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Former DreamWorks Artist Ittina Strives to Bring High-Quality Animation to India

Manu Ittina, who has worked on such films as SHREK 2 and MADAGASCAR, has set up his Ittina Studios in Bangalore, India, with the hopes of bringing high-quality animation to India.

However, he knows the feat will be difficult, because 95% of the work being done in India is outsourced work. Under quick deadlines, studios are forced to produce up to 12 seconds of animation per day, compared to major U.S. studios like Pixar and DreamWorks that produce three to five seconds per week.

Most of the Indian animation companies that do animation work for studios abroad often do only low-quality, high volume work, said Ittina, who laments the lack of attention to quality in India.

Higher-end work is expected to move to India soon, however a lack of quality animators will hinder this move. The animator has to be a good actor to be able to capture the whole gamut of expressions and value of each gesture, said Ittina.

Ittina Studios animation director Bill Miller, a CalArts grad who worked on films such as HERCULES, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, SHREK 2, MADAGASCAR and the newest version of KING KONG, said, India can grab a big share in the animation industry, which always aims at achieving synergy in production. The big studios give each part of the project like modeling, animation, lighting etc. to specialists than expect individuals to do all components of animation production themselves.

The model could work in India as well, however again the stumbling block is the expertise of the animators.

An artist can learn a software without much difficulty. But, getting a wannabe animator to learn an art is no easy job, said Ittina.

You can read more from Ittina at www.manuittina.com.

This item is a revision of a previous article.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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