Animation Education – The Need of the Hour
Now animation is going to be the next big thing and India is in the position to capitalize on it with its huge English speaking, IT educated and techno savvy workforce. That’s the good part, and so far no major bad parts, but it’s in the offing if we continue to ignore a few fundamentals.The most important and primary, if we want to sustain animation growth in the long run is Animation Education. Everybody is talking about studios and software’s and developing content and most are cribbing about the lack of quality people to handle these projects. The irony is the ones cribbing are the ones who need these quality
people, but who are not doing much about it. This issue was raised in the final session at the seminar, but barring one person nobody made any sense as most were clue less and speaking generally with no will to identify the problems and find the plausible solutions. I don’t think we, as an animation producing nation have yet come to know this as a problem.This gent, a foreigner and a dean of one of the high profile animation college in Mumbai has a huge experience in Hollywood films and Animation Education. He wanted to but couldn’t speak much, for lack of time and other panelist, thus a genuine opportunity was lost to know what he knows.
One statement which demanded attention was “You are all looking at it wrong, i.e. upside down. Instead of a top down approach a bottom up approach is required if you want to succeed in animation” I agree and what I understood of this statement is this. The basic foundation of every industry is based on knowledge and education relevant to that industry. If we don’t invest in animation education and improve the quality of training today, how could we possibly ever find good people in the future? For animation to emulate the successes of IT, an ecosystem has to be created to provide quality training to the right candidate in the right duration with set standard & benchmarks of excellence.
Next, setting up of proper channels for the absorption of these candidates into the industry, thou on this front we are fairly adequate, but more will be needed. All of this requires vision and long and short term planning with a flexible and focused approach. Guidelines need to be put in place so that animation education is introduced as an optional subject in school and college syllabus. Policies to guide these initiatives will play a prominent role; this is where the government and the animation segment need to tie up.
Animation is new to India and our education system is not geared to handle it at a national level. Strategic tie ups between the education institutes and industry, guided by proper bodies formed to act as catalysts and not arbitrary regulators could play a primary role in the smooth transaction of business. There will be the initial hic ups but it can be sorted as we go. There is whole new industry to be discovered aligned to animation with a huge potential for growth, a window to newer job & better opportunities. These are just a few issues, there will be more and I am not placed to comment on all of them.Animation is a knowledge and technology intensive subject and should be addressed as such.
This is again lost on most animation training institutes as they have developed a biased, one dimensional and limited approach in their training. They have failed to create any awareness, and they invest more in ads rather than improve their offerings. The few, with the right attitude and understanding of this vast subject don’t have the reach and financial clout of the franchisee toting biggies.
Platforms should be provided to all these players to prove themselves, the visibility & scrutiny will improve the overall standards and competitiveness. Similarly guidelines have to be formulated to root out the bad eggs as they are already corrupting the quality of the people pool.Finally, bottoms up approach may not look profitable in the present, but if neglected, it definitely could create big losses in the future.
Visit – http://www.seamedu.com/Animation-and-Arts/3D-Animation/Courses-Diploma-in-3d-Animation-Pune/
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