ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
WHAT IS ANIMATION? Animation literally means "the state of being full of life" or "lively‘‘ and in terms of its practical application it denotes "the techniques of filming successive drawings or positions of models, to create a film giving an illusion of movement". It is the art of bringing something to life by using special effects, unbelievable graphics and exotic technologies. It is a world of amusing news, a world where even vindictiveness seems harmless. Animation is a unique genre. With its universal language, it is becoming important as it gives soul to the character and create moving images. Technically speaking, animation refers to a sequence of frames which, when played in a systematic sequence, at a particular speed, presents a smoothly moving image as in a film or a video. An animation can be in the form of digitalized video or computer based graphics, or a combination of both. Its application is varied and ranges from special effects in films and television to modeling and animation for computer games, for engineering or legal studies, etc. Animation is certainly not a child's play. Besides meticulous planning and coordination of several activities, hours are required to create a single second of animation film. That is why, a typical Hollywood movie needs the services of 7001
ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
800 animators. The advent of animation took place in Hollywood first, when blockbusters like 'Batsman' and 'Stuart little' attracted the eyeballs of public. In India, few animated characters like 'Moogli', 'Chacha Chaudhary' made their mark in early 90's. Animation, contrary to what many people think, has a long and illustrious history of its own. Ancient Egyptian excavations reveal that the Egyptians did extensive wall decoration way back in 2000 B.C. Even the Greek, in their ancient paintings and drawings reveal a fascinating sense of imagination. Leonardo Da Vinci has used some form of animation in his famous illustrations. The Japanese have used scrolls to tell stories from ancient times. The ideas behind animation are not a recent phenomenon and have existed for centuries now. With the increasing impact of technology, the face of animation has been revolutionized. It has been mankind's quest from the beginning of time to capture the sense of motion in art. This gave rise to ancient paintings which could be found in caves. One has heard of such drawings associated with several civilizations of the past. A Frenchman named Paul Roget invented something known as the thaumatrope, which was a disc with a string attached to both sides. One side of the disc had the drawing of a bird and the other side an empty cage. When the disc was twirled using the strings, the bird appeared as if it was inside the cage. Such early inventions were forerunners to the present day animation. Decades later, the advent of computers and software literally changed the way animation was done. Now literally nothing is impossible as far as animation goes. Using current animation software, one can create mind boggling animation. Hollywood is full of animation pioneers. In fact, who can forget Walt Disney's innumerable animated characters, which have become American icons. Animations have become more realistic in the sense that one can virtually duplicate real life situations using state-of-the-art animation software.
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INTRODUCTION
How to do you feel when you witness attractive advertisements like that of pidilite industries for their flagship brand Fevicol? How do you react when adventurous advertisements are shown to promote Mountain Dew or Thumbs Up? All these attractive way of promoting has caught the attention of a common man. It‘s not that he or she is appreciating only the commercial but his imagination goes wild when he is explained the nitty-gritty of making an advertisement. Advertising
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agencies are no more plain vanilla creativity in terms of preparing an attractive artwork and showcasing the same in the print or the electronic medium. The emergence of Internet and the development of specialized software packages, is not only complimenting the capabilities of the creative people with lateral thinking, even the populace with a flair for the advertisement industry, having the necessary skill sets in computers can opt for this glossy career option. Multimedia is one such tool, which is being leveraged by the advertisement industry for creating new highs. The need for a specialized advertisement agency with a clientservicing department, the creative guys is being provided by companies like O&M, Lowe-Lintas, Mudra, Percept D Mark, Mudra and many others who are having renowned players from across sectors as their clientele. There are many large and small advertising agencies to meet the needs generated by automotive companies to even the pharmaceutical players, which support multimedia as one of their component for marketing and advertising their products. With so many to choose from, one might wonder how to pick one of the best advertising agency to handle the business as per customer‘s need. There are lot many criteria to consider before a agency has to be chosen for advertising a product through multimedia like how big is the account, how much money to be spent etc. A customer might need a local company that knows the area and its demographics or might prefer a company that has national and international offices. If the customer is too far away from an agency, then the appointment is taken online. Multimedia, as the name itself suggests is a platform where many media or entities are combined together to form a new component. These entities can be text, color, images, sound, video and animations, which are used by advertising agencies for creation of product ad for an organization. Many of the ad agencies are opting for animation video ad instead of moving picture video ad, due to the fact that animation ad takes less time for creation, editing and authoring and it also reduces the cost of making the ad films as extra money is not paid to models for the acting, contribution and performance in making of that particular ad film. Digital media management can be confusing to one person and simplistic to another. If a person fall in first category, they might want to look into the newest software programs that make this subject not so complicated. Media management
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covers many subjects, including advertising agency management. Effective digital media management might help to create and market content faster and with more efficiency through various media platform like TV, radio and Internet along with the newest devices as digital TVs and DVDs. Now a days, 3 D modeling and 3 D animation are also used extensively by ad agencies for making of a ad film due to its more interactive-ness and virtual reality in the animation world. Due to animation industry, marketing of different FMCG products becomes easy and attracts consumers as the demonstration of the product is directly in front of customers through different TV channels, movie theatre, cable network etc. It is promoted through the concept of product modeling where the virtual view and working of a product is presented in front of consumers, distributed through CDs or DVDs, and is much more effective. It also checks for manual demonstrating system. Advertising on TV gets you the best coverage in the advertising world. Careers in multimedia required in ad agencies comprises of digital photographer and editor, virtual reality environment designer to multimedia production designer, depending upon the nature of projects and tools used for that particular project. Video editing is one of the important phases where the output is manipulated accordingly. It can be referred to the process of selecting and re-recording only that footage you want to keep and getting rid of the rest. It also includes the complete postproduction process including titling, special effects etc. There are many products available to help with either of these processes. Many people have attempted to study the effectiveness of multimedia to decide how best to use multimedia in-order to achieve the goals of ad agencies, in the field of management for informing, improving retention or convincing audiences and consumers. If multimedia could be shown to be effective, software companies could sell more multimedia packages, which in turn could drive managerial and advertising skills of professionals. Companies could rest easy knowing that multimedia advertisements were indeed convincing their customers and news delivery system and service provider would know that they are competitive in using multimedia. It would attract maximum eyeballs resulting in footfalls at the store followed by sales. 2M or Multimedia and Management can be effectively intertwined among each other for a lasting impression in the consumer‘s mind.
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HISTORY OF ANIMATION
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The following are the years of its evolution:
1645 – 1879: 1645
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The magic lantern is invented.
1879
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Eadweard Muybridge - a British photographer, invented the zoopraxiscope.
1885 – 1899: 1887
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Thomas Edison started research work into motion pictures
1897
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The history of clay animation appears , when a pliable, oil-based modeling clay called "plasticine" was invented.
1898
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George Melies - A French illusionist, is credited as the first artist to make objects move. He animated letters of the alphabet. 1900 – 1909:
1900
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James Stuart Blackton - an Amercian, was able to speed up caricature by modifying objects during a pause in the crank of the camera Edson filmakers in the film The Bombardment of Taku Forts by the Allied Fleets produce one of the earliest uses of minature speical effects.
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ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
1909
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Winsor McCay produced the cartoon Gertie the Trained Dinosaur which consisted of 10, 000 diagrams. The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) was formed in the United States.
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1910 – 1919: 1910
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Willis O'Brien - an American substituted india rubber for clay figurines and made figurines equipped with metal skeletons and made films mixing live actors with animated characters. Julius Pinschewer - a German focused on the idea of using animation in advertising mixing object animation with live-action
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1911
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Winsor McCay's live action animated short Little Nemo debuts.
1919
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Robert Collard (Lortac) - a French fine arts student, organized the first animation studio Otto Messmer- an American, produces Feline Follies - animated silent shorts, featuring Felix for Paramount's newsreel which resulted in the longest lasting case of embezzlement in the history of cinema. Felix has been described as a great example of animated mine that did not require situations or comic accidents to cause the audience to laugh. 1920 – 1929:
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1920
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Walt Disney finds employment with a Kansas City Film Ad Company.
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Optical printing equipment is introduced which improves the use of photgraphic special effects allowing for reverse action, freeze frames , wipes and zoom simulations.
1923
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Walt Disney utilized Max Fleischer's technique of combining live action with cartoon characters in the film Alice's Wonderland. Felix the Cat stars in Felix in Fairyland produced by Otto Messmer. The Max Fleischer organization streamlined the animation process be introducing inbetweeners - rookie animators who filled in the action between the extremes drawn by the key animators. Walt Disney Production is founded in Los Angeles, California. 1950 – 1959:
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1950
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The animated movie Cinderella is produced by Walt Disney. Curt Oertel's The Titan is released which was based on limited animation achieved by ediitng and selective photographic treatment of static art.
1951
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The animated movie Alice in Wonderland is produced by Walt Disney. UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing wins an Academy award for best short subject cartoon. 1960 – 1969:
1960 The Flintstones- created by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, was the first animated television show to be broadcast in prime time and imitates the live action show The Honeymooners.
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ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
1964
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Director Blake Edwards commissioned titles for the film The Pink Panther which lead to a series of shorts featuring the pink cat. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Adventures on Jonny Quest which debuts on television.
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1965
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Filmation produces the series Superman.
1966
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The Jungle Book was released one year after the death of Walt Disney
1967
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Stan Lee's character Spiderman appears on the television screen 1990 – 1999:
1990
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The Simpsons debuts as a prime time television cartoon show. The animated movie Jetsons: The Movie was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.
1992
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The animated movie Alladin debuts directed by John Musker and Ron Clements 2004
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Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Matthew Lillard, Neil fanning and Sarah Gellar. Andrew Adamson directs Shrek 2 which stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.
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SCOPE IN ANIMATION
Animation rumble up the world and it is becoming essence of the time. The boom in the arena of animation has affected all the segments in the genre. Presently it has explored the world of: Entertainment world Game development. Entertainment world: Whether it is TV soap, news media or film industry, animation is becoming very popular because practically every TV channel wants to present its stories in animated format. Scope in entertainment sector is increasing. One can start his/ her career by working as a story board artist, background designer, and modeler and so on. Today, a number of institutes provide specialized training in film animation that can easily enroll in the glamorous field of entertainment. Game development: Game development industry has emerged as one of the strongest beneficiaries of 3D technology and this has again spawned the companies like Sony and Microsoft into action with their competitive games. In fact, games market is thrice the size of Hollywood movie industry. Games have made their presence in hundred of homes and opened up another fascinated field for animators. The future of gaming is bright in India. People with creative minds can give a try. 2D and 3D animation: In simple words, 2D means two dimensional. By using this technology, image can be seen from two dimensions only. 3D refers to three dimensions, by the help of which, an image can be viewed from three dimensions. To understand it in a better manner, we can say, 2D refers to a square drawn on a piece of paper where only the length and breadth of it can be seen while a cube is an example of 3D figure which shows its length, breadth as well as height. In other words, "the creation, display and manipulation of objects on computer in two dimensions" is called 2D. Here, objects can be seen when constructed from two dimensions only (height and width, rows and
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columns, etc.). On the other hand, 3D technology helps in animating objects that appear in a three dimensional space. They can be rotated and moved like a real object. Earlier, animated images could be viewed in two dimensions only but advent of 3D technology has revolutionized the world of animation. How it works? Prior to the advent of computer, artists used to sketch the figures on paper first and these hand-sketched frames were then moved very fast in front of a projector so as to give the impression of fast and uninterrupted movements. But, the process faced a limitation of being confined to the particular scene within a given space. Another drawback was that the details of movement could not be drawn. Also, this process was very tedious. The artist had to hand draw the scene character numerous times and he could not afford to be inconsistent even to a small degree. But, now these sketches are made on computer thereby enabling the artist to make drawings in an effortless manner. After the structuring of models, they are textured, titled and finally animated as per requirement of the story. And then, animation is rendered or processed as a picture (or frames) which are coupled with the audio and final product is ready. Use of modern animation techniques have widened up its scope. Now, animation is not confined to movies. It has entered the numerous fields where opportunities for upcoming animators are likely to grow up exponentially. As per a study conducted by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) study, the Indian animation industry is at $550 million and is expected to touch the growth rate of 30 % annually by the year 2008. This study reveals that India will receive more than $2 billion worth of animation business in next three years.
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ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
To meet the demand of industry, more than 20,000 job opportunities are waiting to come up in the next three years. Wide application of animation, right from the movies, entertainment to education and other areas like TV, business, product promotion, websites, architecture and virtual reality has contributed a lot to its growth. 2D and 3D Artists: An Art department requires artists who can work with 2D and 3D computer techniques. If you want to opt for this section of the gaming industry, first you should choose a specific dimension i.e. 2D or 3D.20 artists usually make tiles, textures and skins that are further used by 3D models. Basically, they create concept sketches for games which is the initial stage in the game development process. Depending on the type of game, 2D artist can also experiment with several things, like painted backdrops, skyboxes or even with other creative things. 2D Artist must be familiar with designing softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro Painter and other common 2D art programs. Another career option in this department is to work as a 3D artist, who often makes models i.e. basic characters of the games. These characters can range from humans to vehicles to inanimated objects, depending on the requirements of the game. It is essential for 3D artist to have a proper knowledge of 3D software like 3D Studio Max, Softimage and Maya with a discerning eye for its effective application so as to chalk out animated characters with a difference.Next career option is to be an animator. An animator is the most important person in a gaming company who provides movements to the humanoids, or animals, birds and other creatures in 3D games. They first build up models within the polygon limitations of the game engine and then apply animation techniques that help in preparing the final structure of the game. Gaming industry has no space for errors .as it thrives on perfection which can only be achieved through hardcore and meticulous practice. That is why, handson experience, with impressive portfolio, is highly demanded in this industry. Thus gaining experience the initial stages of your career should be your prime consideration rather than heavy pay cheque.
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ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
INDIAN SCENARIO OF ANIMATIONS
In the past, Indian animation market was not as big as it is now. The activities on this front began only in the late 90's when animation studios made their appearance in the country and the industry developed an expert outlook. Now, our country is waking up to host the enormous opportunities that promise a bright future.
An NASSCOM study depicts that the availability of technical manpower to meet the 2D and 3D animation requirements, lower costs of animation production, desirable real estate, increasing demand of animation in entertainment industry are some of the forces that is going to shape the development of animation
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ANIMATIONS IN ADVERTISING
industry in India. India - a Hot Spot for Animation Industry: English speaking manpower India has sufficient English knowing manpower. This is particularly beneficial when the work is outsourced to India. Moreover, numbers of initiatives are underway in the country for producing skilled English speaking manpower for the animation market. Presence of well equipped animation studios Many metro cities in India have hi-tech animation studios and their number is steadily increasing. These studios have all the world class facilities with appropriate hardware, software and communication infrastructure. These studios are successfully meeting the deadlines of the projects from overseas companies because of sufficient creative and skilled animators. Low cost of animation services As compared to countries like US, Canada, Korea and Philippines, Indian has relatively lowest cost in terms of animation techniques. NASSCOM study reveals that the rate of production of half an hour TV animation program is around US$250,000-400,000 in US and Canada while it is only. $ 60,000 in India. India's growing entertainment sector Owing to the prolific entertainment segment, India has a huge potential to expand the use of animation techniques in this sector. Hence, animation has a bright future in entertainment world too. Animation has been a major money churner in most of the countries and India has taken a lead in 2D and 3D computer generation animation with an added advantage of cheap and English speaking workforce. Gradually, our country is turning to be a hunting ground for the western world. And, the international animation industry is looking towards Asian nations as the cost of real estate, studio space and outdoor location in thir country sky rockets. Credit goes to India's IT expertise and creative manpower, combined with the
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entrepreneurial drive, making it well positioned to grasp the attention of this fast growing industry. The rapid growth of mobile devices, increasing number of personal computers and the greater use of animation in movies are contributing to the growth of domestic market. As such, trained man power is in demand for achieving such initiatives. Career Options The moment we talk about career in this field, a single word ?Animator‘ dominates our thinking as if it is the only option. But the fact is, multimedia has become one-stop solution for today's communication demands. With its ability to mix up various media elements like text, graphics, animation, audio and video with computer interactivity, it has found its feet well placed in numerous fields, ranging from entertainment and movies to educational tutors. Animation is one of the components of multimedia in which opportunities have sprung up in recent time. The world of animation is abuzz with creative opportunities. Anyone who is creative and innovative in his approach and knows basic computer skills could try hands in this booming industry. Animation has as wide spectrum as anyone could even think of. Tools of animation are used in various fields, from special effects, virtual reality to games and interior designing. Animation was not as rewarding a career in the past as it is now, having a wide range of career opportunities. If one goes deep into the world of animation, one would definitely find that with the application of animation education could be a fun. And, learning this fun makes you professional from an ordinary individual.
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FILM ANIMATION
Till recently, animation in India was in its infancy as compared to countries such as US, Canada, Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea. Now it is fast emerging as a mega base for outsourcing animation and digital special effects for Hollywood blockbusters and global studios like Disney pictures, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, John Carey.
Haven't you noticed the film world being overrun by cartoon characters, right from the' Toy Story' to 'A Bugs and Life' and then to 'Shark Tales', Animation is no more confined to the kid's corridor, but it has also found a firm ground in mainstream cinema, advertising, TV, gaming Industry receing a huge applaud from all corners of the world. Use of animation in film industry is on the rise. This is evident from the path breaking
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success of animated movies like, 'The Incredible', 'Shrek' or 'Finding Nemo', while in regular films like 'Titanic', 'The Matrix', 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter' where the series extensively relied upon digital photography and animation to bring alive breathtaking scenes, monsters and fight sequences. While the animated movies are creating ripples all over the world, India is not lagging behind in catching up the spark. The production of Ramayana- The Legend of Prince Ram', 'Sandbar', 'Hum Tum', 'Pandavas-The Five Warriors' and 'Hanuman', gives testimony to the fact that the Indian animation industry is fast catching up. So much so, it has gr-asped the attention of US studios and won prestigious awards. In fact the leading animators for the Hollywood blockbusters like 'Antz', 'Batman', 'Titanic' and 'Broken Arrow' were Indians. Skilled manpower in the area of film animation is in great demand in Bollywood too. Opportunities Abroad True, Hollywood is becoming a popular destination for Bollywood stars but the actual link between the entertainment industry of the West and India lies more in virtual settings that is in animation and special effect industry because India has become one of the favorite places for best animation services at an affordable price. For instance, Technical Head of a Hollywood hit 'The Incredible' was an Indian, a Gujarat-born guy, Kamal Mistry. Special effects in 'Chronicles of Narnia' were contributed by Mumbaibased company 'Rhythm & Hues'. Moreover, a Chennai based special effect specialist, N. Madhusudhanan, has given a classic look to a major Hollywood hit 'Lord of the Rings'. There are several other instances like, 'The Mummy' and 'Stuart Little' movies where special effects were contributed by India based Company, Maya Entertainment. 'Gladiator', 'Spiderman', 'The Nutty Professor 2', 'Titanic', 'Independence Day', and 'Men in Black' are few other examples. All these details indicate the growing demand for Indian animators abroad. Nothing surprising, more and more western nations are heading towards India in search of good
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animators. Perhaps the fact that India is known for its multicultural and multiartistic human resource. Film animation has opened up another important area for upcoming animators where India is known for producing best animators of the world. How it is used in film industry? Let's have a look at how animation work in movies. Animation is an art of moving objects on screen as if they are living. Animated movies are created by the sequences of drawings or computer graphics and processed at a high speed so that they appear as moving. In films, animation graphics are used to stimulate real events in order to make the visuals eye-catching, interesting and entertaining to the viewers by adding up special effects and other animation techniques. For instance, when 'hero' appears as riding a horse at an amazing speed, actually his speed is much lower than what we see on our screen. Or a vehicle which is in a standstill position is shown as moving at a high speed. In fact behind these wonderful feats is none other than animation that makes all this possible. Essential skills for a film animator It is said that animators are not made, they are born. Film Animators use their imagination and drawing skills to create moving images and apply effects in feature films, TV commercials, cartoons, motion graphics and short features to make it eye-catching for the viewers. Artistic and imaginative bent of mind enables a film animator to generate new ideas and his flair for drawing transforms those ideas into sketches. Aesthetic sense helps you to gear up your career in animation. No doubt, computer can help you in designing or creating images, but you must know what you want to design or create with the help of a computer.Due to emergence of computer and 3D animation technology, computer training in animation and ability to make use of different animation softwares has become crucial. Apart from this, art of using colours and proper knowledge of texture is necessary. A eye for good visuals and an understanding of the cinema language is equally important.
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Great deal of patience, hard work and stamina to work on computer for long hours is a part of work culuture in this field. Career Options Some of the career options for which an animator can opt in film industry are as follows: Designers who design storyboards or make sketches for reference and with the help of which the characters are animated. Modelers: The main job of a modeler is to enable the movement of characters so as to bring life in them. Composer His/her main job is to put different layers together and shape the final product. Besides Designers and Modelers, there are many other hands behind special effects and animated scenes, such as specialists in texturing, lighting, creating background and surroundings of the characters. According to the industry insiders, there is an acute shortage of people with professional skills in studios and ad agencies which always look for the professional trained and skilled manpower. Eligibility Basic qualification for getting trained in this field is 10+2 and working knowledge of computer applications. Graduation in Fine Art, Applied Art, Animation Design or Visual Communication gives you an edge. One can get trained from various institute offering courses in 3D animation. But, if you want to specialize in film animation, it is better if you go for specialized course in Special Effects or Character Design, which is offered by many reputed animation schools in the country and abroad.
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ANIMATED TELEVISION COMMERCIALS: 1940-1965
According to ?Noell Wolfgram Evans‘, if you want to get an immediate response from someone walk into a room and say 'Superfriends' or 'Flintstones' or 'Smurfs'. You'll elicit instant memories and conversation from those around you. In fact, there may not be a better phrase to break the ice at a party than 'What was with that Scrappy-Doo?' There is something about television animation that binds us together. It's like we've all been through some special initiation, and now we're bound together by it. For a completely different reaction, walk into a room and bring up the Trix Rabbit, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean or Cap'n Crunch. You'll see even the unlikeliest people spin around faster, talk with more passion and move about in excitement. The extra buzz from these characters comes because they represent a special form of animation: television advertising. Advertising animation is special because it's fleeting, stopping on the screen for only a few seconds before disappearing, sometimes never to be seen again. Because of its short time frame, it needs to be as packed with entertainment and information as it can be. And because of the sheer number of commercials, each needs to be as different and as grabbing as possible. It's not though just the information packed inside an animated advertisement, it's also the way that the information comes at you. An animated program encompasses both sight and sound. For those shows that also have toys (or books or…) associated with them, we are allowed the extra bonus of touch. Commercials offer this and so much more. These too bring your sight and sound skills into play, but with these forms of entertainment you are not meant to
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just react to what you see (as you would react to a television program), rather these call you out to be proactive. They ask you to go out and buy their products and then (in many cases) eat what you bought; they invite you to be a complete participant in their world. This full sensory inclusion makes animated commercials an important part of television and a key piece of your memory. When you consider how many commercials have been run on television and how many of those have been animated, the numbers can hurt your brain. For an idea of how many commercials are in fact run each year consider that in 2000 more than 1.3 million ads for cereal alone ran on American television (that averages to just over 25 hours a day). Multiply this out by the number of products that are produced and you can see just how staggering these numbers are. Animation and television have been linked from the beginning. It's been said that the first image ever broadcast was a picture of Felix the Cat. With the medium literally starting with animation it should be no surprise that animated commercials were an early stable of television broadcasting. In 1941, with television still feeling it's way around and with less than 5,000 TV sets across the country, the first animated commercial was broadcast. It was in September of that year when the animated Botany Lamb first pranced across television screens to promote Botany Mills ties (as well as forecast the weather). There were seven of these spots produced for this original campaign, but the series its self continued through 1948. It was produced by Douglas Leigh but, in an interesting connection with that first ever television broadcast, was animated and directed by Otto Messmer (the creator of Felix the Cat). As the decade wore on more and more companies went the way of animated advertising. Not all of the work produced during this time was full-fledged 'theatrical' style animation. The Fletcher Smith Studios produced a campaign in 1946 for a raceway where they took horses and animated their mouths to make it appear as if they were talking. Other studios utilized stop motion animation to sell their products. Many of these ads, were completely realized as they were produced with budgets ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 dollars. This was top money for
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the time and was used to attract top talent. As an example: in 1947 Shamus Culhane Productions produced a popular ad for Ajax. The Ajax Elves were animated by Grim Natwick (the 'creator' of Betty Boop and the animator of Snow White) and Art Babbit (who had animated Goofy among other stars) and voiced by June Foray (who would go on to star in numerous Jay Ward cartoons) and Hans Conreid (the voice of Captain Hook and many other cartoon stars) among others. Due to it's ability to show nearly anything (people flying, animals talking, inanimate objects dancing around), it's eye catching appeal, relative low cost and deep talent pool, animation soon became the preferred way to advertise on television. Over a short span of time Coke, Plymouth, Tide, Alka Seltzer (even those who were not born at the time can recognize Speedy), Keds, Skippy Peanut Butter and Canada Dry were all some of the many popular ads. Many of the animated ads would have caused an outcry today. Animation populated the television screens of American selling Camel Cigarettes, Kools Cigarettes and Hamm's Beer featuring the Beer Bear. The Piel's Beer ads (which were promoted by the animated characters of Bert and Harry Piel) were so popular that the New York Times would list out when they would be aired. The list of advertisers who used animation to sell their products continued to expand as more and more companies jumped in with television. As the years have gone by though, this list has shrunken considerably with many advertisers preferring to go the live action route, relying more and more on special effects (which often does utilize some form of animation) and outrageous humor. Over all this time, there has though been one consistent group of animated advertisers: cereal producers. Breakfast cereal has been a part of the mass media since the beginning. Most of the major companies had sponsored radio shows during the 30's and 40's. As television grew in popularity, they realized that if they were going to keep their market presence, they were going to have to go to where the people were. Rather than deal with the production hassles of producing their own 'complete' program (in a medium that had such a large learning curve), they opted to instead take the role of sponsor. It was not a passive role though as the companies and their advertising agencies were an active part in everything that went into the production of a show. Part of this sponsorship included of course commercials the cereal companies were one of the first groups to jump on the idea of using animation to sell their products. In 1949 Bill Tytla created an ad for (Post) Sugar Crisp cereal. The cereal was not very memorable, but the ad, featuring three bears, was the start of a phenomenon.
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Tytla couldn't have realized it at the time, but his commercial opened the floodgates for animated advertising as it helped to get advertisers (particularly cereal advertisers) thinking about how they could reach children. It also helped lay the groundwork for the Saturday morning memories of many a child. It didn't take long for other advertisers and cereal companies to get their characters on the screen. In 1951 Kellogg's was advertising Sugar Frosted Flakes, while Post debuted Captain Jolly (who sold CornFetti). By the end of 1954 Cheerios, Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Snap, Crackle and Pop were all popular program interruptions. Marky Maypo, perhaps the biggest early animated cereal star, debuted in 1956. These ads for Maypo were the creation of StoryBoard which was founded and led by John Hubley. The ads were so popular that Maypo sales increased by 78 percent and the tagline 'I want my Maypo' became an instant catchphrase. In this popularity, the marriage of medium and consumer was consummated. As television continued to grow, so did the popularity of using animation as an advertising form. The format became so successful and influential that many political action and moral patrol groups began to seriously monitor its usage for fear that advertisers were 'preying' on the minds of the youth. It's an argument that continues to rage on. It continues though in the face of evolving technology that only pushes even further the ways animation can be used in the medium. With all of this new technology, one is left to wonder what the past masters would have created, had they had these tools at their fingertips.
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HIGHLIGHTS IN THE HISTORY OF COCA-COLA TELEVISION ADVERTISING
The D'Arcy Era, 1950-1956 The first television ad created for The Coca-Cola Company was produced in conjunction with a television special featuring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on Thanksgiving Day, 1950. The sponsorship of this program and its advertising were both by the D'Arcy Agency of St. Louis. D'Arcy had been the
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advertising agency for The Coca-Cola Company since 1906, when William C. D'Arcy persuaded Coca-Cola to begin a newspaper campaign. From that modest beginning developed a fifty-year relationship. For much of that time, Arthur (Archie) Lee was the creative chief at D'Arcy who oversaw the account and created such memorable slogans for Coca-Cola as "the pause that refreshes." Television advertising was initially an experimental medium for The Coca-Cola Company and D'Arcy. Both struggled to develop a strategy to reach consumers effectively at a time when few cities had television stations. One approach was through sponsored programs that offered the opportunity for The Coca-Cola Company to expand relationships with performers from its radio programming. The initial Edgar Bergen special was quickly followed by sponsorship of Walt Disney's television premiere on Christmas Day, 1950, One Hour in Wonderland, and the next three years saw Coca-Cola sponsor the Western genre program The Adventures of Kit Carson and Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, a variety program. Nevertheless, Coca-Cola struggled with television advertising. In 1953, an internal memo in the company's Advertising Department begged for time to develop a strategy to reach consumers through the new medium, and D'Arcy had difficulty developing effective advertising outside of the sponsored programming. In that same year, 1953, D'Arcy developed three basic types of television ads. In one type, The Coca-Cola Company offered station-identification slides that aired for up to twenty seconds. These generally featured a piece of advertising art with the station call letters, accompanied by a voice-over announcement. D'Arcy also created its first live-action motion-picture films, in twenty-second and one-minute versions. The twenty-second spots featured in this online collection were made in what D'Arcy described as "stop motion" technique, in which "the objects shown in each one (bottles, sandwiches, a telephone, a typewriter, etc.) move and perform action by themselves without the presence of live actors. The result is a series of fresh and novel spots sure to attract a lot of attention and interest." From D'Arcy to McCann, 1956-1969 D'Arcy was a highly regarded print advertising agency, but its struggles to incorporate new media, coupled with the deaths of William D'Arcy and Archie Lee by 1950, led The Coca-Cola Company to search for new talent. In 1956 the
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company's advertising account was transferred to McCann-Erickson. D'Arcy closed and commemorated its fifty years of work with Coca-Cola in a print ad that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 2, 1956. McCann launched two campaigns during the 1950s, "The Sign of Good Taste" and "Be Really Refreshed". Both used television to the fullest with a variety of advertising formats including animation, stop motion, and live-action ads featuring such performers as the McGuire Sisters, Connie Francis, Emmett Kelly, Anita Bryant, and the Brothers Four. The number of ads and their production values rose dramatically from 1956 to 1963. In 1963, McCann hit its stride with a campaign that proved to have worldwide appeal, "Things Go Better with Coke." The words and music for the slogan at the heart of the campaign were written by McCann's creative director, Bill Backer, and performed by the popular folk-revival group the Limelighters. By design, the words also translated readily into almost any language, allowing the slogan to travel the world. McCann also began experimenting with a new television technology, color advertising. Uncertain about how to show the product in the best way possible, McCann-Erickson commissioned a reel of experimental film that depicted CocaCola in bottles, glasses, and cans in a variety of settings and lighting arrangements. Throughout the 1960s, advertising for Coca-Cola on both radio and television reflected the changing forces in society. The "Things Go Better with Coke" campaign was adapted to the youth market by allowing a number of popular-music artists to modify and perform the song. Radio commercials were also recorded by the Supremes, Jay and the Americans, the Moody Blues, Jan and Dean, Roy Orbison, Petula Clark, and (on both television and radio) Ray Charles. The decade ended with what was perhaps the most successful television ad campaign for Coca-
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Cola, the so-called "Hilltop" commercial featuring the song "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke." Coke Adds Life and Mean Joe Greene In May 1976, The Coca-Cola Company introduced a new Coke ad campaign, touting the brand as the soft drink for all occasions. Aimed at the young and young-at-heart, the new campaign, "Coke Adds Life to …," was designed to show viewers that CocaCola added simple enjoyment to life. The campaign itself was hardly simple. Development of "Coke Adds Life to …" began in 1973 with consumer research studies and lasted three years. The campaign's creative team came up with nearly a hundred copy lines, different ways of conveying what they wished to communicate as the basic promise of Coca-Cola. The group then talked to young people to get their reaction to the lines. The researchers from Coca-Cola and McCann-Erickson found that the lines "Coke adds a little life" or "Coke adds life" resonated with the public. "Coke Adds Life" emphasized refreshment and tried to show Coke as the perfect accompaniment to food, fun, and leisure. The campaign highlighted the soft drink's role in many situations common to consumers around the globe, and the campaign's theme was adapted to appeal to a worldwide audience. While CocaCola often produced advertising in the United States that was adapted for international use, in 1978 the company adapted two overseas "Coke Adds Life" spots—from Italy and Brazil—for U.S. audiences. The Italian ad, "Flirting," follows the attempts of a young man to meet the one who will be his special girl. The viewer also sees the romantic pursuits of others both young and old. The message is that Coke helps pave the way to romance. After "Coke Adds Life," the stage was set for a new advertising campaign for Coca-Cola, "Have a Coke and a Smile," which further emphasized the reliability and reward in drinking Coca-Cola. The new campaign was announced in commercials featuring Bob Hope and Bill Cosby, who explained the idea of "Have a Coke and a Smile" and encouraged viewers to watch for the new advertising.
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The campaign centered around a single melody and one set of lyrics. For television, the music served as a background for dozens of vignettes featuring people from many walks of life drinking Coca-Cola while working or relaxing. One such ad, released on October 1, 1979, became one of the most famous Coke commercials, captivating audiences almost as much as had the "Hilltop" commercial eight years earlier. The ad proved to be immensely popular, sparking a surge of letters to The CocaCola Company. It won the 1979 CLIO award in the world's largest advertising awards competition, and Greene took home the award for best actor in the same contest. The Coca-Cola Company followed up with a promotion to "win the shirt off my back," distributing thousands of replica jerseys to winning entrants. It also adapted the ad's concept to other parts of the world: Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand all produced versions of the commercial following the same plot line but featuring renowned football (soccer) players from each country, such as national soccer champion Niwat in Thailand. "Mean Joe Greene" concluded its life as a made-for-TV movie that aired on NBCTV on November 8, 1981. Joe Greene starred in the movie, but the part of the young boy was played by Henry Thomas, who later went on to star in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. The movie recreated the ad and told the story of what happened after the ad ended. Coke is It! and New Coke In early 1982, Coca-Cola launched a new ad campaign, "Coke Is It!," with an emphasis on the product's qualities of taste and refreshment. The direct, positive statement "Coke Is It!" was meant to appeal to the forthright mood of Americans in the 1980s. "Coke Is It!" played on themes of previous ad campaigns, stressing the quality, the enjoyment, and especially the anticipation of drinking a Coca-Cola. Ironically, the introduction of "new Coke" demonstrated in unexpected ways that after ninety-nine years, Coke had indeed become part of the tapestry of American life. When The Coca-Cola Company introduced a new taste for Coke in North America in 1985, television advertising helped launch it. The public, however, demanded the return of the traditional drink, so vehemently that the company was obliged to bring it back–renamed as "Coca-Cola classic."
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Two Tastes and Two Campaigns With both the new Coke and Coca-Cola classic in the marketplace, The Coca-Cola Company needed two distinct ad campaigns. Introduced in 1986, the "Catch the Wave" campaign for the new taste of Coke strove to be youthful, leading-edge, and competitive. For Coca-Cola classic, the "Red, White and You" campaign emphasized that drink's broad appeal and the emotional attachment it generated. At the same time, it attempted to celebrate contemporary American lifestyles and a modern American spirit. The campaign was aimed at an extremely broad audience: all soft drink consumers age twelve and up, with an emphasis on the 18-to-34 age group. In surveys at the time, seventy-five percent of respondents said they considered Coca-Cola classic a symbol of America. The "Red, White and You" theme was a natural consequence. The campaign was created by the New York-based ad agency SSC&B Lintas. SSC&B went to unusual shooting locations to produce four TV spots: "Rhythm and Blues," "Young Rock," "Big City Lights/Jazz," and "Small Town/Country." The shoots captured a mix of recognizable landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Coca-Cola neon sign in New York's Times Square. The accompanying vignettes included Olympic gold medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks, a glimpse of the Winter Garden Theatre set of the Broadway musical Cats, and early-morning neighborhood newspaper deliveries set against the San Francisco skyline. The casting for the ads was also unusual: along with traditional professional casting for actors and actresses, producers sought ordinary people playing everyday roles. The choreographer, for example, toured Southern California night spots looking for talented dancers. The "Catch the Wave" campaign for new Coke, created by McCann-Erickson New York, aimed to connect with an emerging youth-oriented target audience. The contemporary nature of "Catch the Wave" sent what its creators hoped was a clear message: to drink the "in" taste, to identify with the "in" image, drink Coca-Cola. Accordingly, to appeal to America's youth, The Coca-Cola Company enlisted an unusual "spokesman": Max Headroom, a computerized character with a
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synthesized voice. Headroom, created by London video producers Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, was originally intended for use in music videos. Actor Matt Frewer played the role and helped Headroom earn his status as a new-wave hero. Playing with Polar Bears In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company made a dramatic shift in its advertising by introducing the "Always Coca-Cola" campaign, by Creative Artists Agency and later Edge Creative. The campaign was a diverse one, with an initial run of twentyseven commercials designed to appeal to specific audiences. The ads ran around the world and included a variety of innovative technical approaches, such as computer animation. One such commercial, "Northern Lights," introduced what would become one of the most popular symbols of Coca-Cola advertising: the animated polar bear. As with all television commercials, the process began with storyboards, which were illustrated by Eugene Yelchin from Mr. StewartÕs script. The storyboards divided the commercial's "story" into a series of scenes to fit the required thirtysecond time slot. Next, Mr. Stwewart and Rhythm & Hues did pencil sketches to show how the polar bears would appear in each scene. These sketches were then refined, with detail and background added. To get a better idea of how bears move their heads, bodies, and limbs, Mr. Stewart and the animators studied films and photographs of actual polar bears. Then, models of a bear were sculpted from clay. The models were transferred into threedimensional images and stored as advanced computer graphics by creating a grid of vertical and horizontal lines on the bear image. Using a stylus connected to a computer, an animator plotted the points along the bear's head until an image of the model appeared on the computer screen. Once the image was refined and loaded into memory, the bear could be "moved," allowing it to walk, run, ski, or ice skate, as animators plotted its course on the computer. The bear's torso, head, and limbs had to be manipulated separately because unlike its real-life counterpart the computer-generated bear was not formed in one piece. Animators also finished creating the bear's fine motor movements during this stage of production. Once the basic movements were completed, the rest of the picture was refined. Additional elements that were not computer-generated—such as a Coca-Cola
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bottle—had been scanned and stored in the computer and were added at this point. The bear's fur was added, its eyes were completed, the scenic background was "painted in," and the lighting details—intricate lighting complete with reflection and shadows—were fine-tuned. While the animation was in production, Mr. Stewart worked with Glenn Rueger at Outside Music to compose original music, and created sound effects with Weddington Productions. In order to maintain the magical and ethereal quality of the world of the bears, Mr. Stewart chose to keep the music to a minimum. He used the synthesized music as a source of punctuation only, and kept the bears dialoguefree, except for the notable "oohs," "ahs" and grunts which Mr. Stewart created on a sound stage using his own voice, which was then altered through a computer to make him sound like the bears. The music and "dialogue," which were minimal by design, required months of work. The polar bear was a considerable success, and went on to star in six commercials for Coca-Cola, including two ads for the 1994 Olympic Games in which it slid down a luge and soared off a ski jump. Bear cubs also made their debut for Coke in a holiday ad in which the bear family selects its Christmas tree.
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CASE STUDY ANIMATIONS IN VODAFONE: ZOO ZOOS
In a latest news from Hindustan Times, ?Zoozoos‘ (as they are supposedly called!) are actually real people wearing white specially designed costumes. Just in case you are wondering what are these ?Zoozoos‘… these are the much loved white dwarf like characters seen in all the Vodafone ads these days (particularly during IPL breaks). One of the main challenge was to make the characters look and behave like cartoon / animated figures. This was achieved using special material wrinkle free cloth which made the body suites look smooth (like in animation) and the ads were shot at slower than normal frame rate so that the movements look swift but funny. A keen observer might notice that the expressions on the face are also static and are changed only between the (shot) cuts. So next time you see a Vodafone ad, pay extra attention to details to see if you can make out something with these things in mind.
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Zoo zoo: The new brand 'endorser' for Vodafone Some find them akin to aliens; others insist they are animated cartoon characters, while a third bunch doesn‘t quite know what to make of it. Nevertheless, we have all been privy to these white, scrawny creatures with giant heads as they invade our TV screens during an IPL match. In 2008, Vodafone had unveiled the ?Happy to Help‘ series during the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the launch of the second season, Vodafone has given birth to the Zoozoo: a special character created specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials. What‘s interesting is that there are some 25 such commercials planned under this campaign, 10 of which are already on air. The aim is to release approximately one ad a day, to sustain interest till the end of the IPL. So what’s with so many? It‘s no mean feat to unleash so many commercials at a go, with the risk of consumers not grasping them as fast as the brand churns them out. Explains Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Vodafone India, ?We‘re acquiring customers at a very fast pace, but a large number of them are unaware of the range of services we offer. I mean, ?phone backup‘, which we‘re advertising now, was launched two years ago, for instance!? Media spends and visibility for brands peak during the IPL, so Vodafone obviously wanted a piece of the pie. Further, Nagpal explains, the brand was in need of an idea that would work doubly hard, as it was planning to spend some four months‘ worth of marketing monies in one month. ?So, we chose not to do just one or two ads, or viewers would get bored quickly, watching them over and over on the IPL,? says Nagpal. Six months ago, Vodafone briefed its agency, Ogilvy India, to create uncommon characters – a common thread to link the ads in the campaign together. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy India, tells afaqs! that the only starting point for the team was that the character had to be simple to a stupefying level. And thus, the Zoozoo was born.
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You egghead! Ogilvy experimented with several characters and finally took its love for the term ?egghead‘ one step too far, creating characters that don the colour white (with black dots for eyes and a mouth), have heads resembling eggs, and disproportionately thin bodies. The idea is to tell the VAS stories in a world akin to, yet different, from humans. The creatures were then given a characterisation: they are to lead simple lives, speak a language of their own (something that sounds like gibberish), move in a certain way, and even emote like human beings, with big frowns or big grins to do the trick. The execution is almost like emoticons. ?We even limited the number of emotions to be used, to keep things easy,? says Rao. A completely Indian concept, Rao lent these characters a name: the Zoozoos. There‘s no science to it, he explains – the name just had to be something fun, memorable and catchy, and not a clever one that‘s difficult to pronounce. Ironically, nowhere in the communication does the Zoozoo name pop up, but Rao doesn‘t feel that‘s much of a problem: it wasn‘t a task to popularise the name in the first place. Currently, some10 films are on air, for service offerings such as Cricket Alerts, Beauty Alerts, Phone Backup, the IPL Contest 1, the IPL Contest 2, Chhota Credit, Vodafone Maps, Vodafone Call Filter, Live Games and Musical Greetings. Each film, shot against a Grey backdrop, has these characters interacting with one another (some storylines even have Zoozoo families) with the product story weaved in.
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For instance, the Phone Backup ad (the first in the series) has several Zoozoos lined up to have their faces photocopied through a photocopier, while a tetris towards the end (the messenger in all the ads) announces how Vodafone allows for creating a phonebook backup. Making of the Zoozoo No, they aren‘t animated characters. They are human beings who were made to wear body suits. ?The design of the characters is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation,? shrugs Rao, which was indeed the very illusion that had to be created. ?In a sense, it is ?live‘ animation!? he quips, referring to the fact that it was all shot live. Prakash Varma, ad filmmaker, Nirvana Films, has directed the commercials, and reveals that the Zoozoos were a big challenge to create. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk, gesticulate and emote were very important. Essentially, costume design and artwork were crucial elements. ?It took me three weeks of pre-production to understand how it will work,? says Varma. There were two fabrics that were considered for the body suits, and one was rejected for it had too many wrinkles and was shiny. The wrinkles would have shown when the characters moved, thereby shattering the illusion of animation. ?So we chose the more practical, thicker fabric,? Varma explains. The production team divided the outfit into two parts: the body and the head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed with foam in some places, while the head was attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a harder material called Perspex was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).
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If one wishes to understand the size of this head, here‘s a fact: a human head would typically reach up to the mouth level of this giant Zoozoo head. ?We kept the hands and legs thin, which is why we cast women – and occasionally children – wearing the costumes,? says Varma. The thin limbs, contrasted with big bellies and a bulbous head, all add to the illusion that these creatures are ?smaller‘ than humans. Sets were created to suit the size of the Zoozoos. Cinematically, this ?size‘ was a trick: the creatures look smaller than they actually are on screen, to portray a different world of sorts. For this, the speed of shooting was altered: Nirvana shot it in a high-speed format to make them look the size that they do. Furthermore, simple sets/backdrops were created and spray painted with neutral Greys – a colour of choice so that attention isn‘t diverted from the main characters. For a supposedly ?outdoor‘ shot, even the shadow of a Zoozoo was kept ?live‘ and not done in post production: it was painted in a darker shade of grey on the ground. An even lighting was maintained throughout. There was virtually no post production work done. The films were shot by Nirvana in Cape Town, South Africa, with the help of a local production house there, called Platypus. Incidentally, the same combination of people also worked on the ?Happy to Help‘ series last year. When asked whether Cape Town is fast becoming a tourist spot for Vodafone and Nirvana, Varma laughs, saying, ?Oh no! It‘s just that we are very comfortable with the team there and know what sort of work to expect from them.? Nagpal adds here that the production cost had to be minimal for unveiling such a large number of commercials. ?Otherwise, our production costs would exceed media spends,? he quips.
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Zoozoos: storming the digital world In the digital space, Zoozoos are currently featured on a specially created micro site – here, one can partake in quizzes and contests, including the ?What kind of Zoozoo are you?‘ quiz. Each Zoozoo has a unique set of characteristics and traits allotted to it. The microsite also allows for goodies to be downloaded (including wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones), and offers details on the IPL. With a specially created YouTube channel on the site, the TVCs are provided there for people to watch and share. Apart from the microsite, a Zoozoo fan page has been created on Face book, which has more than 5,600 members. Fans have access to special tag-me images, Zoozoo sounds (such as Zoozoo laughter and music tracks) and ad previews. People are also following Zoozoos on Twitter and get updates whenever new commercials go on air. Zoozoo ads are fast becoming popular on YouTube, and on certain days, claims Nagpal of Vodafone, some of the videos even managed to figure among the most watched lot on the site. The team behind the Vodafone-Zoozoo work includes Rao, along with Kiran Anthony, Elizabeth Dias, Rajesh Mani, Mehul Patil, Kumar Subramaniam, Kapil Arora, Debaleena Ghosh and Desmond Fernandes. Zo, what do zoo think? Zoozoos clearly seem to be a favourite amongst the ad fraternity. From the name ?Zoozoo‘ to the painted eyes and mouth, Brijesh Jacob, managing partner, White Canvas, says he has not seen anything like it. ?They have a certain madness to them, which makes them likeable and memorable,? he says. In the past, too, Orange and then Hutch (the earlier avatars of Vodafone in India) had made use of characters – an animated boy-girl duo – to whip up its VAS offerings before consumers. But those characters were limited by their definition, unlike the Zoozoos, where an entire world of such characters has been etched.
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?Zoozoos come in all shapes and sizes; kids, mother, friends, individuals…there does not seem to be a set format to use them,? Jacob adds, which makes the possibilities endless. Satbir Singh, chief creative officer, Euro RSCG, shares his own Zoozoo story: ?Every time the commercial gets over, my two-year old son Angad hands me the remote and demands to watch it again. The other day, a waiter at a club mixed up my order as he was too busy watching the ad during IPL!? That pretty much sums up the ?Zooperb‘ impact, as he puts it. Some feel that the Zoozoos could well become a part of the brand story, instead of just being used for this VAS oriented campaign. But this comes with a warning tag: one has to be careful about letting the Zoozoos become bigger than the brand or the message. ?Vodafone shouldn‘t get stuck with a format,? says Jacob of White Canvas. ?They did suffer this to a certain extent with the pug.?
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CONCLUSION
Advertising on TV gets you the best coverage in the advertising world. Careers in multimedia required in ad agencies comprises of digital photographer and editor, virtual reality environment designer to multimedia production designer, depending upon the nature of projects and tools used for that particular project. Technically speaking, animation refers to a sequence of frames which, when played in a systematic sequence, at a particular speed, presents a smoothly moving image as in a film or a video. In the past, Indian animation market was not as big as it is now. The activities on this front began only in the late 90's when animation studios made their appearance in the country and the industry developed an expert outlook. Now, our country is waking up to host the enormous opportunities that promise a bright future. Through this project we came to know that the world of animation is abuzz with creative opportunities. Anyone who is creative and innovative in his approach and knows basic computer skills could try hands in this booming industry.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.managementparadise.com www.animated3d.net www.digitalanimation.com LINKS: www.e4.com/wtf/animations/how-to-advertising.html www.creative-jar.com/portfolio/case-study/expedia 3danimation.e-spaces.com/3danimation.html www.toondra.ru/en/animation.html
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
WHAT IS ANIMATION? Animation literally means "the state of being full of life" or "lively‘‘ and in terms of its practical application it denotes "the techniques of filming successive drawings or positions of models, to create a film giving an illusion of movement". It is the art of bringing something to life by using special effects, unbelievable graphics and exotic technologies. It is a world of amusing news, a world where even vindictiveness seems harmless. Animation is a unique genre. With its universal language, it is becoming important as it gives soul to the character and create moving images. Technically speaking, animation refers to a sequence of frames which, when played in a systematic sequence, at a particular speed, presents a smoothly moving image as in a film or a video. An animation can be in the form of digitalized video or computer based graphics, or a combination of both. Its application is varied and ranges from special effects in films and television to modeling and animation for computer games, for engineering or legal studies, etc. Animation is certainly not a child's play. Besides meticulous planning and coordination of several activities, hours are required to create a single second of animation film. That is why, a typical Hollywood movie needs the services of 7001
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800 animators. The advent of animation took place in Hollywood first, when blockbusters like 'Batsman' and 'Stuart little' attracted the eyeballs of public. In India, few animated characters like 'Moogli', 'Chacha Chaudhary' made their mark in early 90's. Animation, contrary to what many people think, has a long and illustrious history of its own. Ancient Egyptian excavations reveal that the Egyptians did extensive wall decoration way back in 2000 B.C. Even the Greek, in their ancient paintings and drawings reveal a fascinating sense of imagination. Leonardo Da Vinci has used some form of animation in his famous illustrations. The Japanese have used scrolls to tell stories from ancient times. The ideas behind animation are not a recent phenomenon and have existed for centuries now. With the increasing impact of technology, the face of animation has been revolutionized. It has been mankind's quest from the beginning of time to capture the sense of motion in art. This gave rise to ancient paintings which could be found in caves. One has heard of such drawings associated with several civilizations of the past. A Frenchman named Paul Roget invented something known as the thaumatrope, which was a disc with a string attached to both sides. One side of the disc had the drawing of a bird and the other side an empty cage. When the disc was twirled using the strings, the bird appeared as if it was inside the cage. Such early inventions were forerunners to the present day animation. Decades later, the advent of computers and software literally changed the way animation was done. Now literally nothing is impossible as far as animation goes. Using current animation software, one can create mind boggling animation. Hollywood is full of animation pioneers. In fact, who can forget Walt Disney's innumerable animated characters, which have become American icons. Animations have become more realistic in the sense that one can virtually duplicate real life situations using state-of-the-art animation software.
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INTRODUCTION
How to do you feel when you witness attractive advertisements like that of pidilite industries for their flagship brand Fevicol? How do you react when adventurous advertisements are shown to promote Mountain Dew or Thumbs Up? All these attractive way of promoting has caught the attention of a common man. It‘s not that he or she is appreciating only the commercial but his imagination goes wild when he is explained the nitty-gritty of making an advertisement. Advertising
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agencies are no more plain vanilla creativity in terms of preparing an attractive artwork and showcasing the same in the print or the electronic medium. The emergence of Internet and the development of specialized software packages, is not only complimenting the capabilities of the creative people with lateral thinking, even the populace with a flair for the advertisement industry, having the necessary skill sets in computers can opt for this glossy career option. Multimedia is one such tool, which is being leveraged by the advertisement industry for creating new highs. The need for a specialized advertisement agency with a clientservicing department, the creative guys is being provided by companies like O&M, Lowe-Lintas, Mudra, Percept D Mark, Mudra and many others who are having renowned players from across sectors as their clientele. There are many large and small advertising agencies to meet the needs generated by automotive companies to even the pharmaceutical players, which support multimedia as one of their component for marketing and advertising their products. With so many to choose from, one might wonder how to pick one of the best advertising agency to handle the business as per customer‘s need. There are lot many criteria to consider before a agency has to be chosen for advertising a product through multimedia like how big is the account, how much money to be spent etc. A customer might need a local company that knows the area and its demographics or might prefer a company that has national and international offices. If the customer is too far away from an agency, then the appointment is taken online. Multimedia, as the name itself suggests is a platform where many media or entities are combined together to form a new component. These entities can be text, color, images, sound, video and animations, which are used by advertising agencies for creation of product ad for an organization. Many of the ad agencies are opting for animation video ad instead of moving picture video ad, due to the fact that animation ad takes less time for creation, editing and authoring and it also reduces the cost of making the ad films as extra money is not paid to models for the acting, contribution and performance in making of that particular ad film. Digital media management can be confusing to one person and simplistic to another. If a person fall in first category, they might want to look into the newest software programs that make this subject not so complicated. Media management
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covers many subjects, including advertising agency management. Effective digital media management might help to create and market content faster and with more efficiency through various media platform like TV, radio and Internet along with the newest devices as digital TVs and DVDs. Now a days, 3 D modeling and 3 D animation are also used extensively by ad agencies for making of a ad film due to its more interactive-ness and virtual reality in the animation world. Due to animation industry, marketing of different FMCG products becomes easy and attracts consumers as the demonstration of the product is directly in front of customers through different TV channels, movie theatre, cable network etc. It is promoted through the concept of product modeling where the virtual view and working of a product is presented in front of consumers, distributed through CDs or DVDs, and is much more effective. It also checks for manual demonstrating system. Advertising on TV gets you the best coverage in the advertising world. Careers in multimedia required in ad agencies comprises of digital photographer and editor, virtual reality environment designer to multimedia production designer, depending upon the nature of projects and tools used for that particular project. Video editing is one of the important phases where the output is manipulated accordingly. It can be referred to the process of selecting and re-recording only that footage you want to keep and getting rid of the rest. It also includes the complete postproduction process including titling, special effects etc. There are many products available to help with either of these processes. Many people have attempted to study the effectiveness of multimedia to decide how best to use multimedia in-order to achieve the goals of ad agencies, in the field of management for informing, improving retention or convincing audiences and consumers. If multimedia could be shown to be effective, software companies could sell more multimedia packages, which in turn could drive managerial and advertising skills of professionals. Companies could rest easy knowing that multimedia advertisements were indeed convincing their customers and news delivery system and service provider would know that they are competitive in using multimedia. It would attract maximum eyeballs resulting in footfalls at the store followed by sales. 2M or Multimedia and Management can be effectively intertwined among each other for a lasting impression in the consumer‘s mind.
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HISTORY OF ANIMATION
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The following are the years of its evolution:
1645 – 1879: 1645
?
The magic lantern is invented.
1879
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Eadweard Muybridge - a British photographer, invented the zoopraxiscope.
1885 – 1899: 1887
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Thomas Edison started research work into motion pictures
1897
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The history of clay animation appears , when a pliable, oil-based modeling clay called "plasticine" was invented.
1898
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George Melies - A French illusionist, is credited as the first artist to make objects move. He animated letters of the alphabet. 1900 – 1909:
1900
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James Stuart Blackton - an Amercian, was able to speed up caricature by modifying objects during a pause in the crank of the camera Edson filmakers in the film The Bombardment of Taku Forts by the Allied Fleets produce one of the earliest uses of minature speical effects.
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1909
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Winsor McCay produced the cartoon Gertie the Trained Dinosaur which consisted of 10, 000 diagrams. The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) was formed in the United States.
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1910 – 1919: 1910
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Willis O'Brien - an American substituted india rubber for clay figurines and made figurines equipped with metal skeletons and made films mixing live actors with animated characters. Julius Pinschewer - a German focused on the idea of using animation in advertising mixing object animation with live-action
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1911
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Winsor McCay's live action animated short Little Nemo debuts.
1919
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Robert Collard (Lortac) - a French fine arts student, organized the first animation studio Otto Messmer- an American, produces Feline Follies - animated silent shorts, featuring Felix for Paramount's newsreel which resulted in the longest lasting case of embezzlement in the history of cinema. Felix has been described as a great example of animated mine that did not require situations or comic accidents to cause the audience to laugh. 1920 – 1929:
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1920
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Walt Disney finds employment with a Kansas City Film Ad Company.
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Optical printing equipment is introduced which improves the use of photgraphic special effects allowing for reverse action, freeze frames , wipes and zoom simulations.
1923
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Walt Disney utilized Max Fleischer's technique of combining live action with cartoon characters in the film Alice's Wonderland. Felix the Cat stars in Felix in Fairyland produced by Otto Messmer. The Max Fleischer organization streamlined the animation process be introducing inbetweeners - rookie animators who filled in the action between the extremes drawn by the key animators. Walt Disney Production is founded in Los Angeles, California. 1950 – 1959:
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1950
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The animated movie Cinderella is produced by Walt Disney. Curt Oertel's The Titan is released which was based on limited animation achieved by ediitng and selective photographic treatment of static art.
1951
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The animated movie Alice in Wonderland is produced by Walt Disney. UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing wins an Academy award for best short subject cartoon. 1960 – 1969:
1960 The Flintstones- created by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, was the first animated television show to be broadcast in prime time and imitates the live action show The Honeymooners.
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1964
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Director Blake Edwards commissioned titles for the film The Pink Panther which lead to a series of shorts featuring the pink cat. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Adventures on Jonny Quest which debuts on television.
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1965
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Filmation produces the series Superman.
1966
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The Jungle Book was released one year after the death of Walt Disney
1967
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Stan Lee's character Spiderman appears on the television screen 1990 – 1999:
1990
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The Simpsons debuts as a prime time television cartoon show. The animated movie Jetsons: The Movie was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.
1992
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The animated movie Alladin debuts directed by John Musker and Ron Clements 2004
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Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Matthew Lillard, Neil fanning and Sarah Gellar. Andrew Adamson directs Shrek 2 which stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.
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SCOPE IN ANIMATION
Animation rumble up the world and it is becoming essence of the time. The boom in the arena of animation has affected all the segments in the genre. Presently it has explored the world of: Entertainment world Game development. Entertainment world: Whether it is TV soap, news media or film industry, animation is becoming very popular because practically every TV channel wants to present its stories in animated format. Scope in entertainment sector is increasing. One can start his/ her career by working as a story board artist, background designer, and modeler and so on. Today, a number of institutes provide specialized training in film animation that can easily enroll in the glamorous field of entertainment. Game development: Game development industry has emerged as one of the strongest beneficiaries of 3D technology and this has again spawned the companies like Sony and Microsoft into action with their competitive games. In fact, games market is thrice the size of Hollywood movie industry. Games have made their presence in hundred of homes and opened up another fascinated field for animators. The future of gaming is bright in India. People with creative minds can give a try. 2D and 3D animation: In simple words, 2D means two dimensional. By using this technology, image can be seen from two dimensions only. 3D refers to three dimensions, by the help of which, an image can be viewed from three dimensions. To understand it in a better manner, we can say, 2D refers to a square drawn on a piece of paper where only the length and breadth of it can be seen while a cube is an example of 3D figure which shows its length, breadth as well as height. In other words, "the creation, display and manipulation of objects on computer in two dimensions" is called 2D. Here, objects can be seen when constructed from two dimensions only (height and width, rows and
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columns, etc.). On the other hand, 3D technology helps in animating objects that appear in a three dimensional space. They can be rotated and moved like a real object. Earlier, animated images could be viewed in two dimensions only but advent of 3D technology has revolutionized the world of animation. How it works? Prior to the advent of computer, artists used to sketch the figures on paper first and these hand-sketched frames were then moved very fast in front of a projector so as to give the impression of fast and uninterrupted movements. But, the process faced a limitation of being confined to the particular scene within a given space. Another drawback was that the details of movement could not be drawn. Also, this process was very tedious. The artist had to hand draw the scene character numerous times and he could not afford to be inconsistent even to a small degree. But, now these sketches are made on computer thereby enabling the artist to make drawings in an effortless manner. After the structuring of models, they are textured, titled and finally animated as per requirement of the story. And then, animation is rendered or processed as a picture (or frames) which are coupled with the audio and final product is ready. Use of modern animation techniques have widened up its scope. Now, animation is not confined to movies. It has entered the numerous fields where opportunities for upcoming animators are likely to grow up exponentially. As per a study conducted by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) study, the Indian animation industry is at $550 million and is expected to touch the growth rate of 30 % annually by the year 2008. This study reveals that India will receive more than $2 billion worth of animation business in next three years.
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To meet the demand of industry, more than 20,000 job opportunities are waiting to come up in the next three years. Wide application of animation, right from the movies, entertainment to education and other areas like TV, business, product promotion, websites, architecture and virtual reality has contributed a lot to its growth. 2D and 3D Artists: An Art department requires artists who can work with 2D and 3D computer techniques. If you want to opt for this section of the gaming industry, first you should choose a specific dimension i.e. 2D or 3D.20 artists usually make tiles, textures and skins that are further used by 3D models. Basically, they create concept sketches for games which is the initial stage in the game development process. Depending on the type of game, 2D artist can also experiment with several things, like painted backdrops, skyboxes or even with other creative things. 2D Artist must be familiar with designing softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro Painter and other common 2D art programs. Another career option in this department is to work as a 3D artist, who often makes models i.e. basic characters of the games. These characters can range from humans to vehicles to inanimated objects, depending on the requirements of the game. It is essential for 3D artist to have a proper knowledge of 3D software like 3D Studio Max, Softimage and Maya with a discerning eye for its effective application so as to chalk out animated characters with a difference.Next career option is to be an animator. An animator is the most important person in a gaming company who provides movements to the humanoids, or animals, birds and other creatures in 3D games. They first build up models within the polygon limitations of the game engine and then apply animation techniques that help in preparing the final structure of the game. Gaming industry has no space for errors .as it thrives on perfection which can only be achieved through hardcore and meticulous practice. That is why, handson experience, with impressive portfolio, is highly demanded in this industry. Thus gaining experience the initial stages of your career should be your prime consideration rather than heavy pay cheque.
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INDIAN SCENARIO OF ANIMATIONS
In the past, Indian animation market was not as big as it is now. The activities on this front began only in the late 90's when animation studios made their appearance in the country and the industry developed an expert outlook. Now, our country is waking up to host the enormous opportunities that promise a bright future.
An NASSCOM study depicts that the availability of technical manpower to meet the 2D and 3D animation requirements, lower costs of animation production, desirable real estate, increasing demand of animation in entertainment industry are some of the forces that is going to shape the development of animation
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industry in India. India - a Hot Spot for Animation Industry: English speaking manpower India has sufficient English knowing manpower. This is particularly beneficial when the work is outsourced to India. Moreover, numbers of initiatives are underway in the country for producing skilled English speaking manpower for the animation market. Presence of well equipped animation studios Many metro cities in India have hi-tech animation studios and their number is steadily increasing. These studios have all the world class facilities with appropriate hardware, software and communication infrastructure. These studios are successfully meeting the deadlines of the projects from overseas companies because of sufficient creative and skilled animators. Low cost of animation services As compared to countries like US, Canada, Korea and Philippines, Indian has relatively lowest cost in terms of animation techniques. NASSCOM study reveals that the rate of production of half an hour TV animation program is around US$250,000-400,000 in US and Canada while it is only. $ 60,000 in India. India's growing entertainment sector Owing to the prolific entertainment segment, India has a huge potential to expand the use of animation techniques in this sector. Hence, animation has a bright future in entertainment world too. Animation has been a major money churner in most of the countries and India has taken a lead in 2D and 3D computer generation animation with an added advantage of cheap and English speaking workforce. Gradually, our country is turning to be a hunting ground for the western world. And, the international animation industry is looking towards Asian nations as the cost of real estate, studio space and outdoor location in thir country sky rockets. Credit goes to India's IT expertise and creative manpower, combined with the
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entrepreneurial drive, making it well positioned to grasp the attention of this fast growing industry. The rapid growth of mobile devices, increasing number of personal computers and the greater use of animation in movies are contributing to the growth of domestic market. As such, trained man power is in demand for achieving such initiatives. Career Options The moment we talk about career in this field, a single word ?Animator‘ dominates our thinking as if it is the only option. But the fact is, multimedia has become one-stop solution for today's communication demands. With its ability to mix up various media elements like text, graphics, animation, audio and video with computer interactivity, it has found its feet well placed in numerous fields, ranging from entertainment and movies to educational tutors. Animation is one of the components of multimedia in which opportunities have sprung up in recent time. The world of animation is abuzz with creative opportunities. Anyone who is creative and innovative in his approach and knows basic computer skills could try hands in this booming industry. Animation has as wide spectrum as anyone could even think of. Tools of animation are used in various fields, from special effects, virtual reality to games and interior designing. Animation was not as rewarding a career in the past as it is now, having a wide range of career opportunities. If one goes deep into the world of animation, one would definitely find that with the application of animation education could be a fun. And, learning this fun makes you professional from an ordinary individual.
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FILM ANIMATION
Till recently, animation in India was in its infancy as compared to countries such as US, Canada, Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea. Now it is fast emerging as a mega base for outsourcing animation and digital special effects for Hollywood blockbusters and global studios like Disney pictures, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, John Carey.
Haven't you noticed the film world being overrun by cartoon characters, right from the' Toy Story' to 'A Bugs and Life' and then to 'Shark Tales', Animation is no more confined to the kid's corridor, but it has also found a firm ground in mainstream cinema, advertising, TV, gaming Industry receing a huge applaud from all corners of the world. Use of animation in film industry is on the rise. This is evident from the path breaking
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success of animated movies like, 'The Incredible', 'Shrek' or 'Finding Nemo', while in regular films like 'Titanic', 'The Matrix', 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter' where the series extensively relied upon digital photography and animation to bring alive breathtaking scenes, monsters and fight sequences. While the animated movies are creating ripples all over the world, India is not lagging behind in catching up the spark. The production of Ramayana- The Legend of Prince Ram', 'Sandbar', 'Hum Tum', 'Pandavas-The Five Warriors' and 'Hanuman', gives testimony to the fact that the Indian animation industry is fast catching up. So much so, it has gr-asped the attention of US studios and won prestigious awards. In fact the leading animators for the Hollywood blockbusters like 'Antz', 'Batman', 'Titanic' and 'Broken Arrow' were Indians. Skilled manpower in the area of film animation is in great demand in Bollywood too. Opportunities Abroad True, Hollywood is becoming a popular destination for Bollywood stars but the actual link between the entertainment industry of the West and India lies more in virtual settings that is in animation and special effect industry because India has become one of the favorite places for best animation services at an affordable price. For instance, Technical Head of a Hollywood hit 'The Incredible' was an Indian, a Gujarat-born guy, Kamal Mistry. Special effects in 'Chronicles of Narnia' were contributed by Mumbaibased company 'Rhythm & Hues'. Moreover, a Chennai based special effect specialist, N. Madhusudhanan, has given a classic look to a major Hollywood hit 'Lord of the Rings'. There are several other instances like, 'The Mummy' and 'Stuart Little' movies where special effects were contributed by India based Company, Maya Entertainment. 'Gladiator', 'Spiderman', 'The Nutty Professor 2', 'Titanic', 'Independence Day', and 'Men in Black' are few other examples. All these details indicate the growing demand for Indian animators abroad. Nothing surprising, more and more western nations are heading towards India in search of good
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animators. Perhaps the fact that India is known for its multicultural and multiartistic human resource. Film animation has opened up another important area for upcoming animators where India is known for producing best animators of the world. How it is used in film industry? Let's have a look at how animation work in movies. Animation is an art of moving objects on screen as if they are living. Animated movies are created by the sequences of drawings or computer graphics and processed at a high speed so that they appear as moving. In films, animation graphics are used to stimulate real events in order to make the visuals eye-catching, interesting and entertaining to the viewers by adding up special effects and other animation techniques. For instance, when 'hero' appears as riding a horse at an amazing speed, actually his speed is much lower than what we see on our screen. Or a vehicle which is in a standstill position is shown as moving at a high speed. In fact behind these wonderful feats is none other than animation that makes all this possible. Essential skills for a film animator It is said that animators are not made, they are born. Film Animators use their imagination and drawing skills to create moving images and apply effects in feature films, TV commercials, cartoons, motion graphics and short features to make it eye-catching for the viewers. Artistic and imaginative bent of mind enables a film animator to generate new ideas and his flair for drawing transforms those ideas into sketches. Aesthetic sense helps you to gear up your career in animation. No doubt, computer can help you in designing or creating images, but you must know what you want to design or create with the help of a computer.Due to emergence of computer and 3D animation technology, computer training in animation and ability to make use of different animation softwares has become crucial. Apart from this, art of using colours and proper knowledge of texture is necessary. A eye for good visuals and an understanding of the cinema language is equally important.
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Great deal of patience, hard work and stamina to work on computer for long hours is a part of work culuture in this field. Career Options Some of the career options for which an animator can opt in film industry are as follows: Designers who design storyboards or make sketches for reference and with the help of which the characters are animated. Modelers: The main job of a modeler is to enable the movement of characters so as to bring life in them. Composer His/her main job is to put different layers together and shape the final product. Besides Designers and Modelers, there are many other hands behind special effects and animated scenes, such as specialists in texturing, lighting, creating background and surroundings of the characters. According to the industry insiders, there is an acute shortage of people with professional skills in studios and ad agencies which always look for the professional trained and skilled manpower. Eligibility Basic qualification for getting trained in this field is 10+2 and working knowledge of computer applications. Graduation in Fine Art, Applied Art, Animation Design or Visual Communication gives you an edge. One can get trained from various institute offering courses in 3D animation. But, if you want to specialize in film animation, it is better if you go for specialized course in Special Effects or Character Design, which is offered by many reputed animation schools in the country and abroad.
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ANIMATED TELEVISION COMMERCIALS: 1940-1965
According to ?Noell Wolfgram Evans‘, if you want to get an immediate response from someone walk into a room and say 'Superfriends' or 'Flintstones' or 'Smurfs'. You'll elicit instant memories and conversation from those around you. In fact, there may not be a better phrase to break the ice at a party than 'What was with that Scrappy-Doo?' There is something about television animation that binds us together. It's like we've all been through some special initiation, and now we're bound together by it. For a completely different reaction, walk into a room and bring up the Trix Rabbit, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean or Cap'n Crunch. You'll see even the unlikeliest people spin around faster, talk with more passion and move about in excitement. The extra buzz from these characters comes because they represent a special form of animation: television advertising. Advertising animation is special because it's fleeting, stopping on the screen for only a few seconds before disappearing, sometimes never to be seen again. Because of its short time frame, it needs to be as packed with entertainment and information as it can be. And because of the sheer number of commercials, each needs to be as different and as grabbing as possible. It's not though just the information packed inside an animated advertisement, it's also the way that the information comes at you. An animated program encompasses both sight and sound. For those shows that also have toys (or books or…) associated with them, we are allowed the extra bonus of touch. Commercials offer this and so much more. These too bring your sight and sound skills into play, but with these forms of entertainment you are not meant to
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just react to what you see (as you would react to a television program), rather these call you out to be proactive. They ask you to go out and buy their products and then (in many cases) eat what you bought; they invite you to be a complete participant in their world. This full sensory inclusion makes animated commercials an important part of television and a key piece of your memory. When you consider how many commercials have been run on television and how many of those have been animated, the numbers can hurt your brain. For an idea of how many commercials are in fact run each year consider that in 2000 more than 1.3 million ads for cereal alone ran on American television (that averages to just over 25 hours a day). Multiply this out by the number of products that are produced and you can see just how staggering these numbers are. Animation and television have been linked from the beginning. It's been said that the first image ever broadcast was a picture of Felix the Cat. With the medium literally starting with animation it should be no surprise that animated commercials were an early stable of television broadcasting. In 1941, with television still feeling it's way around and with less than 5,000 TV sets across the country, the first animated commercial was broadcast. It was in September of that year when the animated Botany Lamb first pranced across television screens to promote Botany Mills ties (as well as forecast the weather). There were seven of these spots produced for this original campaign, but the series its self continued through 1948. It was produced by Douglas Leigh but, in an interesting connection with that first ever television broadcast, was animated and directed by Otto Messmer (the creator of Felix the Cat). As the decade wore on more and more companies went the way of animated advertising. Not all of the work produced during this time was full-fledged 'theatrical' style animation. The Fletcher Smith Studios produced a campaign in 1946 for a raceway where they took horses and animated their mouths to make it appear as if they were talking. Other studios utilized stop motion animation to sell their products. Many of these ads, were completely realized as they were produced with budgets ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 dollars. This was top money for
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the time and was used to attract top talent. As an example: in 1947 Shamus Culhane Productions produced a popular ad for Ajax. The Ajax Elves were animated by Grim Natwick (the 'creator' of Betty Boop and the animator of Snow White) and Art Babbit (who had animated Goofy among other stars) and voiced by June Foray (who would go on to star in numerous Jay Ward cartoons) and Hans Conreid (the voice of Captain Hook and many other cartoon stars) among others. Due to it's ability to show nearly anything (people flying, animals talking, inanimate objects dancing around), it's eye catching appeal, relative low cost and deep talent pool, animation soon became the preferred way to advertise on television. Over a short span of time Coke, Plymouth, Tide, Alka Seltzer (even those who were not born at the time can recognize Speedy), Keds, Skippy Peanut Butter and Canada Dry were all some of the many popular ads. Many of the animated ads would have caused an outcry today. Animation populated the television screens of American selling Camel Cigarettes, Kools Cigarettes and Hamm's Beer featuring the Beer Bear. The Piel's Beer ads (which were promoted by the animated characters of Bert and Harry Piel) were so popular that the New York Times would list out when they would be aired. The list of advertisers who used animation to sell their products continued to expand as more and more companies jumped in with television. As the years have gone by though, this list has shrunken considerably with many advertisers preferring to go the live action route, relying more and more on special effects (which often does utilize some form of animation) and outrageous humor. Over all this time, there has though been one consistent group of animated advertisers: cereal producers. Breakfast cereal has been a part of the mass media since the beginning. Most of the major companies had sponsored radio shows during the 30's and 40's. As television grew in popularity, they realized that if they were going to keep their market presence, they were going to have to go to where the people were. Rather than deal with the production hassles of producing their own 'complete' program (in a medium that had such a large learning curve), they opted to instead take the role of sponsor. It was not a passive role though as the companies and their advertising agencies were an active part in everything that went into the production of a show. Part of this sponsorship included of course commercials the cereal companies were one of the first groups to jump on the idea of using animation to sell their products. In 1949 Bill Tytla created an ad for (Post) Sugar Crisp cereal. The cereal was not very memorable, but the ad, featuring three bears, was the start of a phenomenon.
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Tytla couldn't have realized it at the time, but his commercial opened the floodgates for animated advertising as it helped to get advertisers (particularly cereal advertisers) thinking about how they could reach children. It also helped lay the groundwork for the Saturday morning memories of many a child. It didn't take long for other advertisers and cereal companies to get their characters on the screen. In 1951 Kellogg's was advertising Sugar Frosted Flakes, while Post debuted Captain Jolly (who sold CornFetti). By the end of 1954 Cheerios, Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Snap, Crackle and Pop were all popular program interruptions. Marky Maypo, perhaps the biggest early animated cereal star, debuted in 1956. These ads for Maypo were the creation of StoryBoard which was founded and led by John Hubley. The ads were so popular that Maypo sales increased by 78 percent and the tagline 'I want my Maypo' became an instant catchphrase. In this popularity, the marriage of medium and consumer was consummated. As television continued to grow, so did the popularity of using animation as an advertising form. The format became so successful and influential that many political action and moral patrol groups began to seriously monitor its usage for fear that advertisers were 'preying' on the minds of the youth. It's an argument that continues to rage on. It continues though in the face of evolving technology that only pushes even further the ways animation can be used in the medium. With all of this new technology, one is left to wonder what the past masters would have created, had they had these tools at their fingertips.
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HIGHLIGHTS IN THE HISTORY OF COCA-COLA TELEVISION ADVERTISING
The D'Arcy Era, 1950-1956 The first television ad created for The Coca-Cola Company was produced in conjunction with a television special featuring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on Thanksgiving Day, 1950. The sponsorship of this program and its advertising were both by the D'Arcy Agency of St. Louis. D'Arcy had been the
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advertising agency for The Coca-Cola Company since 1906, when William C. D'Arcy persuaded Coca-Cola to begin a newspaper campaign. From that modest beginning developed a fifty-year relationship. For much of that time, Arthur (Archie) Lee was the creative chief at D'Arcy who oversaw the account and created such memorable slogans for Coca-Cola as "the pause that refreshes." Television advertising was initially an experimental medium for The Coca-Cola Company and D'Arcy. Both struggled to develop a strategy to reach consumers effectively at a time when few cities had television stations. One approach was through sponsored programs that offered the opportunity for The Coca-Cola Company to expand relationships with performers from its radio programming. The initial Edgar Bergen special was quickly followed by sponsorship of Walt Disney's television premiere on Christmas Day, 1950, One Hour in Wonderland, and the next three years saw Coca-Cola sponsor the Western genre program The Adventures of Kit Carson and Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, a variety program. Nevertheless, Coca-Cola struggled with television advertising. In 1953, an internal memo in the company's Advertising Department begged for time to develop a strategy to reach consumers through the new medium, and D'Arcy had difficulty developing effective advertising outside of the sponsored programming. In that same year, 1953, D'Arcy developed three basic types of television ads. In one type, The Coca-Cola Company offered station-identification slides that aired for up to twenty seconds. These generally featured a piece of advertising art with the station call letters, accompanied by a voice-over announcement. D'Arcy also created its first live-action motion-picture films, in twenty-second and one-minute versions. The twenty-second spots featured in this online collection were made in what D'Arcy described as "stop motion" technique, in which "the objects shown in each one (bottles, sandwiches, a telephone, a typewriter, etc.) move and perform action by themselves without the presence of live actors. The result is a series of fresh and novel spots sure to attract a lot of attention and interest." From D'Arcy to McCann, 1956-1969 D'Arcy was a highly regarded print advertising agency, but its struggles to incorporate new media, coupled with the deaths of William D'Arcy and Archie Lee by 1950, led The Coca-Cola Company to search for new talent. In 1956 the
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company's advertising account was transferred to McCann-Erickson. D'Arcy closed and commemorated its fifty years of work with Coca-Cola in a print ad that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 2, 1956. McCann launched two campaigns during the 1950s, "The Sign of Good Taste" and "Be Really Refreshed". Both used television to the fullest with a variety of advertising formats including animation, stop motion, and live-action ads featuring such performers as the McGuire Sisters, Connie Francis, Emmett Kelly, Anita Bryant, and the Brothers Four. The number of ads and their production values rose dramatically from 1956 to 1963. In 1963, McCann hit its stride with a campaign that proved to have worldwide appeal, "Things Go Better with Coke." The words and music for the slogan at the heart of the campaign were written by McCann's creative director, Bill Backer, and performed by the popular folk-revival group the Limelighters. By design, the words also translated readily into almost any language, allowing the slogan to travel the world. McCann also began experimenting with a new television technology, color advertising. Uncertain about how to show the product in the best way possible, McCann-Erickson commissioned a reel of experimental film that depicted CocaCola in bottles, glasses, and cans in a variety of settings and lighting arrangements. Throughout the 1960s, advertising for Coca-Cola on both radio and television reflected the changing forces in society. The "Things Go Better with Coke" campaign was adapted to the youth market by allowing a number of popular-music artists to modify and perform the song. Radio commercials were also recorded by the Supremes, Jay and the Americans, the Moody Blues, Jan and Dean, Roy Orbison, Petula Clark, and (on both television and radio) Ray Charles. The decade ended with what was perhaps the most successful television ad campaign for Coca-
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Cola, the so-called "Hilltop" commercial featuring the song "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke." Coke Adds Life and Mean Joe Greene In May 1976, The Coca-Cola Company introduced a new Coke ad campaign, touting the brand as the soft drink for all occasions. Aimed at the young and young-at-heart, the new campaign, "Coke Adds Life to …," was designed to show viewers that CocaCola added simple enjoyment to life. The campaign itself was hardly simple. Development of "Coke Adds Life to …" began in 1973 with consumer research studies and lasted three years. The campaign's creative team came up with nearly a hundred copy lines, different ways of conveying what they wished to communicate as the basic promise of Coca-Cola. The group then talked to young people to get their reaction to the lines. The researchers from Coca-Cola and McCann-Erickson found that the lines "Coke adds a little life" or "Coke adds life" resonated with the public. "Coke Adds Life" emphasized refreshment and tried to show Coke as the perfect accompaniment to food, fun, and leisure. The campaign highlighted the soft drink's role in many situations common to consumers around the globe, and the campaign's theme was adapted to appeal to a worldwide audience. While CocaCola often produced advertising in the United States that was adapted for international use, in 1978 the company adapted two overseas "Coke Adds Life" spots—from Italy and Brazil—for U.S. audiences. The Italian ad, "Flirting," follows the attempts of a young man to meet the one who will be his special girl. The viewer also sees the romantic pursuits of others both young and old. The message is that Coke helps pave the way to romance. After "Coke Adds Life," the stage was set for a new advertising campaign for Coca-Cola, "Have a Coke and a Smile," which further emphasized the reliability and reward in drinking Coca-Cola. The new campaign was announced in commercials featuring Bob Hope and Bill Cosby, who explained the idea of "Have a Coke and a Smile" and encouraged viewers to watch for the new advertising.
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The campaign centered around a single melody and one set of lyrics. For television, the music served as a background for dozens of vignettes featuring people from many walks of life drinking Coca-Cola while working or relaxing. One such ad, released on October 1, 1979, became one of the most famous Coke commercials, captivating audiences almost as much as had the "Hilltop" commercial eight years earlier. The ad proved to be immensely popular, sparking a surge of letters to The CocaCola Company. It won the 1979 CLIO award in the world's largest advertising awards competition, and Greene took home the award for best actor in the same contest. The Coca-Cola Company followed up with a promotion to "win the shirt off my back," distributing thousands of replica jerseys to winning entrants. It also adapted the ad's concept to other parts of the world: Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand all produced versions of the commercial following the same plot line but featuring renowned football (soccer) players from each country, such as national soccer champion Niwat in Thailand. "Mean Joe Greene" concluded its life as a made-for-TV movie that aired on NBCTV on November 8, 1981. Joe Greene starred in the movie, but the part of the young boy was played by Henry Thomas, who later went on to star in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. The movie recreated the ad and told the story of what happened after the ad ended. Coke is It! and New Coke In early 1982, Coca-Cola launched a new ad campaign, "Coke Is It!," with an emphasis on the product's qualities of taste and refreshment. The direct, positive statement "Coke Is It!" was meant to appeal to the forthright mood of Americans in the 1980s. "Coke Is It!" played on themes of previous ad campaigns, stressing the quality, the enjoyment, and especially the anticipation of drinking a Coca-Cola. Ironically, the introduction of "new Coke" demonstrated in unexpected ways that after ninety-nine years, Coke had indeed become part of the tapestry of American life. When The Coca-Cola Company introduced a new taste for Coke in North America in 1985, television advertising helped launch it. The public, however, demanded the return of the traditional drink, so vehemently that the company was obliged to bring it back–renamed as "Coca-Cola classic."
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Two Tastes and Two Campaigns With both the new Coke and Coca-Cola classic in the marketplace, The Coca-Cola Company needed two distinct ad campaigns. Introduced in 1986, the "Catch the Wave" campaign for the new taste of Coke strove to be youthful, leading-edge, and competitive. For Coca-Cola classic, the "Red, White and You" campaign emphasized that drink's broad appeal and the emotional attachment it generated. At the same time, it attempted to celebrate contemporary American lifestyles and a modern American spirit. The campaign was aimed at an extremely broad audience: all soft drink consumers age twelve and up, with an emphasis on the 18-to-34 age group. In surveys at the time, seventy-five percent of respondents said they considered Coca-Cola classic a symbol of America. The "Red, White and You" theme was a natural consequence. The campaign was created by the New York-based ad agency SSC&B Lintas. SSC&B went to unusual shooting locations to produce four TV spots: "Rhythm and Blues," "Young Rock," "Big City Lights/Jazz," and "Small Town/Country." The shoots captured a mix of recognizable landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Coca-Cola neon sign in New York's Times Square. The accompanying vignettes included Olympic gold medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks, a glimpse of the Winter Garden Theatre set of the Broadway musical Cats, and early-morning neighborhood newspaper deliveries set against the San Francisco skyline. The casting for the ads was also unusual: along with traditional professional casting for actors and actresses, producers sought ordinary people playing everyday roles. The choreographer, for example, toured Southern California night spots looking for talented dancers. The "Catch the Wave" campaign for new Coke, created by McCann-Erickson New York, aimed to connect with an emerging youth-oriented target audience. The contemporary nature of "Catch the Wave" sent what its creators hoped was a clear message: to drink the "in" taste, to identify with the "in" image, drink Coca-Cola. Accordingly, to appeal to America's youth, The Coca-Cola Company enlisted an unusual "spokesman": Max Headroom, a computerized character with a
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synthesized voice. Headroom, created by London video producers Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, was originally intended for use in music videos. Actor Matt Frewer played the role and helped Headroom earn his status as a new-wave hero. Playing with Polar Bears In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company made a dramatic shift in its advertising by introducing the "Always Coca-Cola" campaign, by Creative Artists Agency and later Edge Creative. The campaign was a diverse one, with an initial run of twentyseven commercials designed to appeal to specific audiences. The ads ran around the world and included a variety of innovative technical approaches, such as computer animation. One such commercial, "Northern Lights," introduced what would become one of the most popular symbols of Coca-Cola advertising: the animated polar bear. As with all television commercials, the process began with storyboards, which were illustrated by Eugene Yelchin from Mr. StewartÕs script. The storyboards divided the commercial's "story" into a series of scenes to fit the required thirtysecond time slot. Next, Mr. Stwewart and Rhythm & Hues did pencil sketches to show how the polar bears would appear in each scene. These sketches were then refined, with detail and background added. To get a better idea of how bears move their heads, bodies, and limbs, Mr. Stewart and the animators studied films and photographs of actual polar bears. Then, models of a bear were sculpted from clay. The models were transferred into threedimensional images and stored as advanced computer graphics by creating a grid of vertical and horizontal lines on the bear image. Using a stylus connected to a computer, an animator plotted the points along the bear's head until an image of the model appeared on the computer screen. Once the image was refined and loaded into memory, the bear could be "moved," allowing it to walk, run, ski, or ice skate, as animators plotted its course on the computer. The bear's torso, head, and limbs had to be manipulated separately because unlike its real-life counterpart the computer-generated bear was not formed in one piece. Animators also finished creating the bear's fine motor movements during this stage of production. Once the basic movements were completed, the rest of the picture was refined. Additional elements that were not computer-generated—such as a Coca-Cola
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bottle—had been scanned and stored in the computer and were added at this point. The bear's fur was added, its eyes were completed, the scenic background was "painted in," and the lighting details—intricate lighting complete with reflection and shadows—were fine-tuned. While the animation was in production, Mr. Stewart worked with Glenn Rueger at Outside Music to compose original music, and created sound effects with Weddington Productions. In order to maintain the magical and ethereal quality of the world of the bears, Mr. Stewart chose to keep the music to a minimum. He used the synthesized music as a source of punctuation only, and kept the bears dialoguefree, except for the notable "oohs," "ahs" and grunts which Mr. Stewart created on a sound stage using his own voice, which was then altered through a computer to make him sound like the bears. The music and "dialogue," which were minimal by design, required months of work. The polar bear was a considerable success, and went on to star in six commercials for Coca-Cola, including two ads for the 1994 Olympic Games in which it slid down a luge and soared off a ski jump. Bear cubs also made their debut for Coke in a holiday ad in which the bear family selects its Christmas tree.
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CASE STUDY ANIMATIONS IN VODAFONE: ZOO ZOOS
In a latest news from Hindustan Times, ?Zoozoos‘ (as they are supposedly called!) are actually real people wearing white specially designed costumes. Just in case you are wondering what are these ?Zoozoos‘… these are the much loved white dwarf like characters seen in all the Vodafone ads these days (particularly during IPL breaks). One of the main challenge was to make the characters look and behave like cartoon / animated figures. This was achieved using special material wrinkle free cloth which made the body suites look smooth (like in animation) and the ads were shot at slower than normal frame rate so that the movements look swift but funny. A keen observer might notice that the expressions on the face are also static and are changed only between the (shot) cuts. So next time you see a Vodafone ad, pay extra attention to details to see if you can make out something with these things in mind.
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Zoo zoo: The new brand 'endorser' for Vodafone Some find them akin to aliens; others insist they are animated cartoon characters, while a third bunch doesn‘t quite know what to make of it. Nevertheless, we have all been privy to these white, scrawny creatures with giant heads as they invade our TV screens during an IPL match. In 2008, Vodafone had unveiled the ?Happy to Help‘ series during the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the launch of the second season, Vodafone has given birth to the Zoozoo: a special character created specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials. What‘s interesting is that there are some 25 such commercials planned under this campaign, 10 of which are already on air. The aim is to release approximately one ad a day, to sustain interest till the end of the IPL. So what’s with so many? It‘s no mean feat to unleash so many commercials at a go, with the risk of consumers not grasping them as fast as the brand churns them out. Explains Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Vodafone India, ?We‘re acquiring customers at a very fast pace, but a large number of them are unaware of the range of services we offer. I mean, ?phone backup‘, which we‘re advertising now, was launched two years ago, for instance!? Media spends and visibility for brands peak during the IPL, so Vodafone obviously wanted a piece of the pie. Further, Nagpal explains, the brand was in need of an idea that would work doubly hard, as it was planning to spend some four months‘ worth of marketing monies in one month. ?So, we chose not to do just one or two ads, or viewers would get bored quickly, watching them over and over on the IPL,? says Nagpal. Six months ago, Vodafone briefed its agency, Ogilvy India, to create uncommon characters – a common thread to link the ads in the campaign together. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy India, tells afaqs! that the only starting point for the team was that the character had to be simple to a stupefying level. And thus, the Zoozoo was born.
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You egghead! Ogilvy experimented with several characters and finally took its love for the term ?egghead‘ one step too far, creating characters that don the colour white (with black dots for eyes and a mouth), have heads resembling eggs, and disproportionately thin bodies. The idea is to tell the VAS stories in a world akin to, yet different, from humans. The creatures were then given a characterisation: they are to lead simple lives, speak a language of their own (something that sounds like gibberish), move in a certain way, and even emote like human beings, with big frowns or big grins to do the trick. The execution is almost like emoticons. ?We even limited the number of emotions to be used, to keep things easy,? says Rao. A completely Indian concept, Rao lent these characters a name: the Zoozoos. There‘s no science to it, he explains – the name just had to be something fun, memorable and catchy, and not a clever one that‘s difficult to pronounce. Ironically, nowhere in the communication does the Zoozoo name pop up, but Rao doesn‘t feel that‘s much of a problem: it wasn‘t a task to popularise the name in the first place. Currently, some10 films are on air, for service offerings such as Cricket Alerts, Beauty Alerts, Phone Backup, the IPL Contest 1, the IPL Contest 2, Chhota Credit, Vodafone Maps, Vodafone Call Filter, Live Games and Musical Greetings. Each film, shot against a Grey backdrop, has these characters interacting with one another (some storylines even have Zoozoo families) with the product story weaved in.
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For instance, the Phone Backup ad (the first in the series) has several Zoozoos lined up to have their faces photocopied through a photocopier, while a tetris towards the end (the messenger in all the ads) announces how Vodafone allows for creating a phonebook backup. Making of the Zoozoo No, they aren‘t animated characters. They are human beings who were made to wear body suits. ?The design of the characters is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation,? shrugs Rao, which was indeed the very illusion that had to be created. ?In a sense, it is ?live‘ animation!? he quips, referring to the fact that it was all shot live. Prakash Varma, ad filmmaker, Nirvana Films, has directed the commercials, and reveals that the Zoozoos were a big challenge to create. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk, gesticulate and emote were very important. Essentially, costume design and artwork were crucial elements. ?It took me three weeks of pre-production to understand how it will work,? says Varma. There were two fabrics that were considered for the body suits, and one was rejected for it had too many wrinkles and was shiny. The wrinkles would have shown when the characters moved, thereby shattering the illusion of animation. ?So we chose the more practical, thicker fabric,? Varma explains. The production team divided the outfit into two parts: the body and the head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed with foam in some places, while the head was attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a harder material called Perspex was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).
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If one wishes to understand the size of this head, here‘s a fact: a human head would typically reach up to the mouth level of this giant Zoozoo head. ?We kept the hands and legs thin, which is why we cast women – and occasionally children – wearing the costumes,? says Varma. The thin limbs, contrasted with big bellies and a bulbous head, all add to the illusion that these creatures are ?smaller‘ than humans. Sets were created to suit the size of the Zoozoos. Cinematically, this ?size‘ was a trick: the creatures look smaller than they actually are on screen, to portray a different world of sorts. For this, the speed of shooting was altered: Nirvana shot it in a high-speed format to make them look the size that they do. Furthermore, simple sets/backdrops were created and spray painted with neutral Greys – a colour of choice so that attention isn‘t diverted from the main characters. For a supposedly ?outdoor‘ shot, even the shadow of a Zoozoo was kept ?live‘ and not done in post production: it was painted in a darker shade of grey on the ground. An even lighting was maintained throughout. There was virtually no post production work done. The films were shot by Nirvana in Cape Town, South Africa, with the help of a local production house there, called Platypus. Incidentally, the same combination of people also worked on the ?Happy to Help‘ series last year. When asked whether Cape Town is fast becoming a tourist spot for Vodafone and Nirvana, Varma laughs, saying, ?Oh no! It‘s just that we are very comfortable with the team there and know what sort of work to expect from them.? Nagpal adds here that the production cost had to be minimal for unveiling such a large number of commercials. ?Otherwise, our production costs would exceed media spends,? he quips.
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Zoozoos: storming the digital world In the digital space, Zoozoos are currently featured on a specially created micro site – here, one can partake in quizzes and contests, including the ?What kind of Zoozoo are you?‘ quiz. Each Zoozoo has a unique set of characteristics and traits allotted to it. The microsite also allows for goodies to be downloaded (including wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones), and offers details on the IPL. With a specially created YouTube channel on the site, the TVCs are provided there for people to watch and share. Apart from the microsite, a Zoozoo fan page has been created on Face book, which has more than 5,600 members. Fans have access to special tag-me images, Zoozoo sounds (such as Zoozoo laughter and music tracks) and ad previews. People are also following Zoozoos on Twitter and get updates whenever new commercials go on air. Zoozoo ads are fast becoming popular on YouTube, and on certain days, claims Nagpal of Vodafone, some of the videos even managed to figure among the most watched lot on the site. The team behind the Vodafone-Zoozoo work includes Rao, along with Kiran Anthony, Elizabeth Dias, Rajesh Mani, Mehul Patil, Kumar Subramaniam, Kapil Arora, Debaleena Ghosh and Desmond Fernandes. Zo, what do zoo think? Zoozoos clearly seem to be a favourite amongst the ad fraternity. From the name ?Zoozoo‘ to the painted eyes and mouth, Brijesh Jacob, managing partner, White Canvas, says he has not seen anything like it. ?They have a certain madness to them, which makes them likeable and memorable,? he says. In the past, too, Orange and then Hutch (the earlier avatars of Vodafone in India) had made use of characters – an animated boy-girl duo – to whip up its VAS offerings before consumers. But those characters were limited by their definition, unlike the Zoozoos, where an entire world of such characters has been etched.
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?Zoozoos come in all shapes and sizes; kids, mother, friends, individuals…there does not seem to be a set format to use them,? Jacob adds, which makes the possibilities endless. Satbir Singh, chief creative officer, Euro RSCG, shares his own Zoozoo story: ?Every time the commercial gets over, my two-year old son Angad hands me the remote and demands to watch it again. The other day, a waiter at a club mixed up my order as he was too busy watching the ad during IPL!? That pretty much sums up the ?Zooperb‘ impact, as he puts it. Some feel that the Zoozoos could well become a part of the brand story, instead of just being used for this VAS oriented campaign. But this comes with a warning tag: one has to be careful about letting the Zoozoos become bigger than the brand or the message. ?Vodafone shouldn‘t get stuck with a format,? says Jacob of White Canvas. ?They did suffer this to a certain extent with the pug.?
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CONCLUSION
Advertising on TV gets you the best coverage in the advertising world. Careers in multimedia required in ad agencies comprises of digital photographer and editor, virtual reality environment designer to multimedia production designer, depending upon the nature of projects and tools used for that particular project. Technically speaking, animation refers to a sequence of frames which, when played in a systematic sequence, at a particular speed, presents a smoothly moving image as in a film or a video. In the past, Indian animation market was not as big as it is now. The activities on this front began only in the late 90's when animation studios made their appearance in the country and the industry developed an expert outlook. Now, our country is waking up to host the enormous opportunities that promise a bright future. Through this project we came to know that the world of animation is abuzz with creative opportunities. Anyone who is creative and innovative in his approach and knows basic computer skills could try hands in this booming industry.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.managementparadise.com www.animated3d.net www.digitalanimation.com LINKS: www.e4.com/wtf/animations/how-to-advertising.html www.creative-jar.com/portfolio/case-study/expedia 3danimation.e-spaces.com/3danimation.html www.toondra.ru/en/animation.html
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