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Be Creative, Be Competitive

Author: Elizabeth Koshy
CEO, Animation Dimensions
What I see as a hot trend in the Animation space is that most companies have made a shift from offshore animation services to creating their own IP, in order to go up the value chain. Initially, after the success of Hanuman movie, many companies went this route, by producing mythological movies. Very recently, the trend has changed and many companies have intentionally shifted from mythological subjects to general entertainment premises, like 'Roadside Romeo'. A lot of projects will also be seen in the near future, which will be a combination of live action and animation, as this will reduce the cost and time spent making the films (for instance, My friend Ganesha).

Besides, I believe that the gaming industry will grow much faster than the animation industry, as the international and national growth for mobile games, PC games, and handheld games will be increasing. However, the animation industry will eventually grow into a mature Industry, which will take at least another five to six years in India, for the audience to start appreciating good animated movies, like in the U.S. Right now, the animation industry in India is still in its nascent stage and we have to improve animation quality and output to compete globally.

Entrepreneurs are facing a lot of challenges in this segment of the industry as well, as the funding for animation companies and animated properties have dropped drastically. Bollywood producers are scrapping animation projects and are generally reluctant in financing animation projects. The market downturn has affected the entertainment industry and will continue to affect the animation industry for the next two to three years, as animation companies and animated projects are capital intensive and many animated movies have failed in India, adding to the uncertainty of the market. Well, entrepreneurs have to get more creative and be more cost effective, to survive in this market.

The author is CEO, Animation Dimensions. Animation Dimensions, an Animations firm based in San Jose, California, has its studios in Mumbai, Chennai, and Thiruvananthapuram. The firm is currently into original content creation for the film, broadcast, and wireless media.
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Reader's comments(38)
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Posted by: mary lovely david - Monday 26th, September 2011
2: HI Elizabeth Koshy VERY NICE ARTICLE.VERY GOOD.WHEN SAW U AND READ YOUR ARTICLE I AM IN IMPRESSED.CAN U FRIENDSHIP WITH ME.

RAYYAN PARKAR
AUTOCAD DRAUGHTSMAN
Posted by: Rayyan M Husain Parkar - Wednesday 14th, July 2010
3: very nice article
Posted by: vivek anjan shrivastava - Tuesday 13th, July 2010
4: totally diff view from others i like it........
Posted by: Diwakar pandey - Friday 09th, July 2010
5: Hi,

You are right, animation industry is under pressure right now. But this sector has got lot of potential to grow as the investment is low but the entertainment effect is same as real life movies.

As you rightly said, the entrepreneurs in the animation industry must be creative and cost effective. As the industry is under lean period, the can explore the sharing of their infrastructure under clusters so that the cost will be divided.

There are many subjects like mythological, historical, folklore and educational on which animated projects can be created which can keep the audience spell bound for one to one | half hours.Combination of animation and live objects in the film will reduce cost drastically.

Even corporate financing of movies is only a recent phenomenon, earlier the producer was investing from his resources. The trend will change, once these animation projects creates interest among the audiences and is a safe entertainment for a family to sit and enjoy together.
Thanks
Veerabhadrachar
Posted by: Veerabhadrachar L C - Wednesday 09th, June 2010
6: Hi,
My name is Ashish Maan.I second your opinion regarding the increasing need for developing own IPs by the domestic animation organizations. However, the struggle of animation industry's growth is not connected to quality. It's related to vision. We don't have courageous visionaries. We prefer to show our aggression in proven field. Also, we still need to create original and interesting storyline to attract the global audience. thanks - ashish (www.ashishmaan.com)
Posted by: ashish maan maan - Friday 19th, March 2010
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Posted by: Pawan Gupta - Monday 01st, March 2010
8: Creative= New+Unique, Innovative= New+Unique +Instrumental = Kaizen, seems to me the need for Competitiveness which requires ETHICS= Behaviour+Honesty+Service

-TQM:GANDHI vs DEMING(by DR R N SINGH)
Posted by: DR R N SINGH - Friday 19th, February 2010
9: hi mam itz javeed parsa i m doing my bachelors in interior design. i would like to gat information about the various organisations of this field
Posted by: javeed iqbal parsa - Tuesday 22nd, December 2009
10: thanks for giving so much information mam
i wanna work in this field give me some opprutinity to work with u
Posted by: Akash Sharma - Tuesday 08th, December 2009
11: Hi mam,ths is pradip,and im intrested in persuing a profesional carrer in animation (gaming,movies) indstry sinc last few yrs,but due 2 financial prblm i cnt do it,but nw im stabel to learn (part time),so for tht can u guide me for a good profesional course | frm which instute.and i wish to do a fine course which will be in demand in global market,and even wish to work with ur firm.(pradipkasar20@yahoo.in)
Posted by: Pradip Eaknath Kasar - Wednesday 02nd, December 2009
12: nw am pursuing my MBA in bangalore taking HR | marketing i wany to improve a lot in Hr so please share with me ur ideas | openion in hr
Posted by: Rinu Raj - Wednesday 02nd, December 2009
13: in management point of view you hve all good qualities so i want ur advices
Posted by: Rinu Raj - Wednesday 02nd, December 2009
14: you are totally diff from others view i like u mam
Posted by: Rinu Raj - Wednesday 02nd, December 2009
15: in all fields entrepreneure are taking risk then only they will sucess their field by rinu rinuraj99@yahoo.co.in
Posted by: Rinu Raj - Wednesday 02nd, December 2009
16: Have a good greeting | hope u to be a good bussiness freind in my professinoal life . are u intrested
Posted by: balwant mishra - Tuesday 01st, December 2009
17: thanku mam i realy happy when i saw your profile
Posted by: santosh bheemaray biradar - Thursday 26th, November 2009
18: Dear Madam, My Name is Prasad Kumarj I was impressed when i saw your profile,Very useful information,
with thanks|Regards
Prasad Kumar j
Posted by: Prasad Kumar J - Tuesday 17th, November 2009
19: Thats a good info. I never concentrated in such a sector. This article made me look into a different sector i never been. I would like to analyse more on this to find its potential for online marketing.
Posted by: Raj Online Marketing Consultant - Wednesday 11th, November 2009
20: Always I think that,those forums or blogs are useless.But,I was wrong.Thanks Ms.Elizabeth to start such a innovative topic.It must be welcomed by the new enterpeuners of print,electronic media of India to stop running after the artificial celebrities and depute the innovative struglers of animation industries.
Posted by: Govinda Goyal - Wednesday 04th, November 2009
21: Yes agree with you or in Export Be Creative | earn Millions as Innovation is the backbone of Export industry particularly hand made items.
Good article in all sences. Pl. keep it up.
Regds
HP Singh
Posted by: H P Singh - Wednesday 04th, November 2009
22: Having spent over a decade working on animated and live action feature films,in North America and Europe, I feel that what we lack in India severely is the spirit to innovate and the determination to establish quality over quantity. It's simply the same rule as Bollywood applies to it's movies, just some loosely scripted eyecandy with foreign locations and actors who appear as almost identical characters in every role they play. Yet again the blame is always slanted onto the very 'generous' Indian audience and thier supposed lack of sophistication. Frankly this BS about not having resources or talent is just hogwash and if countries like Singapore and Korea can come up with quality work, so can India, ever so easily. Set aside all the corporate mumbo-jumbo and jargon, I think it is very doable if you remove the accountants and municipality councillor types from the creative decision making process and leave it to the real creative people. Which is what companies like Pixar owe thier success to. Give them artists the freedom to create and the resources to do so and keep the suits out of thier hair. Well, as long as we ponder the deep inner meanings of life and truth, work won't get done. So if anyone has loads of capital to invest, find the best artists in the country, digital and otherwise and form a forum to brainstorm and come up with fool-proof ideas and bring it to fruition without compromising on quality or time-frames. If you can't do it right, better not do it at all. Hope things look up in India, animation-wise and it's about time we stopped playing second fiddle to the west in this area. Let's begin with our ad commercials on TV. Let's see some real Indian people, not pretty faces. Jai Hind.
Posted by: kash a - Friday 30th, October 2009
23: I totally agree with your point of view Elizabeth. I am sure people in the industry will be more professional and of global standards soon.

I would also like to encourage people like you to support and encourage the Open Source Initiative Maya which is 'An attempt to create a 3D Modeler much like Maya'.

Reach out of such open source tools to students and even many professional will surely boost not just the interest of people but also ROI for Animation companies where one of the major cost factors is the expensive software.

Well, thanks again for nice article.
Regards

Omkar Nisal
Director | Mentor,
OTS Pvt Ltd, Pune
Posted by: Omkar Satish Nisal - Tuesday 13th, October 2009
24: Hai good Evening.
I am Mr.shreekant.
Posted by: shreekant shree - Sunday 11th, October 2009
25: Dear Elizabeth,
Thanks for another good article, please write me on best8creation@gmail.com ,i have a perticular purpose to write you.
Do Reply.
Regards,
Hitendra Shukla.
Posted by: Hitendra Shukla - Monday 05th, October 2009
26: Really useful info... thanks
Posted by: Manikandan Karunanithi - Sunday 20th, September 2009
27: The article contains abundant caution and a good guide.Beautiful and lucid language.
Posted by: Abraham Thomas - Friday 04th, September 2009
28: Very useful information.
Posted by: Nandakumar Kartha - Monday 17th, August 2009
29: nice...ilike toomuch.....keep it up
thanks|regards

sajeev
Posted by: raj saji - Tuesday 04th, August 2009
30: Gr8 thoughts and good food for new upcoming enterpreneurs
Abhay Kumaar
Posted by: ABHAY KUMAR - Sunday 02nd, August 2009
31: hi ms.Liz , my gut feeling along with my daughters foresightedness shows as Animation the next big thing for kids catering to thier needs and stories of lacs and millions from indian mythology or ithihas's, did u know that Mahabharatha itself has so many stories that one can not possibly animate in ones' life time. good luck
Posted by: balakrishnan mechakkat - Friday 03rd, July 2009
32: Dear Elizabeth,

You have presented very nice and in fact this is the scenario at present and coming future.

By the way are you some what related to George Koshy.

Rgds
Abdullatif
Posted by: Syed Abdullatif - Thursday 04th, June 2009
33: u r aptly right but never compete wit anyone but urself, try making urself better every day,thats the only way u can be creative. if u r competative u can never be very creative n u can never enjoy work. just enjoy ur work n u will be better than else . or else u will be unique like everyone.
Posted by: Dr Praveen Dhanpal - Tuesday 23rd, December 2008
34: rightly said
Posted by: Manish maladkar - Tuesday 23rd, December 2008
35: Well done,

Rgds,
Chandra Godkekar
CEO
Malaysia, www.reckon.com.my
Posted by: Chandra SG - Monday 22nd, December 2008
36: YOU ARE RIGHT ELIZABETH, BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT ALL ACHIEVEMENTS WERE MADE IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS AND NONE UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS OF LIFE.
THESE ARE THE CHALLENGES WHICH CAN BE OVERCOME WITH BETTER CREATIVITY, VISION AND IDEAS
Posted by: SHANKAR GURU CN - Tuesday 16th, December 2008
37: Dear Elizabeth,i think to survive the mantra for animation industry, as your correctly mentioned is be more creative but cost effective.Animation , i belive has a great potential inspite of downturn, however only those would survive who reduce thier costs.There sure is good market for creativity provided animators are willing to bring the costs down.Hope you agree.Raj
Posted by: Raj Pathak - Friday 12th, December 2008
38: Hello Elizabeth,

you are absolutely right!
Posted by: sandy webart - Friday 12th, December 2008
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