominated)

to learn more :http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0678154/http://animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_person&pid=735

wow !! that was quite an info !! :)

WHEN THE MENTORS FOUND THEIR MENTOR

2009-03-31T11:11:00.004+05:30

Kolkata, 31^st March, 2009 : The word “Animation” is all about Soul as “Anima” means SOUL in Latin. Unfortunately, technology has obliterated the soul from our animation.

Some 15 odd mentors from Arena Park Street were to find this out over two days in the sanctum of academics at Jadavpur University courtesy the infallible, energetic, enthusiastic and adorable Prosenjit Ganguly aka PJ.

On 29^th March 2009 the day began with a quote of Brad Bird:

“The first step in achieving the impossible believing that the impossible can be achieved"

and this was enough to charge up everyone present.

Animation is an art of visual communication, based on conceptualization. Here Film is the Soul and Art is its Heart.

The essence of the program can best be summed up in the words of John Lassetter:

“Computers don’t create computer animation any more than pencils create pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist.”

Thoughts should always reflect the imagination irrespective of the field of application whether it be animation, screenplay writing or even graphic designing.

The core element of unique art form always needs a medium to express. And graphics or animation films (narrative / non narrative) are one of the finest mediums to communicate. Technology is only required to deliver the expression or to communicate the thoughts that we develop.

The entire bunch began the day by honouring legends like Charlie Chaplin, Satyajit Ray and few academy award winning filmmakers and made the day very nostalgic.

We all watched some great films including:

o I met the walrus

o Creature Comfort

o Every Child

o Balance

o Octupodi

o Cat came back

o An occurrence at the Owl Creek’s bridge

PJ also emphasized on the essentials of character design-its universe, treatment of films, screenplay, pitching, storyboarding etc. He explained brilliantly the importance of conceptualization, aesthetic sense and skills, in the process of film design with the help of these films.

The most interesting part of that two-day session was that both the days all the mentors were given assignments. They were given crayons and papers (the most fundamental tools) and they had to paint to the rhythm of sounds of flute and Tchaikovsky. The exercise was designed to cure the fear of colour from our minds.

PJ ended day 1 with an assignment on pitching ideas. He gave all of us a premise or brief wherein we were to prepare the concept and story for a PSA (Public Service Announcement) of 20 seconds to be aired on TV and whose message was that “Ghosts exist but we don’t have to be scared about them”

Day – 2 began with the pitches and turned out to be another brilliant session since the experience of pitching ones idea was new and unique for most if us.

The two-day long session was to discover the ART from HEART, ACT from ACTING and above all the SOUL from ANIMAtion (Anima means Soul in Latin). And to get the Soul we have to “Live in Animation.” Obliterated

We would like to thank PJ personally from the core of our hearts as he has made us learn the fun and artistic way of playing with colors- it’s all about “RHYTHM & SKETCH”… Thanks a lot and hope to see you again with few more assignments for us..!

- Arundhati Halder

Out in the Open… (Sorry PJ, we stole your line!)

2009-03-20T12:59:00.009+05:30

19 March, Prinsep Ghat, Kolkata: The recent Holi celebrations seemed to have had a Santiniketan-effect on Arena Park Street as the entire T-T-S (Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday) batch were taken out of doors for their classes. All the mentors and their students met in front of the CAB Club House (Eden Gardens) at around 9 in the morning to kick start the day with some Perspective-drawing at the Customs Grounds.

the group assembles

The day began with an hour of intensive drawing sessions with the mentors helping, guiding, sometimes rectifying mistakes of the students as they tried their hands at live perspective drawing. It was a welcome break from the mundane routine of indoor classes. Trying to visualize landscapes, buildings and different structures from the confines of a classroom gave way to a much more effective and helpful way of drawing-as-you-see-it from different angles. Initially the mentors had to explain the purpose of an outdoor study such as this and gradually the interest level of the students started to grow. It was interesting to see a few students breaking away from their group of friends to get a better view of their subject of interest. Every student was armed with their sketch books and pencils and it was a treat to watch the budding animators getting a first-hand experience of field study.

explaining the purpose

the most popular object of interest

budding animator 1

budding animator 2

budding animator 3, 4, 5 and more...

more animators

By 11.30, the team reached the next stop where the rest of the day was to be spent. A long walk to reach the Prinsep Ghat helped the students get into the mood and a ‘learning is fun’ kind of an atmosphere built up gradually. After a short break of fifteen minutes, the group was divided into two halves. The first semester students made up Group One, while the second, third, fourth and fifth semesters constituted Group Two.

While both groups studied the same topics through the day, the treatment had to be different for the new students of the First Semester as they have not yet been introduced to the nuances of animation. As the mentors posed for them, they drew stick figures and got their queries answered.

perspective drawing lessons

the perspective of a train

our destination of the day

what a sight!

After the much awaited lunch-break, everyone came back for another session of classes. While the first semester students were introduced to The Principles of Animation, the rest of the group had a thorough revision of the same topic. The students acted, posed, mimicked and showered queries on their mentors for this interactive session. The topics covered in the day were as follows -

1. Nature Study:

a. Perspective

b. Composition

c. Texturing

d. Colour Tone

e. Light And Shade

2. Action and Posing:

a. Line of Action

b. Stick Drawing

c. Principles Of Animation

d. Acting

when students and mentors posed alike!

The students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions because of the vast difference in the learning environment from the day-to-day 2 hour classes. For once, there were more than 8 students in a class, hence there were different kinds of queries that the students were exposed to by their peers. Second, there was more than one mentor explaining one topic; hence students received more knowledge on every topic.

principles of animation for sem - 1

The day ended with a session on Colour Theory with a practical demonstration on Colour Tone and Light & Shade as the sun set behind the huge monument erected in honour of James Prinsep. As the students dispersed for the day, the mentors sat down for a review of the entire day’s proceedings; to take feedback, to discuss and to chalk out a plan of the step of action.

colour theory @ sunset!

Every person on this trip realized that there is a lot more to animation than Max and Maya, a day out in the open had managed to open a lot of eyes to the reality that the Holistic Animation Training Methodology has been trying to drill into these minds for quite some time now.

Looking forward to the next trip…

Alternate Forms of Animation

2008-12-16T09:24:00.005+05:30

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…

2008-08-25T12:17:00.000+05:30

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"

2008-08-23T11:45:00.003+05:30

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.

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

2008-07-26T17:37:00.005+05:30

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"

2008-07-12T20:01:00.001+05:30

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)

2008-07-05T18:44:00.002+05:30

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

2008-07-04T10:58:00.003+05:30

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

2008-06-21T13:53:00.000+05:30

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

2008-06-17T17:03:00.000+05:30

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

2008-06-03T16:24:00.001+05:30

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

2008-06-02T11:34:00.000+05:30

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

2008-06-02T11:22:00.002+05:30

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