Tenali Raman sets multiple milestones for Indian animation. © Toonz Animation.

Asian Tigers Roaring
Farther east, decades of exposure to animation techniques have helped studios rise up the value chain. Taipei-based CGCG won the Best Visual Effects of the 2003 DVD Exclusive Award for their brilliant work on the DVD movie Bionicle: The Mask of Light. No mean task considering it was the first time the studio produced a CG feature right from model building to animation and special effects to compositing. The highlight of the project was that it was achieved in a record time of 13 months, including pre-production design.

According to Wendy Yu, sales manager at CGCG, “Our clients, LEGO and Creative Capers, were so confident of the success of Bionicle, that CGCG was engaged immediately to produce the DVD sequel due for release in mid 2004.”

For Xcalibur, a popular TV series for European markets, CGCG overcame yet another creative hurdle by seamlessly combining motion capture with keyframe animation. Other breakthroughs include seamless integration of CG characters with live-action backgrounds for Japan’s biggest TV station, Nippon Television Network, and CG characters for a prime time Disney TV show.

Ng Boon Khee (left), the president and ceo of Silicon Illusions. A Silicon Illusions artist works on Monster by Mistake. Photo courtesy of Silicon Illusions.

Farther west in Singapore, Ng Boon Khee, the president and ceo of Silicon Illusions, focused his company’s efforts on building an efficient workflow and technology-driven pipeline. By adopting an intuitive digital asset management system, the company overcame geographical barriers to allow directors and producers to directly watch, control and execute their vision. Sounds normal except they were half way around the globe.

The company is presently producing the third season of the acclaimed Canadian TV series, Monster by Mistake, which has picked up the Alliance for Children & TV Award and Gold Camera Award at the Chicago Film Festival.

Challenges
Quite ironically, the strength of the industry is also its weakness. While Asia remains a reservoir of natural talent, lack of trained manpower impedes growth plans.

Several executives suggest that the greatest challenge lies in emerging from a service to a content creation house. Skill sets need to be honed, especially in areas of character design, story development and storyboarding.