Goodbye Hollywood, Hello Haalivud?

re:#7 by mshergill
I have often advocated in the past about close interactions in IT between India and Pak. It seems to me that Pak rulers have big time egos and are unable to swallow the fact that Pak is lagging behind. This does not reflect Pak`s capability but only that rulers have interfered too much and not allowed IT to grow the way it did in India. Like Cricket and movies, IT could be one field where Indians and Pakistanis can interact closely.
Sridhar

Of course, with so many cartoons in the government

mshergrill,

Actually, it`s better for Pakistan to ``Re-invent`` the wheel rather than becoming an outsource hotspot for low-tech, low-wage Indian jobs. The technical prowess of India is a homegrown one, not one that was implanted by GE or HP. It`s just that the latter realize the worth of utilizing India`s large base of educated workers.

Yes, Pakistan should copy other nations to the East. This can work. Pakistan may not become a leader, but pakistani companies must be willing to compete. Good luck, I wish you well.

well guys,
this field does have potential
I know a couple of guys who were Computer Science graduates and started working animations & graphics field 3 yrs back. these people are now working for ad agencies & production studios. the reason behind there switch to this field was that they had personal aptitude for designing. According their experience, the job market requires new and professionaly trained people.
So the educational institutions must focus to train students specifically for this field.

yes agree;)

a for apple

j for thackeray

t for?

Long before pakistan can have inteligent and far reaching policies, they have to create govt departments and institutionsmanned by inteligent people. Take the case of Baglihar dam. They do not have capable people to read and understand the treaty. They beleived that world bank will appoint a neutral expert. The WB president in a fairwel guesture said that there is no time limit and WB could appoint the expert in weeks. The poor pakistanis are waiting, and nothing is going to happen, there is going to be more indo-pak talks. No neutral expert is going to dish out the decision, at least for another couple of years.

If the country has no educayed person to read and understand a simple treaty, what hope is there for them to device any IT policy.

The entire education system, based on k for kafir idea has injected hatred in pak society and hence they cannotthink rationally.

paki see, paki do...

then reality bites....

paki find it`s not as simple as ``if the hindoo can do it, surely we can do it better``..

Can animation etch India’s image?

Mumbai-based Maya Entertainment played a significant role in the production of recent Hollywood special effects blockbusters like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Mummy and Stuart Little. So have scores of other animation studios spread across the country, including internationally acclaimed ones like Toonz Animation, Pentamedia, Crest Communications, UTV Toons and JadooWorks.

A report released by Andersen Consulting states that the Indian animation industry, currently pegged at $550 million, is slated to clock a growth rate of 30 percent annually in the next three years and is expected to reach $15 billion by 2008. The study further reports that in the next three years India would receive more than $2 billion worth of animation business. The reason stated for this optimistic outlook being that the international animation industry is increasingly looking towards countries like India to cut costs and increase profits. The world has accepted India as a low-cost high-quality country delivering quality work, be it in software services or IT-enabled services. The goodwill created by IT companies seems to have rubbed off on the animation industry as well. With costs of real sets, studio space and outdoor locations skyrocketing, we can look forward to not just the US but other countries like Canada, UK and the rest of Europe looking towards India for low-cost, high- quality output. These feelings have been echoed by Indian studios as well. Says Chandrashekhar of Tata Elxsi, ``The limited exploitation of the true potential of animation in India has contributed towards Indian studios addressing the international market for 2D and 3D animation.``

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1038600.cms

Pakistan needs a change in values, a system that honours the educated. Long long after the death of C.V> Raman, the indian nobel laurette, even today he makes the front page news when his discovery is being used.

In pakistan it is the sheeds that are honoured through shaheed foundations. The psosters are calling for jihad recruits, collection boxes are for jihad. What pervades the society is jihad. There is absolutely no culture of honouring the educated. Ar. Khna is honoured for making the bomb, the islamic bomb which is consistant with the notion of jihad.

Pakistanis should abandon the notion of education and concentrate on labour intenisve areas, road construction and transport to exploit the geopgraphic location adavantage.

1. ``Pakistan, on the other hand, has recently woken up to the huge potential in this area``.

But we are again late, just like electronics and computer science boom...and again we are missing the next BOOM too...which is in nano technology and biological sciences

2. ``Ironically, because of this very boom we have ourselves a cart put before the horse situation, where although the medium is there, the trained creative lot required to run the show that includes animators, film makers, script writers, producers, ...``

Creativity isn`t something that you can create overnight

3. ``Taking the cue from our local tech leaders, the Ministry of IT&T has started to collaborate with NCA Lahore to launch six month certificate courses in animation and video production``.

Another attempt of Pakistani govt. to create amateur talent, which without proper consumption will not flourish and die down. just like 1000s of MCS graduates.... by the way, how many or our talented teachers stayed in pakistan due to government`s EDUCATION FRIENDLY policies

4. ``Are we lagging far behind? Technologically yes, but we haven’t missed the boat yet. Pose this question to anyone involved in the animation business and they’ll tell you very optimistically that with the right kind of investments and well thought out plans based on long-term strategies, we can catch up with global animation hot spots in just two to three years. Hope floats.``


AGAIN...Creativity isn`t something that you can create overnight, and you just cant produce good talent by having some good schools or centres... you need the whole system that is rigorous and challenging...

May be I sound too negative but there is no short cut to success... WE need to learn that and honestly that is the basic rule that is being forgotten at every level in Pakistan


on the other hand ... we have to take initiatives ..may be not for today or tomorrow but for years to come...

If the policy makers in Pakistan had any sense they would have invited companies like Wipro, Infosys etc. to open offices in Pakistan. I think that these companies would willingly invest in Pakistan if their investment was safe. This is what these companies have done in China.

However with a unelected self proclaimed saviour General heading the country, who insists on `solving` Kashmir before talking to the enemy (India), Pakistan needs to reinvent the wheel in Technology.

I am puzzled by the slew of articles on the lines of ``why cant pakistan do this``. Typically these articles take a specific sector and analyze what pakistan or pakistanis have to offer or lack. To get good in any sector for a nation is a rare event, so rare that its useless to try and analyze at a ``national`` level. Best is achieved by trying hard at various things at via individual initiatives and maybe at some things a nation does well. Deliberate systemic actions targetting a specifc sector seems to be a wrong thing. System should just allow freedom of initiative and things will happen (e.g. trading with india).

Re: # 5

Jang,

deliberate policy actions broadly in tune with societal values will bring about dramatic changes. A good example is the madrassa system in pakistan, initially funded by the US, now it is well entrenched in the pak society. The products of madrassas are running the NWFP, they are the thugs of karachi, they are in league with the army.

Something like IT or knowledge based system will never work in pakistan because it i inimical to the values. Ideal opportunity for pakistan is to encash the geographical location, improve the transport sector linking afghanistan and central asian countries. Truck drivers, loaders, road builders...that will work for pakistan.

Then of course there is alwyas scope for jihadis, for mine clearing, crash dummies etc.

The animation industry combined with our impressive 7.5% annual growth rate Pakistan is way ahead of India whose growth engine is still struthering at a pathetic 1.2% annual growth rate.

Here comes another stupid idea, pak govt to put money in to support animation. Pakistan has a good textile indutry accounting for 70 percent of exports. Now under WTO, it is going to decline. All efforts to get better deals from europe and US has been rejected. Crunch time will come in another 18 months.

It is time that educated pakistanis promote ``libiyan option`` for pakistan. The only way pakistan can come out of the morass is the libiyan option of dismantling the nukes. Bomb with an economic basket case is better, so that the ruling elites can be manipulated with $$$. There will be no FDI, no technology transfer till the libiyan option is taken.

Till then digital animation will be restricted to animated gesticulation towards the indians

A time-frame of 2-3 years does seem absurdly optimistic. With very good planning and execution I`d say more like 10-15 years, and that too for just catching up with the low-to-medium-end of the business. To actually become a big player in the high-end you need much more than artists, you need tool and method innovators, you need detailed technical know-how of CG, and above all, you need experience, which doesn`t come by in 2-3 years. Take the example of Pixar Studios (Toy Story 1 and 2, A Bug`s Life, Nemo, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles), they have their own software called RenderMan which is developed inhouse. They do not use Maya or 3D Studio, not even the high-end offerings from the likes of Silicon Graphics. Same is the case for ILM (Industrial Light and Magic, Steven Spielberg`s special effects house which provides most of the cutting-edge sfx for Hollywood movies), they have an entire internal Studio Tools department which caters to the needs of the company.

Irfan.

PS: Never heard of any major sfx studio in Europe.

salman:

....we can catch up with global animation hot spots in just two to three years....

way too optimistic...here in c. nirvana, decode, sheridan, softimage and others took way longer and they have ways to go while being in such close proximity to holywood...

rgds

t