It is difficult to not notice the vigour, enthusiasm and a buzz going around and inside the auditorium in Technopark Campus where Toonz Media holds the Animation Masters Summit every year. The air smells of zest, creativity, art and most importantly, humility as one witnesses masters interacting and discussing topics with each other and everyone around.
Animation Masters Summit 2017 kicked off at 9 am sharp today with the auditorium packed, cameras in position and the audience eagerly waiting for the speakers to take them on a journey of learning and knowledge. Toonz Media Group, CEO, P. Jayakumar commenced the day by introducing the masters and welcoming the chief guest, Fred Wang. “The primary reason for holding this event is nothing but pure love for art,” Jayakumar shared. Vice president of the China Film Foundation and director of the board of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, Fred Wang gave the inaugural speech and lit the lamp as a tradition for a good beginning.
Jayakumar specially thanked Bhimsain Khurana, Rishikesh Nair (Technopark, CEO) and Vijayaraghavan (Technopark, founder and CEO) for gracing the event with their presence and felicitated them with mementos. He also presented the legendary animator with a shawl.
After a short tea break, the sessions of the masters began. The very first session was by Lauren Glaubach (YouTube Family & Learning, head of programming) on ‘Fundamentals of a Creative Strategy on Youtube’ in which she explained what the creators do that makes the audience want to come back. Next up was Amy Blair on ‘YouTube Kids and Why Global Communities Matter’ in which she elaborated on the current trends on digital platforms and the three Es which are relevant for content – Entertainment, Enrichment and Exploration.
Followed by these was an interactive session with the venture capitalist and founder of Fuse Global, Keyur Patel. From getting into the business of investment to his personal interests, intuitions and challenges, Patel shared with the audience his interesting journey. He also answered quirky questions shot at him by Avaneesh M, the head of development at Toonz Media Group, which left the audience in fits of laughter.
Post lunch, veteran media and entertainment player Ronojoy Chakraborty (Sony Pictures Networks, VP and programming head) spoke on ‘Developing Concept for the Indian Market’, a broad and generalised topic which he narrowed down to explain it in the simplest manner. An important point he made was that India is a vast and diverse market with abundance variety in culture; so the content creators should create something universal and timeless, and not culture specific.
The last session for the day was by renowned screenwriter Anjum Rajabali on ‘Indian Mythology and its Relevance to Modern Screenwriting’. The entire auditorium was engrossed and sat in pin drop silence as Rajabali spoke on the art of storytelling and taking inspiration from characters in mythology. His experience in screenwriting and fascination of Indian mythology spoke volumes as he picked up pieces from the great epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata – and explained the intricacies and complexities of character associated with it. He then elaborated on how their characteristics can be imbibed while creating characters for a story. The audience listened with rapt attention and gave him standing ovation too as he reluctantly ended his session.
The day concluded with a shadow art performance by magician and shadow artist Prasad, who was assisted by his young son. The crowd gasped and awed at every visual Prasad created with dexterity.
Even as the day ended, excitement, energy and positivity lingered in the air, awaiting for the second day with a whole lot of sessions and new surprises.