Animated Conversations
[Digi Art]

From being virtually non-existent to becoming an industry-in-the-making, animation finally seems to have taken off in Pakistan. Spider decided to talk to those involved – both veteran and promising newcomers – on how they see the current animation industry and the factors affecting its growth.

Company Profiles:
Sharp Image: Founded in 1994 by two entrepreneurs, Tahir Moosa and Amyn Farooqui, Sharp Image evolved from having its premises in a small 10x12 room to a state-of-the-art studio and lab equipped with facilities for 2D and 3D animations, design, post-production and special effects. Having built up its reputation over the years, Sharp Image has managed to carve a significant niche for itself in the market with its expertise in 3D animation and special effects and have completed more than 900 projects so far. Their clientele include high-profile companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, J. Walter Thompson, Page 33, WAM Films and Ambience Films.

Post Amazers: Generally acknowledged as the largest post-production and animations house in Pakistan, Post Amazers was established in January 2002 by Asif Iqbal with the objective of providing local producers and directors an alternative to going abroad for the post-production of their projects. Striving to provide a world-class standard, its services include a wide range of post-production, animation, art direction and broadcast design facilities. They have done work on the film Son of the Mask and gained popular acclaim after creating the character of “Captain Safeguard” for Unilever Pakistan.

Zeeshan Parwez: A resident of Peshawar and considered a “revolutionary” director by many die-hard fans, Zeeshan Parwez is a film-maker and music producer by profession with a Masters degree in Marketing from Peshawar University. Having founded an AV studio eponymously called Zeepar Studios, he has been making documentaries and music videos for several years. He has his own show on Indus Music called “On the Fringe”. He also has to his credit the “Freestyle Dive” video which won the Indus Music Award for Best Breakthrough Video.

Ali Kapadia: One of the most promising newcomers in the multimedia and animation industry, Ali wowed Pakistani viewers with the direction of his first video for the band Evolution’s song “Mujo Mei”. Holding a degree in Information Technology, Ali is also a double multimedia champion, having won the Softcom (ACM GIKI) for two years in a row (2003 and 2004). A perfectionist to the core with an experimental attitude, Ali’s area of expertise is actually interactive media.

Interview:

Q. How would you describe the animation industry in Pakistan as it stands right now?

Sharp Image: Generally speaking, it’s very good. I think the only difference at the moment (between the Pakistani industry and the international industry) is that of scale. And by scale, I mean there is less manpower, investment, time et cetera. If we start to take care of these factors and if money is invested, people will learn. The only thing that is lacking here is a background in art. Our “art” is not mature at this point when it comes to the animation industry. But yes, work is being done.

Post Amazers: Currently, I think it’s a very small industry, if I were to make a rough calculation, it would involve not more than a hundred talented, what I can call, professionals in this industry. So it’s a very small industry. In terms of business again, it is not a big industry. I would say not more than a million dollars. Which is worth nothing. I don’t think this industry is big enough to even be called an industry.

Zeeshan Parwez: You can't really call it an industry at the moment because the only animation work that is going on in this country supports a few major projects. A few brands such as Safeguard, who took the initiative to promote their product using traditional 3D animation as their target film for children... and it worked like anything. For my nephew, Spiderman and Captain Safeguard are one and the same thing. These projects are highly corporate-based because big organisations have the financial clout to carry out such a project. We would have had an animation industry if we had full-length cartoons as well as half-hour cartoon follow-ups, indie animation movies, anime festivals and more animated music videos. To my knowledge, I think there have been just five or six partially animated videos in this media boom period that we've been facing.

Ali Kapadia: Right now, we've got loads to learn. Not in terms of technicalities but in terms of aesthetics, standards and especially team building. I've seen the work of some of the most brilliant animators, designers and artists from Pakistan. But unfortunately, most of these people end up making cookies jump out of a box and into a cup of tea. When you turn on the TV, it seems as if these great artists don’t even exist. Anyone would say we are far behind but in reality we’re not. I think we are at a point where we are beginning to realise that importing expensive mega computers and learning all those techniques is not enough, we need something else. What we need is a special breed of people, crazy maniac people, rebels who argue against the current standards, who eventually get discarded by their own employers for their stubborn nature and end up working on their own experiments. Belief is an important role player here, belief in one's ideology and ideas.

Q. Has the industry been evolving? How?

Sharp Image: It is definitely advancing everyday. Compared to what has been done in the international market, there is still a lot that needs to be done and there is definitely room for improvement. If we get some truly enthusiastic people in this industry then that’s very good because it is a form of art. I don’t think the industry is in a mature phase right now but it is definitely a start. People are now becoming more and more aware.

Post Amazers: Before, I think some four years back, there was no such animation industry – in terms of anything happening in this country, in terms of character animation or story telling. The animation that was going on before was all about product animation. They made a Dalda container or a toothpaste tube – things like that, or anything related to the basic advertising component of animation. Until now animation has bee dependant on the advertising industry. I don’t think the advertising industry is the only one that can bring up the animation industry. The reason being that if you take animation to a higher level, then you are talking about children's programmes, feature films and other things which don’t currently exist.

Zeeshan Parwez: I can now rightfully say that animation standards and output quality are increasing day by day because post-production houses are delivering amazing work. There was nil evolution in the 1990s when a little bit of traditional 3D was used to replicate the product or animate the brand's name in many TV commercials. For me, real work started off some time around 2002 in most of the post-production houses. Since then, quality animation and compositing work is being done in TV commercials and promo movies. Many freelancers are getting modelling work from Hollywood as well.

Ali Kapadia: It has evolved enough to make a statement. The kid can speak now – big deal. People won’t pay attention until the kid says something interesting and for that, the kid's brain needs a certain type of intellect. Now, if there are some brains out there who disagree and branch out from the standard, they bear the pain of being the only people who adhere to their ideology. They will end up making a masterpiece that hasn’t been created to sell a soap but rather, is solely a piece of original imagination and belief. That is what makes industries evolve.

Q. What do you look for in an animator?

Sharp Image: To give expression to a character, you create lines. You can’t expect that from an MBA. It is a combination of art and science and hence is considered “digital art”. It may not be conventional art but it starts from conventional art. A person who has an inclination towards art and who has a developed aesthetic sense as a result of that interest is preferred.

Post Amazers: What we look for is basically traditional skills in art. So, we look for drawing, we look for sculpture or traditional painter. What happens as a result is that we get the basic talent and then 99 per cent of the time, we provide them with in-house training. Up till now, there has been no proper training for animation in this country. One should invest on people who have the skills to be an animator because animation is about feelings, it's about acting, it's about creating a life and a model, whether on paper or on a computer. We look for traditional fine art skills and not technical skills because the latter we can provide within six months to a year.

Ali Kapadia: Respect for details. It's all in the details. The more observant an artist is, the more detailed his artwork will be. Again, you need a personality that takes your mind far enough to fetch those details and then come up with an interesting way to implement them. You need to be a khuar.

Q. What would you tell someone who wants to enter the industry?

Sharp Image: If you want to do anything in animation, first acquire skills in traditional art. If it is too late, try to learn how to draw and develop your own aesthetic sense so that you may be aware of different perspectives, angles, proportions, anatomy et cetera. Because when you sit down to make something, everything comes out in a very haphazard manner. You may start out making a boy but might end up making a girl.

Post Amazers: Animation requires, like any other art, a lifelong observation and feeling about it. If a person decides to enter into it all of a sudden, then it won’t work. The good thing is that in every nation and every culture there is a certain percentage of people who are inclined towards art. If these people come, then they will be more successful than people who don’t have the observation or required skills. My advice would be that required skills and passion are mandatory. It’s a very tough profession takes a lot out of you. It’s not 9:00 am to 5:00 pm situation. Unless and until you are well equipped with the skills, it’s very difficult. So, until you have those skills, you cannot draw on a piece of paper and you cannot draw on a computer.

Zeeshan Parwez: What I can suggest is one should hit the books, install filter screens on their monitors (for long hours of work), have a proper mindset to achieve something, have coffee and then start their computers. I knew nothing about serious animation. I just had a clear way of how to go about it with 2D animation and I made "Freestyle Dive" without any help here in Peshawar. Man, if a lazy guy like me could do it, trust me, anyone can.

Ali Kapadia: There are two things to do. First, get yourself a dream. Without this, you are headed nowhere. Second, run towards your dream. Make your way towards it no matter what it takes. Negotiate with obstacles: start getting used to bearing physical limitations, staying tired, overworked, sleepy. You have to work like an insane maniac because there is no other way. Forget what the elders say. It's true, they really don’t know what’s best for you. In the words of Nadeem Farooq Paracha, "stop talking to your parents, start talking to your dog". It's stupid to say money makes the world go round. What makes the world go round is energy. It's not philosophy, just simple science.

First Published:
Spider
May 2006