As part of the International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad, India
on November 17 - 18, 1999, 45 children ages 5 - 15 years old came together
to create a wildly imaginative, 5 minute animated short titled TOONED IN 2
DAYS. The feat was done at a 2 day workshop on animation conducted by Dr.
Neeraj's Animation Studios, the digital animation production facility of
Sriven Multi-Tech Limited. Twenty of the studio's top animators, led by
Dhimant Vyas and Rajsekhar took on the responsibility of guiding the
children though the production process. The animation clips that the
children made were edited by the studio animators into a story of a child
speaking his dreams aloud and realising that he can make them come alive
through animation. Renowned animation experts Antonia Ringbom from Finland
(THE SUN IS A YELLOW GIRAFFE) and Andrea Schuch, a clay animator from
Austria, also joined in the studio's efforts to teach the children. Jean
Poulot of U.S.-based Will Vinton Studios joined P. Ganguly of the studio in
running the Claymation workshop. The final film was presented by the
children to the Governor of A.P. Dr. C. Rangarajan, the Chief
Minister Sri N. Chandrababu Naidu and other ministers and dignitaries at
the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival. The workshop
organizers believed that by actually making an animated film in a hands-on
workshop, the children would be made more aware of the animation process
and appreciate the medium more.