Creative Multimedia Group celebrated its 20th Anniversary with great fanfare amidst government and industry luminaries on Friday, the 20 July 2018 at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad.
The event attracted a host of luminaries from diverse walks of life. Government of Telangana principal cecretary – IT Jayesh Ranjan graced the event as the Chief Guest. Green Gold Animation founder Rajiv Chilaka, Firefly Creative Studios chief promoter PC Sanath, Dijo Davis from MPC-Bangalore, Nirmal from 2AdPro-Chennai, Vijay from Magic Lumes and Sridhar, HR of Symbiosys Technologies-Hyderabad were the special guests of honour.
The chief guest and guests of honour lit a flower-bedecked lamp to kick-off the celebrations in the presence of Creative Multimedia CEO Rajasekhar Buggaveeti. Delivering the inaugural address, Buggaveeti renewed his group’s commitment to ‘Enhancing Employability’. Stating that Creative Multimedia has been zealously imparting industry-oriented digital media education through its flagship institute ‘Dilsukhnagar Arena’ and its fine arts college ‘Creative Multimedia College of Fine Arts (CMCFA)’ for two decades now, Rajasekhar Buggaveeti enlightened the gathering on the innovation, value-additions and revolutionary initiatives that have helped distinguish Creative Multimedia from competition and earned it ‘The Best Digital Media Academy in India’ Award from ASSOCHAM, New Delhi.
Ranjan said: “Setting up a Multimedia Institute 20 years back when the industry was in its inception stage is a bold move and I must congratulate Rajasekhar Buggaveeti on this extremely successful journey. In fact, multimedia is a high priority sector for the Telangana government. We are actively promoting the sector through a dedicated facility – the iconic ‘Image Towers’ (IMAGE – Innovation in Multimedia, Animation, Gaming and Entertainment) spread over six lakh sft. Construction work is in progress. Once the facility is ready by the first quarter of 2021, it will trigger growth of the digital media industry locally and help create more job opportunities for students.
He went on to add: “Our government is keen on supporting institutions like Creative Multimedia which are contributing immensely to talent development. We understand that due to rapid technological advancements, software used a few years ago is obsolete today. Our government is willing to providing software with nominal licence fee while ensuring support in other areas too. I’m delighted to note that Creative Multimedia Group has trained over 23,000 students till date and facilitated remunerative jobs at leading MNCs for them through its signature campus placements initiative ‘Our Campus-Your Recruitments’. It is commendable that some of them have established their own studios and have become job creators. Today the world is in start-up mode. I hope that Creative Multimedia continues to inspire more entrepreneurs so as to help drive job creation.”
Creative Multimedia’s 20th Anniversary Celebrations attracted a panel of Animation, VFX, Graphic and Web Design veterans from leading studios and enterprises in India.
The first to interact with students after the chief guest was Rajiv Chilaka, the founder of Green Gold Animation, the studio behind the immensely popular animated character ‘Chhota Bheem’ and the pioneering creator of original Indian animation content which is now also a leading player in the movie production and distribution, digital business, licensing and merchandising, retail stores and events business. Chilaka was invited to the 20th Anniversary extravaganza to help students gain the current perspective on the animation industry and the potential that it holds for career aspirants.
Commencing his address on an evocative note, he recollected his 17-year long association with Creative Multimedia and congratulated the CEO Rajasekhar Buggaveeti for his vital contribution to facilitating job-ready talent for the fast-growing Indian digital media industry over the past two decades. Touching upon Creative Multimedia’s global-standard facility and cutting-edge training infrastructure including a one-of-its-kind library with a treasure trove of titles, he exclaimed “It is a dream and a privilege for every multimedia career aspirant to study at Creative Multimedia – India’s finest destination for career-oriented multimedia training. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be part of such an iconic institution. Animation studios like mine are eager to recruit from Creative Multimedia as its benchmark training ensures high quality recruitments.” Congratulating students on boldly choosing an unconventional career path and following their heart, he said: “It is a vindication of your choice that scores of Creative Multimedia alumni, who happen to be your seniors, are now holding commanding positions at large MNCs and keeping their alma mater’s flag flying high.”
Commenting on the phenomenal growth of the Animation industry in the past 3 years, he said that a few years back, a studio was termed ‘Large’ if it enjoyed a headcount of 100 artists. Today, even with a 500-strong artist team, an Animation studio is just considered a medium-sized studio. Riding the growth wave, large studios are now recruiting in the thousands even as artist strength continues to rise. That’s the kind of growth rate the industry has been witnessing in the recent past. The job opportunities are obviously very high for aspiring animation artists and we are all looking ahead to the golden period for the Indian Animation industry.
Next on the speaker panel was PC Sanath. Firefly is a well-established, home-grown visual effects studio in Hyderabad with a remarkable body of work across cinema, television commercials, corporate films, animated TV serials and music videos. The studio’s iconic work makes for compelling lessons and cases studies on the craft of VFX. Sanath’s address and presentation was a great opportunity for students to gain the industry perspective and understand technical skills from the master himself. Sanath ran through a short yet educative presentation on the art and science of visual effects using examples, clippings and before-after shots from the studio’s best works including such blockbuster films as Bahubali, Robot, Magadheera and Anaganaga ‘O’ Dheerudu (Disney’s first Indian fantasy film). Sanath’s presentation proved to be immensely enriching and attracted a rousing applause from the students.
Dijo Davis also delivered an in-depth presentation on the fundamental tenets of crafting a winning demo-reel. He dwelt extensively on the importance of doing it right the first time and offered invaluable tips to animation and VFX students on the best ways to showcase one’s work/expertise to prospective employers. His presentation touched upon the ‘How’ of creating an effective animation demo reel with a host of proven best practices on the ideal length of the demo reel, the kind of work to include, the order of the contents, the music /sound components, the presentation strategy, the shot indexing, uploading it on the right platform and other vital measures. The presentation proved to be a fantastic experience for students and they responded with a thundering applause as Dijo wrapped up.
Nirmal of 2AdPro came all the way from Chennai to interact with students and utilized the platform to share his professional experiences. Nirmal engaged students with a brief yet inspiring presentation on his company’s best advertising work for international clients across print and digital media including work for such eminent Media and Broadcast clients as Fairfax Media, The Washington Post, Meredith, Metro, Tegna, Gray, News Quest, McClatch, NZMe. Revealing his company’s plans to recruit fresh talent, he encouraged Creative Multimedia students to apply for suitable positions with 2AdPro and assured them of his full support. He also took the opportunity to share with students his company’s on-job training programs aimed at enhancing skill sets.
The celebrations were interspersed with an assortment of entertainment programs. A spellbinding magic show by the event compere, a riveting dance show playing to hip-hop and desi tunes with incredible b-boying moves by a young, super-athletic dance troupe and many lilting renditions of classic numbers added excitement to the celebrations. The eventful day ended with a note of thanks to all the special guests, students, parents, staff, alumni and media for gracing the landmark event and making it a memorable success.
