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Tag: animation

  • Scooby Doo creator Iwao Takamoto passes away

    Scooby Doo creator Iwao Takamoto passes away

    MUMBAI: Cartoon artist Iwao Takamoto who created the mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo passed away at the age of 81.

    Takamoto who suffeerd a heart attack was VP of special projects for Warner Bros. Animation until his death. Most recently, Takamoto storyboarded the 2005 Tom and Jerry animation short The Karateguard, and was instrumental in the design of many characters in the current Cartoon Network and Kids’ WB! animated series Krypto the Superdog in the US. He also served as a consultant on Warner Bros. Animation’s ongoing Scooby-Doo direct-to-video series, including the 2006 release Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! and the upcoming Chill Out, Scooby-Doo.

    Warner Bros. Animation president Sander Schwartz says, “Iwao Takamoto was not only a tremendously talented designer and artist, he was a beautiful human being. Iwao was always ready with a wide smile, a firm handshake and a warm welcome. Iwao’s designs will be his legacy for generations to come. Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with him will miss his mentoring presence, his good counsel and his unparalleled talent and spirit.”

    Disney hired him as an apprentice in-betweener in 1945 – just two months before the end of World War II.

    Takamoto trained under Disney’s legendary ‘nine old men’ including Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Eric Lawson. While at Disney, Takamoto worked on short animated cartoons as well as full-length films, including Cinderella, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp.

    In 1961, Takamoto moved to Hanna-Barbera Studios, where he helped reinvent cartoons for television. Virtually all the characters and cartoons released by Hanna-Barbera over the following four decades were touched by the design and artistry of Takamoto. As a character designer, it was his job to create the look and images of the characters based on an idea for a proposed cartoon show.

    Takamoto designed Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery Machine crew. He named the Great Dane after the late crooner Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night rendition where, at the end, Sinatra sings “Scooby Dooby Doo.” At a recent chat with Cartoon Network Studios personnel in Burbank, Takamoto offered some tidbits regarding his approach to creating the Scooby-Doo design.

    He said, “There was a lady at (Hanna-Barbera) that bred Great Danes. She showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such. I decided to go the opposite and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his color is wrong.”

     

  • Computer graphics, animation a focus area at BroadcastAsia 2007

    Computer graphics, animation a focus area at BroadcastAsia 2007

    MUMBAI: Organisers for BroadcastAsia2007 have revealed that the show will increase its presence for Comgraphics&Animation2007. Over 80 per cent of exhibition space has already been booked, testament to the event’s relevance and growing importance of the Broadcasting and Animation industries in Asia.

    “This is in keeping with market trends and especially across Asia, where the animation industry is set to grow to epic proportions,” said Stephen Tan, chief executive with organiser Singapore Exhibition Services.

    For the first time in its 12-year history, BroadcastAsia2007, will dedicate extra floor space to accommodate this new focus area. In 2006, the event was housed in halls 7 & 8 at the Singapore Expo. In 2007, organisers will be utilising half of hall 9 which will incorporate the Comgraphics & Animation 2007 exhibition show floor.

    In addition, the show floor at ComGraphics&Aimation2007 will be divided into 4 distinct physical areas.

    At the Recruitment Zone, aspiring digital artists can speak to the recruiters looking to hire talented individuals for their company, and those wishing to embark on an education in this area can obtain information from various leading educational institutions. .

    At the Interactive Zone, visitors can dive into hands-on demos and get up close with the latest technologies on offer, while at the Exhibitors’ Tech Talk Zone, visitors can listen in to exhibitors who will be sharing insights and knowledge on CGI and Interactive Digital Media techniques and trends in a 45 minute presentation.

    As with previous years, the show will also include an Animation Screening & Digital Art Gallery, where visitors can sit back and be treated to a screening of selected animation entries and top-line award winning productions by other professional artists. A tour of the Digital Art Gallery is also offers a kaleidoscope of creative works set around various themes.

    Conference & Artist Workshops will also be held alongside the exhibition. The event will also be the venue to host the annual Comgraph Competition, organised by ACM Siggraph Singapore.

    Other improvements at BroadcastAsia2007 include gentler hall lighting and an enhanced registration process where visitors only need to register once to access both CommunicAsia 2007 and BroadcastAsia2007 halls.

    “We’ve listened to feedback from exhibitors and visitors and have taken steps to improve their overall experience at BroadcastAsia. With less light coming into the halls, products that are receptive to glare can be demonstrated with improved clarity, this would be closer to the environment found in production studios or editing rooms, where lighting tends to be a lot milder. A one-time registration also allows faster and easier movement of people between halls”, added Tan.

    BroadcastAsia2007 will be held from the 19 to 22 June and incorporates ProfessionalAudioTechnology2007. The event is held in conjunction with Com Graphics & Animation 2007, Interactive DME, CommunicAsia2007 and Enterprise IT 2007.

  • Diptrix.com: Virtual reality grabs kids

    Has anyone heard about the Adventures of Trix Rabbit? Just click your way through the hip hoppity town, to the habitat of the super energetic Trix Rabbit, Diptrix.com. It exemplifies a world of freebies and games galore, a kid‘s haven!

    As marketers look for new ways and means to connect with their consumers, the task becomes doubly hard when the target group is a bunch of kids. In what appears to be an emerging trend among brands today, marketers are increasingly using the concept of community based websites. This provides a medium to directly reach out to each consumer via active engagement with the product, thus strengthening the ‘connect‘ between the two.

    The Dip Trix homepage

    Following this path, General Mills latest offering Dip Trix Cookies ‘n‘ Cream launched diptrix.com simultaneously with its national rollout in March this year.

    To make a big noise around the new product, the brand aimed at creating a “virtual playground” – a space for their little consumers to have fun through games, sharing stories, trivia and downloads.

    A key hook used to build participation was the oft used collect points proposition (in this case virtual currency “cookies”), which can be exchanged for real life merchandise.

    Additionally, the ‘Hall of Fame‘ announces the names of participants with the highest scores. The leader in this currently is a kid who has gathered more than 10,000 “cookies”.

    Diptrix.com also provides a learning experience for kids via quizzes and an opportunity to express their point of view. The brand mascot Trix Rabbit befriends each visitor guiding them through every section of the site and through a story narrates the Dip Trix experience.
     
     

     

    General Mills, India marketing director Gayatri Yadav believes, “Children of today are increasingly technology savvy, requiring marketers to think of new ways to connect and communicate with them. The traditional modes of TV and print media are no longer enough. It is important to explore new media options that allow not just a one way communication, but a two way dialogue and interactivity. The key is to go beyond brand exposure to brand engagement.”

    Brand mascot Trix Rabbit narrates his story

    It is estimated that the average time spent on the site by the TG (kids between the age group of 6-14 years) ranges from 20-25 minutes. Within the first five months, the site had more than 10,000 registered users, with the monthly average of page views nearing 300,000.

    Unlike other community websites that boast of a huge user base, Diptrix.com is content with its set of loyal visitors. This fulfills one of their key objectives which is to increase frequency of visitors rather than expand their reach. The site epitomizes fun for kids with its cute look and feel and it has been calculated that on an average, kids log on to this site to play the games more than thrice a week. The games differ in complexity making it appropriate to the wide TG, although it may be said that the average age of visitors are approximately 10 year olds.

    The key idea was to provide kids with a space of their own to learn, play and be rewarded for their efforts. This subtly acts as a sphere of empowering the ‘little fellows‘, giving them an incentive to keep them coming back for more. They can redeem these “cookies” for a whole range of branded goodies offered at the online store, from Trix Rabbit caps, T-shirts and bags, to lower value items like stationary and stickers.

    The Krissh and Trix game

    Moreover, the launch of the website was also co-ordinated with the release of Krissh. During a promotional period, the official mask of the Indian superhero was distributed on purchase of Dip Trix Cookies ‘n‘ Cream. Currently, a Krissh ‘advergame‘ has been posted on the site, which allows kids to put on the mantle of their hero and outrun the ‘silly‘ rabbit thus, redeeming cookies for the mask. This has served as an effective tie-up as the buzz around this has driven traffic to the website.

    The creative team, Hungama.com (Virtual Marketing (India) Pvt.Ltd) handles the website and has worked on several brand websites including Coca Cola and Axe. However, in this case the challenge for them was to develop an online solution for a kid‘s centric category that had to be exciting and addictive. As a result of being a new entrant in the Indian market, the website had to be an integral part of the entire communication mix.

    Kids voice their opinions on Kid Speak

    Besides the buzz sparked off with Krissh, the website was also promoted via on-pack messaging and TV. However, much ideation went into the initiative as kiddies are no longer passive consumers. The creative team tells us that various competitive kids‘ websites and other consumer engagement websites were analyzed while preparing the content strategy for the Dip Trix website. To keep a tab on the activity on the site, Hungama.com has an in-house tracking and reporting application and follows web trends to monitor page views and visitor analysis, in order to study the behaviour of registered users. “To have a set of loyal visitors to your website, community building is one of the best tools available.”

    To sustain the hype around diptrix.com, content is regularly updated to keep the interest levels high. Two new games are added every month while other sections are updated on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

    Besides, there are plans to introduce new branded merchandise like watches and umbrellas in the coming weeks, as a trend has been observed whereby, kids are accumulating a huge amount of “cookies.” To prevent stagnation, these new items will be of higher value thus allowing kids to redeem the bulk of points collected.

    Kids can download wallpapers & more

    What is also interesting is that this activity also allows for a ‘sharing experience‘ among kids and their parents. As parents guide their kids through the site, it creates for quality time spent and includes parental involvement. Parents are even kept informed about their kid‘s activities and the freebies they win on the site.

    As every brand attempts to give its customer the value of an emotional connect, Dip Trix Cookies ‘n‘ Cream believes, “The website is not about generating brand sales but about building an enduring and vibrant relationship with the Indian child. We see this as a long term channel to interact and engage with the child, and build a brand via a relationship, not just messaging, via creating a community and not just communication.”
     
  • Breakthrough Animation forays into multi-platform programming

    Breakthrough Animation forays into multi-platform programming

    MUMBAI: Breakthrough Animation Inc., a Canadian animation production company, announced at Mipcom 2006 that it will create cutting-edge multi-platform vignettes for three of its most popular animated series, Atomic Betty, Miss BG and Captain Flamingo.

    As announced by Breakthrough Animation Inc., executive producer and managing partner Kevin Gillis, the company is creating high-quality, original programming to ensure that they remains at the forefront of the industry as audiences gravitate toward diversified platforms for entertainment.

    Breakthrough Entertainment will distribute the content to broadcasters and Breakthrough New Media will distribute the mobile content to telecommunication companies and content aggregators for the mobile market, informed an official release.

    The vignettes developed for Atomic Betty will be a combination of humourous, space-based science facts, blooper reels, animated interviews and music videos. Along the lines of the original series, Miss BG’s vignettes will highlight her unconventional perspective on the world, her family and friends. While Captain Flamingo disseminates 101 ways to attain superhero savvy by revealing a sneak-peek into his extraordinary talents.

    “As audiences move toward accessing their content beyond the traditional television broadcast platform we want to provide unique programming for these new mediums. Traditional television content was intended to be viewed on an all-encompassing wide screen format to bring the audience into the program’s world. The advent of portable personal devices has created the opportunity for a one-on-one experience between our characters and our audience. Produced for the mobile screen, we have designed our multi-platform programming to provide distinctive content for these mediums because we believe global audiences will be looking for an original viewing experience that differentiates it from re-purposed fare,” said Gillis.

    Atomic Betty is a co-production between Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Animation Inc., and TeleImages Kids, the comedy-adventure animated series has already been licensed worldwide to major broadcasters in over 120 territories. Atomic Betty follows the adventures of Betty, whose double life as “Galactic Guardian and Defender of the Cosmos” takes her on a whirlwind journey through space. Extensive merchandising and licensing deals have been signed including Penguin Books for publishing and Hallmark for greeting cards.

    Miss BG is adapted from the acclaimed “Gudule & les Bébés” book collection authored by Fanny Joly and illustrated by Roser Capdevilla. Miss BG is a co-production between Ellipsanime, Breakthrough Animation, TVO, TFO (Canada) and France 5. Aimed at kids aged 5-8, the 3-D animated TV series centers around the world of Miss BG.

    Captain Flamingo is a co-production between Breakthrough Animation, Heroic Film Company, Atomic Cartoons and Pasi Animation, the animated hit is an original production for YTV Canada. Captain Flamingo follows the adventures of Milo Powell who, tired of being overlooked by big kids, dons his terrycloth cape as Captain Flamingo and saves the day for kids everywhere.

  • Animation industry gung-ho on proposed mandate on local content

    Animation industry gung-ho on proposed mandate on local content

    MUMBAI: Some proposals in a draft Broadcast Bill 2006, prepared by the information and broadcasting ministry for the Union Cabinet’s consideration, has evoked mixed reaction from the industry.

    The Indian animation industry is excited that the government is mulling mandating a certain percentage of programming on TV channels to be sourced from India.

    “We are absolutely delighted. The proposed bill is a surprise and will be a catalyst for growth. I would like to however add that Cartoon Network, Nick and Disney have anyways gotten interested in local content and this regulation is a bit late, “DQ Entertainment CEO & MD Tapas Chakravarti.

    He went on to add that 15 per cent is too less and that China and Japan have close to 50 per cent of local programming share on TV channels.

    Chakravarti also reveals that the development has inspired DQ to go ahead with its investment plans in Intellectual Property (IP) in India.

    “At DQ, we have taken a decision internally almost six months back for creating Intellectual Property (IP) in India. We are planning $10 million investments on our part and our French and American partners will bring in similar numbers. The idea is to create products for global market but with Indian stories. This will be something similar to what Disney did with Jungle Book,” he explained.

    As per the draft bill, TV channels on a mandatory basis would have to have 15 per cent of their total weekly programming produced locally. It’s also being proposed the share of public service/socially relevant programme content shall not be less than 10 per cent of the total programme content of a channel broadcast during every week.

    This would mean that channels like Cartoon Network, Animax, Discovery, Animal Planet and Discovery Travel and Living would have to have a prescribed percentage of content generated from India, which has been a long-standing demand of Indian animators.

    Concurring with Chakravarti is Phoebus Media CEO Rahul Bakshi. “15 per cent is too less, but is a good start and will have a multiplier effect. It gives companies like ours conviction and confidence that we are on the right track having already invested a lot in local content,” he added.

    The industry also feels that the move will give it shelter from the rain as well as boost the job scenario.

    “Such a government move will help us get more conviction to stick to original content. Thousands of jobs will be created and more animators means more animation outsourcing also,” says Green Gold Animation CEO Rajiv Chilakalapudi.

    According to Graphiti Multimedia director Munjal Shroff, the proposed regulation could help content creators look at other markets to compliment the revenues.

    “Usually there has always been a block because TV channels find it much more economical to buy animated content from markets like Mipcom at $500 to $1000 per episode rather than commissioning new shows in India. If the bill is passed and local content does become compulsory, then it will give local content creators a space to exist and once there is a minimum local market, then content creators can always look at other markets to compliment the revenues,” says Shroff.

    Color Chips CEO Sudhish Rhambotla felt that channels would either commission local content or also have the option of shifting production of some of their shows being produced elsewhere into the country, which again would be “good for the business.”

    On their part, the kids channels expressed their readiness to make changes in their programming structure if need be.

    The Walt Disney Company India managing director Rajat Jain said, “Whatever changes have to be made, will be made in our programming according to the Broadcast Bill when it is passed. At the end of the day, one has to comply with the laws of the land.”

    When queried as to what percentage of programming on Disney Channel and Toon Disney were local presently, Jain said, “It is difficult to calculate at this point in time what the percentage of local content is.”

    Hungama TV COO Zarina Mehta says her channel already plays more than 15 per cent of local content.

    “I don’t know the exact percentage of local content that we have on the channel but currently it will definitely be more that 15 per cent. If fact, we will be the only kids channel that have that much of local content,” she says.

  • Indians notch up MipTV success

    Indians notch up MipTV success

    MUMBAI: MipTV, the world’s biggest content marketplace, which ended last week in Cannes, proved to be a very successful one for India’s content creators, distributors and aggregators.

    Some 43 production, broadcasting and mobile phone companies jetted their way down to Cannes to keep a tab on content trends in Europe and globally, buy and sell films, series and formats, find co-production partners and schmooze with the world’s most important players in the TV, animation, film and mobile content sweepstakes.
    The change this time around was that TV producers have invested in buying formats as against just broadcasters doing so. “The power has been weighing heavily in the hands of TV channel programming executives who have been behaving in a high handed manner with TV producers ordering them around as if they were serfs and they – the programmers – the fount of all that is creative,” one of the producers was candid enough to say. “Now with us buying formats, we will also be able to have our say. The times have to change. More power has to come to TV producers’ hands.”
    And mobile players from India aggressively scoured the landscape looking to do deals for video. Among these: Reliance Infocomm, Hungama Mobile, and Cellnext Solutions.

    Almost everyone who attended the market from India went back with a smile on their faces. Krishna Durbha Head of Business and Marketing – Reliance Infocomm Ltd., Applications Solutions Group (India), a panelist at a session on Asian markets, received a standing ovation and was spoken of as one of the more eloquent and candid speakers during the conference programme. Says Durbha: “It’s been a major eye opener for us. We are in the content space for the mobile and I got at least half a dozen leads which will lead to positive results.”

    Sahara Motion Pictures, which took a stand for the first time, was so delighted with the response that it has evinced interest in exhibiting in MipCom as well. “MipTV proved a great platform for us for creating business opportunities,” says Sandeep Bhargava, Chief. Operating Officer, Sahara One Motion Pictures. “We get to meet the who’s who of content in the world in one place and get results.”

    Sony Entertainment Television India, which took a stand, too had a rewarding market. Led by Kaushal Modi on the sales and syndication side, and by programming head Anupama Mandloi on acquisition, the content owner had a very busy market.

    WEG India, Eros and Suman – three other companies that have been attending and exhibiting at MipTV and MipCom for several years now – too had a good market. “Both MipCom and MipTV to be honest are great ways for us to meet, greet and service all our clients at one place,” says Vimal Gupta of the UK based distributor Suman Film.

    Zee TV, which was represented by Deblina Chakrabarty, Parul Chatruvedi and digital head Abhijit Saxena, too, made its mark. While Chakrabarty was sizing up opportunites for content acquisition – though she had a fall from the stairs in the Palais des Festivals and was even taken to hospital – Chatturvedi was exploring how India’s largest network could up its syndication revenues. Saxena – like a lone ranger – moved around in the shadows meeting all and sundry trying to further milk the potential of the 60,000 hours or so of the Zee TV content library, which is currently being digitized by IBM. Watch out for action in this space from Saxena as Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra is himself driving the digital initiative with Saxena as his lieutenant.

    Star India, which used to have a separate stand until a year and a half ago when it was brought under the umbrella of Hong Kong based centralized syndication arm Fortune Star, too had a sizeable presence. Viren Popley, Ravi Menon and Manju Nair were at the forefront of the Star TV charge. Syndication experts however point out that it would be better if Star India’s Hindi content were not subsumed by the larger interests of Fortune Star’s huge Chinese library. A separate stand with a separate identity for Star India would help it further exploit its syndication potential.

    Other broadcasters who made their way to the market included NDTV (represented by KVL Narayan Rao and I.P. “Baj” Bajpai) and Aaj Tak (CEO G Krishnan).

    The buzz this year from the Indian delegation was centered around the production companies. Optimystix, Contiloe, Miditech, Maverick, Clapstem, AIM Television, UTV, ESP Films were amongst those who made waves. ESP is on the verge of signing a huge deal with a European producer for co-producing a new documentary.

    Sorely missed at MipTV were the two other big players Balaji Telefilms and BAG Films, who, are missing out on several opportunities in the global content marketplace. “Agreed they are more than busy in the domestic marketplace,” says a Cannes veteran. “But not being present internationally means that not many people in the world know you at a time when boundaries between nations are dissolving and cultures are beginning to merge. That is a huge opportunity loss.”

    The animation presence at MipTV came in the shape of Maya, Crest, Toonz Animation, Graphiti Multimedia which continued with their efforts to make themselves better understood by the world at large. And in the process snap up some co-production, original IP deals.

    Indian presence at MipTV:

    Aim Television Pvt. Ltd.
    Broadcast Worldwide Limited
    Cellnext Solutions Limited
    Clapstem Productions
    Color Chips India Limited
    Contiloe Films Pvt Ltd.
    Dawsen Infotech Private Limited
    Dessin Works
    Digikore Studios Limited
    Digimate Productions
    DQ Entertainment Ltd
    Escotoonz Entertainment Pvt Ltd (Subsidiary Of Escosoft Tech)
    ESP Films
    Fortune Star
    Fusion Films Inc. (Part Of Giriraj Group)
    Graphiti Multimedia Pvt Ltd
    HTMT
    I Stylus
    Maverick Productions Pvt. Ltd.
    Maya Entertainment Ltd.
    Miditech Pvt. Ltd.
    New Delhi Television Limited
    Optimystix Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.
    Oxigen Infovision Pvt. Ltd
    Percept Picture Company Pvt Ltd
    React Media Pvt Ltd
    Sahara One Media And Entertainment Limited
    Sony Entertainment Television India (P) Ltd
    Super Cassettes Industries Limited Aka-T-Series
    Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd
    TV Today Network Ltd
    UTV / Hungama TV
    Video Movie International
    Weg India Pictures Pvt Ltd
    Zee Telefilms Limited

  • The Kitchen will travel to MIPTV

    The Kitchen will travel to MIPTV

    MUMBAI: The Kitchen a media firm that positions itself as the television industry’s only ‘one stop shop’ for all language customisation requirements will have a presence at the television event MIPTV.

    The event takes place next month in Cannes, France.

    Explaining the services that The Kitchen provides the company’s president, CEO Ken Lorber says, “Typically we will take a programme sample and have it dubbed and/or subtitled in as many as ten languages as a ‘test’.

    “This serves as a vehicle for the distributor to generate programme sales in multiple languages, while providing us additional opportunities to customize programming on a global basis. We are able to provide this service for all types of content including: live action, animation, children’s programming, telenovelas, and series. It’s an opportunity for our clients to access their libraries and recycle material creating many new revenue streams.”

    At The Kitchen, the language services division of TM Systems, developers of end to end language localisation software solution, there is no more shipping of videotapes and no more customs delays. All masters are digitised and time coded, files are encrypted and then sent via secure Internet and FTP sites to a global language network of approved ‘partner facilities’ in territories throughout the continents.

    An original language ‘template’ is created, which is then distributed to the countries requested to complete the job, time codes and digitized scripts are sent immediately, review of casting and QC can be done from any PC and all material may be QC’d and mixed back at The Kitchen and/or in territory.

    In addition to language transcription, translation, dubbing and subtitling, The Kitchen services include closed captioning, Sap services and graphics customisation.