Animation schools soon to follow education standards

A board with representation from the industry, ministry, animation studios, producers and animation training institutions has been set up to supervise the process. The board is currently deliberating on prospect and modalities of having a common entrance test to evaluate aptitude, the nature of degree and diploma courses to be offered and other aspects of animation and gaming education.

In the past few years the human resource development agenda has emerged as the biggest challenge for the animation and gaming industry.

?Currently an animation training school need not adhere to any standards, which means many candidates not fitting in the field end up here just looking for a job. The aspirants also spend good amount of money on the courses, which could cost them lakhs, only to realise later that they are not cut out for this highly specialised field. From the perspective of a production house and employer, many of those even after having completed such courses are not employable and we are bound to incur huge sums in retraining them for the job,? said Biren Ghose, CEO of Bangalore-based production house Kahani World and chairman of the Nagfo.

By ensuring improvement in input by testing aptitude and eligibility of students before admitting them to training schools, the output will also improve on the lines of IITs and IIMs and other centres of excellence in the country, Ghose added. As a part of the initiative, the I&B ministry also plans to set up a centre of excellence for animation and gaming on a public-private partnership model, in most likelihood in Pune or Hyderabad. A sum of over Rs 50 crore has already been sanctioned by the planning commission for the venture. Currently terms of reference are being finalised by the ministry to invite bids from the private sector for setting up of the academy, according to an official. A feasibility study is being carried out Additionally to work out the modalities of operation of the proposed academy.

Commenting on how such steps will benefit the aspiring animation professionals, Rajesh Turakhia, managing director of Frameboxx, an animation and visual effects company, said, ?Undoubtedly the education agenda needs an official stamp of approval from such a board with representation from every quarter of the industry. Such a move will encourage participation from the central and state governments and also create a climate for the industry to be perceived as one where banks will give loans to students for such a career?.

Asked if such standardisation of the curriculum in a highly creative sector like animation may restrict the role of imagination by underlining the need for formal education in the sector, Munjal Shroff , director and COO of Graphiti Multimedia, which is also briefing the Maharashtra state government on animation education said, ?The role of a training school is to hone talent and at this juncture the industry is in need to up the infrastructure to take the next leap. The training schools must provide some kind of guarantee of standard to the candidate at the time of admission, for which a set of guidelines is required. Also most training schools only teach softwares used in animation completely neglecting the aesthetic faculties an animation professional needs to evolve in the industry?.

?Currently, in the absence of any standards the training schools end up producing technical professionals not enough producers who could start from the original concept development. Secondly, internationally most established training schools like School of Visual Arts, New York already offer three to four years of degree courses in the area. A common standard will definitely put pressure on those small centres which just offer short-term crash courses in animation without any accountability,? said K Pandyan of Graphiti School of Animation.

It was the Nasscom animation forum that had approached the ministry with the proposal to raise the bar in animation education by creating an outreach programme to build the status of the industry as a prime employer and to set the quality benchmarks. Meanwhile the I&B ministry had already commissioned PriceWaterhouseCooper to study the prevailing status and challenges of animation industry.

The Nasscom forum has representation from studios like BIG Animation, Crest, Prana, Rhythm and Hues, Dhruva Interactive, and Jump Games among others, education institutes including Picaaso, Frameboxx, AIGA, Ants, Amrita University, AAG, Maximus, and the combination players like Toonz Animation and Graphiti who straddle both production and training.

A Nasscom and Ernst & Young report released in November 2008 pegs the current size of the domestic animation industry at $460 million and projects a CAGR of 27% to reach $1163 million by 2012.

In the Nasscom estimate, animation market has been defined as animation entertainment animation education, custom content development and multimedia/web design.

According to a Ficci PWC estimate released in March this year, the animation industry today stands at Rs 1,300 crore and is expected to grow to Rs 4,300 crore by year 2009, with a CAGR of 35%. The gaming industry is expected to grow from Rs 36 crore to Rs 1,350 crore by the year 2009, with a CAGR of 78%. The growth rate in these sectors are much higher than overall media and entertainment sector, which is expected to grow at a rate of 19%.