While day one had set the tone for what’s going to follow over the course of the GAFX weekend, the second day at Bengaluru Gafx 2019 saw a melange of electrifying presentations advanced by professionals hailing from some of the most reputed and pedigreed names in the media and entertainment space. Alternating between two session halls in order to attend the sessions suited to their sphere of interest, enthusiasts and students soaked in as much knowledge as possible.
Branscome International head Catherine Branscome and Salt Content CEO Angela Salt shed light on the process of how intellectual properties are developed. Technicolor Animation and Games VP creative Owen Hurley kept the audiences gripped by showcasing of some of the top animation and games content. It was followed by an interesting session by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Simulation Supervisor Hollywood CA Avneet Kaur giving a detailed account of how their team put together the pipeline to bring classic 2D Disney princesses to modern CG life in the movie Ralph Breaks the Internet.
“Legendary animator Mark Henn whom I had the pleasure of working with was the original supervising animator on five of the Disney princesses like Ariel, Bell, Jasmine, Tiara and Mulan. Nobody knows these princesses better than Mark. So, he worked with 80 plus animators in Ralph breaks the Internet to constantly guide them on the performances of these girls. He would often hand-draw and provide 2D references and be always present in the animation dailies to mentor and review the work,” she explained.
In the session titled Showcasing India – The Journey which was moderated by Indiantelevision.com Group founder and CEO Anil Wanvari saw a healthy and enlightening exchange of information, covering a gamut of topics ranging from the way studios can be sustained to the dynamics of how IPs are built and monetised in today’s day and age. Graphiti Multimedia director and COO Munjal Shroff spoke about how they went from a few-minter ‘genie’ in Khulja Sim Sim to episodics like Jadoo and now two hit shows and Netflix titled YOM and Krish Trish and Baltiboy. Redchillies.vfx VFX supervisor Ronak Sanghadia talked about his journey of creating VFX imagery on movies like Krish and Zero while 88 Pictures founder Milind Shinde showcased the work they have done and how they set up the studio. Manoj Mishra ran us through the animated shows that they have worked on over the years and how DQ Entertainment has come a long way since their inception.
Ubisoft production director followed up the session by turning the cart in the direction of gaming. He initiated his session by explaining how gaming has been the sphere to adapt to the newest technologies before they enter the mainstream. Following up his agenda, he explained how Ubisoft India had humble beginnings and how it went on to grow into an integral part of the company’s multi-branched ecosystem. He also shared that the company recently expanded its footprints in the country by kickstarting operations in Mumbai and also collaborating with IIT Mumbai to conduct more research on AI and ML, which are likely to be implemented in their games sometime in the future. With his session coming to an end, the students present in the hall flocked him to know more about the opportunities that a career in gaming provides and how to go about it in India, to which he gladly obliged and guided.
Having blazed a trail of awe-inspiring sessions about animation and gaming, the theme of the event steered into VFX after lunch with crowd thunderously cheering at the VFX breakdown of the superhit movie KGF Chapter 1 by Unifi Media MD Udayaravi Hegde and VFX supervisor Praveen Damodaran.
The awestruck students were in there for a treat with another session on VFX by MPC Advertising 3D Supervisor NY Santosh Gunasheelan on The Making of Sir Ridley Scott’s Seven Worlds. “The client was Hennesey and Sir Ridley Scott hadn’t done advertising in fifteen years. So every time you have Hennesey, you go through these 7 phases of face notes we had to create the visual storytelling in a way that you could explore each one of the phases chronologically,” he shared.
Prasad Sutar from NYVFX WALA presented how his team created the imagery in movie Total Dhamaal while Makuta Visual Effects co-founder & division head Pete Draper outlined the importance of planning every shot well in advance for a hassle-free VFX process in the post-production.
The second day saw a tremendous outpouring of the crowd. The area was dotted with students and professionals waiting to leverage their talent in the ongoing painting and sculpture making workshops at every place. Day two made for an even more spectacular and insightful experience for the audience. Stay tuned for day three