In 2007, TASI presented for the first time ever in India, an animation festival with an education track. We at TASI take a holistic view towards animation and strive to involve all those who are connected to the industry in some form or other and animation educators are a key element of this machinery.
We extended the platform to animation education, along with the professional sessions. Premiere schools and educators from all over India and overseas presented their approach and viewpoints. Also showcased were their best student films. The presentations covered animation film-making, software training, communication design, as well as workshops for children! It was a great platform for teachers to voice their opinions and suggestions. Future animation students as well as educators/trainers were exposed to the variety in approaches to animation education.
The professional sessions also had new subjects so far untapped in animation at the festival level: pixillation, animation in advertising, scriptwriting, game design and award winning case studies. Stalwarts of respective fields enthralled the audiences with their presentations.
Day 1:
Anifest 2007 began with a long line of animation students, fans and professionals queuing up outside the Rama Watumull Auditorium, KC College. Following the welcome address and inauguration, the terrific trio of Bala, Prabuddha and Anto Paul gave the audience a sneak peek of Little Krishna. The excitement quickly turned into a full-fledged fun riot with Vaibhav Kumaresh animating the audience with a pixillation workshop. Post tea the audience was back for a presentation, screening and education panel by Whistling Woods, Arena Academy & IDC. The eagerly awaited appearance of the spectacular Spiderman 3 was courtesy of Krishnakant Mishra of Imageworks India who spun a fascinating web of action and education.
Day 2:
Kirk Bodyfelt of Sony Pictures Imageworks harped on a non-glamorous yet essential aspect for creating CG Animated Films; Feature production and the pipeline. The keynote speaker of the day; Matthew Jeffrey of Electronic Arts USA shared a vision of the future of Gaming and the game industry. Sensing that the audience was more than game, Ninad Chaya of Jump Games traversed the gamut of Game Development from concept to release. It was then time for Takshaa and Toonskool to present and screen their respective institutions on the education panel. The pen-pushing duo of Cyrus Oshidar and J. Bhattacharya gave a crash course on writing for animation. After a cuppa of chai (Official Beverage), the ever-eager audience trooped in to vote for the films screened at the Anifest Viewer’s Choice Award. Next on the education panel was Graphiti and MAAC. Compositing Guru David Crawford of Pixion highlighted a few case studies and shared his experiences in the industry with the students.
Day 3:
Arish Fyzee, Samir Hoon of Prana Studios showcased Cinematic design & dynamic composition for animation & visual effects. Valencia Univ., Nanyang Polytechnic and NID brought an international dimension to the Education Panel. After lunch, Toon Club & Toonz Animation showcased their Animation Training for Children programs and screened films by created by children. Sanjiv Waeerkar of UTV Toons waltzed the audience through a Character Design and animation case study. Last but certainly not the least we had Prakash Moorthy of Miditech talking on the importance of Original Content in Animation with Galli Galli Sim Sim as an example.
Later that evening The Mayfair, Worli was witness to the Anifest India 2007 Viewer’s Choice Awards Screening & Voting followed by Cocktails & Dinner with the band Vayu rocking the festival to a befitting finish! The lively entertaining and educating three day festival came to a close with a vote of thanks to all the people that made it happen and a thundering applause that eclipsed nature’s monsoon fury.
Check out some of the fun stuff from Anifest India 2007