Not only is the use of animation across a range of media
channels, from applications (apps) to advertising, websites to music videos
increasing, but the distinctive lines between live action and animation are
also blurring, as shown in some of the movies in 2015 namely Hotel
Transyvlvania 2, Deadpool, which depended as much on the believability of their
animated/motion captured characters as much as the ‘real actors’.
Animation technology trends that are expected to dominate
the future are:-
Colour 3D printing can help generate millions of facial
expressions for the characters which stop-motion and CGI experts use. 3D
printing is going to be an invaluable tool to stop-motion animators, who will
be able to leverage its possibilities to create bigger, better and more complex
animations.
Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR) is an area of computer
graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for
digital art. Animation professionals rely on NPR rather than CG animator. They
use 3D software to create an impressionistic hand-drawn media.
Projection mapping is a projection technology used to turn
objects, often irregularly shaped, into a display surface for video projection.
One of the examples of its use in 2015 was the use of the Sydney Opera House by
20 different animation studios worldwide to create a living mural.
VR and AR are emerging as important tools for technology
companies, content providers and animation/VFX players. Currently, this tech is
mostly used in the gaming community as the companies are hesitant towards
non-gaming VR due to lack of demand for such media.
The potential challenges faced by the Indian animation
industry are:-
The existing AVGC industry stakeholders have expressed
finding highly skilled professionals as a major challenge to sustain growth.
Most of the AVGC education institutes in India are lacking in the quality of
programme inputs (infrastructure, teaching resources etc.) and outputs (quality
of students graduating). Focus should be shifted towards the design and
creative aspects of content, animation education and creation of skilled
workforce.
Animation is not a quick and easy process; it involves
thorough visualisation and adequate process of storytelling. Therefore, the
genre needs more time and labour.
Animation in India lacks funding unlike western film makers.
Despite of possessing a vast talented and potential pool, pool, India does not
produce a high percentage of animated films due to lack of initial high
investment.
The industry would benefit if measures such as reservation
of a certain number of hours of domestically produced content on channels,
‘must-carry’ clause for kid’s channels and tax benefits and treaties are
provided by the government. Insufficient government support affects the growth
of animation in India.
The Intellectual Property (IP) protection policy needs to be
strengthened and companies operating in the outsourcing sphere need to take
stringent steps to protect clients’ IP rights.
The consistently growing VFX industry in India has faced a
revolution in all verticals with blockbusters like Baahubali and Bajirao
Mastani bewildering the audience worldwide. The key trends include:-
The year witnessed the Increasing presence of VFX in all
M&E segments like films, television and advertisements. Additionally, VFX
has ventured into the web space as new age companies are using 3D technology to
conduct their digital business.
VFX players are now increasingly engaged in creating live
action imagery by using computer-generated effects of what would have been
handled by traditional animation.
Growing presence of Indian studios in international markets
has led to global acceptance of Indian talent. Captive centres in India have
moved up the value chain to become Centres of Excellence (COE) in specific
areas for many animation and VFX companies.
Virtual Reality (VR) is seen as an upward trend and is the
inevitable evolution of visual effects due to its high implications for next
generation talent.
The digital dawn has taken place with increasing internet
penetration and access speeds, a plethora of devices that support content
consumption, and the rise of digital media players driving the on-demand
digital content industry.
The key challenges that the VFX industry in India currently
faces are:-
Developed countries outsourcing VFX projects to low-cost
ones have been significantly on the rise. The incentives provided by foreign
government, grants, labour tax credits and subsidies to domestic companies
engaged in VFX work thus help them to retain artists as well as facilitate
their expansion efforts.
Digital visual effects are quite flexible and thus can be
revised over and over again which demands clearly more cost and time. Such
digital problems, hard costs of equipment, electricity, staff costs, rent, and
even depreciation are some of the major hurdles faced by the VFX industry
today.
The absence of back-end participation and specified revenue
share model hampers the financial success of VFX companies.
With these upcoming and constantly growing key trends, it is
quite explanatory that the animation and VFX industry in India has gained
considerable impetus in the past years and definitely there is an ever
increasing graph ahead in the future. Growth and progress are always marked
with milestones thus, if the key challenges are tackled with wise measures then
the pace of growth can be fastened with no paramount hurdle in its way.
