With so many animation studios fighting the uphill battle, it is not duck soup for them to stand out from the crowd. It takes sheer hardwork and much patience to create a firm mark in this rat race.
One such studio that has successfully managed to create a niche for itself is Pitara Studios. Functional for over 5 years, since 2010, this studio has flourished in every genre of creative arts; be it animation, live action, or even advertisements – they have done it all. After having won many accolades for its previous project ‘Wish’ that released last year on children’s day, this time, while speaking exclusively with AnimationXpress.com, Divyansh Ganjoo and Keyur Dekate, the makers at Pitara Studios beam with joy as they share insights on their new project, ‘Release me’.
“Following on the lines of ‘Freedom is what we all are wishing for’-“Release Me” is a tale of an old bear caged in a Zoo that represents the situation.” explains the director of the movie, Keyur Dekate. The main highlight of the video is that is in the form of a musical and has been sung by a Hawaain Singer, Terry Duggins. “One of my common friend on Facebook introduced me to Terry Duggins and he made me listen to his songs. When I heard one of his songs, I promptly decided that this has to be turned into an animated music video. I shared this thought with Keyur and Terry, which got them equally excited and come on board,” elaborated Divyansh on their encounter with Terry. He also explained that since the song had very emotive lyrics, with a soulful rendering accompanied by unique instruments in the background, Pitara Studios carefully conceptualised the story and visuals to justify the song.
The movie apart from Divyansh and Keyur has a team of creative brains working on it; directed by Keyur Dekate, produced by Divyansh Ganjoo, Mahima Sharma, Amit Vishwakarma, music by Terry Duggins, while animation is by Mukul Lokre.
With Mukul Lokre, a young animator behind the brilliant work of the 3:17 min video that took about 3 months in the making, the movie is all set to making it big on having being selected at the CFSI’s 19th ICFFI in Children’s world category and also PETA (USA) having appreciated the product and are willing to promote it through their channels. Pitara Studios holds the IP rights solely with the project costing them about Rs 2 lakh.
Talking more on the difference between working on music videos as compared to working on advertisements, Divyansh stated that though both cannot be compared, working on music videos provides more freedom in terms of storytelling and execution. Expounding on their future plans of this already much acclaimed music video, Divyansh says that they have been developing IPs for animation content. “As, the platform for exhibiting animation content is restricted to web and channels; Through “Release me” we have opened up a new market for us internationally. Independent artists have already started contacting us for their music videos and now it’s turning into a good business prospect.”
Beaming with joy on having seen their hardwork pay off so well, Keyur’s joy knows no bounds. “For me festival selections have always mattered a lot because it’s a sign that your hardwork has been well appreciated and accepted worldwide. For a maker, the most important thing is to find his/her audience and recognition for his/her work; and festivals across the globe give the platform to explore.” He also stated that interactive sessions with experts and artists help him grow as a filmmaker and in the end it gives all the strength and motivation for the next project.
The music video is dedicated to Jean Ritchie (8 December, 1922 – 1 June, 2015), an American folk music singer, songwriter and Appalachian dulcimer player and also the first of its kind to having incorporated ‘Dulcimer’ a folk stringed instrument in animation.
Pitara Studios is also ready with another production – ‘Kapkappi’, a 3D animated short film – which is an experimental take on ’70s Bollywood cinema. But, that is for another time!