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Tag: VFX industry

  • Indian animation 2019 – the year of highs

    Indian animation 2019 – the year of highs

    2019 was a great year for the Indian animation industry. What a wonderful culmination of a decade which saw the complete transformation of the industry. Today we are at the cusp of a creative revolution. There has been a proliferation of media platforms and content consumers are spoilt for choice. The resulting increase in supply has peculiarly resulted in increased demand and consumption, thereby giving rise to more such platforms and more opportunities all round. A recent report by KPMG pegs that the Indian animation and VFX industry, which now stands at $1.23 billion, will more than double in size to $2.6 billion in the next 5 years.

    2019 was a year of highs for the industry. After being declared the most popular Indian television show in the world by Google, Motu Patlu, Cosmos-Maya’s flagship IP, was immortalized in wax at the Madame Tussauds museum. The year also saw the launch of Cosmos-Maya’s Bapu, the first-ever IP in this space based on Mahatma Gandhi, commemorating his 150th birth anniversary. Green Gold Animation’s Mighty Little Bheem became the second most-watched original series globally on Netflix in the Kids’ category. When a homegrown franchise which is with a pay-TV broadcaster like Turner takes the original route with Netflix, you know that winds of change are blowing.

    In addition to the above, there were giant leaps in terms of the evolution of storytelling, where major franchises are being planned. Cosmos-Maya’s Motu Patlu spinoffs, Inspector Chingum and Guddu were launched on Disney and Amazon Prime Video respectively. Both these IPs followed a ‘Digital First’ approach where it was envisaged that these first air on a major OTT to propagate the IP, and then on Pay TV to increase eyeballs manifold. Also, in the normal run of things, where OTTs spend big to get original and exclusive content on board, they are now preferring to air content which is already running on a different platform, thereby leveraging the placement of an IP.

    The current digital scenario is very promising. WowKidz, Cosmos-Maya’s YouTube network, has been a big benefactor of this digital growth. WowKidz today has more than 35 million subscribers and 16 billion views. An average of 75,000 new subscribers are added daily to the mix. The reason is simple. Close to 650 million Indians have access to internet services today. Smartphone penetration has reached the 500 million mark. When we look at the breakup of India’s animation production pie, 53.5 per cent is digital’s share. This is driven by content viewing on mobile phones in a country which has mostly single TV households. TV has 30 per cent share in India’s animation production pie but still has the maximum reach.

    For content creators like Cosmos-Maya, both platforms are equally lucrative. If the brand is big, Digital and Pay TV can end up being similar partners. A situation very unique to India, today TV and OTT are both growing in the country and there is a beautiful co-existence of both. Animation is transcending boundaries in this regard.

    Speaking of transcending boundaries, 2019 also heralded a new trend. Cosmos-Maya’s ‘Selfie With Bajrangi’, one of the highest-rated and most popular shows has made its way into a general entertainment channel through Star Plus, which from an industry perspective is a welcome change because animation has always been an under-indexed category with low ad rates, in spite of its GRP contribution being in line with some of the most popular categories. The year also marked the ‘Bring in Bollywood!’ era. IP’s like Golmaal Jr with Nickelodeon Sonic, Fukrey Boyzzz with Discovery Kids capitalized on the popularity of the Golmaal and Fukrey franchises.

    Another important trend which Sony Yay! started off is the airing of their content in 7 regional languages. Speaking here from a more holistic perspective, though OTT players like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hotstar, Zee5, Alt Balaji among others, are producing more and more regional content to tap on as many users as possible in the country, TV still dominates here. To add more perspective, OTT is yet to penetrate rural India, which has always been a big traditional media market. TV is a god-sent for rural folk who make up around 70 per cent of Indian population.
    On the global front, Indian animation content reached almost all corners of the world. To quote an example, our non-dialogue show Eena Meena Deeka is aired in more than 50 countries today.

    International co-productions are becoming big and we have captured newer frontiers in this regard as an industry. There were times when only a bunch of people who would attend international markets from India to discuss co-production possibilities. Today, dedicated Indian delegations attend these markets. Hence, the scope has increased exponentially. 4 of Cosmos-Maya’s co-produced international IPs have been ‘glocalised’ and will air in Hindi on a major broadcaster. To quote an example, Berry Bees, one of our biggest co-productions, an all-girl IP, with Atlantyca, SRL and Telegael will air as The Dabangg Girls in India, thereby giving it an Indian soul and yet retaining its original charm.

    2019 also saw the $ 2 billion giant in the form of the Indian ed-tech industry being given a push by animation. A major need gap exists between the education and entertainment industries and we identified it. Cosmos-Maya has the animation mandate of the ed-tech unicorn BYJU’s, which has also tied up with Disney. Entertainment to empowerment, through the power of education, is a mass phenomenon.

    While this decade for Indian animation belonged to Entertainment, the next ten years will belong to education.

    (The author is CEO, Cosmos Maya. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • Post production segment moves focus to digital processes

    Post production segment moves focus to digital processes

    MUMBAI: The post production segment has moved focus from analogue to new age digital processes.

    The Ficci KPMG report notes that the post production segment is poised for stupendous growth as Indian filmmakers discover the magic of digitisation. Technology has revolutionised the very process of filmmaking, especially at the post-production stage. This has given rise to a plethora of digital labs and studios in India catering to new age editing, Digital Intermediate (DI) and other digital processes.

    The sector is currently estimated at Rs 15.5 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent by 2017. Key contributors to growth are established segments such as DI and also newer ones such as Restoration and Conversion. Additionally, the digital revolution has made the video editing work flow process quicker, from time-consuming (tape to tape) linear video editing to online editing suites and to computer hardware and video editing software such as Adobe Premier, Final Cut Pro, as well as the incorporation of Cloud technologies for storage and technology/software access.

    Colour correction via telecine on tapes for edit has replaced the traditional rushes printing process in the processing lab. The Steen beck method of editing analogue rush prints in a linear manner has given way to film editing on non-linear software-based systems such Avid/FCP. DI processes have moved up from 2K resolution to 4K resolution for greater detail and quality. The final deliverables for film outputs have increased from only analogue 35mm prints to Digital DCPs.

    Meanwhile, the VFX industry, a rapidly evolving segment in India, is estimated at approximately Rs. 7.77 billion and can be broadly classified into the following verticals – movies, TV shows and advertisements. As the segment is still at a nascent stage and domestic consumption remains limited, with mainly low-end work being carried out in India, there is considerable dependence on outsourced projects from the US and the UK.

    However, the domestic market is now witnessing bigger budget film releases and ad campaigns, for which players have increased spending on VFX so as to provide an enhanced visual experience for viewers. The segment registered 35 per cent growth over 2008-2012 and is expected to grow approx 20 per cent CAGR to reach Rs 19 billion in 2017.

    Technicolor India country head Biren Ghose notes that India has ascended to the top of the pyramid when it comes to CG animation/VFX productions. “MPC‘s ‘Life of Pi‘, ‘Prometheus‘ and ‘Skyfall‘; DreamWorks Dedicated Unit‘s – ‘Madagascar 3‘ and ‘Rise of the Guardians‘; Technicolor Animation‘s services in Mattel‘s ‘ Barbie And the Pink Shoes‘ and award winning episodic work for Nick on ‘Kung Fu Panda‘ and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ – is proof enough.”

    On an average, Indian movies have limited budgets for visual / special effects. In India VFX budgets are considerably below international benchmarks, even as a percentage of production costs. The VFX budgets for Hollywood movies range from $ 3 million to $ 9 million, which could cover the cost of an average Indian movie. However, VFX budgets for Indian movies, including regional cinema, are showing an increasing trend and are expected to boost the segment. Also, spends by the ad industry on VFX have been increasing.

    To create a 3D film, film-makers can either shoot films in 3D or shoot in 2D and later convert to 3D at the post-production stage. The latter approach is preferred as shooting in 3D is expensive, time-consuming and has limited flexibility and greater complexity in editing and adding VFX at the post-production stage.

    In 2012, ‘Star Wars I‘ and ‘Titanic‘ were re-released in 3D, generating box-office collections of $ 45 million and $ 54 million respectively. This indicates that there is a potential for 3D re-releases of older hits, especially given the relatively low conversion costs involved. After the release of ‘Avatar‘ in 2009, the number of 3D digital screens exploded worldwide from 3,800 in 2008 to approximately 43,000 in 2012. Also, in 2012 a deal was signed between China and US allowing 14 foreign made movies into China every year which is a 70 per cent increase in the current quota of 20 films. However, to qualify for the list the movies have to be in 3D or Imax technology. Ficci KPMG report has given the examples of companies like Prime focus which did 2D to 3D conversions for films like ‘Green Lantern‘ and ‘Clash of the Titans‘.