Bill Dennis of Toonz India and ASIFA foresees a limitless future for India’s nascent animation industry.

Emerging markets are developing around the world with India, second only to Korea in the Asian area, being heralded as a particular case in point. Speaking at the recent NASSCOM conference, Bill Dennis, ceo of Toonz India Private Ltd. and president, ASIFA, a worldwide professional body devoted to develop film animation, said, “Though the Indian animation industry is in an infancy stage, there is a lot of scope for India to become a global leader in the animation sector. The country has the raw talent, ingenuity, culture, language, labor rates and entrepreneurial spirit to boost the business.” The study was unveiled on the occasion of “International Animation Day,” organized by Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd. According to Dennis, the animation industry in India is currently estimated at $10 million, including 3D special effects for live- action films. (Source: Financial Express, Oct. 29, 2002.)

A 20-minute special effects animation sequence costs about $75,000 ($130,500) to produce in India, half of what it costs in the U.S., according to The Indian Express.

Indeed, the same report said India is being hailed as a new center for the worldwide $30 billion animation and special effects industry. In 2001 alone, India reaped $300 million from such projects for major Hollywood and European studios.

Another important possibility created using networked approval technology is that projects can be “split up” and outsourced to a number of different geographical areas (provided the database is monitored for continuity), meaning that producers can potentially find a number of skilled workforces working to the lowest overheads and budgets and only need to meet with key figures from each team. The financial implications here are certainly important provided that there is control over the aesthetics of the final work.

Munjal Shroff of Graphiti Multimedia thinks that instead of doing outsourcing work, it is better for companies to develop their own series, as his company has done with Action Hero. © Graphiti Multimedia 2003.

With globally linked or networked systems and the decreased cost of hard and software, we have witnessed some evidence of the emergence of new centres for 3D animation with talented individuals setting up in differing locations around the globe. While studios are still on the increase in the U.S., U.K. and Europe, these companies are outsourcing work to more cost-effective countries, many of who now offer tax incentives to companies supporting their film industries. Korea has witnessed overseas film investment increase seven fold between 1985 and 2000 (www.kofic.or.kr/english), with companies partly financing projects there. This upsurge in 3D seems to follow countries that have seen a history of traditional or 2D animation. Is this another example of the shift toward 3D from 2D animation as technology takes over? Munjal Shroff, director and cto at Graphiti Multimedia Private Ltd. (www.graphiti.net), in Mumbai, India, agrees: “With the fixed costs of 2D animation, it is understandable that 3D animation is on the increase, especially in animated television production where costs per episode decrease over a longer series.” Graphiti is working on two children’s series, The Tree House Set and Action Hero. When asked about the outsourcing of work from the U.S., U.K. and Europe to India, Shroff commented, “Outsourcing is interesting, but in the main companies in India are interested in pitching their own shows and are looking for co-productions and part-funding from companies in varying marketplaces.” So, creativity and ownership are as important as ever, but with the right technology in place it seems that budget restrictions may be more manageable.

Additionally, recent macro economic conditions have attributed to a marked consolidation within the global 3D suppliers market. Hardware and software equipment manufacturers have, in the main, decreased their costs over the past four years. With some manufacturers consolidating and others, unfortunately, disappearing. In this less solid economic environment competition has flourished and we have seen price wars launched by the major suppliers in order to gain market share. Added to this is the proliferation of free downloadable programs from the Internet. Link both these points and the fact that the average home computer now has enough equipment to run sophisticated high-end 3D animation software and you understand how it is now possible to set up a studio for a lot less outlay. With animation package licenses being less cost prohibitive, the industry is booming with grassroots 3D animations currently being created all over the world, on all budgets and by animation teams numbering anywhere from one to hundreds. The number of examples of work being created and distributed now that wouldn’t have been possible with the cost implications of setting up a studio a few years ago is certainly exciting. One of these examples is El Bosque Animado or The Living Forest, which was created by a small group of animators in Northern Spain two years ago.