Animation has come a long, long way since the first public screening of animation with cinematic apparatus that used hand-painted sequences on celluloid strips. Today the global market is worth about $50 billion and is projected to become a $70-billion industry by 2007. Animation is regarded as a part of the creative or content industry as artistic or creative effort is essential to the process of developing animation. The segment has the potential for job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. The US industry, the largest user of animation products and services, describes entertainment as feature films, TV programs, music, broadcasting, cable TV, games, sports, performing arts theme parks and toys.

Indian Animation Market:

The Indian animation market was fairly small until a few years ago and activity on this front only began in earnest in the later half of the 90s when animation studios made an appearance in the country and the industry developed a more serious, export oriented outlook. Slowly but surely India is now waking up to a host of global opportunities that promise a lot of action for the country’s leading design specialists. India is a recent entrant in the global animation scene but demand for its production services is growing at a fast pace.

India’s animation studios are catering to the requirements of various end user segments such as feature films, TV programs, advertisements/commercials and computer games. Animation solutions are also finding a place in niches such as film titling, special effects, Web entertainment programs; TV broadcast graphics, 3D modeling and background development. In each of these areas the extent or scope of services for an animation production company includes offering services in animation production services, co-production and content creation.

India now has several training institutes that cater to the demand of training animation professionals. Chief among them are the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), J.J. School of Arts, Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), Mumbai, Industrial Design Center (IIT Mumbai), IIT Guwahati, C-DAC’s National Multimedia Resource Center (Pune).

Animation industry is poised for a boom in India. Indian companies established in the animation field are getting enough work orders from various countries like France and Spain. The demand for production of animation films in India is on the rise as the cost of production is only one-fourth or one-fifth of the cost being incurred abroad.

The animation industry is estimated to touch $900 million by 2009.

India: The Animation Hub?

Although India is lagging behind the world in terms of productivity in the Animation and the Gaming sector, India in recent years has slowly and gradually trying to positioning itself as a significant provider of animation production services. There are a number of factors which can act as India's strengths and help it get an edge in the international market.

A vast base of English speaking manpower: animation, which requires a familiarity with the English language, benefits when the work is outsourced to India. Besides, a number of initiatives are underway in the country targeted at creating skill manpower for the animation market.

Low cost of animation services: India’s edge in terms of pricing is stated to be unmatched. Compared to countries like US and Canada or even Korea, and the Philippines, the Indian animation costs are the lowest.

India’s large entertainment sector: Owing to a prolific entertainment segment, India has a ready supply of content developers.

Heritage of traditional literature: Indian content developers also have exposure and access to rich heritage of traditional literature. This would offer the potential for content-based partnerships. Local companies can consider creating their own animated films based on characters in Indian folklore and mythology. These films are not just for the Indian audience as Indian mythological characters have a universal appeal. Take Hanuman for example. Revered as a god in India, he is called Shun Wu Kong, the wind monkey, in China; while in Thailand, he is the central character in Ramakiya, the country's most popular folk tale. Some believe the character of popular comic hero Superman is based on Hanuman’s.

Studios that are well equipped: The larger film production studios in India are equipped with state-of-the-art computer hardware and software platforms

As a recent study on the animation industry has predicted that the global animation production market is set for major growth, a number of Indian software players are turning their attention to animation. Animation studios now dot the country and the industry is also witnessing the arrival of training houses that are dedicated to building skilled manpower for this market.

Currently, Indian animation players have a relatively low penetration in areas such as feature film production and gaming. Good animators are scarce and the gestation period is high. "There is dearth of talent and lack of infrastructure. Making an animated story takes three to four months of hard toil and heavy investment. It takes seven to eight years to get established as an animator.

India at present is getting outsourced work that is on the low side of the value chain, like cleaning drawing or making elementary sketches. Observers feel that if India does not gear up to meet the animation challenge, it may end up losing a lot of business to other South East Asian countries, especially Malaysia.

On the financial front, India needs to take the cue from Korea and Taiwan. The government of Korea funds animation ventures either on partnership or hypothecation basis. This provides the necessary impetus to the animation sector and high-end games industry. In Bangladesh, World Bank is funding the animation industry. In India, however, there has hardly been any government backing.

One of the things wrong with Indian animation is lack of initiative on the animator's part to create new and exciting stuff. Most of the animators are happy and content working for offshore projects and feel little need for creating their own ideas or short films which can be picked up by animation producers and converted into exciting properties. We don't need to sell our animation anywhere else in the world if we can create stuff which is liked by our own people. After all India has a huge population of kids and American animation channels are dubbing their programmes in Hindi and other regional languages to grab the eyeballs of Indian kids.

Conclusion:

By all account, the animation production industry in India has the potential to grow into a major export engine for the country. Indian design studios are gradually establishing their credentials in overseas geographies, gaining valuable experience and building their skill sets in this high potential global market. With some incentives provided to this segment, India can not only catch up with competitors such as the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan, it can easily exceed their potential. The industry is growing. All it needs is the right kind of support.