The Indian animation industry, which is caught in a vortex today with hundreds of animators left unemployed as studios shut down or shift business focus, need to develop a strong pre-production plan and pipeline to turn around, say experts.
In the last couple of months, big studios like Crest Animation Studio, Prana and others have terminated hundreds of artists and animators. Even bigger studios like UTV Toons have now ceased to exist, as it has merged with UTV Motion Pictures and is shifting away from an animation studio model. While industry bodies like Nasscom and Ficci are advocating the setting up of better training facilities for the animation industry to reduce dearth of talent, experts and animation studio heads feel that the training should be more specialised.
Rahul Bakshi, co-producer of the 2D animation film, Dashavatar said , ?No studio in India today has a strong pre-production back up.? Bakshi added, ?Today, if I need character artists, I will not get specialised talent in the market.?
An animation project typically goes through three phases?pre-production, production and post-production. During the pre-production stage, ideas are developed prior to the process of production. In the context of a live action movie, it is the period before the filming starts. In animation, it is the period before any real animating takes place. It includes processes like creating the storyboard, character design, animatics and others.
Concurs, Vijay Kumar Sinha, VP, human resources, Big Animation, part of the Reliance Anil Dhuribhai Ambani Group?s (ADAG) entertainment bouquet, ?Every company today needs to develop a strong pre-production team that will give a better projection and where the project is headed.?
Eden Animation is a newly formed studio in Udaipur, which currently houses 2D and 3D artists. Rao TS, its creative director, said, ?We are hiring only local talent.?
The company acquires local talent, trains and filters them, and then puts them on to the production pipeline. ?It is pretty difficult situation right now. Projects get delayed because of the high attrition rate.? Since the company has local talent, it is expecting to have long tenures with its employees.
Bakshi also said that most of the studios are working on intellectual property (IP) and in most cases, the budget has gone overboard due to the rise in talent acquisition cost, which in turn, has happened due to the high attrition level.
Therefore, either the studios are terminating the projects or they are terminating employees. In any animation project, 60-70% of the cost goes behind talent acquisition.
Also, he feels that the industry has been over-hyped, which has raised the expectations. So, the moment a project is announced, people start comparing with Disney and Pixar.
?It is the distribution chain that needs to make big money and once that happens, then the intellectual property will become a hot business in the Indian animation industry,? Bakshi said.