The Golden Cursor Animation Awards’ (GCA) presented by Cell18 and Arena Animation in association with Aptech and CNBC-TV 18 and powered by AnimationXpress.com are all set to take place this Friday, on 8th May 09 at Hyatt Regency, Mumbai.
With 650+entries, amongst 21 different categories which besides the animation categories also comprise of VFX, Gaming (Mobile, PC, Console and Online) and Comics this year, GCA is getting bigger and better. Judged by an illustrious panel of jury members comprising of acclaimed animation filmmaker Gitanjali Rao, AK Madhavan, CEO, Crest Animation, Dhrubo Banerjee, Director Creative Initiatives, BIG Animation, Yunus Bhukari, CEO Artery FX and Puneet Sharma, Technical Advisor, Arena Multimedia, the first part of the nomination list is out.
The categories judged by the above mentioned esteemed panel include PSA, Animated TVC, CG VFX TVC, Professional Short Film, Student Short Film, VFX, Channel ID Promo, Title Sequence, Best Animation (Student), Best Animation (Professional) and Best Animated Feature.
The gaming categories are currently in jury process and are being judged by a panel of experts from Chip which is the gaming partner for GCA ‘09.
The remaining categories are being judged by the panel of International Chief Guests comprising of Anthony Christov, Art Director, Pixar and Ian Livingstone, Co-founder of Games Workshop.
Instituted with the philosophy of honoring the best in the field of Indian Animation, VFX and Gaming, the Award will recognize the best work done in this space in 2008-09. Speaking to AnimationXpress.com about the growing legacy of GCA Neel Chowdhury, Vice President, Marketing, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC AWAAZ said, “These awards recognize the strides made by the creative professionals of the Indian Animation Industry and honor the best in the animation sector. The awards will also further spur the growth of the industry in India and empower the industry to its next level of growth.”
GCA is in its second year and evolving as it goes ahead. Puneet Sharma, Technical Advisor Arena Multimedia shares, “Last year we had only one category for students, the Best Short Film category but this year we introduced the story telling contests which called for entries in the form of story boards. This was the key highlight as it received like 350-400 entries with some really good ideas. And when it comes to Best Animation, although the quality of work this year was not at par with the last years work, there was incredible variety in terms of the techniques of animation. The most heartening fact was that there was an increased participation from institutes from all over.”
Talking about the judging process that was followed for GCA one of the Jury members Gitanjali Rao shares, “I usually go for good story telling and originality when judging, more than the finish of the output and how sleek project it is. My interest primarily lies in the student and professional short film category that is where you get to see the original and innovative ideas coming up. And if an individual has these qualities it becomes a lot easier for them to start working as the other qualities come with time.
One important thing that I noticed was that there was work of different kinds, sent from different institutes and not just the common names that we see all the time. It was heartening to see the new generation of animation education coming up which is career oriented. And some of the works really showed potential.”
The entries this year showed a huge variety when it came to mediums of animation used. Re-sounding the same Dhrubo Banerjee, Director Creative Initiatives, BIG Animation adds, “Overall there were many entries which showed some exceptional work, good amount of experimentation, great variety in terms of style and color palette. As I come from an audio visual medium, I have stressed on narration part of it. Because if the narration is supporting the story, only then can the whole thing work. In every category there were films that stood out but I enjoyed the Best Short Film – Professional the most which had some really interesting entries.”
But the overall quality of entries received was an area of concern as it didn’t match last year’s benchmarks. One of the factors contributing to this was that last years participation bracket for GCA allowed entries created in past four years. However this year the entry span was limited to past twelve months (2008-09).
AK Madhavan elaborates, “The complete process was really interesting but I felt that there is a need for the animation schools, to buck up and work harder for getting good content out. The professional category (Short Films) was the only one where original ideas could be seen and hence I think there is a need to come up with more originality.”
Jury member Yunus Bhukari adds, “It was nice opportunity to see and judge some of the wonderful creations. But honestly I was eager to see much more entries with better quality. Hoping more entries for next year! Common Parameters such as Concept, Storytelling, Style of animation, Timing, FX, Sound, Colors, Design, Production quality and of course the Wow… Factor! My best wishes are with all the entries and I will wait to see who wins on 8th May.”
Following its ideology of promoting the best of Indian Animation, VFX and Gaming, Animation Xpress is powering GCA for the second time in a row. Anand Gurnani, CEO & Co Founder, Animation Xpress said, “We are glad to be associated with CNBC TV18 and Arena to power Golden Cursor for the second year in a row. The effort for AnimationXpress as always is to showcase the best of Indian work. We thank the participants, the jury members and the industry overall.”
“The process of calling for entries, making the industry aware about the awards, bringing together the jury, setting the parameters and then inviting the industry to participate it’s a full circle and I would say that every passing year we will evolve and improve the mechanisms, continuously adding to the credibility and aspiration value to the Golden Cursor Awards which have already gained considerable popularity,” he concludes.