THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:While feature film-making is bound to the geo- cultural parameters we come from, animators have evolved and come up with different styles of narration, said film director T K Rajeev Kumar inaugurating the Animation Masters Summit-2015 organised by Toonz Media Group at Technopark here on Friday.
“Animation is a great medium of art to reach out to millions of people where language is not a barrier. Film directors cannot play with the emotions of an actor, they can either speed it up or edit away that part. Animators can make that experience out of frame and communicate easily with the audience,” he said.
The two-day summit is being attended by around 300 animation enthusiasts from across the state and over the country. Anu Sikka, head of programming and scheduling, kids cluster, at Nickelodeon India, who was the special guest on the occasion, said that the while lots of planning, strategies and learning go behind a show, the makers keep on updating with the changing trends talking to the audience, here kids, to understand their likes and dislikes.
“Once, the industry had lots of pre-school content, which is now coming down. A four or five-year-old kid is consuming an eight or 10-year-old’s programme. The children’s prime time from 6 pm to 8 pm has shifted to 1 pm to 3 pm. At one point of time, repeating the content worked well with children and now they are demanding fresh content,” she said. And she says today there is an acceptance of Indian shows from conceptualisation to final execution.
“If there is a question whether we need more of Indian shows, the answer is, we are looking for good shows. It can come from India, Asia or Europe,” she said.
P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Media Group, welcomed the gathering. Hari Varma, creative head of Toonz Media Group, and Mohan Subramaniyam, chief development officer of Toonz Media Group, offered felicitations. The inaugural ceremony was followed by sessions led by Suresh Kumar Eriyat on ‘Design and films’, by Kelvin Ali on ‘Find your creativity spark to create educational applications for a better tomorrow’, by Shilpa Ranade on ‘Indigenous animation’ and Anil Wanwari on ‘Role of media in AVCG (Animation, VFX, coming & gaming) sector’.
On Saturday, there will be sessions by Kireet Khurana, Angus Fletcher, Gitanjali Rao and Philippe Gluckman. A panel discussion on ‘IP creation and new trends’ moderated by animator Prosenjit Ganguly will follow the sessions. The Animation Masters Summit will conclude with award distribution ceremony of the ‘Flying Elephant’ animation and short film competition. Shashi Tharoor MP will be the chief guest at the valedictory function.