Animation ‘xpress presents ‘Animation Overview’ the third in a 12 part series..
on The Importance of Industry based training in animation.
The views expressed throughout the series are the Author’s.
Animation ‘xpress may or may not subscribe to the same.
Applications and Markets
To understand the importance of training we need to first take a look at various applications of animation. This will give us an idea of the scope of this medium.
To list some of the prominent areas:
1. Entertainment
a. Computer games
b. Film
c. Television
d. Interactive media
e. Internet
2. Advertising
a. Television
b. Direct marketing
c. Interactive media
3. Engineering
a. Computer aided design
b. Design and test bed experiments
4. Simulations -medicine, sports, manufacturing, space and deep sea exploration, archeology, defense, paleontology, legal study
5. Education
a. Internet
b. Computer based training programs
c. Corporate presentations thru Interactive media
The current market for animation is estimated to be in the range of US$ 30 billion. A large chunk of this market is in North America and Canada. Asian countries like China, Philippines, Korea, Taiwan and recently India are providing a small chunk of work to these markets. Often this work is not the end product but a part of it.
Be it setting up his own animation and sfx studio in 1995 or providing insights and project reports to help re structure organisations and animation training schools, independent animation producer and TASI India founding member/spokesman Ranjit Singh’s 15 yr old stint in the animation Industry is marked with many highlights.
In 2001, Ranjit resigned from the company he founded and has since been working as an independent animation producer, director and consultant. He is currently writing the first of a series of books on animation for beginners.
An animator and modeler himself, Ranjit is very passionate about animation. He wants the new breed of animators to avoid the struggle of his formative years and in this endeavor he is forever available for advice to students and animators alike. He can be reached at phanspal@vsnl.net
NASSCOM estimated the Indian animation industry to be to the tune of US$ 500-600 million for the year 2001. In terms of local content development there have been some sporadic attempts made by India but these have either been of poor quality or straddled by financial constraints. A serious lack of large-scale expertise seems to affect most animation companies. An overpowering reliance on technology without a supporting base of qualified animators is one of the main reasons why we are lagging behind in local content development.
We must remember that high-end technology requires qualified high-end personnel. Coupled and compounded by an absence of animation culture due to the unavailability of proper training courses. This should in some measure explain why we are still struggling to find the genre of the independent Indian animator.
End of Part 3
Part 4 of the series entitled ‘MANPOWER’ shall appear in the next issue of Animation Express.