THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Underestimation and preconceived notions that animation movies are for children or encompass a child’s world has been constantly plaguing the industry. This, in turn, has made it difficult to tap sufficient funds for its growth and making, be it a short film or a lengthy feature, said Prosenjit Ganguly.
The filmmaker and animator was delivering a session on animation filmmaking ‘Impossibilities Unlimited’ at Nila theatre on the concluding day of the Eighth International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) on Tuesday.
“We confront a lot of questions when we approach a producer to fund an animation film, like, is it for children? Are there song, dance and action sequences? How are the visual effects made? What age group is it going to cater to? and the like. In other countries, animated content targets four-year-olds to an 80-year-old audience. There is a Manga (Japanese comics) for every age and gender,” said Prosenjit.
Animation content for children, in a general perception, is either a comparison or a presumption. “Do not underestimate the intelligence of children. We make animation films suited to them by understanding the kind of stories they tell through children’s workshops. Grown-ups have no idea about their world. They live in the ‘now’,” said Prosenjit. In India, a good bunch of animators are striving to take on those stories which are considered impossible to be told, which can be represented through animation in a way that no other medium can.
Owing to these constraints, he says animation movies don’t find any place in countries like Europe and the US as the DVD shelves are occupied by hit Bollywood movies. And now the mission for animators like him is to encourage animation cinema in India. He says, equal to the difficulties in fund pooling is the challenge to make animation films of global appeal.
“Here in India, there is a different language spoken. Indian sensibility has to be fed into the cinema. Animation movies have to rise to the challenge of absorbing every little action particular to India to communicate a new meaning,” he said.
Exploring celluloid to the fullest, he says that it is a good place to impart poetic feelings, filling an element missing in poetry.
In his observation, people are scared to break stereotypes.
However, if people decide to come out of the cocoon, animation can speak about contemporary issues which is affecting life, absorb socio-economical dynamics and announce that these animators have arrived not to preach, but to practice.