By Ranjan K Baruah
We are familiar with some of the TV programmes like Cartoon Network, Pogo, Hungama, etc. There are some of attractive advertisements which are purely animated. Apart from that we have seen many movies or other programmes related to animation. It is one of the creative forms of media in a techno rich society. We hear about multimedia and animation is a part of multimedia which has become very popular in recent years and it is predicted that there is growing demand in the fields of animation in near future. The first animated film ‘Humorous phases of funny faces’ by J. Stuart Blackton was made in 1906 by drawing comical faces on a blackboard, photographing them, and then erasing it to draw another stage of the facial expression. There are many popular serials in television which are product of animation.
A merge of entertainment industry and technology, it is concerned with design, drawing, layout and production of graphically rich and attractive multimedia clips. In other words animation is making of movies, games or cartoons by moving the drawings or models of animals or people with the help of computers or other electronic means. This profession is for them who are very creative as you need to do many things related to this. Animators are the creative and talented artists who create characters for a variety of projects like movies, television, advertisements through their drawing skills and then showcasing them. Commonly used techniques are two dimensional and three dimensional but there are others too.
Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry grew at a CAGR of 18.55 per cent from 2011-2017; and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.9 per cent to touch US$ 37.55 billion by 2021 from US$ 22.75 billion in 2017. The next 5 years will see digital technologies increase their influence across the industry leading to a sea change in consumer behaviour across all segments. The industry provides employment to 3.5-4 million people, including both direct and indirect employment as of 2017.
The Indian gaming market, estimated at $338.4 million in revenue in 2017, is expected to grow threefold in four years, backed by Internet penetration, sustained local development, improved digital payment infrastructure and preference towards subscription model. The global games market generated revenue of $104.8 billion in 2016, an increase of 12.6% from 2015. Global revenue is likely to increase to $151.7 billion in 2021.
There are different responsibilities and designation related to a animated film. Some of the options are content developer, modeler, character animator, lay out artist, 2D animator, composing artist, special effect artists, audio or video specialist, image editor, etc.
A career in animation and gaming is a popular trend nowadays. Animation is an emerging field where one can explore his or her creativity or power of imagination. The field of animation is sometimes misunderstood with cartooning. Cartooning is simply drawing caricatures of characters with some distinct subtleties to make the character evoke a sense of comedy. On the other hand, animation is the art of breathing life into these characters.
The best way to pursue a career in animation is by getting a graduate degree or diploma in animation. A Bachelor in Fine Arts (BFA) is also a very important course to step in the animation arena. There are diploma and certificate courses related to animation. Scope of animation is beyond movies or TV programmes and Application of animation could be seen in -entertainment, business, sales, education, publishing, web designing, advertising (commercials and print ads), development of computer games/mobile games, etc. (To be continued ..)
Updates:
Common Admission Test: Common Admission Test is conducted by Indian Institute Of Managements for its admission to Post Graduate Programmes and Fellow Programmes. Candidates aspiring to get admission to the IIMs need to appear for the CAT. Apart from the IIM’s, various other Management Institutes use the CAT score for short listing the candidates. CAT is conducted once in a year usually in the month of October-November. Aspirants may apply before 19th September.
GATE: Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an examination conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. Aspirants may apply on or before 21st September.
(Ranjan K Baruah is a career mentor, skill trainer and motivational speaker and can be reached at [email protected] or 8473943734 for any career related queries.)