Jobs At Animation Industry In India Know More

Hello viewers in this blog we will discuss about the growing animation job market in India.

The growth of animation industry in India is quite amazing and surprising.

From the past few years animation production segment grew at a good speed to fulfill the demand of local animation content and characters for Indian market across TV and Over the Top providers.

Indian animation industry started with the mythological concepts compared to the West where characters like Spiderman, Batman generated from comic books.

Indian audiences have already enjoyed animated movies like Return of Hanuman, Bal Ganesh, Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju, Motu Patlu and many more on the television as well as movie screens.

Scopes In Animation Industry

Animation Industry has a very profitable present and a bright future in India.

According to current FICCI report Indian Animation Industry is growing in excess of 20%.

Indian Animation Industry has become a full-fledged industry now and no longer depends on foreign projects only.

With the flow of huge investments

Animation which is a combination of creativity and technology has evolved in a long way.

Small Indian studios started with handful of people have grown to become large brands now.

The demand for technical skills is rapidly increasing and animation training institutesare trying their best to cope with the demand.

Entry into the field of animation requires skills in sketching, drawing and knowledge of software.

Large studios have their own training facilities to teach the aspirants.

Interested youngsters can easily learn about animation by enrolling themselves in the various Animation Institutes all over India.

Along with the local studios, International producers also look for technical skills in India.

You will be surprised to know that Indian animators created the crowd scenes for the TV series Game of Thrones.

Indian animation studios outsource their artists for the foreign projects and this helps in knowledge transfer.

Talent outsourcing enables to raise the bar with respect to animation quality and creativity.

Indian animators have worked on many Hollywood projects.

Indian government has also started taking interest in this field.

State Telangana has its own set up called Telangana VFX, Animation and Gaming Association (TVAGA) which is a non-profit association led by team of professionals and academicians.

According to KPMG professional firm in India “Investment and collaboration opportunities between animation studios and broadcasters have increased and broadcasters are paying in the range of Rs.1.5 to 4 million per 30 minutes of animation content.

With the flow of huge investments new projects on animation will hit the Indian screens in the coming years very soon.

 Animation As A Career Option

Animation is a field where one can enjoy their work, fulfill their dream, feel satisfied and get praise from the clients.

With the coming of animation industry various animation companies have emerged across India.

Cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum and Hyderabad have become major animation hubs in India.

The animation studios with their high-tech infrastructures employ high-quality skilled engineers.

These animation studios are capable to offer a full range of services from 2D animation, 3D animation, Storyboards, viral videos, logos, banners and many more.

They provide services according to the need of the customers.

There are numerous work opportunities for the quality animators in these animation studios like graphic designer, multimedia developer, game developer, character animator, 3D modelers etc.

The talented and skilled animators has the scope to get job in the field of advertising, Online and print media, Film and Television, Video Gaming, E-learning etc.

An animator earns a good salary in India and with the experience salary amount increases.

One who want to start own animation business house can search for opportunities hidden in animation industry.

Animation Industry is one of the goldmine fields to explore.

Current Scenario Of Animation In India

In India a good quality animation film cost around Rs 8-10 crore which is slightly lower than the feature film budget.

Indian market is not big enough compared to Hollywood market.

“In Hollywood companies like Disney or Pixar spend millions of dollars on every projects” said Ketan Mehta co-founder of animation company Maya Digital Studios.

India is competing with global market and Indian producers are working hard to attract International finance to make animation films that can compete globally.

The film Chaar Sahibzaade (2014) directed by Harry Baweja was the highest grossing Punjabi animated movie in India.

This 3D animated film became very successful and received positive reviews from critics for its story, animation and in-depth research.

The budget of this movie was Rs.20 crore and it earned Rs.70 crore globally.

This movie proved that a good well-crafted animated movie can win the heart of Indians.

Krayon Picture’s (Pune based 3D animation studio) Delhi Safari (2012) was also well received by the audiences and it won awards too.

Made on a budget of Rs 24 crore this film was one of the highest-grossing Indian films in China.

It collected Rs. 2 crore in India and Rs. 12.5 crore in South Korea.

This proves clearly that there is a market for Indian animated films.

With the success of Indian animation Industry global entertainment firms are choosing India for these reasons-

The cost of animation production in India is very low compared to North America, Korea and Philippines.

Indian animation studios provide low cost, high-quality software engineers

Studios are equipped with good quality of hardware and software.

Future Of Indian Animation Market

Current size of Indian Animation Industry is US$ 247 million and is expected to grow at 15-20% per annum.

Indian animation industry employs over 80,000 people.

Gaming, Television and Film Industry are in high demand for skilled animators.

Development in all the aspects of animation industry will place India as a leading country in animation production and outsourcing.

Demand for animation services from India is growing and will grow in future with the emergence of well-organized production sectors.

Hence those who aspire to join this field of animation with immense opportunities kindly Cheer Up and join our MAAC Kolkata Centre.

Chhota Bheem From TV To Commercial Products

Hello, Today in this blog we will take you to the fun-filled tour of cartoon character Chhota Bheem from Television Channel to Commercial products.

Chhota Bheem is an animated comedy television series created by Rajiv Chilaka.

It was premiered in 2008 on Pogo TV.

Chhota Bheem is inspired by the legendary Bheem from the Mahabharata and it’s an original co-production between Turner International India and Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation Studios.

Pogo channel’s cartoon series Chhota Bheem focuses on adventures of a boy named Bheem (wearing orange colour Dhoti) and his friends in the fictional kingdom of Dholakpur.

Bheem and his friends Chutki, Raju, Jaggu, Kalia and Dholu-Bholu are usually involved in protecting Raja Indravarma (king of Dholakpur) and his kingdom from evil forces.

Chhota Bheem is one of the most popular, entertaining cartoon animated series for children in India.

Chhota Bheem won the Best Animated TV Series award at the Golden Cursor Awards 2009 held in Mumbai, India.

Chhota Bheem In The Advertisement of Savlon, Dettol, Parle-G and Kellogg.

Chhota Bheem character has become a phenomenon in India and it is Kid’s favourite cartoon character.

Bheem is fun-loving adventurous boy, gifted with extraordinary superhuman strength.

In the advertisement of Savlon Fresh plus Protect Soap from ITC, Bheem fights with the purple Germ.

When the villagers of Dholakpur feel uneasy by the bad smell of the germ at that time Bheem appears and gives a strong punch of Savlon on the face of Purple Germ.

With the slogan “Ab Germs Nahi, Freshness Failega” (No Germs only Freshness)Bheem kills the purple germ.

In Savlon Handwash 10 second advertisement, Chhota Bheem along with Jaggu and Chutki fights with Germs, as the slogan says “Savlon protects from 1 million germs”.

Kids love to see their favourite cartoon character in the advertisements.

Theme of Chhota Bheem is very much universal and is being liked by all kids irrespective of their religion and region.

As health and hygiene is much important issue, kids need to be educated regarding cleanliness.

When Chhota Bheem fights and kills the evil that brings joy and fun within children.

Children are quick learners, when it comes to teach any good habits to children Audio/Video medium plays a great role.

Through colourful illustrations, music and animated figure message can easily be delivered to the young kids.

Brand Dettol was also keen to run a campaign to reach out to kids and educate them about the importance of hand wash and hygiene.

Dettol did not want kids to watch a simple video; they wanted to engage the user.

GreedyGame Media offered a solution which allowed Dettol to push the product functionality at real life incidents.

Dettol reached out to kids through mobile games.

Dettol joined hands with GreedyGame, an in-game native advertising platform and Nazara Games, one of the largest mobile game publisher in India.

Dettol with GreedyGame and Nazara launched hygiene products hand wash and hand sanitizer.

Dettol’s campaign was successful in building a strong brand affinity.

In 30 days campaign, 1.7 million unique users were reached and the jingle was played around 131 million times.

Dettol team along with Nazara Games created 3 games Chhota Bheem –The Hero, Chhota Bheem-Jungle Run and Chhota Bheem-The Race.

In the Mobile Game Chhota Bheem –The Hero, Dettol Power was initiated, by accumulating the brand logo, the player would turn resistant to attacks by germs and ugly creatures for a couple of seconds.

In Chhota Bheem –Jungle Run, the theme song was played each time Bheem would have needed to sanitize his hands when he was attacked by a monster or when he was fell down.

It showed Bheem using Dettol sanitizer to clean his hands.

This game also shows Bheem collecting Laddoos which is his favourite food.

In Chhota Bheem-The Race, has Dettol power ups which give Bheem super powers to run faster and attack opponents.

Nazara Technologies previously integrated Dabur Real Juice with its game Chhota Bheem.

As Manish Agarwal CEO, Nazara Technologies says Mobile gaming platform is a medium that is highly interactive, one can create own brand proposition in a very non-intrusive contextual manner.

Nazara Technologies has 12 million monthly active users out of which 8 million are kids.

Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure –Parle G Ad shows Bheem along with his friend climbing the mountains and when Kalia says that it is impossible to climb anymore, Bheem takes out Parle G biscuits and says everything is possible with Parle G.

This advertisement was made for the publicity of the movie Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure (2016).

Nazara Games also launched Parle-G biscuits in the Jungle Run Games.

In this game Chhota Bheem’s Laddoos had been replaced by Parle-G biscuits and when the player wins the game a special jingle is being played.

The idea of introducing Parle-G biscuits along with Laddoos provided consumer to interact in an interesting way.

According to the report around 1.2 billion virtual Parle-G Biscuits were consumed on the Chhota Bheem Mobile Game.

The brand’s tune or song is being played as jingle in these games.

Chhota Bheem Mobile Games has been experienced by over 3.4 million gamers since its launch in November 2015.

Kellogg also signed unique promotion deal with Chhota Bheem TV series.

This advertisement shows Chhota Bheem in the Chocoland which is surrounded with river of milk, chocolaty waterfall and volcano.

There is a character Coco, the Kellogg Mascot.

In Rs 800 Crore organised Indian breakfast cereal market, Kellogg holds a more than 60% share and the competition is tough as companies such as GlaxosmithKline and others push products oats, Muesli etc.

Kellogg is also promoting its product in a unique way to give better experience to the children.

Therefore here we got to know how children’s favourite character Chhota Bheem has come out of the television box and reached to the breakfast table.

Our MAAC Institute offers Courses on 2D–3D Animation, VFX and Designing.

If you want to be a part of such magnanimous then join us and pursue your career in Multimedia.

Traditional Animation Vs 3D Animation Technique

Hello Readers, Today in this blog we are going to compare between Traditional Animation Vs 3D Animation Technique.

Basically there are two types of animations 2Dimensional and 3Dimensional.

Traditional Animation comes under 2 Dimensional Animation where the drawn picture has length and width but no depth.

Before the advance of computer technology Traditional Animation techniques were used in the Television as well as Filmmaking Medium.

Those who want to pursue their career in the field of Animation they should have the knowledge about both 2D and 3D techniques of animations.

Traditional Animation Technique

Traditional Animation is also commonly known as Classical Animation or Hand-drawn Animation.

In this technique of Animation each frame is drawn by hand on a physical medium.

Until the advent of computers this technique was dominant in cinema.

This animation technique is achieved with a series of drawings on the transparent pages.

Traditional Animation begins by deciding a story first.

After the selection of the story, artist prepares storyboard which is very similar to a comic book.

Storyboard shows the sequences of shots with camera angles and framing.

At the storyboard stage animator may require to redo a scene numerous times before the approval of the director.

Series of images helps to create the plot.

Pencil Is The Tool For Animation

The traditional animators draw one picture or frame at a time.

Pencil is the main tool in the Traditional Animation.

Artist draws on sheet of transparent paper which can be fit into the peg bar in their desk.

Peg bar is the animation tool used in traditional animation to keep the drawings in place.

Artist draws character with the pencil only and these pencil drawings are photographed or scanned and synced with the necessary soundtracks.

Artist can review or improve their work before passing the animation to the supervisors.

Colouring The Cels

Each frame of pencil sketched animation is transferred on the animation Cels, Cels or celluloid pages are then painted and overlaid on top of background images.

Background artists usually paint the sets over which action of animated sequence take place.

Background was generally painted with acrylic paint.

Animators study models, dolls, puppets, real life figures for the inspiration.

In Animation Studios, the Lead Animator draws the Key or Main frames of a character.

The lead animator draws the major points of the action and the junior animator fills the in between or missing frames, this procedure is called Tweening.

Movement of the limbs, eyes, mouth of the character is done by the animator on the key frames.

In big-budget animation production group of animators work together, there is one supervisor animator, one small group of Key animators and large group of assistant animators.

Key animators decide the main action of the character.

The approved pencil animation artworks are then photographed on animation camera loaded with black and white film stock.

Voice Recording on Storyboard

Timing is important in case of this type of animation.

Each frame must match with the proper soundtrack.

Character’s shape of mouth should match with the character’s sound as he/she speaks.

Soundtrack is recorded to make the animation synchronised with the soundtrack.

A story-reel usually consists of pictures of the storyboard synchronised with the soundtrack.

Complete soundtrack consists of music, dialogues (performed by voice actors) and sound effects.

We have Disney movies such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Bambi which used traditional animation technique.

In recent time traditional animation is done with computers but most anime and western animated series still use traditional animation technique.

3D Animation Technique

Unlike Traditional Animation 3D is a three dimensional animation technique where a picture has length, width and depth.

3D animation is completely digital animation where computers are used to create character models.

With the development of software like Maya or 3D Max, 3D animation has become user friendly.

In case of 3D animation technique; artists create 3D polygon mesh to make adjustments.

Unlike Traditional animation 3D animation do not need frame by frame animation.

3D objects or models built on the computer monitor can be rigged with virtual skeleton.

Traditional animation lacks the virtual skeleton, it uses separate illustrations and separate transparent layers.

A 3D model usually has many vertices connected by edges and faces to give the visual appearance of 3D object.

The 3D character or model displays full features along with depth.

3D Animators can add colours and textures to the 3D models to make them more attractive and lively.

3D software allows easy control over animations or shots.

3D animation technique is less painstaking compared to the Traditional technique.

Digital 3D characters have been used in many movies as well as video games.

Movies like Toy Story, Moana, Coco, Frozen have computer generated 3D Characters.

Film Toy Story (1995) features all computer generated 3D characters.

3D provides excellent software to sculpt the faces and body of the character.

A person must have in-depth knowledge about digital technology to handle various 3D Software.

The animated 3D Models can display various effects such as simple movement of the eye or lips that can provide great entertainment to the audiences.

3D images can be viewed from various angles and are more realistic.

Not only 3D figures but 3D backgrounds also deliver the sense of depth in the visual content.

In case of 3D animation, artists deal with sculpting, rendering, lighting along with talent of drawings.

Movies That Used Both Traditional and 3D Animation Technique

Disney’s 1999 film Tarzan used both the Traditional technique and 3D animation technique.

Tarzan’s production team developed Deep Canvas that is 3D painting and rendering technique.

With this Deep Canvas technique artists produced CGI background that looked like traditional painting.

Disney’s Treasure Planet is another movie that used traditional animation as well as 3D technique.

Hence here we tried to give an overview about the Traditional Animation Technique and 3D Animation Technique.

Dear Aspirants if you wish to know more about these animation techniques then please contact any of our MAAC Centres in Kolkata.

Disney Animation’s First Ever VR Short Cycles

In this blog we will discuss about the Disney Animation’s first ever VR Short Cycles.

As we all know that VR or Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create a duplicate real environment.

VR takes its audience to the interactive 3D worlds.

Till now many Game Videos have been created for the VR.

But it is the first time that a short animated film has been developed by the famous Walt Disney Animation Studios called Cycles.

Walt Disney has always broken the boundaries in terms of technology and storytelling.

Walt Disney is responsible for first animated short, first animated feature-length film and now first VR Short film.

As a growing medium; VR is getting ready to find its place in the world of filmmaking.

A person with virtual reality equipment is capable of looking around the colourful artificial world, move around in it and interact with virtual features.

Inauguration Of VR Short Cycles

Last year Walt Disney Animation Studios launched its first VR short film called Cycles that took four month of hard labour.

The short film made its debut at the Annual Conference of Computer Graphics SIGGRAPH, Vancouver in the month of August 2018.

SIGGRAPH generally showcases world’s leading professionals, academics and creative minds every year.

Cycles was screened at SIGGRAPH’s immersive pavilion dedicated to virtual and mixed reality.

The team of this VR Short believes that Cycles will help the viewers to form a stronger emotional connection with the film.

Cycles is directed by Jeff Gipson who is currently working at Walt Disney Animation Studio.

In an interview Jeff Gipson says that “VR is an amazing technology and many times the technology is really celebrated. We hope more and more people will feel the emotions we aimed to convey with our story”.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Cycles is Jeff Gipson’s VR directorial debut.

Gipson joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2013 and served as lighting artist on Disney movies like Frozen, Zootopia and Moana.

Jeff Gipson believes that every house has a unique story to tell, every character has a story.

Jeff wanted to create a story about a house, so that the viewer can witness the life happening around them.

Cycles is about a family, their real ups and downs, happy and sad moments in life.

Jeff Gipson is very excited to tell story in this new VR medium.

He says “VR allows one to look anywhere and can transport one to a different world. VR provides experience from different angles and every detail”.

Cycles an experimental short film by Jeff Gipson revolves around the true meaning of creating a home and the life inside its walls.

The film follows the lives of a family consisting of Bert, Rae and their daughter Rachel.

The main characters name Bert and Rae are named after Jeff’s grandparents.

VR users can observe the family’s lifecycle before, during and after living in their home.

The story of ‘Cycles’ drew the inspiration from the Gipson’s childhood experiences in his grandparent’s home.

As a passionate freestyle BMX rider, Jeff used to travel around Los Angeles abandoned homes in search of empty pools to ride.

Cycles is the combination of his experiences and fond childhood memories.

‘Cycles’: Result Of Team Work

The production team completed Cycles in four months with about 50 team members as a part of professional development program at the studio.

VR filmmaking needs creativity to translate a story to the VR screen.

Pre-visualization of the Cycles narrative was a challenge for Jeff’s team.

Jeff and his team of artists used Quill VR painting techniques and motion capture for Cycles storyboard.

Painters and artists generated 3D models of characters before hand and drew scenes for the VR space.

The team also came up with innovative ideas for the use of light and colour.

They took care of every feature that has been used in the Short.

Cycles is the combination of 6DOF (Six degrees of freedom) VR technology with Disney’s classic art style.

This VR Short is a unique experience that blurs the line between modern and classic animation.

Jeff further says that “Editing is difficult in VR and I wanted one continuous seamless kind of shot and so to bridge the story beats we used time-lapse.”

One can experience this beautifully designed VR short by putting on the sophisticated helmet rig which comes with headphones.

As this VR will start you will be in a mid-century home on a sunny day; the foyer, the kitchen and backyard available in 360 degree view.

It starts with the emotional journey, as Rae gets ready to leave her home after her husband Bert’s passing.

Then you will go backward more than 50 years and pause at the crucial moments in the family’s life.

As the surrounding, characters and furniture changes the plot also changes from the 50s to the present.

This VR Short will definitely take you to the beautiful and breathtaking experiences.

Throughout this VR Short one can look around in any direction and Cycles will fade to grey whenever the eye contact will break with the focus point of the scene.

Jeff Gipson wanted to tell a story in a new way and in a new medium that is why he was hooked to VR.

When asked why he chose VR to tell the story Jeff replied “I wanted to show the homes and the things that happen inside the homes; VR was the answer in my head; as VR is a wonderful medium that immerse you fully.”

VR Short Cycles has successfully attracted huge amount of enthusiasts.

People are enjoying this 3D animated Virtual Reality Short with excitement and curiosity.

VR is a medium which is still unexplored in the area of filmmaking.

Hence there is a lot of opportunity to explore this Virtual Reality Medium.

Project like Cycles will give hope for the future of VR storytelling.

Come, Join and Learn more about VR Technology with our well-established MAAC Kolkata Institution.

Why Female Character Not Used As Protagonist In Animated Kid Series

In this blog we will try to find the reason behind why female character not used as protagonist in animated kid series.

Kids fall in love with the cartoon superheroes.

The mighty, intelligent superheroes can cross any hurdles on the television screens.

But what about super-heroines; why there is too little female protagonist based animated kid series?

From Tenali Raman which was the India’s first animated series, many animated series have launched till date.

Chhota Bheem, Roll No.21, Pakdam Pakdai, Motu Patlu, Little Singham, Krishna aur Balram and the list goes on.

Keeping in mind the demand of the children new programmes are being launched from time to time.

Male Protagonists In The Popular Animated Series

From 2018 Kids Genre animated series is growing in India.

Green Gold Animation, Discovery Kids, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon have already made their mark in the world of entertainment business.

Cartoon Channels focus on children as audience; they observe the children’s choices, preferences and consumption habits.

In one of the most popular cartoon shows Chhota Bheem, the main protagonist is the Bheem while Raju, Jaggu, Chutki, Indumati and Kalia are in the supporting roles.

Chhota Bheem has three female characters Chutki, Rajkumari Indumati and Tuntun Mousi.

Seven year old Chutki is Bheem’s closest friend and assists him on his adventures.

In the group of Bheem, Raju, Jaggu, Kalia, Chutki is the most intelligent.

Bheem depends on Chutki for solving puzzles.

Tuntun is the mother of Chutki, she has a laddoo shop, Bheem is very fond of her laddoos.

Last year saw the debuts of characters like Little Singham, Rudra, etc.

Little Singham animated series has strong female characters but has no single female protagonist.

Little Singham which launched on April 2018 on Discovery Kids is produced by Rohit Shetty Pictures.

This heroic television series shows the life of Singham as a little boy who fights criminals to save his city.

Little Singham increased the TRP ratings of the Discovery Kids and placed it into Top 5 league of kids entertainment in India.

Based on the film Singham, it has three female characters Teacher Tara, Babli and Inspector Kavya.

Strong Female Character In Supporting Roles

Female inspector Kavya is a police inspector of Mirchi Nagar along with Little Singham.

Inspector Kavya’s best friend is Hawaldar Karate and her catchphrase is “Dungi Ek Ghoomake”.

Inspector Kavya is a strong female character in the show but she is not protagonist.

In recent times women in different sectors are making their presence felt.

Today women have successfully created their space in the male dominating industries.

Then why these animated cartoon series lack the female protagonists.

Well the producers of these cartoon shows have simply stressed on the business aspect.

According to the market survey producers find the male characters as protagonists are more in demand among kids.

But some of the marketing supervisors believe that the time has come to focus on creating female protagonist based shows.

Producers of these cartoon series have to keep in mind the demand and choice of the Indian kids.

As the head of the Discovery Kids Uttam Pal Singh said “We are creating strong female characters like Inspector Kavya, Babli in Little Singham but we also have to keep in mind what the kids want to watch these days”.

In Little Singham Babli is a brainy girl, daughter of Professor Avishkar, she laughs loudly very much and wears glasses.

The survey says kid audience ratio is 60 per cent boys and 40 per cent girls in India, so the programme head has to organise the programme like that.

If the audience ratio of boys is more than the girls then shows with male protagonists; must be more in the market or entertainment channels.

Television is an art form but the producers can’t ignore the business aspect of these shows.

Rajiv Chilaka CEO of Green Gold Animation has a different view on the lack of female protagonist in animated kid series.

Rajiv Chilaka thinks that the time has come to encourage female centric or female led animated shows for all young ages.

He said he tried to push the channels for the last decade but channel felt that the market is not ready to accept such female character .

Producers are working on the female character or female centric shows now and hopefully audience can see them in the year 2020.

Pinky character of the show Roll No 21 is well-received among young ages.

Pinky is Kris’s classmate, a brainy student and an activist.

Because of nobody has explored with the female centric shows, the demand is more now.

Gender equality and women empowerment plays a big role now days, so the producers can’t ignore that aspect of the society.

Kids are the future generation who can shape the world, so it is the responsibility of the Channels to empower kids with positive thoughts and power to analyse any difficult situation being gender neutral.

Viewership Percentage Has Changed

It is not that we don’t have, we had female character in female centric foreign animated kid series like The Powerpuff Girls in the Cartoon Network Channel.

Another one is the Sally Bollywood produced by French Television Company.

Scenario in Indian context is also changing with the improvement in the every aspect of society.

Girl ratio of viewership has changed from 40 percent to 55 percent.

With the time people mind set is changing, women empowerment is occurring at every sector of the organization.

Hence a lot of scope is developing to create girls based content.

Presently different types of entertainment platforms are also available; earlier it was the channels only running animated kids shows.

In the days of channels it depended upon who is controlling the remotes but now it is changed there are opportunities to explore and experiment.

Devices and gadgets have reached to the hands of every human beings.

As the medium of entertainment can play a vital role in shaping the mind set, broadcasters and animation studios should explore diverse female character for the coming generation.

MAAC Kolkata is a renowned Animation Institution; cultivate your dreams with us.

Disney Pixar Bao Wins Award For Best Animated Short Film

This year at the 91st Academy Awards Ceremony Disney Pixar’s short animated film ‘Bao’ wins the Oscar.

One of the main reason to celebrate this occasion is this film is directed by female director Domee Shi.

Here in this blog let’s have a look how short film ‘Bao’ bagged the Oscar award.

With this film ‘Bao’ Domee Shi became the first female short director in the Disney Studio’s history.

Domee shi is a Chinese-Canadian storyboard artist and director for Pixar Animation Studio.

She has contributed in other films also such as Toy Story 4, Incredibles 2 and Inside Out.

What Is ‘Bao’ All About?

Well, Computer Animated Short Film ‘Bao’ (2018) is all about an aging and lonely Chinese-Canadian mother who is suffering from empty nest syndrome.

The Chinese-Canadian mother gets another chance of motherhood when her handmade steamed bun or Bao comes to life as a boy.

The mother welcomes this new bundle of joy into her life.

She becomes busy in raising the steamed bun as a child.

The dumpling grows fast into teenager and he wants independence.

Mon realises that nothing stays cute and small forever.

Through Bao, the director Domee Shi explores the parent-child relationship, different time phase of parenthood.

Finally when the steamed bun introduced his fiancée and tries to move out of his mother’s house, the mother protests.

The mother tries to stop the Steamed bun and in a fit of anger, mother eats the steamed bun.

After this she cries and feels guilty for her action.

Later her husband understands her loneliness and he calls her real son.

Her real son enters the room and we realise that the whole beginning sequence was an allegorical dream.

At the end the whole family involves in making steamed bun including son’s fiancée while watching television.

Bao was premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018.

Pixar has allowed Bao to be available on You Tube and it is a first time that studio has offered a short in this way.

Making of ‘Bao’or Steamed Bun

Before introducing the idea about Bao to her crew Domee Shi worked on the dumpling alone for 2 years.

To create the main character of Mother, Domee Shi got inspired from her own mother.

As a daughter of Chinese immigrants, Shi put herself into her mother’s place to show the emotional journey.

The director presented the idea of primal love.

The mother loved the steamed bun so much that she did not wanted to let the bun go anywhere.

Shi as a Chinese artist is exposed to many different style of art, animation and film.

Shi has portrayed very diverse characters within this film.

Shi said in her interview that she is feeling tremendous pride in presenting her culture and heritage through this short film.

It is a story regarding food, characters and themes; it is about people around her.

Domee Shi and her crew did lot of research about the food Baozi or steamed bun that is presented in the short.

The crew ate many steamed bun and restaurant trips in San Francisco and Oakland’s Chinatown.

Shi’s mother contributed as a consultant because as a immigrant woman she made her recipes and steamed bun shapes.

In fact Domee Shi’s mother delivered steamed bun making classes twice at Pixar for the filmmaking crew.

The real baozi was tasty but animating the food was quite challenging for the FX artists.

Animating Food Was An Challenge

Shi did lot of storyboard of dumpling to add details in the bun character.

The rendering process was difficult as the food is organic and soft.

The most complicated shots of the film are kneading and wrapping.

The shot of steamed bun with pork filling took two months to complete for the animation artists as they wanted the raw pork to look tasty.

Animating the food follows the same principles of food photography.

To make the shots more colourful artists added big chunks of carrots and onions.

Chinese Culture In Every Shot

Animators followed Japanese Cartoon Animations as for reference to add extreme expressions.

The steamed bun character was made out of dough, so the animators worked hard to highlight bun’s squishy qualities.

The steamed bun has extremely flexible mouth which could be open very big.

Bun is made to be bouncy and he could stretch his limbs out.

The team applied the principle of squishy, round and simple to the whole film scenario including the humans and set design.

In Chinese culture love is expressed through actions not words.

Short film Bao has no dialogues.

To make the story universally understandable for the audience, the makers added acting, emotions and actions into the Bao.

Shi worked with good female Supervisors for this film.

Production designer Rona Liu helped Bao to be more authentic towards Chinese Culture.

Rona Liu is a Chinese American and she got inspired from her personal life.

Both Shi and Liu did lot of research on Chinese culture and art for this film.

Production designer added the cultural details as by adding soy sauce bottles and rice cooker at the background, toilet paper on the kitchen table and more.

The crew visited San Francisco and Oakland Chinatown and took lot of pictures of Chinese people to gather the every single detail about Chinese culture.

Bao is an 8 minute film and is distributed by Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures.

The music was given by Toby Chu, a Chinese-American film composer.

During the Oscar ceremony Domee Shi said “all the nerdy girls who hide themselves behind their sketchbooks; don’t be afraid to tell your stories to the world”.

Bao faced a tough competition from four other animated short films.

Asian community around the world appreciated this animated short and congratulated Shi for her achievement.

Bao produced by Becky Neiman-Cobb received applause from all over the world.

Making a mesmerising animation film is always a challenge for the filmmaker but hard work gets recognised at the end of the day.

We as a MAAC Kolkata deals with Animation work, connect with us to know more.