Day six of CII SummitFX witnessed eminent personalities from the AVGC industry discussing on the various important topics like how to create an industry for women and also shed light on various emerging opportunities in VFX industry and how to set-up a VFX studio from the scratch.
The day kick started with an energetic and impactful discussion on ‘Break the ceiling, game changer. Share your story!!’. This discussion focused on creating a space for women in AVGC sector. The panelists shared their life and professional experience on how they broke barriers and overcome all the challenges through their career path.
Moderated by Technicolor India head of studio Kranti Sarma, the discussants included Bangalore International Airport CMO Shalini Rao, Dancing Atoms creative director Saraswathi Vani Balgam, MPC Film (London) global head of creative Leah Beevers and Aptech vice president Shajan Samuel.
Beevers pointed out how a mentor plays an important role in our life, and we have to say yes to all the opportunities that come our way. She believes in bringing change and also shared about her career challenges she faced as a new comer in the industry.
Samuel shared the data points and how rural India is developing and even the students from small towns and cities are coming to big cities to make their dream career in the entertainment sector. He also shared few points how to empower women to pursue their career in AVGC sector.
Balgam expounded that women should take stand for herself to prove herself in the career. She also shared her experience in Rhythm & Hues, and how she started her career as a supervisor and challenges faced during the lockdown.
Rao added, “‘If you really want something, you will find the way’ this is the attitude you will find in both males and females. But for women, there are many societal restrictions, conditioning that stops them. I always believe that there is no barrier. I do what I have to do, nothing stops me. I am always confident in what I am putting out and there is no substitute for doing good.”
The next session was on ‘Opportunities in VFX industry for Indian students’, which was moderated by P A Inamdar VFX College welfare officer and TPO Rushal Heena. The discussants included P A Inamdar VFX College dean and programme director MCES R.V Acharya, DNEG global head RPM Puja Parikh, Redchillies VFX supervisor Ronak Sanghadia, Redefine creative director, VFX supervisor Viral Thakkar, Phantom FX founder, CEO and VFX supervisor Bejoy Arputharaj and Famulus Media and Entertainment co-founder and managing director Suchit Mukherjee.
Arputharaj spoke about the evolving VFX industry and the emerging new opportunities. He said, “Last couple of years have been an interesting period for VFX. Most of us adopted and evolved to work from home and entirely adapted to a new pipeline. Many new OTT platforms’ emerging new series, features are being produced which are creating lot of opportunities for the people. VFX industry is booming and with evolving technologies and tools, the entire process of filmmaking will be changed. Emergence of OTT platforms will be game-changer for VFX industry.”
Mukherjee added, “Certain things that we were not doing in the past, we are doing it right now at the right time. We are ready to invest a particular amount on virtual production and to have a lidar scanning, photogrammetric and Unreal Engine to help us in production and pre-production. India is an absolutely growing market with the level of talent and investment and especially the audience we have and with the development of newer technology there is a great future for all of us in the media industry.”
Acharya shared some data points regarding the evolving VFX industry. He said, “According to a Facts and Figures survey, the global VFX Market was estimated to reach USD 24000 million by 2026 and as per Statistica report, Indian animation and VFX industry is valued at around 53 billion rupees by 2020 and it is anticipated to grow by 129 billion rupees by 2023 with CAGR of 35 percent. These figures indicate that Industry will be getting a new momentum after COVID. With the evolution of digital medium, platforms demand for VFX will raise. VFX mix with live-action and gaming will do wonders for India.”
The panelists shared how new pipelines evolved and adapted to work from home during this pandemic and how digital media is creating vast opportunities in the field of AVGC.
CII’s SummitFX second edition concluded with the session on ‘How to Support Smaller Studios’. Hosted by Digital Domain 3.0 VFX producer Praveen Kilaru, the panel members included Rotomaker Group founder and chairperson Madhav Reddy Yatham, Pixstone Images Chennai VFX compositing and 3D head Ranjit Gosavi, Bilva Design Consultants film director and co-founder Junaid Ullah, Code CG founder and chief pipeline architect Anoop AK and Legend 3D VFX supervisor Mangesh Palkrit.
The experts discussed about the emerging VFX sector and how to setup smaller studios. They gave insights on how to start career in VFX.
They listed some tools and techniques and shed light on installing low budget smaller studios with the help of evolving technology. Panelists also focused on how smaller studios are evolving in the pandemic because of demand of digital content.
Overall the CII SummitFX 2021 concluded with lot of key takeaways, new learnings and insightful sessions from the industry stalwarts of the AVGC sector.
