MOVIE MAKKHI AMAZING COMBINATION OF ANIMATION & VFX

Animation & VFX played an important role in making any kind of movies; rather it can be Bollywood or Hollywood.

Indian cinema’s trends upgraded to super fine Hollywood style.

Where live action footage is lesser than animation footage or the visual effects or computer graphic imagining.

In 2012 one Telegu fantasy film open a new era.

The Telegu film “Eega” which was dubbed in Hindi as “MAKKHI”, written by K.V Vijayendra Prasad and directed by his son SS Rajamouli.

In this film the industry has tries to do something different from the “commercial viable models”.

South Indian film style established a trademark in the arena of making such a fantasy film.

S.S Rajamouli the director of some master pieces film like “BAHUBALI”, “MAGADHERRA” broke the myth of Indian cinema.

Some mind blowing creatively shattering stuff being made for the viewers.

The story was started in the form of a bed time story told by a father to his daughter. Nani, Bindu, Sudeep was the main character.

Nani loved Bindu , on the other hand Sudeep a wealthy business man was also loved Bindu. Sudeep treated Nani as a rival, for that reason Nani was killed by Sudeep.

Twist of the story came when Nani reincarnates as a house fly to take the revenge from Sudeep and protect Bindu from any ill things. The film was released in two major versions alongside with “Mayalam”.

The film critics acclaimed that the casting, direction, animation and visual effects at its best on release.

Makuta VFX and Annapurna studios respectively done Visual Effects process and the digital intermediate process.

The film has such an innovative and incomparable animation which has never been used before.

This film was fully depends on Animation and Visual Effects.

Most of the work has been completed in India, only ten percent work done out of India.

Animation work done at Hydrabad.

Pete Draper collaborated with large no of Animators, worked for the design of the “FLY”.

According to S.S Rajamouli the “Fly” has to create the best impact on the viewers.

So he tried to prepare an extra ordinary design , as a result of the whole the Fly’s eyes comprise eighty percent of his face which made it very expressive.

The team has conducted photographic shoot of unconscious flies.

After the detailing, cosmetic changes done to make the “Fly” more appalling on screen.

A group of Animator accompanied with rigger artist, concept artist, shader designer, and hair and fur designers has designed the animated fly in two months.

Clay artist had to work hard for refine it on a daily basis.

The animators found the sequences between Sudeep and the fly, one of the most difficult to execute.

As because the fly has to express his emotion only by slandering its arms rather than its face.

Animators worked out more than three months for a scene where the fly stuck in chain of a bicycle.

Another sequence where the fly has just born and leave trench, creates a big challenge for the makers.

For the scene they prepare a big canyon in front of the fly.

Animation of that scene was most complicated as the story demands the perfection of every single discipline.

But Pete Draper and his co workers worked hard and honestly for delivering the scene most believable.

For those particular scene animators uses painting work, dynamic effects, fluid stimulation and high level of geometry.

For an average sequences using visual effects, a artist had to work with maximum ten million polygons.

But for this scene they had to work with more than 5 billion polygons.

That represents the detail work of them.

Trench walls, debris, foam etc has been crafted in a very smooth way.

Which was absolutely astronomical?

Some very important special effects cannot be done in India due to technicalities.

The work has been done from America, China, Iran, Iserial, and Russia.

The film has a record for using ninety minutes CGI on screen.

The Film has nearly 2400 live action shots.

This film has a combination of live action with Animation.

Software like 3D max has used for modeling and for character animation MAYA has been used at its best. Movie rendering was done through 3D max.

Photography also plays an important role in the context.

During the photo shoot prime lenses, ari Alexi camera been used, Where else high intensity lighting were used for micro photography.

For extremely slow motion sequences phantom camera was used.

Re-recording and editing was done with simple gray scale animation. Scenes were shoot 2000 frames per second.

The film has scored a number of points not only in India; it has scored a good number in International market too.

World wide release was done successfully.

Tamil version of the film was released on 6th july 2012. The Hindi version of the film was released on 12 October 2012.

The film was also dubbed in two more languages one was Chinese with a title as KUNGFU HOUSEFLY, and another one was Swahili as a titled named INZI. Inzi was released in various countries like Kenya, Republic of Congo, and Tanzania.

The movie has created a milestone in the History of Indian Cinema.

The film has shown a new way to Indian cinema.

World cine media received a message that what India can deliver.

The movie has marketed around 170 million in south India on its release day only; it reaches up to 570 million.

Globally this film has marketed up to 1.15 billion.

The film has really proved that Indian cinema can go up to a high rise.

Commercially the telegu version was much more successful than Hindi version.

Telegu version won a number of awards from 60th National Film Festival.

It has also nominated for Cannes Film festival and also nominated in panorama section of Shanghai Film festival.

The film also got nomination in Madrid film festival. At the end we can proudly said that the film has got the best response from everywhere.

USE OF VFX BEHIND THE SCENES OF RAEES MOVIE

In our today’s blog we will discuss the use of VFX in Raees, the movie released on 25th of January this year, is yet another movie that entered the 100 crore club, in it’s opening weekend.

The movie directed by Rahul Dholakia, starred Shahrukh Khan, Mahira Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in prime roles.

The film is produced under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment and Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., and co-produced by Gauri Khan, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.

The movie involves a story of a liquor smuggler named Raees ( played by Shahrukh Khan).

The story revolves around Gujarat, where there is a prohibition of liquor trade. Raees used to work for racketeer Jairaj, from a very young age, along with his friend Sadiq.

After years of loyalty towards Jairaj, Raees decides to part ways and start his own liquor smuggling trade, with the help of Sadiq. Raees was able to build his own empire in the crime world, with his sheer intelligence.

But his crime records came to the notice of an honest police officer, J.A Majumder, and that’s when the cat and mouse chase starts between Raees and Majumder, with a hint of thrill and pure entertainment.

Mahira Khan plays the love interest of Raees and supports him in every possible way.

The story is a pure form of Bollywood full-packed entertainer with action, thrill, romance, item number and a plot revolving around a gangster as the protagonist.

The item song “Laila main laila” featuring Sunny Leone was captivating foe her immensely graceful performance and also for the thrilling action sequence in the backdrop.

The film was critically acclaimed from getting good to average reviews. But that definitely didn’t affect the box-office collection.

Now talking about the making, the movie is set in the 80’s and 90’s background.

The major portion of the movie was shot in Mumbai, where the sets were designed to recreate the slums of Ahmedabad.

The main reason for not shooting in Gujarat was the immense crowd that would gather around to watch Shahrukh Khan.

Around 400 VFX artists worked on the development of the film and took about 6 months to accomplish the task.

The Red Chillies Entertainment is unquestionably one of the best VFX company and production house, and we can witness the minutely perfect work of special effects in successful films like Ra. One, Om Shanti Om, Krrish 3 and many more.

The dedication of the artists and the well constructed concepts ensures good quality pf output.

The company can be seen pushing itself to create the best and be innovative with every new project.

Precisely, we can say their work ensures our eyes are glued to the screen and make us believe everything we are watching are real.

Shahrukh Khan was seen donning a typical Muslim man look with Kohl in his eyes and an amulet (taveez).

But there was a scene of a “Ratha Yatra”, where the whole sequence was shot without the amulet.

VFX supervisor Ronak Sanghadia was given the tiny but tedious task of incorporating the amulet in the whole sequence, where Shahrukh Khan is seen fighting and chasing towards a chariot.

According to Sanghadia, the task was challenging as they had to put the amulet in 50 shots. A lot of simulation was done.

CGI, background preparation and compositing was carried out. Every movement of the amulet was matched with Shahrukh’s movements.

The sequence was small but a lot of detailing was done to bring about the perfection, so that it looked natural.

As the plot involved a background of 80’s and 90’s, so modern day structures like tall buildings, mobile towers etc were removed to match the concept and bring about realism in the film.

The color grading also needed to be at par with that era.

The location of the plot being Gujarat, was kept in mind to decide the principal color palette. Ashirwad Hadkar, colorist of Prime Focus, visited the sets a lot of time, to study the scenes and it’s environment.

There was around four sequences where major work of VFX was required. The kite flying scene, was actually shot in Mumbai.

Due to the high popularity of the Makar Sankranti festival and huge crowd that decision was taken.

Later by incorporating VFX, the whole environment was recreated and transformed to look like the scenes have been shot in Gujarat and there was an actual kite flying festival going.

The Research and Development team went to Gujarat and studied the environment.

The actors were actually shot in an empty sky with a chroma screen behind. The set designer ensured the sets looked natural and perfect.

There were several other scenes, which were recreated using CGI. Like, in the beginning, Shahrukh was seen riding a bike through a bridge of Gujarat.

Though the bridge was used massively back in the 90’s, in the present time, it is inaccessible.

So the VFX team had to recreate the bridge and add it to the sequence, with minute detailing.

In a scene where Raees was seen smuggling liquor through waterways by boats to fool the cops who were waiting in highways and check posts- was done using CGI.

For the scene only 5 boats were shot and other boats were added using CGI. The actual sequence was shot in Uran, a fishing village in Navi Mumbai.

In terms of post production, all the shots in the movie were blended seamlessly.

The application of VFX looked natural and realistic, and attracted the viewers largely.

The color grading was done perfectly. Apart from the VFX, the stunts performed by Shahrukh Khan, without wearing a harness, garnered appreciation from all.

Despite his shoulder pain due to the injury happened in the sets of Billu, he did his own stunts. During the “Laila” song, Shahrukh was seen flying and firing, simultaneously.

The stunts were supervised by action coordinator Ravi Verma. Shahrukh was seen thanking Ravi Verma and cinematographer K.U Mohanan, for the whole sequence.

Shahrukh Khan’s portrayal of an anti-social liquor dealer was really convincing.

The realistic acting of Nawazuddin Siddiqui was also appreciable.

The R&D team’s thorough research, the creativity and detailing added by the VFX team, the realistic sets and sheer hard work of all the crew, made it possible for Raees to win our hearts.

In terms of CGI, VFX and Color grading, this movie has literally raised the standard of technicalities in Bollywood.

Animation VFX Graphic Web Trending Careers- Now-In-Kolkata

A career in animation, vfx, graphic and web are one of the most-pursued after career options now-a-days.

In spite of the recent global economic crisis, Animation vfx, graphic and web industry has continued to grow at a rapid pace.

With high salaries, proper career growth and an opportunity to take out the creative person inside you, a career in animation vfx, graphic and web could be the right choice for the younger generation.

With movies like Baahubali, Kung  Fu Panda, Ice Age and others becoming so popular among children and adults both, the prospects of animation industry look very bright in the coming future.

A job in animation vfx, graphic and web can be rightly called as giving life to a character or an inanimate object, a blend of entertainment, technology and innovation.

A flair for sketching and a passion in animation will help in getting a job in animation in the primary level.

For better jobs, a degree or diploma in animation helps. So, proper training from a good institute is needed to grasp the knowledge and implementing the subject.

Visual Effects — Visual effects known as VFX are now a day in great demand.

Visual effects involves live action footage generated by different software’s to create environment which look realistic, but is having so much high voltage drama and effects that will make the viewer feel elated.

It is also used in commercials, films, branding any product through medium of advertisement.

After Films the world of advertisement are the biggest user of animation techniques like visual effects.

Be it the sparkling clean clothes in a detergent commercial or flying fruits & vegetables in a commercial about cornflakes, all are examples of animation in advertisements.

Even the smallest part such as the animated product labels that often comes towards the end of the ad are created through software which adds to the visual appeal of the viewers.

On the other side television channels, specifically news channels are the first users of animation & visual effects.

Do you remember the rotating Doordarshan logo?

That’s Animation. This is the oldest example of animation which started with our old Doordarshan Channel (DD-7).

It’s a typical example of animated logos applied for a channel.

Even animation is used by the news channels to such an extent that they hire an in-house team of animator and visual effect artist.

Starting from the recreation of the path a plane took just before it crashed to the weather report with an animated map in the background, news channels hire a team of special animation experts to create the desired effects.

Or even to enact an event happened in past with current footage they mix and match visual effect to give the event special importance from viewers, which gives the presentation of news a new flair.

It has to be visually appealing to the viewers to get more TRP for the news channels.

Additionally, with the advent of channels like Cartoon Network, Pogo,Discovery kids, Nickelodeon etc.

The popular cartoon series like Chhota  Bheem , Motu Patlu,and Doraemon, animation content is now created mostly for television.

Graphics -Graphics is another huge platform being used when we need to do promotion of any brand advertisement, creating poster cards, logo etc.

In a simple way we can say brand building of any product needs proper utilization of graphics software.

Ultimately sellers in the market need customer’s attention towards its product to increase the sale and to spread awareness to the whole world.

In the older days while we saw cricket matches sitting at home or stadium we have heard many a times from our older generation that the batsman was declared out because there was no option to see the ball again.

Remember? That is not the scenario anymore.

Sports channels utilize graphics to the optimum in order to offer a cutting-edge viewing experience for its viewers.

The Action replay has become compulsory in each match.

Games like the cricket IPL and World Cup offer breathtaking motion graphics. Sports channels also employ full time, in-house team of animation experts for their graphic needs.

Graphic designers use technology and artistic sense to create catchy graphics for websites, logos, and illustrations in every article from advertising to aerospace engineering.

Thanks for the wide variety of exciting industries graphic designers serve, graphic design has become one of the most interesting jobs in animation.

Most of the designers will agree that there is not a single dull moment in this dynamic career field.

Graphic designers create or design graphics to meet specific needs such as packaging, different displays, websites, publication materials etc.

Some of the graphic designers even design the overall look for film and television credits.

They aptly work with sound, colors, art, photography, different software, and even animation to produce whatever the project calls for.

Web Designing – In order to make your presence online it will be your website through which you can reach your target.

Every company has their own website and to create that website we need good web developer.

Web designing has gradually become a very important career opportunity for the people who are keen to create something of their own.

Web Designers use their creative abilities and skills to make eye catching websites for clients.

This type of job requires a blend of artistic talents, business sense, technical knowledge and capability to deal with people.

Each of these medium are interrelated to each other.

So we now know the role of animation – vfx, graphics and web designing  in our life now-a days.

Likewise the future of these fields is booming now.

Job prospects are increasing day by day in the above mentioned fields in Kolkata also.

The credibility of the candidate and their love for the profession will shine ultimately.

So, animation vfx, graphic and web has emerged as a promising career field with technological advances in film, television industry and multimedia.

VFX USED IN KRISH

In our blog we will discuss the amazing VFX work done in the movie Krish.

In the history of Indian film, we can get a few number of superhero movies which can fulfill our child hood superhero dreams like Superman, Spiderman, Batman etc.

But in 2006 Indian film industry and Roshan’s Production creates a milestone in this arena.

“KRRISH” was a Indian science fiction based super hero film written and directed by Rakesh Roshan, and the name lead role was crafted by his son Hrithik Roshan along with Kangana Ranawat, Priyanka Chopra, Rekha and Nasiruddin Shah. Krrish was the second film of the Krrish series being the sequel to “koi mil gaya”.

The film was about the story of Krishna who inherits his father super human abilities. Who stays a small town in shimla with his grand mother?

This superhuman abilities always worried his grandmother and she never allow Krishna to do so but after falling in love with Priya , he follows her to Singapore.

Where he takes the persona Of “KRRISH” as he promised his grandmother that he will never revels his identity. From that very moment he was regarded as a super hero.

As the story went on he saved a child from a burning circus and also saved his lost father Rohit from Dr Siddhant.

This film has created a trend setter in Indian cinema, with the effect of VFX from Hollywood. Marc Colbe and Craig Mumma are the VFX supervisor from Hollywood.

This movie has more than 1200 VFX shots spanning more than 90 min of screen time.

The work being executed at Prasad EFX. The whole movie was in the lines of high end Hollywood movies.

A lot of 3d models of cars, bikes, helicopter, birds, and animals were created and animated to match live action footage.

Krrish is considered to one of the few Indian films that had an intensive pre-production planning process, krrish in extensive visualization and story boarding.

The supervisors  are involved in set design,creating light set up with the effective camera set up. On the 3d end krrish has some important shots that exemplify the nature of work that India is capable to create.

Among those very important shots several  fire sequences are created with best efforts and with the live action involvement which can be dangerous for the film makers but by the help of modern software like 3ds max, smoke  helped in finishing those shots and  make them realistic and slick.

In Indian film history digital intermediate service was used first time in the creation of Krrish. Its been proved that the evident technology is the way of the future in bollywood.

These whole set makes this film one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.

The film was released worldwide on 23 rd June 2006 at a budget of near to 450 million which was a record budget Indian film of that time.

The film got variable reviews and record hits at the box office.

The last sequel was praised by all the film personal and it most adorable. Here director Rakesh Roshan Uses the most fine tune from visual effects.

More over the aeroplane over view scene was admired by every film personal.

The story has action drama and thrill. Red Chillies VFX have created VFX shots for KRRISH 3. 7854

Creative choices of colour play an important role in storytelling.

This film was suppose to be released in 3D format but due to lack of time, director Rakesh Roshan mentioned that the film will released in 2D format. KRRISH-3 released world wide on November 2013.

The story of KRRISH -3 follows the life of scientist Rohit Mehra and his son Krishna Mehra who faced an conspiracy by the evil genius KAAL.

Super hero Krishna fought against the evil mutants created by KAAL and his henchman KAYA. By the order of KAAL ,KAYA transformed  her self into Rohits wife and  kidnapped Priya.After a long battle Rohit rescue his wife with the help of KAAYA, who actually fall in love with Rohit.

For the film- director Rakesh Roshan depends 60 percent on VFX .

The movie creates a blast in the box office for VFX works. Shots like fly under sky,jump from a 80 storied building walk on water , only can possible through computer generate imagining. Vfx directors wanted the film look massive yet believable, seamless CGI was the main focus for them.

According to them KRRISH-3 wanted to reach the level of International standers.

There are 50 such sequences which made it one of the biggest visual effects film produced in India. Now a days the movie trend is to depends upon VFX and when the talk is about superhero film most producers rely on special effects.

The Evolution of Indian Cinema

Today in our blog we will  discuss  about some different topic i.e the evolution of Indian Cinema.

On one’s way to work or school, waiting for transport.The auto that takes you where you want not only provides a means of travel, but some music as well, some of Bollywood’s golden age tunes.

As you go, you see posters showing off the newest star’s upcoming film. Films are not just entertainment here: they’re a part of life.

Students, professionals, parents, grandparents: everyone in the country is united by the love of cinema.

From Amitabh Bachchan’s fiery performance in Sholay to Rajinikanth’s unbelievable popularity; from crowd pleasers to serious art films, there’s something here for everyone, and that says a lot about the industry.

It’s passion that makes great art, and of course, it’s passion for films that makes great films. More than anything, this is what an aspiring artist in this world must possess, and it’s a quality MAAC Kolkata students possess in spades.

Ever wonder how awesome it must be to spend hours learning and working with others who are as into this stuff as you are?

As of 2013, India ranks first in the world in terms of annual film output. In 2016, the industry’s gross box office earnings came to 竄ｹ15,500 crore (US$2.4 billion).

The prospect of foreign direct investment has made the industry attractive to the likes of 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Pictures while Indian companies such as Zee, UTV and many others continue to grow and expand.

Cinema is nothing short of a financial and cultural force in today’s day and age. But how exactly did we get where we are? To find the answer, we go back to a time over a century ago.

While there had been films made in India earlier, they are generally not considered part of our film canon.

It was Dadasaheb Phalke, who, with his landmark film Raja Harishchandra, began the legacy of Indian cinema in 1913, and is thus called the father of Indian cinema.

Still struggling to overthrow the British regime, many films at the time had tones of nationalism, and stirred the people to action. It was a show of art’s ability to inspire people and transform lives.

The advent of ‘talkies’ earlier with Alam Ara had changed films completely. Not only were acting skills necessary, but so was an impressive voice.

The addition of songs would one day become a mainstay of the medium, even spawning an extremely successful music industry in the process. Ardeshar Irani was also the first to attempt a colour film with Kisan Kanya in 1937.

The 1940s were a decade that changed the world.

They saw India win her Independence.

They saw the world ravaged by World War II. In the world of Indian cinema, they saw filmmakers become bolder than ever before, thinking ahead of their times in making Kismet, starring Ashok Kumar.

It would become a massive hit, and had confrontational themes: an anti hero, and an unmarried pregnancy.

With the arrival of Satyajit Ray, Indian Cinema finally made its debut on world stage. Pather Panchali (1955) won a host of international awards including the Cannes award for best human document.

Indian cinema adopted influences from other artistic movements from around the world, including neorealism.

The transition to largely coloured films increased the emphasis on the entertainment aspect, and the 60s saw a large number of films of this kind. K. Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam proved successful.

With the 70s, this entertainment aspect was still further emphasized, and masala films (which are still immensely popular today) were the result. It was in this era that action epic Sholay saw its release.

The film is still lauded as one of the greatest in Indian cinematic history, setting a standard for scale, memorable characters and action that is still rare even in this age of action films.

The angry young man was the new central character of the time, heralded by Amitabh Bachchan.

Star power was also extremely important, as both leading actors and actresses gained immense popularity and pop culture influence.

Eventually, the 80s saw the arrival of the new wave in both Bollywood and the South.

But it was the technological revolution of the 90s that completely changed the game. While practical effects and stunts had been brought into the limelight by international films such as George Miller’s epic dystopian series Mad Max, they had also highlighted the importance of techniques of depiction.

Improved visual effects, and eventually computer based effects became the legacy of the decade, and the era turned out blockbuster hits such as The Matrix and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The impact of these films on the country’s cinematic landscape was massive: not only were visual effects now used to conveniently allow the addition of scenes which would have been considerably more expensive to physically shoot in entirety, with the building of props, or going on location, but they also introduced the idea of the science fiction film which was based on things that simply couldn’t be depicted without these technologies.

The implementation and rise of CGI and VFX in the Indian cinematic industry was something arrived at through a long road, but it was well worth it, delivering some of the most memorable films in recent world history, including the much acclaimed Baahubali series.

With stunning 3d models and extensive use of innovative camera techniques and visual effects, it was what Indian cinema had been waiting for: a film which combined the rich influence of our varied and powerful mythology with Western flair and attention to technical detail, resulting in a visual spectacle for viewers from any culture.

The success of the films is yet another factor boosting the demand for trained professionals in these fields, and where better to hone one’s skills than at MAAC Kolkata?

So where next for Indian cinema?

With an endless possibility of new ideas and powerful next gen hardware capable of making it all real, the sky is the limit.

And that’s where creators and artists come in.

With institutes such as MAAC Kolkata training students in the nuances and skills necessary for the industry, more and more new voices are being added, and more and more stories are being told. As certain someone once said, “To Infinity and beyond!”

89th ACADEMY AWARDS: BEST ANIMATION FEATURE FILMS

The Academy Awards are a celebration of film from all around the globe. 2017 saw the hosting of the 89th Academy Awards ceremony, and awards were given in a number of categories including best animation films of the world.

Animation feature films are one such category, and as is done every year, the very best of animation won the coveted prize. Let us learn more about the best of animation from the last two years.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings is an American film by Laika, directed by Travis Knight (who was previously involved with projects like Coraline and ParaNorman).

Released in August 2016, the film follows the story of a young boy, Kubo, who lost his left eye in an accident as an infant.

He tells stories about a fearless samurai warrior, aided by the magic from his shamisen (a stringed instrument) to the locals in his village during the day, and returns to his ailing mother by sunset to the hear about his missing father, the samurai warrior Hanzo.

His grandfather, the Moon King, and his aunts are after his remaining eye, and their power is at its peak in the night-time.

One day, he is unable to return home by sunset and is attacked by his aunts. His mother intervenes and sends him off to a distant place, and the rest of the film follows his journey back home and victory over his enemies.

The epic fantasy film is made in traditional stop-motion, designed to look like a moving woodblock print to retain a Japanese flavour. Along with 3D printed characters, a record-holding skeleton puppet was made for the film.

Moana

Released in 2016, Moana is a venture of The Walt Disney Company.

A musical fantasy-adventure, the film focuses on the wilful daughter of a Polynesian chief who, when her island is affected by a blight, sets sail in search of the demigod Maui to return a lost artefact to a goddess and save her people.

While on her adventurous journey across the seas to find the island of the Goddess, Moana encounters and defeats a number of villains and learns some important lessons about life, people and herself.

The film was made completely using digital 3D, as the filmmakers thought that the ocean environments could be much more realistically depicted using computer animation and simulations than through traditional animation.

Maui’s tattoos, which depict his backstory and achievements, were done by hand-drawing and have received much praise.

My Life As A Zucchini

Alternatively titled My Life As A Courgette, this is a Swiss-French production and was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

Depicting the story of a kid named Icare, the film has a tragic story with an inspirational ending.

He has an alcoholic mother whom he accidentally pushes down a flight of stairs, after which he is shipped off by the police to live at an orphanage.

While he does not fit in at first and believes that nobody cares for him, he eventually learns valuable lessons about family, friends and love and gains friendship in the form of the police officer and another orphan, Camille.

The title comes from his mother’s nickname for him, Courgette (Zucchini in the American release), which he prefers over Icare.

My Life As A Zucchini is animated using traditional stop motion techniques, and it notable for its bright colours, unique stylisation, moving story and brilliant use of humour.

The film is directed by Claude Barras, and is his first full-length animation feature film.

In addition to being nominated for an Academy Award in the animation category, the film was also shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film category, though it did not make it to the final nominations.

The Red Turtle

Born out of a collaboration between the German company Wild Bunch and Japan’s Studio Ghibli, The Red Turtle is a beautiful fantasy film.

Despite having no dialogue, it tells the story of a man who is shipwrecked and trapped on an island. He comes across a red turtle one day while trying to escape, and thinking it to be the creature destroying his raft, brings it ashore and leaves it upside down as revenge.

A few days later, he returns to the turtle out of guilt only to find that it has died. The shell cracks open, revealing a woman inside who awakens when it starts raining.

The two eventually bond and start a family. Their son, after growing up, decides to leave the island.

Some time later, the man passes away and the woman, transforming back into the red turtle, returns to the sea.

The film is a surreal fantasy along the lines of Studio Ghibli’s previous films like Spirited Away.

It is also the only 2D animated film among the Academy Award nominees, and unique in its collaboration between the director Michael Dudok de Wit and one of the most revered cartoon studios in the world.


Zootopia

The winner of the Oscar for Animated Feature Film, Zootopia is a venture of The Walt Disney Company. Born out of a number of different plot ideas, the film follows Judy Hopps, a rabbit, as she solves a major crime in order to prove her mettle as a police officer.

In contrast to her innocence and naivete is Nick Wilde, a jaded fox who is a con artist. The title comes from the name of the fictional city in the film’s animal-themed world.

A comedy-adventure, Zootopia was made in a warehouse while Disney’s main facility was being renovated.

Nevertheless, a huge amount of research and effort went into designing the realistic look, with thousands of hours spent studying things like walk cycles and fur movements.

To simulate the fur, Disney even developed a new application that allowed them to create extreme detail.

Lakhs of mammals were created and used in the film, and the environments were developed with inputs from agencies that provided services for disabled people, as well as major car manufacturers like Ford.

So there you have it. If you haven’t watched these films, do take out the time to do so.

And if you want to know more about how these films are made and the techniques and tools used, do stop by your nearest MAAC Chowringhee Centre today.

Ex Machina – VFX Movie

Today we  will discuss about a Science fiction psychological thriller VFX Movie “Ex Machina” which is written and directed by Alex Garland, released on 21 January 2015.

Made on a budget of $15 million, grossed worldwide $36.9 million. VFX Producers: Carrie Rishel and Fay McConkey.

The film follows a programmer who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing Test to an Intelligent Humanold Robot.

The movie received critical acclaim for its visual effects, score, acting and the director’s writing and direction.

On website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 93%, based on 235 reviews, with a rating average of 8.1/10.

The site’s critical consensus reads: “Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it’s still a visually polished piece of work — and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature.”

When Alex Garland’s Ex Machina was released earlier last year,’fxguide’  spoke to visual effects in the film by Alicia Vikander.

The live action performance was augmented to add in, via VFX, robotic elements to various body parts of the actress.

Now, Ex Machina is in the Visual Effects Bake-off for the Academy Awards, and we have a special breakdown from Dneg of the work, plus some more insight from Whitehurst.

Designing Ava

Alicia Vikander as Ava.

Ava’s final look came from art department concepts and DNeg art, including depicting where real skin would end and where the CG would begin.

“I was conscious that I didn’t want to push for super realistic concept paintings,” says Whitehurst.

“We had to stop and then go and build it – it’s a sculpting and engineering problem – and then we did turntables.

At the start of the shoot we had concepts that featured just clean metal and no textures, and then during the shoot our team would be painting up textures.”

“We made the decision to try and keep the shoulders and armpits in plate for the simple reason that rigging shoulder blades is not that much fun,” notes Whitehurst.

“Similarly, we wanted to keep the hands and feet and face because that was the main method of interacting with the environment and the main method of expression.

The arms and legs are full CG because we see through them, and the same with the back of the head and neck.”

Much of Ex Machina takes place inside Nathan’s house – an isolated building in the mountains filled with glass-lined walls.

“The set was really like an enclosed glass box,” describes Whitehurst.

“That meant the camera was either inside or outside, and there’s nowhere to hide really, because it meant later on we had to body track things three or four times because the reflections are all different from lens and mirror distortion.”

That location challenge was exacerbated by the style of the film – Ex Machina is not intended to be an action adventure, but a more cerebral and intimate piece.

“Because the whole film is about human consciousness and what it means to be human and what it means to be conscious,” outlines Whitehurst, “it’s very conversation-driven, almost exclusively. In order to get that relationship, you have to have an actor talking to another actor – they have to feed off each other.”

The result was that, although significant digital work would be carried out by the visual effects team, motion capture was not an option.

The actors were always in the plates. For each take, then, a clean plate was acquired, and later extensive body tracking – including for shots up to 1600 frames – would be necessary.

Production filmed on the Sony F-65 with anamorphic lenses, which would ultimately make for challenging plate tracking.

“We did have one or two witness cams,” notes Whitehurst. “The sets were all closed and not that massive, so the opportunities for placing witness cameras were limited.

We always tried to have one and if we could get a second one in there we did. We had to paint out witness cams for some shots since it was sometimes just easier to do that and use it for body tracking.”

On set, Vikander wore a gray wetsuit material costume covering most of her body.

When visual effects replaced a section of the actor, the remaining parts were still the wetsuit material.

Each setup involved an IBL take. “The way the sets were built actually really let lent themselves for IBLs,” notes Whitehurst.

“Plus at DNeg we have physically based shading pipeline and it really meant down the pipe that our lighting just worked.”

 Building Ava

Alicia Vikander wore a wetsuit-like costume on set, with certain key robotic parts replaced by DNeg.

To ensure the CG elements would perfectly match to the live action photography, Vikander was initially photo booth scanned in pre-production so her equivalent CG model could be built.

Once the final costume was ready on set, the actress was scanned again and the model refined.

A key aspect of Ava’s appearance was the mix of hard metal and then softer outer skin.

The visual effects team also added ‘ribbons’ of plastic visible on the inside of Ava’s translucent shell areas, which came from experiments made during the concept art phase.

“There was this lovely air of mystery you got from playing with the brushstrokes which meant that as soon as you build something for real, you can lose.

So we thought, ‘How could we add that sense of slightly confusing mystery back to her?’

What we did was add these translucent ribbons that run up and down the torso that just have that little bit of refraction on them so it just breaks things up.”

Ava’s inner mechanical parts, representing muscles to some degree, were constantly moving as she did, as Whitehurst explains: “They were all built into a rig where all of the muscles would fire correctly, and then we had various organs and gyroscopes that would just spin throughout.

We ended up with a gold mesh based on air-actuated robot modules we found and then we wrapped a spiral of metal around each muscle because that helped read the contraction of the muscle as it’s moving. It’s almost subconscious in the end.”

Milk VFX worked with Double Negative to create a CG brain for Ava who referenced a jellyfish and technical feel, as well as delivering Ava POV shots. Utopia also contributed VFX to the film.

The mechanical parts and ribbons were rendered via DNeg’s physically plausible rendering pipeline (which uses RenderMan).

“Physically plausible gives you that photographic quality that you can’t get any other way,” says Whitehurst.

“You can get beautiful renderings not using this approach, but they have a painted quality – they don’t feel as photographic – especially when you’re dealing with very known materials.”

Those known materials were replicated with shaders for things such as aluminum, chrome, silver and steel.

“Fundamentally,” notes Whitehurst, “if the material’s correct and it doesn’t look right, then you’ve got the lighting wrong.

We tested it in all the lighting environments we knew she was going to be in, and we tweaked some level of displacement on Ava’s body mesh on wider shots because you didn’t read it there.”

Having anticipated early the challenges of incorporating Ava’s CG elements into the shots, Whitehurst says that compositing was still a tough and brute-force challenge. Lens distortion from the anamorphic proved most difficult, as did adding in refraction through the see-through aspects of Ava.

“You get all that anamorphic goodness happening around the edges,” says Whitehurst of the lens choices. “Which also meant it was one of the hardest body tracking jobs we’ve ever done.

The shots are long, it’s performance-based and so we have to absolutely capture what she’s doing.”

Such VFX films inspire us, and MAAC Chowringhee is the best institute which has multiple courses such as VFX, Gaming, Animation and multimedia.

Back To Maac –Event Day

Thank you participatent and maacits to make the event successful, it gives us immense pleasure to welcome all……. The Legends of MAAC……Kolkata Chapter to the first ever MAAC Alumni Meet…… Back To Maac.

MAAC Chowringhee, Rashbehari, Kankurgachi, has taken this first ever initiative to stay in touch with their pass out students and  organised this Alumni Meet “Back to Maac” at CRC in Kolkata dated 25th September 2017 on the eve of “Subho Panchami”

 A day like this is very important for us, as it provides us with the opportunity to meet with many of our pass out students…. our Maacits, some after a very long time, as well as provides our maacits chance to catch up with their faculties, trainers, colleagues, friends and other staff members.

“Ganga waise to gomukh main shuru hoti hai aur bangal ki khaari main aa kar sama jaati hai aur apne raaste main sampannata aur khushhali bikherte hue jaati hai. Par doston ek aisi ganga bhi jo ulti behti hai. Jo bangaal se nikalti hai aur poore hindustaan poore vishwa main faili hui hai….kya aap us ganga ka naam jante ho….wo hai kala ki ganga…..creativity ki ganga…..jiska aap bhi ek hissa ho…..Aur aap logon ke kan kan se woh ganga bani hai”. The opening speech of Director Naveen Choudhary.

He applauded the multiple roles played by maacits in the media and entertainment industry.

Many of them hold the key positions in major animation, vfx studios’ in India as well as abroad.

Maac applaud the efforts being done in area of animation, vfx, gaming multimedia and justifying the years spent by student at Maac Chowringhee, Kankurgachi and Rashbehari.

Our student has made us proud.

MAAC is the number ‘1’ training institute for animation, vfx, gaming, and multimedia.

And its the student who have made it No. 1.

Naveen Choudhary expressed his gratitude towards each attendee present there for taking out time to be in the event and he believed that the experiences of this evening which maacits will take back home… will be worth the time, maacits have spared.

Mr. Choudhary talked about the growth of the Indian animation industry.

Indian animation industry is moving up the value chain from an outsourcing hub to creating their own IP content.

India has moved ahead….

He questioned is whether The IP’s that we are creating, do they have international acceptance? Or are we catering to the domestic market only?

He  agrees that the Indian market is so big that we need not look outside…. but when a movie from Hollywood can do a business of 3000 crores, why can’t we?

According to him why Can’t we have our own Walt Disney the way we have found our James Cameroon in Mr. S. S. Rajamouli.

India has seen some success in the animation characters like Chota Bheem and digitisation of characters like motu patlu etc.

But they do not have any international appeal and a lot remains to be done in this field.

Mr. Choudhary appealed why Can we not do it….have our own walt Disney……

Which we can guys, it can be done by  maacits sitting right there in the middle of event.

Have we ever thought in that direction?

If not, then start thinking. What do you lack? Nothing? If we lack anything then it is the capacity to dream…. dream big with our eyes open and we can do it.

And if we don’t make it, at least we will not blame yourself for not having tried…. and  he assured that if we do it then it we will enjoy the journey.

“Manzil unhi ko milti hai jinke sapno main jaan hoti hai Pankh se kuch nahi hota hoslon se udaan hoti hai”

We all have it in us and we just need to bring that dream alive inside us ….so go ahead what stopping

Maac Chowringhee, Kankurgachi and Rashbehari will never leave the hand  of our maacits and will support them all out.

How?

Well Institute has decided to give it a shot and enjoy the journey.

Your institute has started an incubation centre where one can do one of the following things:

Join our production team…details you can discuss with your faculties who will lead you up to the right person on our team.

Open your own studio and we try to arrange for work for you

If you have some work and you want it executed we can do it for you

And last but not the least…if you have some idea for an IP, be it a feature film or a television serial or any other digital content that can be monetised, we are ready to take a look at it and back you up to achieve your dream.

We do not need magic to change the world; we already carry all the power and magic we need inside us : we just need to explore it and discover it.

Life is all about exploration and discovery…..about the journey……….

We are always there with you if you think big —bigger…. creating your own studio, your own Mickey-Donald, Tom –Jerry whatever.

“Kaun kehta hai ki aasman main ched nahi ho sakta…Zara tabiyet se patthar uchaal ke toh dekhiye”….

Maac from its inception has helped the aspirants to make their dream come true and now we will continue to do so even after you have finished your course with us.

Friends, like any alumni get together, Maac also plan to hold this event every year.

We have taken the initiative to start this and now we would like you to take it over and run it from this moment onwards.

We will always be there to support in all ways, but maacits need to run this like any other alumni.

We need some people from this group to come forward and volunteer to be a part of the managing committee and interested persons can give their names now or call us or mail us of their interest later.

It will be great to have at least two persons from all the major cities of India where we have our students.

He thanked the whole team for their untiring effort that they have put in to make this event memorable for all of us.

Also a big thank you to Ram Warrior Head of Maya Academy Of Advanced Cinematics for taking out time from his busy schedule and coming to Kolkata especially for this program.

Last but not the least; we would like to thank all for your keen participation as well as the support you have always extended towards your institute….. its is truly wonderful to have you all.

Wishing everyone a wonderful evening & memorable moments.

Enjoy the food the drink the music

Have A Good Time Ahead.