Animated Conversations

And one such visual effects artiste cum animator who after having had a long successful stint in Hollywood,has come back to India and started his own animation studio is Chetan Deshmukh. Deshmukh,whose Toolbox Studios has been around in the city for a few years now believes that animation is something that is inspired out of creativity and the drive to tell a story in a fantastical form. And when one-steps into the studio that combines the old world charm of an old Maharashtrian Wada with the latest technologies one cannot help but believe in his words that animation is born out of a desire to be creative.

“It’s been a long tryst with the profession,” says Deshmukh,adding,“Almost 17 years to be precise. What began as a normal hobby,of sketching pictures in schoolbooks graduated to a full-fledged desire to do something exclusively in the field.” Deshmukh incidentally dropped out of engineering in his second year to go to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and study animation and visual effects. He says that growing up in a family where he was always in touch with post production techniques like dubbing,editing etc,were the factors that fuelled his desire to enter the profession.

Deshmukh also feels that there is a lot to learn from the way people in Hollywood function. “For starters they are all very well educated about their own domain. Be it a lightman,or even a make up man,or a technician,they all have formal education in those fields which sadly is something that we do not have in India. Over here it is more about doing things in a less planned manner and it eventually shows in the work,as animation and visual effects in India are still very nascent compared to the West,” he says.

Deshmukh who has worked on films like The Last Samurai,Shanghai Knights,Chicago,Daredevil,amongst many others says that a very simple rule that they follow in Hollywood is that they allow an influx of ideas,and for them the combined team effort is greater than an individual. He says,“Hollywood technicians are always learning and reinventing and opening themselves up to newer possibilities that shows in their films.”

As far as their tryst with Bollywood and the Indian film industry is concerned Deshmukh says that his company Toolbox Studious is working on a film called Vroom that will release on May 16. “We are also working on a couple of Marathi films,and also on developing a full length animated television serial on the popular comic strip Chintoo that will keep us busy as of now.”

Animation
Experimental animation is done at the start of the animation stage of a production to refine the design and acting of the character. Rough model sheets are developed at this time to show the characters’ basic design and proportion.

The Work Reel
The Work Reel is finalised after the director approves the rough model sheets and checks their continuity thereby corresponding to the original story sketch.

Clean-up
The okayed rough scenes are redrawn by the Assistants and in-betweeners,putting details on the characters and making minor drawing and animation changes in the scene.

Final Production
When the entire picture has been shot,processed and color balanced,the music score along with the dialogue and sound affects tracks are assembled together (the final mix) and combined with the photographic image to form the finished film.