"Association with VES will not only open up the creative communication but also encourage a lot of business opportunities!"
VFX stalwart and Visual Effects Society member N Madhusudhanan in a talk with AnimationXpress's Asmita Bharrati speaks about VES and his efforts on developing bridges between Hollywood and Indian vfx community.
(18 October 2007 9:00 pm)
Please share about your association with vfx?
It‘s a long story. I would never say it was accidental but would call it eventful! I started as a salesman selling computers, moved into multimedia and then on to visual effects. Initially, my selling abilities helped me to promote business, later I moved on to production. Recently I have further moved on to supervision. I would rate my involvement with VES as an honor. You will know the answer in the coming days! In any case, it may not be the most glamorous career but is quite an eventful one!
What kind of vfx projects have you worked on?
I have worked on a bunch of domestic films, mostly South Indian films and then on to Hollywood movies like Lord of the Rings, Storm Breaker, Click, Spiderman 3, etc.
You have won quite a few awards…
Yes, I received a National Award in 2002 for a Tamil film. I was awarded the Dr. Zakir Hussain Memorial Award in Los Angeles in 2005. While I also became the first Indian vfx producer to qualify into VES.
You been constantly taking efforts to contribute to the field in India? What is your agenda right now in this regard?
I do care for education. Workshops in small packets are not going to help unless we have a master plan to spread the education across the country. I am not criticizing the efforts taken in conducting workshops here and there but if India wants to become one of the major forces in the CG industry, there should be a ten year plan to be laid out now! We can achieve this only with the support of the Central and the state governments. I would be more interested in looking at the rural areas. It may even open up the employment opportunities! One need not to be an engineer or a scientist to ‘succeed‘ in a creative industry like ours. So, it is easy to mould the kids in the rural areas who are by nature, creative!
You have been taking a lot of steps to have interactions between the Western countries vfx experts and the Indian counterparts. Is the upcoming VES road show a step towards the same?
Yes, very much. Visual Effects Society (VES) is such a wonderful community promoted by the industry professionals. The VES India Tour in which Tim Mc Govern, Eric Roth and Peter Chiang, who are amongst global vfx stalwarts and VES members shall acquaint themselves with Indian VFX studios‘ work and interact with artists. They will also introduce the visual effects society to the gathering of artists, students and professionals in five cities including Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. The road shows will also have Indian vfx studios giving presentations. There will also be QA sessions as the whole theme is to promote knowledge sharing and interaction.
I have initiated the VES India tour and have good and constant support from the industry... we have entrusted AnimationXpress.com with organising the tour with whom we will be working very closely with. I would also like to thank our sponsors Image, Autodesk and Pixion. We are also in talks with a couple of other supporters who will confirm soon.
This association with VES will not only open up the creative communication but will also encourage a lot of business opportunities! The Indian artists can have an access to professionals across the world at the click of a button! The Indian business house can create the visibility quite easily. VES is thriving to network the professionals across the world. One has to experience to believe it! I am very proud to be a VES member and would love to see many of my Indian colleagues in that list pretty soon.
How do you plan to make this concept more concrete?
I thought of creating something very similar to VES in India four years ago! It was really difficult in terms of reaching each and everyone; make them understand why we need this. We started FICCI VEC two years ago. As I said earlier, it needs time and energy to make it happen. I am sure we are going to be on the right path in a year or so. Fortunately I have some very good friends who are willing to support India‘s cause. One of them is my very good friend and Vice Chair of VES, Tim McGovern. He has played an important role to have VES in India end of this month. Pankaj Kedia of Autodesk should be acknowledged for his constant support! We need to have a community and nurture that without any selfish reason. That‘s the hardest part in the current competitive scenario. Trust me, everyone will have their own share as the industry is so big, no one will have to feel the heat!
What about the new community concept?
First and foremost, we are refreshing the idea of the community. I am stepping away as Chairman of FICCI VEC. FICCI, of course is trying hard to help us. Amita and Leena of FICCI surely trying to put in their efforts. Organizations like yours who are neutral to the industry can play a major role in nurturing this. The best way to go about it is, call for entries as members and pick up a board out of it and then select the chair and vice chair to run it. Also, not only include the industry professionals but also the hardware/software vendors, movie DOPs, Ad commercial creative Directors, Institutions etc and create an eco system. Bring them all together and work towards improving the standards!
What‘s your message to the next generation?
I don‘t want to talk about the technology, but, certainly would like to share certain very basic experiences as a human being! Dream is the key so as the perseverance! The later is the toughest thing in life. Only those who keep trying will fail, because of the daring attitude and never afraid of failing. Because there is a sense of eagerness to reach the goal! Believe me, failure is always temporary! History keeps reminding us that ‘those who have not failed have never succeeded in life‘! The lesson to the next generation is to keep trying and never be bothered about the failures as one day you will reach where you want to be, provided one has the right attitude. Today things are different in many ways: it‘s easier to approach studios because of the visibility on both sides. The ability to do things and the passion to achieve goals is propelling India to the limelight. Indians are always good triers and executioners. We work 24/7, not to make money but to show we can also do it! So, let‘s do it!
Source : AnimationXpress
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