It's been yo yo stress work days for me this week.
And in the course of one such yo yo work day, I had to look through a collection of short clips and trailers of Disney's back to basics animation flick ' Princess and the frog'. A film that will as usual, release much later in India than international markets, just a glance through the trailers sufficed to trigger hearfelt nostalgia.
I might be sticking out my neck when I write this, but I don't think we in Indian films are EVER capable of producing that quality of animation cinema.
In november 2008, I had the good fortune of being offered a media junket to Disney Studios in Los Angeles to cover BOLT. Because of the studio's head honcho John Lassetter's personal involvement with the film, it was a big ticket release for them and all efforts were put out to give it the right push. And a single day's tour of Disney studios clearly established that I had never expected anything as sophisticated as this.
Each film in progress has it's own floor area. The area, keeping with the theme of the film, is decorated accordingly. Each work area is supplied with a quota of interesting snacks, which often have themed snacks too. The BOLT workspace had six kinds of cereal stocked, including special BOLT design biscuits. I also visited the Princess and the Frog floor, which had beaded curtains, soft, lush cushions and turkish lights.
Considering each Disney Project, or a co production with Pixar takes about two years to make, animators, light and sound supervisors, engineers, designers and directors work crazy hours through this period. Which is why, all their comforts are ensured and their workspace goes the extra mile to keep the spirit alive.
The central floor of Disney's creative office has an open coffee counter with free snacks that aren't stale, and a recreation area that stocks the best of cinema journals apart from small gaming areas. The lifts and staircases done huge blow ups of Walt Disney at work, and his first hand painted or sketched versions of Mickey Mouse and pals.
Live Action is recreated on a character with as many as 200 variations per expression. Now if you are planning to calculate that, I suggest you don't. And to put things in perspective, a non geeky person like me was surprised that Bolt- the superdog could twitch his eyebrows in 200 different ways on Disney patented software even at my touch.
How does one put together an incredible database like that? Well, they get real dogs, about 13 breeds, make them walk on glass floors, take good care of them, even as animators study their moves and scan their footprints.
Of course, you might still feel that I am being condescending when I say India can't get there.But the whole point of my blog today, is NOT to point out that the facilities and infrastructure of Disney is awesome. I think, with loads of money, and the endless flow of cheap labour, we Can do that in India.
But what I am certain we Can't reciprocate is the simple quest for excellence. Be it the multi million dollar entertainment conglomerate or the juniourmost animator in a film's team, EVERYONE is hoping to do their absolute best. So while employers supply state of the art facilities, comforts to seat and lots of perks, creative teams don't mind extending work hours to produce an excellent film. Marketing teams will kill to keep their film on top priority, and promotions will give Disney films the ultimate push so that no one on planet earth missed them. Every eyebrow movement and every facial twitch will be mastered by each person working on that particular angle...
And now, lets pose this simple question? Even in 21st century corporate India, do we really work like that? Do we Always work to give our best? Or do we ponder on extended work sked, and shortened lunch breaks a little too often?
Our cinema is more often than not, a clear reflection of ingrown mediocrity. And that's why I don't think we can ever make a Disney film.
And in the course of one such yo yo work day, I had to look through a collection of short clips and trailers of Disney's back to basics animation flick ' Princess and the frog'. A film that will as usual, release much later in India than international markets, just a glance through the trailers sufficed to trigger hearfelt nostalgia.
I might be sticking out my neck when I write this, but I don't think we in Indian films are EVER capable of producing that quality of animation cinema.
In november 2008, I had the good fortune of being offered a media junket to Disney Studios in Los Angeles to cover BOLT. Because of the studio's head honcho John Lassetter's personal involvement with the film, it was a big ticket release for them and all efforts were put out to give it the right push. And a single day's tour of Disney studios clearly established that I had never expected anything as sophisticated as this.
Each film in progress has it's own floor area. The area, keeping with the theme of the film, is decorated accordingly. Each work area is supplied with a quota of interesting snacks, which often have themed snacks too. The BOLT workspace had six kinds of cereal stocked, including special BOLT design biscuits. I also visited the Princess and the Frog floor, which had beaded curtains, soft, lush cushions and turkish lights.
Considering each Disney Project, or a co production with Pixar takes about two years to make, animators, light and sound supervisors, engineers, designers and directors work crazy hours through this period. Which is why, all their comforts are ensured and their workspace goes the extra mile to keep the spirit alive.
The central floor of Disney's creative office has an open coffee counter with free snacks that aren't stale, and a recreation area that stocks the best of cinema journals apart from small gaming areas. The lifts and staircases done huge blow ups of Walt Disney at work, and his first hand painted or sketched versions of Mickey Mouse and pals.
Live Action is recreated on a character with as many as 200 variations per expression. Now if you are planning to calculate that, I suggest you don't. And to put things in perspective, a non geeky person like me was surprised that Bolt- the superdog could twitch his eyebrows in 200 different ways on Disney patented software even at my touch.
How does one put together an incredible database like that? Well, they get real dogs, about 13 breeds, make them walk on glass floors, take good care of them, even as animators study their moves and scan their footprints.
Of course, you might still feel that I am being condescending when I say India can't get there.But the whole point of my blog today, is NOT to point out that the facilities and infrastructure of Disney is awesome. I think, with loads of money, and the endless flow of cheap labour, we Can do that in India.
But what I am certain we Can't reciprocate is the simple quest for excellence. Be it the multi million dollar entertainment conglomerate or the juniourmost animator in a film's team, EVERYONE is hoping to do their absolute best. So while employers supply state of the art facilities, comforts to seat and lots of perks, creative teams don't mind extending work hours to produce an excellent film. Marketing teams will kill to keep their film on top priority, and promotions will give Disney films the ultimate push so that no one on planet earth missed them. Every eyebrow movement and every facial twitch will be mastered by each person working on that particular angle...
And now, lets pose this simple question? Even in 21st century corporate India, do we really work like that? Do we Always work to give our best? Or do we ponder on extended work sked, and shortened lunch breaks a little too often?
Our cinema is more often than not, a clear reflection of ingrown mediocrity. And that's why I don't think we can ever make a Disney film.
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