... a locally produced animated feature.
So DreamWorks Animation plunges into the cartoon biz on the sub-continent:
... [DreamWorks Animation] has announced ... that they have hired composer A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours), Broadway lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Enchanted, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas) and husband-and-wife producing team Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (Bend It Like Beckham, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging) to work on the animation studio’s first animated feature musical Monkeys of Bollywood ...
Although execs from the Glendale, California campus will be overseeing this, Monkeys is a project slated for the Indian studio used by DWA. It's based on a Hindu poem called "The Ramayana" and will be using some heavy hitters.
(By the strangest of coincidences, Disney got into the Indian market a couple of years ago with a musical called Roadside Romeo ...)
Sadly, RR didn't have the magical touch of Tangled, and failed to set the turnstiles spinning. Ah well ...
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12 comments:
It's great to see them using the Indian animators to work on something for the Indian market. I'm sure they hope it has crossover appeal, but I think it's a smart move. As long as Indian animators (and Chinese animators for that matter) are just chasing outsource animation, their industry will never progress (look at Korea). I hope it's successful, since it could not only expand the worldwide animation market, but also take pressure off sending work originating in North America overseas.
Just when you think Dreamworks cant dive any lower... They find a way to break new ground.
This is a way for them to 'Test the Waters' and see how their Indian studio produces... And then they can start farming out their US productions to India, and lay off their pricey Union Animators in Glendale.
Great plan. Hope they're produced in that Magical Threee-Deeee.
If DW just wanted lower wage animators on their films they could just send it to the Pixar animators....
oh snap
DreamWorks, like Disney and many other major studios, has been working with overseas animators for a long time. Sucks, but that's how it's been. The cool thing about this announcement is that, instead of continuing to use their people in India to do work that years ago would have been done in California, they're going to have their Indian animators doing additional work, for their own market. And you can be sure that most of the viz dev/designers/story artists will be here. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Pixar and Disney already use Indian (and Canadian) animation studios (Pixar shorts and Tinkerbell and the airplane cartoons they're doing. Rhythm and Hues has 2 studios over there. And ILM farms lots of work ti Singapore, which subcontracts the work to India.
You're a fool to think that DW sending work to India is "win-win". You really think there's a lot of money in it for DW to fund and distribute an Indian based animation to Indian audiences???? Wtf?
They're testing the water. If the test goes successfully, they will farm out there U.S. Based Animation to Indian studios for U.S. release.
Its simply the way they do business. They did the same thing with Imagi before they did the Siegfreid and Roy animated mess.
Get a Clue.
Farming out U.S. work to India is never "win win" to any worker. Only to the ones that are writing the paychecks.
Actually, I'm not a fool, but an intelligent long-time veteran of this industry. I know that DreamWorks has been working with outsource studios since Prince of Egypt. I know that they've been cultivating overseas CG studios since work started on the original Shrek, even before the work with Imagi on 'Father of the Pride.' I personally know many of the managers and artists who have gone overseas to be involved in both the studio searches and the training. It didn't thrill me, but it was what it was.
So the 'testing of the waters' started for DreamWorks a good while ago. It started before that for other studios. DreamWorks has already been successfully using Indian animators to contribute to the work being done for domestic consumption. This announcement, however, is something new.
There is in fact money to be made in the Indian film market. This isn't much different than GM building factories in China, to make cars for the Chinese market. It's very different than building factories in China to make cars for the American market. If you can't make that distinction, that's on you, but spare me the name calling.
Yeah, we all know that.... POE it was Bardel and couple other companies. For CG its been Imagi, and original CG tests from PropellerHeads and R&H.... At least some of those were here in the U.S.
Just because "other companies do it" and "There's money to be made" Doesn't make it fine and dandy.
Its bad for Union Animators here in the states. And if you cant see that distinction Sir, than yes, you are a fool.
The fact that you can't logically follow this conversation doesn't make me a fool. DreamWorks has already been using animators in India FOR YEARS. DreamWorks is now getting behind Indian animators making a film FOR INDIA. This has nothing to do with taking jobs away from you and me. In fact, it gives those Indian animator who would like to take our jobs something more useful and fulfilling, while leaving us to do our jobs. Get it? No, I didn't think so.
Gee... I guess Dreamworks using Indian Animators is "Win Win" like you put it then.
How could I be so blind.
They're doing this solely for the entertainment value of Indian residents.
And it has nothing to do with how they can save money here in the U.S. on Union wages by using more and more Indian animators on future projects.
Katzenburg has such a big heart, he's really only interested in entertaining Indian audiences. Wow, thats great.
Sorry I'm such a fool. I don't know how I could have missed such a great thing. Thanks for being so wise.
I love sarcasm
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