Toon up your career with an animation degree

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu will soon have seven state-of-the art centers of BIG AIMS (Animation, Infotainment and Media school), an animation and VFX training academy of Reliance Animation, to nurture creative and artistic talent in the animation and visual effects of film making, according to Ashish SK, chief executive of Reliance Animation.Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Ashish said the academy has entered into a strategic collaboration with Annamalai University to introduce a first-of-its-kind degree programme in animation and visual effects of film making in India.As per the agreement with the university, 16 centres will be opened across India this year which will be imparting the distance education programmes. “The city will have four centers in Velachery, Vadapalani, Alwarpet and Annanagar, besides centres in Trichy, Tanjavur and Coimbatore,” said Ashish.“The animation industry is short of skilled manpower and there is a need to nurture the creativity,” said Ashish, adding that it is not about learning only the software and machines but also the artistic skills and creativity.“We have found that the fine arts students and those who have artistic skills without any qualifications do much better than a software or an engineering professional. The talents are mostly from the small cities so we are targeting these cities,” he added.Ashish, whose firm has bagged a contract of animating five stories of Chandamama, said the courses will create a talent pool for the fast evolving animation, VFX, gaming and comics industry in India.Annamalai University vice-chancellor M Ramanasaid that while the training will be provided by BIG AIMS, the course and the guidelines of the exams will be designed by the university. The course will have tution fees and practical fees, which will range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 per month.“We expect about 500 to 600 students to enroll in the course this year,” Ramanathan said. To a query on the cost of the centers, Ashish said it may vary from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3 crore depending upon the cities and locations.According to an FICC-KPMG report, Indian Animation and VFX industry has the potential to grow to Rs 5,600 crore. Digital advertising and gaming are expected to witness the maximum growth and account for approximately Rs 73.8 billion by 2015.