A spinoff of "Shrek" movies, "Puss in Boots" is a milestone for DreamWorks Animation, the animation industry and young people in the world second most populous nation.
Antonio Banderas and Salma movie Hayek is the first time the Glendale Studio has a crew of Indian animators to help create a holiday feature film. Previously, we had to DreamWorks Animation Studio operates mainly in Bangalore to produce TV and DVD bonus special materials. But after investing more than $ 10 million in the last three years, DreamWorks turned-studio in Bangalore to a increasingly important part of its production pipeline.
The investment highlights how Hollywood is increasingly agriculture animation and visual effects in India, which used both on land and labor costs reduced to tap into a large pool of English speaking personnel with skills sought. Production rate is also due to the 24-hour cycle, which can be kept by the combination of Bangalore working with their counterparts in Hollywood to be accelerated.
"We are very pleased to have worked on this for three years,''said Rangaraju, director of lighting for animation unit in India." This is the first time it happened in India, and will move to encourage a lot of people in the industry. "
DreamWorks studios are among the more open labor in India. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Rhythm & Hues, Los Angeles, animation and visual effects house, each in India, they work on films such as "Yogi Bear" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Walt Disney Studios in Mumbai-based Prana Studios have joined forces to the 2008 computer animated film to produce "Tinker Bell". Founded In addition, several large Indian companies like Reliance Group, Tata Elxsi and Prime Focus, bridgeheads in Hollywood visual effects and 3-D reconstruction movies like "Spider-Man 3" and "Clash of the Titans to do. "
Traditionally, much of Hollywood film and television work is outsourced to India involved low-skilled, labor-intensive tasks such as removing the wire - wire digital removal laborious process are used to suspend the stunt people and star in action movies. Animation work was limited to mainly TV series or made-for-DVD movies. But that begins to change as determined by "Puss in Boots".
A team of about 100 animals spent six months in Bangalore animate the three big stages in the film - including a complex sequence in which Cat, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (Hayek) give a huge castle surrounded by a lush jungle clouds. "In addition to picking up the story, we have everything, from beginning to end," said Philippe Gluckman, Creative Director for India, DreamWorks unit, the eleventh floor of a building located in a high-tech park in a suburb in Bangalore. "I hope that nobody would be able to tell which sequences came from India."
DreamWorks studio has India in spring 2008 as part of a partnership with Technicolor, which has acquired Indian animation companies peppers Animation Studios. Technicolor hit the system, but DreamWorks has set 220 train and illustrators who work there. DreamWorks employees sent to India to train teams and organize master classes on topics such as how to make your mouth properly.
Before a film feature film, DreamWorks unit of India started with smaller projects such as holiday television specials such as "Merry Madagascar" and "Scared Shrekless" (a separate unit, with animated Technicolor studio Nickelodeon TV series successful "The Penguins of Madagascar"). Currently, the group is working on his film projects followed, including "Madagascar 3" of summer, due to come, and is expected to play a role in these Bollywood-style musical are "Monkeys in Mumbai."
"It has a very steep learning curve for all of them," says Gluckman.
He said, "Puss in Boots" director Chris Miller that he was impressed by the quality of work in India. "The work that came out was great and is against everything that was done here," said Miller, who also directed "Shrek the Third".
Ability to only a small part of agricultural activity in India has obvious benefits financially DreamWorks, having regard to labor costs much lower - costs and increasingly competitive market in the U.S. typically DreamWorks film - about 40% less than in U.S. to produce about 130 million.
But Joe Aguilar, head of Indian operations for DreamWorks and producer of "Puss in Boots", said the main reason for expansion in India was, therefore, is a scarce resource: people. Studio did not have enough people to meet its production of two of the most important centers in Glendale and PDI / DreamWorks in Redwood City facility. What became evident when the studio began to produce as many as three films a year, he said.
"We will continue to expand our capacity, we must need this facility," said Aguilar. "There is a tremendous amount of talent there."
Aguilar admitted initial concerns, if the DreamWorks studio, which has 1561 people in Glendale and 557 of Redwood City, opened its factory in India.
"There was fear in our studio," he said. "But if anything, I just built up more space in Glendale, to increase our capacity there, and we are reduced to a larger office in Redwood City on the move. We have jobs in the U.S."