From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jun 21: Asia's largest animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) event, was inaugurated by BirenGhose, President, ABAI and committee members in Bengaluru on Friday.
Inaugurating the three-day event, Ghose welcomed the enthusiasts who have gathered from all over the world and invited them to join the unique three-day experience that is Bengaluru GAFX 2019.
Bengaluru GAFX 2019 is organised by Government of Karnataka and Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI) and intends to identify and provide a global platform to talents. It also attracts industry veterans, professionals, students, academia, technology partners, animation, VFX and games studios and production houses and generate jobs.
The inauguration was followed by session ‘Around the World of GAFX,’ where experts from all over the world took the audience through the AVGC industry internationally.
Avrill Stark, the CEO/Executive Producer and creative leader of A Stark Production (ASP) based in Sydney, who joined the session through video conference, Angela Salt, CEO of Salt Content Ltd. from UK, Sheila de Courcy, Creative Specialist from Ireland, President and Executive Producer of Branscome International LLC, Catherine Branscome, Cristian Jezdic, Producer, VFX/CGI supervisor and IP specialist from Italy and President and CEO of Unlimited Media Inc. Neil Chakravarthi, offered insights into the world of animation, gaming, VFX or motion graphics in their respective countries and worldwide.
The session was followed by a panel discussion, where the students and professionals from the AVGC sector.
The panel discussion on ‘Changing CG production in India Centre of Excellence: Disrupting Traditional Production’ saw industry biggies talk about the future of motion graphics and how it is disrupting the sphere of animation, gaming and visual effects.
Moderated by PC Vikram, the ‘Comics and Beyond: Presentation and Panel’ saw the coming together of graphic novelist and animation film director Somnath Pal, illustrator and animation film designer Saumin Suresh Patil and AnandRadhakrishnan, graphic novelist and art director.
KiriniRambhatla also presented on ‘Chitrakatha’- the future of graphic novels.
The session on ‘Indian IP - A Pictorial Journey & Future Pathways,’ moderated by Ashish Kulkarni, witnessed the homegrown experts explaining the inception and growth of various Indian animated tv series and films.
At the session, ‘Take your 3D assets and environments from first draft to final frames,’ the audience was hooked onto Autodesk’s integration of groundbreaking technology for the design, production and rendering.
The day also saw a video conference with Arielle Martin, Creative Specialist at Foundry from UK, who introduced Katana and explained its significance and usage.
The other sessions included ‘Mentor 360 - Connecting Students and Studios,’ moderated by Ganesh Papanna of ABAI and attended by AnandBaid, Vishal T.M, and three principals from ABAI and Karnataka Government’s Digital Art Centers, ‘Deals with Wheels - Global Productions Looking for Indian Partners,’ attended by Angela Salt, Sheila de Courcy, Neil Chakravathy, Avrill Stark and Catherine Branscome, and GAFX exclusive that revolved around the making of ChotaBheem Kung Fu Dhamaka.
Speaking about Bengaluru GAFX, Co-chair of Bengaluru GAFX 2019 and Secretary, ABAI, B.S. Srinivas, said that the turnout at the GAFX 2019 has been massive as animation and visual effects, gaming and comics enthusiasts and professionals, industry veterans, academia, technology partners, animation, VFX & games studios and production houses have been taking part with great passion. This defines the future of the city and the state as the leading leader in AVGC sector, he added.
What is Bengaluru GAFX 2019?
‘GAFX 2019,’ Asia’s most prominent and largest AVGC conference intends to attract experts, studios, production houses, game developers from all over the world.
This one-of-kind-platform for artists of Games, Animation & Visual Effects Industry will bring together industry veterans, professionals, students, academia, technology partners, animation, VFX & games studios and production houses under one roof to provide exposure to talents as well as subject matter expertise to professionals, artists and students.
More than 3,000 students from 25 colleges from all over Karnataka are taking part in the conference.
The conference plays host to a number of activities including “GAFX Art Animathon” - Asia’s biggest art & animation competition.
The competition has 8 categories to compete for, enabling professionals & students to try for the INR 8 Lakhs+ cash prize & premium goodies. This time it's even bigger with the introduction and indulgence of new emerging technologies like AR/VR & MOCAP.
For the first time, GAFX is conducting ‘Kalayodha-2019,’ a contest exclusively for all digital art centres across Karnataka. Apart from this, a special session called ‘Sketchbook,’ is being held where artists from various platforms — independent creators of content, independent animation film makers, illustrators, art directors and principal artists from top studios and gaming companies come together to talk about the process of sketchbook where ideas are born.
The event comprises of talks and presentations, film screenings, panel discussions and competitions. The eight categories of competition are as follows: Traditional painting, digital painting, clay sculpting, 3D modelling, 3D character animation, 3D game art, story boarding and story writing.