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Metamorphosing Marathi Cinema: The VFX Factor Revolutionizing the Industry
Marathi films have witnessed a stupendous growth in the last decade, not only in the number of audience visiting the screens but also in technology that has taken the whole experience of watching a Marathi film to an all new level. The films today are far beyond the typical slapstick comedies and are more logical and futuristic. When we say futuristic, we don’t mean that they are delivering something at par with Hollywood but at least the thinking and the approach is right. And who knows, in the coming years they might reach that level too.

The movie ‘Shwaas’ really pumped some oxygen into the ‘about to die’ Marathi film industry. It broke the clichéd boundaries and made Marathi people visit the screens to watch the movie. Such has been the transformation after Shwaas that multiplexes today are not hesitating at all in providing screens for a Marathi film and even non-Marathis are going to a multiplex to watch a Marathi film which is good and has subtitles. Films like Fandry have even gone beyond this and have made their mark at various International Film Festivals and have been successful in creating a huge fan base. Just check out the Facebook page of Fandry and you will be amazed at the response it has garnered. And one thing that many of us won’t have noticed is that Marathi films have been winning National Awards on a consistent basis since the last few years. Unbelievable, isn’t it? But the big question is… what has brought this transformation? Of course, logical and out of the box scripts, good direction, better music and lyrics are the obvious answers. But what really skips our mind is the main reason that a film ‘catches our eye.’ The Visual Effects!

Marathi film producers are more open to innovation now and they have understood the importance of VFX in a film. In the Marathi Film Industry where the budget has always been a constraint, the producers are now reserving a good amount to be spent on quality VFX. Because every penny spent on VFX eventually generates an output that’s worth a much more!

Who would have imagined that someday a movie like ‘Aajoba’ which is based on the life of a leopard will be made in Marathi? But today such movie has not only been made but it has garnered rave reviews as well. Films like Pune 52, Pitruroon, Time Please, and Salaam have impressed not only on the script level but have appealed visually too. And the common name behind the movies listed above has been …Toolbox Studio!

Toolbox Studio, Pune is one of the best studios serving customers for films, post production and animation technology. With an imaginative eye, it offers top-quality VFX and CGI for Films, Titles, Commercials and more. Toolbox Studio animation studio is proficient in handling full length feature film VFX, and it provides additional value to commercials, promos, and TV commercial with its unique VFX team. Right from pre-visualisation to 3D asset modelling, 3D animation, rotoscopy, matte painting and compositing…Toolbox Studio nurtures every element with the best expertise available resulting in the final output to be worth applauded. While you must be wondering about these terms and how Toolbox Studio is exceptionally good at it, let’s try and resolve your doubts.
- Pre-visualisation: Interpreting the director’s vision, understanding the spectrum of film making, knowing the in and outs of camera and lens selection and understanding the importance of lighting in storytelling is of utmost importance. And Toolbox Studio with its in-house team and live action endeavours does it the best!
- 3D Asset Modelling: At Toolbox Studio, they create 3D assets such guns, vehicles and many imaginary 3d models according to directors vision. Toolbox makes visualization easy for you by making tailor made 3d assets. Thus Toolbox is first choice of directors.
- 3D Animation: VFX is a combination of live action shoot and animation. Toolbox Studio with its on-set supervision, concept art imagery yet realistic characters and high quality animation at an affordable cost makes it easy to come out with the best VFX.
- Rotoscopy: Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over footage, frame by frame, for use in live-action and animated films. Toolbox Studio utilizes every available global digital technology in an effort to make its services cost effective while focusing and delivering the highest possible creative and effective approach to film vfx.
- Matt Painting: A matt painting is visual representation of any given place, real or imagined, that is too expensive to recreate or far away to visit. Such artworks are necessities in creating realistic backdrop for films. Toolbox has created breath taking matt painting for lot of film projects.
Compositing: compositing is about making complex, visual masterpieces driven by director’s creative vision. With its master compositors, Toolbox Studio delivers more value to its clients. With dedicated resources and team of visual effects artist it specializes in 2D, 3D and stereo compositing that includes-
- Green screen compositing
- Motion graphic design
- Set extension
- Beauty enhancement
- Paint
Toolbox Studio has been contributing quite outstandingly, not only to Marathi films but also for International films since 5-6 years. Movies like Pune 52 and Pitruroon have enthralled the audience with their visual effects and have proved to be a benchmark to look up to. And the credit goes to the Toolbox Studio for creating the curiosity and the eagerness to watch these films right from the day the trailer was launched. And same is the case with Toolbox Studio’s other creations like the very much acclaimed movie Salaam, Time Please, Koknastha to name a few. And there are more in the making like ‘Gurupournima’ and ‘Baaji’, which will surely take the industry to an all new level

Toolbox Studio has enabled films to be technically strong and it has fetched much better results for them in terms of appreciation. And going by Toolbox Studio’s portfolio and the hunger of the Marathi film industry to grow, one can’t really expect anything less than ‘world class’ in the years to come!
July 3, 2014
Maximizing Customer Reach: Essential Strategies
LinkedIn recently announced that the users will now be able to upload video Ads too. Until now Linkedin displayed only images or text for advertising. But now that it has rolled out global video advertising too, let’s see how it can make a difference to the social media marketing scenario and more importantly, how it can help your business.

Linkedin is one of the most popular business-oriented social networking services. Launched on the 5^th of May 2003, it already had 259 million acquired users spread over more than 200 countries as of June 2013. So you can expect your Ad to reach out those millions out there, but what is more important is, you can be rest assured that your video Ad reaches the right audience too. With the video Ads, advertisers will be able to import videos or use existing YouTube videos. Ideally, using video Ads will up advertisers’ presence on YouTube since their audience will grow with the addition of Linkedin’s users.

Linkedin boasts of millions of profiles belonging to various categories; this helps you in segmenting and focusing on a particular segment as per your business needs and effectively targeting the decision makers. Moreover, creating an Ad on Linkedin is pretty simple.

Creating a video Ad is similar to creating a text advertisement, except you select Video from the Media Type dropdown.

If you’re a new advertiser:

Move your cursor over Business Services in the top right of your homepage and select Advertise.

Click Get started.

Click Create an Ad

Under the Media Type dropdown, select Video. Name the campaign; add your headline, description, and YouTube.com video URL.

Click Next.

Select the target audience for your Ad and click Next.

Set a daily budget and bid on how much you’re willing to pay for each video view.

Click Save Changes in the bottom right.

Enter your billing information.

Submit the Ad for review.

If you’re an existing advertiser:

Move your cursor over Business Services in the top right of your homepage and select Advertise.

Click Manage to go to your Campaign Manager.

You may be prompted to sign back into your account.

Click Create new campaign in the top right of your Campaign Manager.

Click Create an Ad.

Under the Media Type dropdown, select Video. Name the campaign; add your headline, description, and YouTube.com video URL.

Click Next.

Select the target audience for your Ad and click Next.

Set a daily budget and bid on how much you’re willing to pay for each video view.

Click Save Changes in the bottom right.

Enter your billing information if you want to update or change information.

Submit the Ad for review.

The Cost?

When creating a video Ad the advertiser will be able to set a maximum Cost Per View (CPV) bid. This means that the advertiser will only pay when a member clicks to play the video. The minimum CPV bid for video ads is $4.00.

So it can be said that video advertising on Linkedin is quite cost effective as it offers you a vast yet focused reach. So when the next time you think of using the social media for advertising your brand, make sure that your brand is linked in effectively with your potential customers.
May 14, 2014
The VF’X’ Factor in TV Commercials!

Here are two links that sum up the whole story of how VFX in advertising has wholly evolved the industry. The first link, which is an old Limca Ad starring the Maine Pyaar Kiya hero Salman Khan. The Ad is simple without any particular effect as such except at the end of the commercial which again can’t be counted as one as per today’s standards. To be precise, they are mere graphics. Many of you watching it now may not at all like it because instantly your mind will start comparing this Ad with the one in the second link. Yes, it’s the Ad which again stars the Dabangg Salman Khan, this time endorsing the brand Thums Up and performing an unbelievable daredevil act. It’s highly unrealistic that someone will jump out of an aeroplane in a Jeep to get a bottle of his favourite drink. As many of you might know that this sequence was shot using the Chroma technology, and Mr. Salman Khan, the pretty model and their jeep had a harness around them as a protection, though…they won’t have jumped from a height of more than 5-10 feet. But does this come to your mind even for a fraction of a second? The answer is No. This is the magic of VFX. It makes everything look so real and makes you believe in it.

And the reason that we are talking about VFX here is that this industry is easily one of the fastest growing industries in India today and more than 50% of an Ad today consists of VFX in advertising. Just as the TV industry is burgeoning by the day, VFX too is finding a good foothold amidst this development. The entertainment portion of the animation, gaming and VFX industry (now included in the overall size of the entertainment and media industry) grew by 24% and was estimated at Rs 13 billion in 2007. This industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25%. The visual effects field — referring to computerized digital animation and picture-layering processes known as compositing — is evolving quickly. Very small boutique studios are mushrooming in all metros to cater to the needs of small screen content makers and advertising agencies.

VFX has completely metamorphosed the TVCs’ scenario in India with more and more brands using VFX to enhance the quality of their Ads. VFX has provided the necessary platform to more and more innovative ideas. Such VFX Ads have a longer life compared to the normal Ads because they are unique in every sense and they register quickly in the minds of the target audience.

Many of us may dislike the MTS- Born for the Internet Ad and think that it is gross but the point here is, good or bad, everyone is talking about it and the Ad has indeed served its purpose. Not only the brand has been successful in reaching out to the people but the special effects have ensured that the Ad is registered in the minds of the target audience and stays there for a long time.

However, the brand must take the utmost care while selecting the right VFX Studio, because ones VFX goes wrong may reduce the Ad to a mere laughing stock and nothing else. You may have seen today’s kids laughing out loud at some desi commercial that became a disaster because of its poor VFX quality. It’s essential to choose the best VFX Studio; a studio that can craft a spectacular visual experience. And Toolbox should top your list if you are looking for such a studio. It’s one of the leading studios with a state-of-the-art setup, which includes a chroma studio, sound studio, IT infrastructure…and is renowned for adding visual wonders and creative expertise to VFX ads and advertising. Toolbox Studio provides various innovative solutions like live-action, pre-visualization, shoot supervision, 2D compositing, 3D and CG effects, animation, motion design, color grading and any combination of these services.

VFX has certainly become the X factor in today’s TVCs and VFX ads, destined to grow beyond imagination and create many visual miracles in the near future.

May 14, 2014
Bringing IT ideas into Motion

The exponential boom currently being enjoyed by the media sector is simply phenomenal. The repercussions of which are blatantly visible across the major business verticals. Today, media and its plethora of sub-forms are seamlessly infusing themselves into many other businesses. For a key decisive department of an industry, such as Marketing, media – with its artilleries – has become the chief arsenal for the warfront.

The highly dynamic IT landscape is also benefitting from this seamless fusion. Innovative marketing, internal as well as external, is heavily dependent on exploiting the media sector, to reap in the much talked about “out-of-the-box” factor. To the effect of which, nowadays, video (video marketing) is increasingly becoming a crucial mode to woo potential customers as well as reform the internal work culture.

Here’s a video to better understand the positives video channels can contribute to your business.

Stats talk of high figures. By 2015, the number of those watching and sharing videos online will shoot up to 1.5 billion; something that’s twice as compared to the numbers seen today. Enough said; the IT industry won’t be able to overlook this potential channel for long. So the earlier they’d join the pack, the better in more ways than one. Because, comparatively, out of all the communication forms, videos are the most captivating media – transferring messages effectively across all sorts of recipients. We know – a picture is worth a thousand words – a video is capable of even more. So not considering the video format as an integral part of your corporate efforts, is simply a success suicide.

Here are a few pointers on how one can efficaciously use the video medium across the IT landscape.

–          HR Videos: a deviant from the routine, HR Videos can actually be fashioned in a great way to engage your company employees at a deeper level. Consider it as a real-life form of storytelling. Like a recruiting video or an orientation video, these seem inconsequential but truly serve a big deal in sourcing the right talent and making your company also stand apart. Fun, exciting HR videos set the right tone for employees and help them gel well with the company. Besides, heavy, pertinent information is put across easily.

–          Training Videos: need to get the new employees get-going with the work processes? Introducing a reform in current process? All this can be done in a lively way through innovative training videos. Besides, instead of reading or verbally listening to, training videos give employees the sort-of hands on treat.

–          Marketing Videos: of course, marketing videos will form a major part of your marketing strategy. By default, video commercials (whether online or offline) will be at the top of the list. Corporate presentations, video testimonials, product demos, event coverage videos, employee profiles, etc. are great modes of video marketing.

–          Project Management Videos: a good management strategy needs to be shared with one and all. Profiling a project management will certainly help the future employees in gaining insights into the real deal and as to how to tackle situations as and when they arise. From their inference, new processes and strategies could be introduced as deemed best.

–          Business Analysis Videos & Infographics: it is a good idea to showcase your case studies through the video medium. Instantly stand out with innovative visuals to immediately elucidate complex business data into easily understood illustrative videos and graphics. Visual medium has always been the best tutor ever. Your chance to make the most from them.

In conclusion, it should be clear by now why incorporation of corporate video production is a quintessential strategy. When your content has the ability to tantalise all the human senses, know that you’ve quite hit the emotional spot of that human. You are halfway through there. Easily shared and propagated across the internet, corporate videos make for the best type of consumption online. They have a large market share online and definitely a grand growth prospect for those making astute use of it.

Just FYI, Google loves videos.

May 14, 2014
Three Video Advertising opportunities that Brands in India need to consider

Ever since the implementation of 12-minute advertising limit on television channels, as mandated by the Telecom Regulation Authority of India (TRAI), the entire television advertising scene has gone topsy-turvy. The sour repercussions of which have heavily impacted both on an equal platform – broadcasters as well as the advertisers. Carriage costs haven’t slipped down an inch, so has the TV advertising tariff – given the massive digitization roll-out, and now the minimal ad content display on TV channels. All put together don’t quite translate into something very profitable for either side.

In the light of which, we dig this situation deeper to find out plausible solutions that brands here in India can look up to, and, as such, effectively utilise the available alternate resources (read: internet) to maintain grabbing eyeballs and keeping the reach as widespread in tandem with the earlier situation. We are obviously talking of a win-win situation for all.

On the whole, even if the Television industry maybe in a soup because of the recent TRAI move, the internet advertising industry seems to take the same move welcomingly. A few years ago, digital media experts wouldn’t have predicted the significance that digital media has today. More so, about the digital advertising! Though, it did have its fair share of mention then, but mostly constituted as a secondary or an add-on to print or television advertising. But now times have taken a different stride. Brands now increasingly prefer the digital media for showcasing their value addition to the masses. And why wouldn’t they? Statistics specify a majority of customer base hooked online for most of their times in a day.

Technology is seamlessly converging with human life today, opening many avenues of exposure right from the palm of one’s hand. Mobile devices are making it extremely feasible for advertisers and promoters to target niche set of relevant audiences without the baggage of huge expenses being loaded onto them. Changing oneself with the changing times has always been a profitable proposition, be it personally, collectively or even technologically. These changing guidelines, regulations and converging technologies call for newer ways of advertising.

1. Advertise With Online Video – The first and foremost alternative that stands tall effectively is online video. Video uploading and sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo and similar video mobile applications used on smart phones and tablets make it immensely easy to reach the right target audience. Without a doubt, video format is the most interactive and “connecting” medium of advertising. Banner ads are soon being replaced by mini-sized ad videos.

YouTube is known to dominate this online video scene the most. The pre-roll advertisements played on YouTube have statistically proven to have had a positive impact on sales or even brand awareness. When compared with TV, YouTube boasts of 90% reach amongst the metro youth when compared to a leading Indian entertainment channel. Given the fact that YouTube comes with a much lower cost-per-rating-point than any of the news, infotainment channels, it might not startle you to know that YouTube also only monetises 3% of the entire viewing time. Television does 20% monetisation.

2. Monetise Your Video Content – In fact, an extension to the above point would mean monetising your online video content itself. There are many ways of monetising your video on the internet. It’s similar to article marketing. Just that here your content is in the form of video. So you’d very well call it video content marketing. This could essentially prove worthwhile for broadcasters and content producers, who frequently generate information in the video format. Like article archive sites, these video archiving sites allow people to revisit and review events/ programmes time and again. Here, if the video content being displayed is live, the monetisation rates are high otherwise they are lesser. But, nevertheless, not insignificant!

Sites like Hungama.com or BigFlix.com or even BoxTV.com for that matter have a steady viewership as the statistics. Movie and video producers are particularly in a good position here to rake in the money from such sites that allow web users to view any movie or video on demand.

3. The Niche Called Mobile TV – The recent Idea ad campaign of “mobile internet for everyone” is enough proof of the extensive reach mobile internet today has in India. Mobile TV is the new go-to for the younger masses of the nation. Cause from the comfort of a click and your palm, anyone, anywhere can watch a video on demand. Statistics suggest the enormous leverage that mobile TV has and will eventually contribute to the advertisers.

Mobile TV platforms like Zenga TV and nexGTv speak of roughly 18 million monthly users with a staggering number of 225 million video views per month. These multi-platform players have a broad coverage of entertainment, news, music, movies, sports, spiritual, and cartoon, etc. channels, catering to widespread audience. These platforms support pre-roll video adverts and in-between banner ads formats, just like any normal online platform. To sum the pros of this sort of advertising, mobile TV promotions cost a minuscule fraction of what is charged on TV.

If anything, digital advertising only seems to be growing in leaps and bounds from here on. Like they say, early bird catches the worm. Make hay while it’s still less competitive and congested.

April 29, 2014
The ‘Smart’ World of Mobile Video Advertising in India!

You are playing a cool game on your latest tablet or a smart-phone and suddenly a video pops out of nowhere. Your reactions: 1) You simply skip the video or 2) You go through the whole video if you find it interesting. And if it’s interesting enough, you think of going for the advertised product. A few people, just like you, either skip the video or go for it. When the target audience views the video, half of the job is done for the advertiser. This is particularly relevant in mobile video advertising in India, where the rise of smartphone usage has made video ads a prominent tool for brands. And when the purchase is made, the objective of advertising on this platform is achieved. This demonstrates how advertising in marketing plays a critical role in influencing consumer behaviour.

But like you can see, mobile advertising does get a mixed response as a few of the people find ads popping out a bit inconvenient and disturbing and a few find it helpful. So how is the mobile video advertising scenario in India? Well, if we go by the facts and figures, it’s booming like anything and is set to touch Rs 430 Crore in the year 2014. Interesting, isn’t it? And to make this more interesting, we have got one more fact for you. India stands second in mobile advertisements, right behind the United States of America! And we seem to be catching up sooner with the USA.

There was certainly a disconnect between what industry felt about the potential of mobile advertising and what brands thought about incorporating mobiles in their marketing strategy. May be this is the reason that spend on mobile advertising has been just 10- 15% as compared to spend on digital marketing. But this has changed dramatically and mobile advertising is the ‘new cool’ in the industry now. Marketers are more than willingly investing in mobile advertising as marketers feel that m-commerce is opening up as an instrument for financial inclusion and mobiles will act as a key to a potential explosion in advertising.

So what has really helped mobile video advertising in India?

India has been the mobile first market as compared to the other nations, which means that we Indians access the internet on our mobiles first as compared to the other nations where desktops/laptops are preferred. Interestingly around 40% of the mobile users in India have mobile as their only internet access point.

The mobile advertising market has evolved from a stage of mobile internet being used for email access to being used for social media, to now being used for accessing various kinds of content like NEWS, sports, entertainment etc. With India’s app developer base estimated at 250,000 and expected app downloads to be around 8.4 billion by 2016, Indian mobile users are heavily consuming apps.
The handsets are cheaper and more accessible now. Mobile video advertising in India has significantly benefited from this trend, leveraging affordable handsets and widespread internet access. Also, the relatively cheap data plans have supported advertising in marketing, making it easier for businesses to reach their audience. The introduction of 3G has further facilitated faster streaming of videos, enhancing the potential for mobile video advertising in India and making it more convenient for the target audience to engage with video content effectively.

So who are the big players in mobile video advertising? Automobile giants like Maruti, Yamaha, Honda …FMCG brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Unilever and telecom players like Nokia, Karbonn and Micromax… are really investing a lot in mobile video advertising in India. This trend reflects a growing acknowledgement of its impact on consumer engagement and the evolving nature of advertising in marketing strategies.

From the current scenario, no one can deny the significant role mobile video advertising will play shortly. It’s all set to touch the skies, transforming traditional advertising in marketing and offering viewers unparalleled access to immersive and creative experiences.

Stay tuned for a lot more engaging stuff that’s coming your way soon!

April 29, 2014
Top 5 Reasons For A Corporate Video.

Would you prefer turning and reading some 20 odd pages of an uninteresting content or would you like watching an interesting 3-5 minute video? Obviously, you would prefer watching a video. A video is not only an interesting medium but it also serves the purpose of providing and more importantly, registering the information in the minds of our target audience. Today every business is finding it essential to create a corporate video as part of a corporate video strategy and reach out to its existing and prospective customers. Here are the top five reasons why your business too MUST have a corporate video:

1)          ‘Express to impress.’

Your prospective customers would surely wish to see your infrastructure and the facilities for real. And when you have spent so much on these facilities and infrastructure, why not show it off as the professional hub of expertise that it is? A well-planned corporate video strategy ensures your business is presented in the best light.

2)          Credibility:

A corporate video can garner you instant credibility and is highly recommended for the reputation of your business. People often don’t like going through tedious presentations, and playing a corporate video at the beginning can engage them and reinforce the corporate video benefits by making them believe that… it’s different!

3)          Convenience:

Your customers can simply watch your corporate video and not bother you with a site visit. A well-executed corporate video strategy ensures they get a comprehensive view of your business remotely. Because a site visit often becomes a bit inconvenient for you as well as your customers. Saving time, energy, costs…is always a great idea.

4)          Short and sweet!

Get the best possible message in the shortest possible time! Corporate video marketing allows businesses to create concise yet impactful content. Corporate videos can be short yet detailed. They are capable of narrating the whole story in a very short span of time. In just a few minutes you can show the viewer everything that’s relevant to them without jeopardizing their schedule.

5)          Easy to upload and share

Search engines are simply in love with videos, and it’s quite obvious from the fact that Google has bought YouTube. By adding tags and keywords to your video, you can make it more accessible and expand your reach to millions of prospective customers. Corporate video marketing plays a key role in boosting online visibility. Video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo make it easy to share content using a link or an embed code. This increases the chances of people sharing your corporate videos on their blog, Facebook page, or other social media accounts. A strong corporate video strategy ensures your content is engaging enough for others to promote it for you. The more your video is shared, the wider your reach, increasing brand visibility by leaps and bounds.

At TOOLBOX STUDIO we tailor-make high quality, content-rich films with style and passion. Our talented team of experienced directors, producers and editors have all the skills required to produce the wonderful video for you. Toolbox is working towards providing optimum solutions also in the corporate film productions, a trend that is catching up as an effective communication medium. Our AV Production support along with motion graphics backup is capable of providing various solutions as an integral component to your macro marketing strategy.

Let your corporate video speak for you in the most effective way. Reach out to the millions of prospective customers out there and show…you mean business!

April 15, 2014
Animation and VFX…what’s trending?

What would a movie like Avatar be without animation and VFX? Absolutely nothing. It is the magic of animation and VFX that makes the impossible…virtually possible! Though the Indian Animation and VFX industry is still nascent, it is estimated to grow at a whopping 30% annually for the next three years, resulting in a $15 billion industry.

Animation vfx trends in India

While the focus always has been more on animation, VFX too is growing by leaps and bounds. There has been a significant increase in the amount of VFX used in movies as well as in television shows. Usage of VFX saves a considerable amount of money for the producers. Creating sets, especially for mythological shows is a costly affair and VFX helps in reducing these costs by around 60-70%. No wonder that the Indian producers are relying more on VFX nowadays.

The animation and VFX industry has transformed and emerged as one of the most sought-after professions, as well as the dire need of the media industry. And the transformation doesn’t stop here. The animation industry growth in India keeps upgrading itself with the latest technology, tools, software…and keeps producing wonders after wonders. Here’s a glance at what’s trending…

The Bengal Tiger in the movie ‘The life of Pie’ is a perfect example of the combined magic of technological advances and natural talent. The animators marvelously created a tiger that seemed so real, it seemed hard to believe that they need not stage a real tiger for the shoot.

Motion Capture Technique is the latest and has already created a lot of buzz. James Cameron’s Avatar successfully used this technique coupled with CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) which set a trend in the film making industry. In this technique, the actors wear skin-tight suits with markers attached to them which reflect beams of infrared light and are sent to a special camera system. The movements are then captured and are then transferred to a virtual character. If you wish to have a sneak peek into the animation techniques used in Avatar, here’s the link.

Rajnikant’s upcoming movie Kochadaiyyan has made use of motion capture technology and is one of the most awaited films. It would be interesting to see how this Indian movie fairs in comparison with Avatar.

Many would opine that the Indian Animation Industry is not up to the mark when it comes to the comparison with Hollywood animation movies. But did you know, major animation studios and producers from all over the world are turning to India to outsource their projects? India is considered to be cost effective, and more importantly, India is believed to provide world-class animation.

The Lion King, Finding Nemo are a few of Hollywood films with Indian expertise. So why are Indian films.

Watch out for the Indian animation industry. It’s all set to capture your imaginations and set a new high!

April 14, 2014
Outsourcing is the ‘In thing’!

Vfx Outsourcing In India

Life of Pi and Prometheus thrilled one and all and were nominated for the Academy Awards. But what would be more thrilling is to know that these movies owe a good deal to the work done by a Bangalore-based firm. Many Hollywood movies with spellbinding effects have been nurtured overseas in countries like India and the Philippines. Animation giants like Walt Disney, IMAX and Sony are outsourcing animation to India on a large scale. Cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum are emerging as animation hubs. Let’s have a glance at the benefits of animation outsourcing.

Let’s have a glance at why global entertainment firms are flocking to India.

a) The cost of animation outsourcing production in India is one-fourth that of North America and about 35 per cent lower than in countries such as Korea and the Philippines. A report states that the key countries outsourcing animation production work to India include the US, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain.

b) India has the second largest entertainment industry in the world. Animation outsourcing studios in the country provide a large pool of low-cost, high-quality artists and technical support. A number of Indian Best VFX Outsourcing Company have set up hi-tech studios (equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software) to execute overseas projects.

c) Large English speaking workforce which effectively overcomes the language barrier. Several animation companies in the country are also creating skilled manpower for the animation market through various training programs.

Indian studios today boast a state-of-the-art setup, highly skilled artists and cost-efficient services. But the question is…is this enough to consider a studio to outsource your ambitious project?
A lot needs to be considered while zeroing in on the studio you want to work with. First, you need to look for a studio that shares your passion and looks at your project from a creator’s point of view, not merely as someone who is supposed to provide you with technical expertise. It’s essential to go through the previous work of every studio and analyse their work from an audience’s perspective and a critic’s perspective. This helps you know the strengths and weaknesses of that studio, and then you know exactly how much you can expect from that studio and where it stands.

For instance, looking at Toolbox’s portfolio, which boasts of award-winning work in rotoscopy for major Hollywood studios and projects such as Mumbai Indians Promo, L’OREAL, Chintoo, Pune 52, Time Please, Tata Sky VOD, Yamaha, Samsung Galaxy S2, Bournvita and, you instantly know that you will be handing over your project to someone who has a proven track record of delivering the best and you can expect the same too. What makes Toolbox stand out from the rest is its passion for offering services and creative solutions that culminate into a cutting-edge product that you would identify with.

Its passion for animation, the Best VFX outsourcing company, and Digital Videos, its ultra-modern infrastructure—a 5000 sq. ft. facility, an in-house chroma floor, a 24-track sound studio—and its dedicated team of VFX Supervisors, Productions, Animators, Motion Graphics Artists, and Sound Designers make Toolbox an obvious choice for outsourcing animation.

You have the right concept and the right country; all you need to do is find the right studio, and then you will have nailed it perfectly!

April 8, 2014