Behind the Curtains of Indian Animation

Behind the Curtains of Indian Animation
(continued from page 1)

At the studio.

We also saw how a big company deals with new projects. Since they were starting on Mee and Meetoo, an unusual move for a two year old company, we witnessed the evolution of script writing, character design, storyboard and layout. We attended meetings and discussions as well, so we witnessed the step by step progression, of the process of building up and creating a new story.

Now that we have come back to Denmark, we are very much looking forward to hearing about the progress of their present and future projects. They have started production on a series, Dr. Disaster, which is a co-production between their studio and a New York-based international distribution company. They are also currently in discussions with several other animation companies based in Los Angeles, Canada and Europe. Moreover, they are collaborating with a Malaysian company to do a Ramayana series, based on the great Indian myth of Rama.

Ram Mohan working on conceptual drawings
for Me & Meeto.

As they have already being doing, RM-USL is continuing to plan, with great care and devotion, the further training of their artists. Many international artists and teachers have come, and will come, to teach their work and techniques so that the studio will be prepared for both Western and native animation projects.

In other words, this has been a "once in a lifetime" experience for us. We saw the beauties of this wonderful country and its traditions, and we got acquainted with animation in India and met great people. We would like to thank Ram Mohan and Ronnie Screwvala for giving us the chance to visit, and Alice Manuel (manager), Sanjiv Waeerkar (head of animation), Nilesh Gore (head of layout) and Rajiv Chavan (head of clean-up) for their help and friendship.

Working in close collaboration with the National Film School of Denmark, The Animation Workshop is one of Scandinavia's leading centers for developing and teaching animation.