JOIN USA second animation wave is sweeping Bangalore. The fledgling industry that grew up on a steady dose of outsourced Hollywood studio projects has quickly matured to turn to in-house productions. Mixing 3D techniques with old style 2D animation, stop-motion with cutouts, a new crop of highly experienced visual artists are in hyper innovative mode, creating some path-breaking ventures.
Working out of studios spread across the City, they have dug deep into independent short film productions, short corporate videos and commercial films. Their mantra is straightforward: Keep it simple, smart and sharp. “We are trying out different media. The idea is to try telling a story in an engaging way,” Arun Sripadam from C.MENT Studios explained to Deccan Herald.
Ideas, techniques, style and substance seamlessly merge in their independent productions, samples of which are often uploaded on video-sharing sites YouTube and Vimeo.
For instance, C.MENT’s “Cycling Rhapsodies” series are short, 35-second testimonies of their craft, mastered over years of working with big global players.
The series visualizes and animates some of the fondest memories of people about cycling. It is a poetic expression in animated form.
Developed skill sets
The Studio crowd had worked with Korean studios, besides developing animated content for Australian and American television series. Their skills sets well developed, the local animators are now geared to produce better and bigger productions based on Indian stories. “We are still learning. But we have gone past the baby steps. One day, we hope to create world class animated movies with Indian ethos, from Bangalore,” said Sripadam.
Animation cannot work in a vacuum. On board every project are musicians, music directors, visual effects partners, writers and more. But the animation technique remains the essence. For the project “Le Corbusier Dream,” C.MENT had chosen the cutout technique. Models were made with hardboard cutouts and painted using acrylic pastels and water color. The movie was shot frame by frame using digital camera.
This film has been screened at various film festivals and film making workshops. It was the opening film of the animation section at the First Bangalore International Film Festival.
“The Box” is another production that mirrors the journey of every mind. Using animation techniques that employ surreal visual symbolism, different facets and forms within the cycle of life are depicted. The filmmakers combine perspectives, fascinations, obsessions, relations, emotions through this visual process.