Search form

Ittina Launches Animation Studio, Academy In Bangalore

The Ittina Group, a leading name in property development, announced the launch of an animation studio and academy Ittina Studios and Takshaa, respectively in Bangalore. Both will be housed in a six-story building in Whitefield. Ittina plans to invest about $5 million in the new venture over the next year.

Ittina Studios is headed by Manu Ittina, a former character animator at PDI/DreamWorks, who has worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as X MEN and SHREK 2. Others who have joined the company include Bill Miller, who has worked with Disney Feature Animation, PDI/DreamWorks and is now animating on Peter Jacksons KING KONG; Ruthuraj Arolkar, senior modeler at Rhythm & Hues, in Mumbai; and Anuj Anand, visual effects technician, who has worked on major Hollywood flicks such as CONSTANTINE and SILENT HILL.

Ittina hopes with the combined academy and studio, the company will bring more artistry to Indian animation, which will allow them to pitch for larger projects. Its first project is set to start production in January. The company will work on visual effects, commercials and character animation primarily.

The school will accommodate up to 250 students and is spread over 15,000 square feet. It boasts of a state-of-the-art lab equipped with 100 high-end workstations. Takshaa hopes to contract 50% of the company's inital production team and all its core supervisors from abroad.

According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), India now only accounts for around $300 million of the $50 billion global animation industry. However, its portion is expected to increase to about $1.5 billion by the end of 2006.

Rick DeMott's picture

Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks

Tags