After the two hectic days at Arena Animation’s Orbit Live 2017, the seminars and events all culminated into a third day (4 February, 2017) filled with workshops and ended on a high festive note with the Awards Night.
NFTS UK, director, Nik Powell screened three animated shorts which were made by the students of his film school and went on to win awards. One of the animated shorts was ‘Miss Todd’ – a stop-motion, musical animation about the first woman in the world to build and design an airplane. The film is inspired by the real life story of an American woman E. Lillian Todd. Though there’s no evidence to prove if she had flown a plane or not, the film showed a happy ending of the woman soaring high in the sky in her own plane. “We’re about human stories and like stories based on humour,” Powell said after the screening. He was of the view that their films worked because all of them had a human touch.
Following the screening, there were six hour-long workshops conducted simultaneously by the international experts. These workshops included 3D Photography by Xes Vila, 3D Fractals in Animation and VFX by Patryk Kizny, Stop Motion Animation by Damian Perea, CG/Live Action Integration by Paul Noble and 3D Animated Performance by Penny Holton.
Orbit Live had also conducted an ‘Industry Conclave’ on the future of media and entertainment, which was inaugurated by Aptech, director, Anuj Kakar. Kakar gave a brief on Aptech and thanked all the industry professionals for being present at the event. Highlighting Aptech’s role in helping students interact with professionals on the working and future prospects of the industry, he said, “We help the students realise their interests.” Gurnani Media founder, Anand Gurnani hosted the five panel discussions of the conclave.
The panel discussions observed during the day were ‘Virtual Augmented and Mixed Reality: New Frontiers in Entertainment’, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Media Entertainment’, ‘VC (Venture Capitalist) Perspective on Technology Intersecting Media Entertainment’, ‘Defining New Age Consumers and Consumption Patterns in Media and Entertainment’ and on ‘Emerging Trends to watch out for in Animation, VFX and Gaming’.
After an enlightening conclave which ended with the high tea, the stage was set for the awards night of Orbit Live 2017. Performers geared up to put their best foot forward and the students waited anxiously for the winners to be announced. Trophies for ‘Pride of Indian Animation’, ‘Hall of VFX Fame’, ‘VFX of the Year’, ‘Guru of Indian Animation’ and many more categories were awarded to the Indian artists. The legendary voice-actor of India – Chetan Shashital – was honoured with ‘Excellence in Voice Acting’ award. The crowd switched from bursts of laughter to sheer admiration as the voice maestro enacted voices of some of his most famous characters including Darth Vader for the Hindi dubbed Star Wars, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.
The Russian band of girls called Silver Strings gave an electrifying performance by playing the international tunes along with few Indian numbers. This was followed by student awards. A glimpse of an upcoming project initiated by Vaibhav More which has been powered by Arena Animation got premiered on the Award night. The project will capture the spirit of the unknown artists of India and will take us through their lives. The awards night ended with a vote of thanks.
The third day came to end with exhilaration and a tinge of sadness. Students were set to go back with bountiful of knowledge and inspiration from the speakers. However, before leaving, on the next day which is 5 February, 2017, recruitment drive was conducted wherein some of the top studios came-in to recruit the crème-de-la-crème students of Arena animation.
Bidding their final adieus, all the masters had one single message to share: “Be passionate about everything that you do. You are sure to find success.” It takes a lot of determination to make a mark in this field and a lot of dedication to adhere to that determination.