The ambitious series from Reliance Animation just won the “FICCI – BAF Best Animated Episode Award” and is now being broadcasted on Sonic Channel, and is amassing a huge viewership. 34 BIG AIMS students in various departments were part of the grueling schedule in the making of the first 13 episodes and thus became part of the award winning team…

As a standard procedure, every animation and VFX studio in India is aware of the patience they have to endure while recruiting students as fresher’s, training them further for at least another 6-8 months to make them production ready before they can start performing at a desired level for their ongoing productions. But all that changed with BIG AIMS students rocking their way while contributing towards the making of India’s finest 2D animated series Shaktimaan. The ambitious series from Reliance Animation just won the “FICCI – BAF Best Animated Episode Award” and is getting broadcasted on Sonic Channel, already amassing a huge viewership. Shaktimaan in his completely new avatar as a cyber yogic hero with a new set of characters and set ups is created keeping the present generation of viewers in mind and also to create a connect with the international audience as well.

The series boasts of international quality parameters in every segment and to accommodate fresher’s in its production pipeline, from content creation to animation to compositing and finally editing was a huge risk that paid off wonderfully in favor of the production. Facing the toughest schedule that any Indian property has witnessed in recent times, about 250 mins of animation with no compromise on quality was completed in mere 120 days, production happening in 10 different studios across the country with 34 BIG AIMS students in various departments contributing to this grueling schedule which had no room for error leaving aside luxuries like “learning on job”. Mr. Sandeep Dhamdhere the founder of Spellbound Productions in Pune who had recruited a good number of BIG AIMS students for the production said, “ It was a nightmare – the production schedule of Shaktimaan. No Indian studio has ever worked like this before, with deadlines that can wear out even the most seasoned professionals, and it did. But the students we recruited from BIG AIMS showed extraordinary capabilities, working round the clock. They were far from being tired, always with a smiling face confident that they can find solution to any problem on the floor and they did most of the time. Within the first 15 days, I was already considering them as among my best assets. When I asked them how on their first job they are so confident, they proudly said that they have already faced such situations during their course modules and are absolutely used to such pressures. I think every entrepreneur in animation will welcome such fresher’s in his team and if BIG AIMS continues to produce such talents, it will be a huge incentive for producers like us to optimize our cost while recruiting them. BIG AIMS students have proved great value for money assets for me”.

What made such a miracle possible in a scenario where every studio in past have struggled with fresher’s? The answer lies in the very genesis of BIG AIMS as an Animation and Visual Effects Filmmaking Academy. The inception of the academy was conceived when even Reliance Animation as a studio struggled with fresher’s and understood the need for a curriculum that will prepare the students as per the real industry requirements, making them industry ready from day one. Adhering to that core objective, the teaching methodology of BIG AIMS and its unmatched course curriculum is developed in such a manner so that the students master the script to screen process flow under the guidance of the finest industry experienced faculty in real life studio environment simulations while undergoing their projects. The core mantra “as an animation & VFX filmmaking student they have entered the profession of effective storytelling which should be mastered first and thereafter must master the various platforms of expression, namely the software’s” is instilled in every student further by one of its kind live action filmmaking foundation course to start off with. The severe modules and student film projects ensure that real life on floor crisis situations are handles by the students with such affectivity under severe deadlines that even as a fresh recruit they should be able to show poise, stability, confidence and eagerness to find solutions just like a seasoned professional in the field.    

With the next 13 episodes of Shaktimaan about to commence, the confidence of their recruiters that BIG AIMS students have managed to earn with their contribution towards the production of Shaktimaan will stand as a testament to the success of BIG AIMS’s earnest effort in creating best in class next generation animation and VFX professionals for the country. Ashish SK, CEO Reliance Animation said, “The contribution of BIG AIMS students in Shaktimaan production pipeline is truly commendable, understanding that they had virtually no time to warm up in their very first jobs and had to plunge right into the grueling schedule from day one. The real credit of course goes to BIG AIMS’s training methodology that makes its students ready to face such challenges with immaculate creative and technical expertise. The greatest advantage that BIG AIMS offers to the students with its first ever complete film making curriculum in animation and visual effects is that after completion of the course the student can pick up any aspect of filmmaking, be it pre-production which includes character design, background design, colorkey, storyboard etc. or in the production flow like modelling, rigging, texturing, lighting, animation and then from post-production one can choose editing, sound designing, visual effects, online editing etc. Each one of the depratment offeres excellent career opportunity so if one can be a master in any one of them, he or she will always be in demand. Having said that, it is imparative that one must first master the overall processflow before getting into specialisation because organisations value their creative workforce if they are also capable of multitasking. To become accomplished creators of animated content and even to be able to contribute in the professional workflow, every student must acquire the right skill sets in this entire process flow of “Ideation to Script” & “Script to Screen” to make them worthy of the real industry needs. Our focus is to prepare students as complete film makers, opening up opportunities for them in Animation and VFX studios and also in advertising, gaming, live action film making, comics, designing and many more exiting media activity that they might be inclined to.”

While the academy offers round the year certificate courses in animation and VFX filmmaking and post production, admissions for its 3 years degree course in Animation & Visual Effects Filmmaking opens from 1st of April’12.