The Animation Society of India is teaming up with Nilima and Suresh ‘Eeks’ Eriyat of Studio Eeksaurus for an exclusive screening of the latter’s latest short film ‘Fisherwoman and Tuk-Tuk’ at Karma Hall, Whistling Woods International, Filmcity on 25 April between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
The short deals with the love affair of a fisherwoman and her Tuk-Tuk – set in a coastal village, where the heat of the Indian summers, the stench of dried fish, the triumph of human endeavour against odds, the thrill of adventure, the over excited colours and loud music that blankets the solitude weave a story of a lonely fisherwoman who lives her dreams through her hard earned Tuk-Tuk.
The screening will be followed by a presentation on the making of the film and a straight from the heart talk by Suresh about pursuing one’s passion while battling with the harsh realities of life as they attempt to sustain a mid-sized studio and build a successful brand.
AnimationXpress.com exchanged notes with both TASI as well as Studio Eeksaurus to get a better understanding of how the event will pan out and what will be the take-aways for the lucky attendees.
Excerpts:-
Responses by TASI, managing committee, Ranjit Singh
What was the thought behind hosting this small closed door event? Is it open for non-TASI members as well?
TASI events are open door events; we welcome all so long as they take up membership of the Society. We have a local studio that has invested its own resources over a number of years and finally come out with a product that is lovely and deservedly being appreciated all over, what more reason does one need to help showcase it to the community?
TASI has always been in the forefront for encouraging art and artists and we’re happy that Suresh and company have, as usual been extremely open about sharing their knowledge with the masses.
Which schools have already registered for the event? And how many registrations are you expecting for the screening?
Invites have been sent to all the institutes, now it is up to them and their managements to see value in this event and ensure that their students and teachers attend. We’re expecting a full house, though for us the numbers have never been a criteria for hosting events. What is important is that our sessions give people a chance to learn, those that are serious about their craft and their future in this industry always attend.
What will be discussed in the panel for ‘Creativity & Sustainability’ – Striking that right balance?
As the title suggests, creativity & sustainability are two sides of the same coin. Working in a competitive environment under the present circumstances is a huge challenge. Those who are employees often forget that the pressures on an employer are ten-fold. Not only does he/she have to generate enough business to keep the studio running but also has to balance his/her creative urges with pragmatic realism.
We want to highlight, that while it may be difficult to run a small/mid-sized studio in today’s time, it is not impossible to do so and more importantly all the while following your passion for creating and telling your own stories. We will discuss the various business avenues explored by an animation director that enables him/her today to generate resources that allow him/her to do what he/she ultimately loves doing – creating animation to tell stories.
Responses by Studio Eeksaurus, director, E Suresh
Tell us a little about the thought behind creating such a movie and the use of a very unique style of animation for the film.
Going by our learnings at the time of inception of our company, we felt unless we kept on coming up with unique styles created with our own funds, there will not be enough inspiration created for people to work with us on commercially viable projects. We did see the downward trend back in 2008-2009 where people were not writing interesting animation scripts especially in the Ad commercials sector, which was and still is our main source of income and thought that we must create spectacular stuff that would turn their heads to notice the merits of animated story telling. And us planning our move into creating animated feature films, we wanted to ensure that we can create films that would hold our audience’s attention with gripping storytelling and visual styling, for at least a good 15 minutes. Also we initiated 3 short film projects – one in 2D, one in 3D and another one in clay animation. We have finished just the 3D animation one; the other two are still pending.
Who are the key people behind the making (artists, music, production, etc.)
Apart from Rajat Dholakia, who did the music; Shalini Agarwal designed the sound, Chetan Sashital did the voice design and performed all the voices and the songs, Nikhil Joshi helped in stylisation and character design with Suresh, Abhijit Bugde lead the in house project team and Nilima Eriyat patiently managed the entire project made sure that it happened finally.
How did the thought of showcasing the film with TASI come about?
Vaibhav Kumaresh invited us to present the film at TASI. After seeing the trailer he spoke to Nilima and we were happy to hold this screening. Since the film is doing rounds of various film festivals, it is difficult to upload it on public channels like Vimeo or Youtube. So this was one way we could get audience feedback apart from the festival audience.
What will you discuss in the panel for ‘Creativity & Sustainability’ – Striking that right balance? Who all will be on the panel?
This is going to be an interactive discussion where Nilima (Executive Producer Studio Eeksaurus) and myself will introduce the problems studios like ours, who are into content development movement in India, are facing when it comes to sustainability without getting any grant or investment.
How one has to always lift up the overall quality standards so one can stay ahead of the competition when it comes to quality; and how achieving that quality many times becomes a challenge when there are no adequate budgets available. Add to that, the monetary needs of the artists going up constantly. We will also talk about learning new skills, updating technology and various other factors that help us striking this delicate balance. There will be Nilima, Rajat Dholakia AKA Juku, Chetan Sashital, Shalini Agarwal and myself on the panel.
When and how do you plan on taking the movie further?
We are going to screen this film at all possible forums and institutes within India, so that the quality threshold of work that should come out of these institutes improve drastically and we can inspire more students to be animation film makers and create content. Already we have had institutes inviting us to hold workshops with the students to create short films and we feel with such forthcoming attitude and willingness, we could probably go ahead and make a feature film!
Date: 25th April 2015
Time: 2 pm to 5 pm
Venue: Karma Hall, Whistling Woods International, Filmcity, Goregaon East, Mumbai
For more details to register please click here