FICCI Frames 2011 - A Round up

Day 2: 24.03.2011

Bankers say, Lack of Government Support Is Hampering the Entertainment Industry

The proceedings of second day began with Innovative Ways to Fund the Entertainment Business. Attended among others, Jane Corden, CEO, Money penny Australia, Mr Sunil Sanghai, Head of Global Banking, HSBC – India, Mr Karan Ahluwalia, Executive VP, Media & Entertainment, Yes Bank,Mr Ranu Vohra, Managing Director & CEO, Avendus Capital Private Limited and Mr  Nirvaer Sidhu, VP, Media & Entertainment, GoldmanSachs, India.

Lack of government support and coproduction treaties among the media and entertainment companies were cited as the main reasons for underutilization of sector potential in India by the majority of participants in the session moderated by Mr Ashok Wadhwa, Group CEO, Ambit.

“What we need is simpler models and intermediaries managing the interests of both the filmmakers and investors", informed Mr.Sindhu explaining the reasons behind change in investor profile who is looking for more risk mitigation.

Family office and special-purpose vehicle were the other investment related issues which came up for the discussion. Mr Karan Ahluwalia stressed upon the need to for Securitization of IPR, which is an established practice in west but not known in India. Mr.Bobby Bedi asked the film makers to be transparent in their accounting procedures. He said that the illusion should be built on screen and not on balance sheets.

3D As an Interesting Business

In the afternoon session held on 24^th March, the participants explored the role of three dimensional tunnel and the changes it is bringing in Movies, Television and Games.

Mr Steve Santamaria, Director, Visual Computing DevRel , Intel Corporation, Mr Vikram Bhatt, Film-Maker, Mr Martin Mulligan , Sales Director, Quantel,Mr Michael Fink, VFX Supervisor Hollywood and Dr Paul Salvini, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Canadian Operations, Side Effects Software Inc participated in the discussion which focused on opportunities and challenges.

Explaining the reason why everyone in Hollywood want to make a 3D movie, Mr. Fink said, one of the key challenges in 3D is that it is subjective for a viewer. Because it can have varied responses from the audience he further added that 3D is an interesting business.

“3D offers the heightened user experience and it may also degrade the piracy level, as piraters certainly cannot give the same quality experience. In 2010, more than one person in three watched a 3D Film in USA/ Canada" said Mr.Salvani explaining how Avatar became a catalyst to increase the demand for 3 D content all over the world.

Mr. Mulligan said, the sports providers are showing in stereoscopic 3D as this will mean that you can watch cricket at home in a 3D experience. He further stated that availability of content and growth in consumer options to watch the 3D will give fillip to the industry.

Bollywood Can Use 3D to Push Up The Cash Registers

Michel Fink who was star attraction at the seminar was optimistic about using 3D in a typical Bollywood movie. He said, 3D looks good in a dialogue scene. While testing films to be converted to 3D I ask for a dialogue scene because an action scene will not look that different. In a close-up dialogue scene you get to see depth and its effects on the entire experience is obvious.

“You can change the Z depth to either pull the audience in your content for immersive experience or you can pull out your content to make audiences duck. It is a film maker‘s choice and it also depends on the type of content you have", Mr. Fink informed when asked about the different styles and types of 3D content and how the distance between the left eye and right eye of camera can affect the 3D presentation in the films.

Entertaining Pixar Films’ Workshop

In the afternoon session, David Freeman, a Pixar eminent screenwriter and development teacher held a workshop on Decoding the Magic: The 11 Techniques that Make Pixar Films So Successful. The session was based on the 11 'concealed' techniques used by Pixar which churns out successful Hollywood films. Freeman spoke about the subtle use of lighting and shapes in film making to the more intuitive and subconscious levels of perception.

David elaborated on 11 techniques which makes the Pixer films so successful: High concept story, Visual storytelling, Feature real underdogs, Artful use of empathy technique, Set and tasks, Sophisticated psychological insight, Let it get ugly, Echo the central issue, Poignant and funny aspects, Group working technique and Brad Bird variation.

"Toss in something unexpected, for the unexpected gives birth to delight."In the end a Pixar made French film 'Nuit Blanche' made by Arev Monoukian, literally left the audiences walking "two feet above the ground" say the reports.

Animator Need To Become A Filmmaker

The last session of the second day focused on Animation Co-Production with International markets & emerging opportunities. K. Madhavan, A. P. Pargi, Laura Dohrmann and Johnchill Lee amongst others participated in the discussion.

As of now many of Indian animators have helped to execute creative content for the international companies as a part of outsourcing of coproduction opportunities. However the reason behind the coproduction opportunities coming to India is cheaper labour cost, said Mr.Madhavan. He also regretted the tendency of giving no ‘credit’ to the Indian animators involved in the process of making visual content.

The participants also felt this has happened because of Indian emphasis on Mythological content and hence they argued to give room to other types of creative content. The pros of the Indian industry are in demand because of their ability to embrace new technology promptly, a flexible work culture and delivery of quality, they said. However most of the people present felt Indians must think like a film maker and less like an animator to succeed in the international market.

Day 3: 25.03.2011

Kids Are Driving Growth of Gaming Industry in India

On the concluding day, FICCI and game developers came together under the aegis of NASSCOM to organize the first ever FICCI - NASSCOM Game Developers Conference.

Art Pipeline of Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, a session was held was participated by Prakash Baing, Art Director, India games ltd and Arijit Goon.

The participants felt that the Animation and Gaming industry is evolving in India. There is a strong need for collaboration amongst the industry players was the conclusion drawn during the discussion.

The Coming together of Creativity & the Gaming Industry, Video Games for Kids and Curriculum-based Games were three other sessions held during the concluding day of the FICCI Frames organized by the Indian media and entertainment industry.