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Arena Celebrates IX Anniversary
Arena celebrated its IX Anniversary with a function on 19 November, 2005 at Bal Bhawan. The function was presided my Mr. PK Das, MD, HVPN. He’s a senior Bureaucrat who’s served many important positions including being the Commissioner of Hissar as well as Rohtak. He’s indulges in creative writing in Oriya his native language and is a published poet in Orrissa.
Various company heads were invited to grace the event included design and multimedia industry leaders like Quark Inc, Net Solutions, Pugmarks, Red Alkemi, Net Soft Global, Sebiz, Smart Data, Cogniter, J Walter Thompson, Crayons, IB&W, DeGraphics, Different Strokes, Ram Advertising, Rashtriya Advertising, Scribbles, Fascinate, etc.
Starting with a 2 semester course in 1996, Arena today have a 5 semester AMS course, an Animation Specialist Course, a BSc in Multimedia and an advanced Diploma Course in Animation Engineering. And a promise that they won’t stop here. Arena is focusing on building designers with domain expertise and not just design workers or animators.
Multimedia is an integration of IT, Communication and Media, a tool that makes communications interactive, immersive and powerful.
Like other software segments, the global need in Multimedia related industries is for trained manpower. India has emerged as one of the largest markets to produce such multimedia specialists and the world is coming to us today to equip their studios with our professionals, with their sound technical knowledge and strong fundamentals.
The Indian Entertainment Industry stands at over Rs. 19,700 crores (US$ 4,377 million). It is expected to grow in double digits- at 11 % compounded annually over the next five years. The key driver for the Entertainment Industry in next decade would be Technology. India with its vast pool of skilled IT manpower and creative storytellers, is poised to take a great leap from a mere outsourcing destination to the right full holder of Intellectual Property.
India’s animation sector is witnessing a major boom. Indian animation industry, according to National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), currently growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent, is expected to touch 15 billion dollars by 2008. The domestic industry growth would be driven by more co-production deals and increasing development of intellectual properties in India. The total global animation production is expected to touch 70 billion dollars shortly.
India has also not been left untouched by this wave of proliferation of gaming as a popular form of entertainment. The electronic gaming industry is one of the fastest growing segments within the software industry, even bigger than the global film industry. An AC Nielsen report states that the Indian gaming market (minus mobile gaming) is expected to be worth $50 million by 2005 with $15 million likely to come from PC gaming and $35 million from console-based gaming.
Mobile gaming is fast emerging a rage in the wireless business. Gaming is gradually becoming a key element in operators’ and content developers’ strategies. Propelled by end-user demand, gaming is growing quickly as an increasing number of Indian consumers take advantage of wireless mobility to enjoy entertainment on the go.
“India’s mobile gaming market will touch about $336m by 2009, while 220 million people will be playing games on phones by 2009 generating billions for mobile companies,” according to market analysts, In-Stat/MDR. “The Indian mobile-game business currently makes up about 5 percent of the global wireless market but it’s growing fast,” the research further points out.
Currently online gaming constitutes around 14% of the total video gaming segment. This is predicted to go up to a staggering 45% by 2009.
To enable those interested in this burgeoning field to sculpt a career in the Games industry, Arena Multimedia has a well-researched, industry-relevant Course, which has already been given rave reviews by games development companies such as Indiagames, Paradox Studios etc.
A quick glance at some New Age multimedia careers :
- Entertainment (Movies, TV)
- Education (Classroom Based Training, Web Based Training)
- Advertising (Print and TV Commercials)
- Engineering and Design
- Defence (VR simulations)
- Marketing and Business
- Interactive Multimedia & Web
- Mobile computing
- Gaming
- Print & Publishing
- Fashion and Interior Designing
- Animation
- Special Effects
About Arena Multimedia
Arena Multimedia, is Asia’s leader in multimedia education with 55% market share. Arena Multimedia is the multimedia training arm of Aptech Limited, the global IT education and software company.
Arena Multimedia was born on June 1996 with its first center in Delhi. Within a span of 9 years Arena has grown with presence in several countries worldwide. To date Arena has trained over 1.5 lakh students.
Says Ms. Neelu Kapoor – Centre Head, Arena Chandigarh “Arena caters to different educational requirements in the field of Multimedia. There are curricula designed for starters to professionals, kids to adults, career aspirants to casual learners and courses for specific vertical segments like engineering, fashion designing, etc - Arena provides a solution for every learning need in the field of multimedia.”
Arena has recently announced the launch of a comprehensive Diploma course in Animation Engineering at it’s centre in Chandigarh. Arena Chandigarh is the first centre in the region to offer this prestigious programme, which is only available at select Arena centres across the country. Admission to the course is on the basis of common entrance tests, group discussion, personal interviews and counseling sessions.
This 5 -Semester premium course is designed as per industry demands and enables students to learn drawing skills, acting, direction, camera movements for animation, and digital animation, all of which are essential to master 2D and 3D animation.
“We have been calling top Animation Professionals like Ashish Kulkarni (ex-COO Jadoo Works, Bangalore) to Chandigarh, and Mohenish Gupta (Thumbnail Studios, Pune) has even held a two day training program at Chandigarh for the benefit of our students. We are determined to give our students the best. We will take on 10 students in DAE first batch through a stringent entrance process, through which we would be able to give quality people to the industry”, says Vineet Raj Kapoor, Centre Head, Arena Animation Academy, Sector 17-C.
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Mr. Mohenish Gupta, COO, Toonistan Digital Pictures, Mumbai is in town to launch “Diploma in Animation Engineering” at Arena Multimedia, Asia’s leaders in multimedia training at it’s centre in Chandigarh. Arena Chandigarh is the first centre in the region to offer this prestigious programme, which is only available at select Arena centres across the country. Admission to the course is on the basis of skill tests, group discussion, personal interviews and counseling sessions.
Mr. Mohenish Gupta said on the launch,”There is a steady stream of work in India. All it requires is a dedicated person with normal sketching skills. To grow higher, a person has to have good story skills. I can assure you that given the passion and the right curriculum you can create an animator out of anybody.”
Chandigarh October 5, 2005 Mr. Mohenish Gupta, COO, Toonistan Digital Pictures, Mumbai is in town to launch “Diploma in Animation Engineering” at Arena Multimedia, Asia’s leaders in multimedia training at it’s centre in Chandigarh. Arena Chandigarh is the first centre in the region to offer this prestigious programme, which is only available at select Arena centres across the country. Admission to the course is on the basis of skill tests, group discussion, personal interviews and counseling sessions.
This 5 -Semester premium course is designed as per industry demands and enables students to learn drawing skills, acting, direction, camera movements for animation, and digital animation, all of which are essential to master 2D and 3D animation. At the end of both 2D and 3D animation modules, students will need to prepare their own show reel, which will simulate working in a production studio. To provide students with knowledge of the industry, Industry veterans will be invited to deliver guest lectures.
Modules include Fine Art, Visual Design & Creative Animation, Cel & Digital Animation, 2D Animation Show Reel, 3D Animation & Visual Fx, and Portfolio Development – Show reel. On completion of this course, students will be able to choose from an array of exciting career options such as 2D animator, 3D animator, computer animation, effects and game industries as technical directors, technical animators, effects animators, effects developers, graphics programmers, games developers etc.
Speaking at the course launch, Mr. Vineet Raj Kapoor, Technical Head, Arena Multimedia, Chandigarh said, “The Animation Engineering program from Arena provides a thorough understanding of both 2D and 3D animation. While 2D modules delve deep into basic understanding of the various facets involved in 2D animation such as drawing, acting, direction, camera required for producing good 2D animation, each 3D module has a separate topic of specialization, enabling students to master them. Designed with inputs from the industry, the Animation Engineering course will serve as the perfect launch pad for students keen to pursue a rewarding career in multimedia.”
(some pictures of the occasion are uploaded at http://www.virtualciti.com/arena/20050916_arena_party.jpg )
Arenaites had a Gala day at their Fresher’s Party 2005 to welcome their 2005 Batch of BSc (Multimedia).
Today it was proved that dance is the soul of entertainment and source of peace and fulfillment for our soul. And creative people are no less mean when it comes to masti. As all the Arenaites proved this fact by dancing to the rhythm of groovy dance numbers and breaking the dance floor at the “The Gravity”, Sec-35C, Chandigarh, which got jam-packed by the turnout of so many students. This dance party was organised for the freshers by the faculty of Arena Multimedia, Sec 17, Chandigarh, where the Students of 2003 and 2004 Batches of BSc. (Multimedia) as well as the current DAE, AMS and AAS students welcomed the freshers of 2005.
Ms. Neelu Kapoor, Centre Head, Arena Multimedia, used the occasion to give a message to all Arena Alumni to come forward and form an Alumni Association so that a forum for exchange of ideas is formed and it allows a platform for the recruitment people. “The Alumni forums are Engines of Growth and acquire a life of their own with dedicated people”, remarked Mr. Vineet Raj Kapoor, Academic Head, Arena Multimedia.
The party began in the afternoon and finished late into the evening. The party being fun and the music being great, there was no stopping the momentum. After the peppy dance numbers played and time full of enjoyment everyone was given titles and gifts were given to the winners of titles for Mr. Arena - Harpinder Singh (Chandigarh) and Miss Arena - Era Bhatia (Chandigarh), Mr. Fresher – Jas Paul (Guyana) and Miss Fresher - Avi Arora (Panchkula), best male dancer – Arun Kumar (Jammu) and best female dancer- Abha Pathak (Chandigarh). The party ended as the cake was cut and everybody feasted on the goodies. Arenaites parted with smiling faces and a resolve to party harder.
Chandigarh April 3, 2005 Arena Animation Academy, the premier animation training academy, announced the launch of its comprehensive 2.5 year high-end animation-training course, the Arena Animation Academy Specialist Program 2006 (AAASP 2006).
AAASP – 2006 follows the laddered approach to learning animation in the increasing order of complexity. The course is modeled around the needs of the industry with each semester having an integrated project to give the students an exposure to the practical application of tools & software. Apart from the regular course curriculum, each semester has various value additions for students and follows a continued route of specialization.
The Arena Animation Academy Specialist Program (AAASP) is a highly focused course, offering high- end animation with a specialization in 3-D animation. Perfectly formulated as per industry requirement, the AAASP course strikes the right balance between technology and creativity. Modules include Graphic Suite, Interactive Multimedia, Animation, Advanced Animation and Digital Portfolio Development Suite.
Additionally, students are involved in simulated projects enabling them to initiate their digital portfolio development right from the 1st semester. Besides achieving well-defined objectives at the end of each semester, students are given the added benefit of special value addition through integrated projects, E-projects and options for specialization.
Animation is shaping into the most explosive & dynamic industry and the demand for well trained animation professionals is growing at an astounding pace. With international companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Fun Bag Animation looking at India for sourcing content as well as doing projects in collaboration with the Indian animation companies, there has been a growing demand for animators in the country.
Says Atul Vohra, Head, Arena Multimedia, “The animation industry in India is facing a severe shortage of workforce today especially on the quality front. In India alone, the animation industry needs over 30,000 people, while the demand met is a mere 10 % of the requirement. NASSCOM predicts that India will require around 3,00,000 skilled professionals by 2008. The Arena Animation Academy Specialist Program aims to produce high qualified animation professionals to meet this demand-supply gap over the coming years.”
Mr. Rajeev Pandey, Zonal Head, North says, “Our Chandigarh Centre has bagged the Best Placements award again for the year 2005. With their excellent industry interface, we are confident that they can train excellent students as per industry needs.” Ms. Neelu Kapoor, Centre Head, Arena Animation Academy Chandigarh adds, “DAE is a specialized high end animation course which is available only in Chandigarh in entire North India. We are now going for our second intake of DAE shortly.”
Mr. Vineet, Director VirtualSoft Technologies P Ltd., the city’s first Animation Studio mentions, “we have a growing need for high quality animators which are not available in the region. We are happy with this initiative and am sure that we can use the talent produced by Arena Chandigarh.”
2006 has been a landmark year for Arena. In their 10th Year of Operations Arena is now acknowledged as the Asia’s Leader in Animation. Arena Animation Academy Chandigarh has bagged the Best Placements Trophy again for 2005. And with the initiative by the Chandigarh Administration to change from Film City to Multimedia Film City this is now going to be the heralding of a new era for the youth of the city in terms of a huge spectrum of Careers in the field.
About Arena Animation Academy:
Arena Animation Academy is the high-end animation-training arm of leading multimedia education provider, Arena Multimedia. Launched in the year 2000, the academy’s core focus is creating career-oriented professionals ready for the industry.
For further information please visit www.arena-multimedia.com
The author, Gautam Ghosh is a senior executive with Satyam Learning Centre, the in-house learning and development department of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. He works in the Organization Development and Transformation Initiative which focuses on building team and group effectiveness. Gautam is an invited member of the HR Expert panel in Dataquest magazine)
Understand and accept the fact that you are a creative person, and that you are capable of being even more creative. Creativity is not restricted to a few and can be practiced with wonderful results.
To become more creative you must also nurture and learn to listen to your intuition and be open to a wide variety of possible solutions. Being aware of your own personality and beliefs that might blind you to possible solutions is also useful.
- Don’t be afraid of failing with any given avenue of exploration; even a negative result from one line of questioning can lead to a new idea or new possibility.
- Be alert to alternate solutions as they occur to you.
- Keep a track of ideas.
- Learn to recognize your own abilities so that you have some sense of the areas of a given problem that may give you difficulty or require more energy to solve.
- Sometimes tackling the difficult areas first is wise so that your energies are high; other times, leaving the less well understood problems until later in the process can allow your ‘backbrain’ or subconscious time to generate pointers to the solutions.
Practice divergent and convergent thinking processes: Discipline your mind to create many possible solutions to a problem at the beginning of your effort — to brainstorm ideas, to be open to many avenues of solution.
You must also be aware that at some point in the creative process you must begin to go through these various ideas, analyse their utility to the problem at hand, and decide on a solution.
Some of the misconceptions which hinder creativity
- For every problem, there can be only one solution: A creative person is always looking for more innovative solutions and believes that the number of ideas that can be applied are limitless.
- One must be logical and rational when solving any problem: Creativity often comes when one plays around with assumptions and status quo thoughts. Being logical often builds it further.
- An idea can be useful, only it if falls within the norms and standards of the organization/society: Oftentimes ideas have been successful that were thought of to have no practical utility.
- One should always be clear in one’s thinking: Clarity usually in the beginning of the creative process often limits options, not expand.
- In solving problems, one should always avoid mistakes and failures: Avoiding mistakes and failures will never get you started on anything new, which is the basis of creativity.
- Problem-solving is a “serious” activity: It might be serious in repercussions, but does not have to be serious in approach.
- Expertise and specialization is a must for effective problem-solving: A lot of creative thoughts have emerged from people who are novices and new to fields.
- One should obviously not take weird ideas seriously: Crazy ideas, on the other hand act as ignition points for starting a search for more do-able ideas.
- Some people are creative, others are not: Everyone can be creative, if he or she fights against these mental blocks.
As the industry leader, Arena has taken an initiative towards furthering the cause of multimedia through its recent alliance with the premier Sikkim Manipal University (SMU), which has lead to the launch of B.Sc. in Multimedia. A boon for students choosing to pursue global careers in Multimedia, this is a three-year, 6-semester program, wherein students pursuing Arena’s comprehensive career program, the Arena Multimedia Specialist (AMS) course, can enter into B.Sc. in Multimedia course offered by SMU. Students get a degree from SMU after successful completion of the course plus AMS certification from Arena. This alliance integrates the best of theoretical, technical and practical training, thereby providing a strong foundation in core concepts and application.
Explaining the significance of this alliance, Sudhir Mathur, Senior Vice-President & Head, Global Marketing, Arena Multimedia says, “Being the leading multimedia training provider in Asia, Arena Multimedia continues to expand the horizons of multimedia usage and training. B Sc. in Multimedia from SMU and AMS certification from Arena Multimedia will empower Arena students to achieve the best multimedia careers globally. The alliance provides the students access to the highly researched curriculum by the university, which makes them future proofed and conversant with the latest “Industry relevant” technologies. It offers a perfect blend of conceptual and practical input to students, making them technically well rounded professionals. ”
Ms. Neelu Kapoor, Centre Head said, “Multimedia has been one of the few rare fields that has generated regular employment opportunities. We hope this to continue, as this has been an area where a lot of Outsourced work is being directed to India. Some women have even been able to use this education to successfully work from home.”
Chandigarh January 28, 2005 Arena, Asia’s leaders in multimedia training has announced the launch of a comprehensive Diploma course in Animation Engineering at it’s centre in Chandigarh. Arena Chandigarh is the first centre in the region to offer this prestigious programme, which is only available at select Arena centres across the country. Admission to the course is on the basis of common entrance tests, group discussion, personal interviews and counseling sessions.
This 5 -Semester premium course is designed as per industry demands and enables students to learn drawing skills, acting, direction, camera movements for animation, and digital animation, all of which are essential to master 2D and 3D animation. At the end of both 2D and 3D animation modules, students will need to prepare their own show reel, which will simulate working in a production studio. To provide students with knowledge of the industry, Industry veterans will be invited to deliver guest lectures.
Modules include Fine Art, Visual Design & Creative Animation, Cel & Digital Animation, 2D Animation Show Reel, 3D Animation & Visual Fx, and Portfolio Development – Show reel. On completion of this course, students will be able to choose from an array of exciting career options such as 2D animator, 3D animator, computer animation, effects and game industries as technical directors, technical animators, effects animators, effects developers, graphics programmers, games developers etc.
Launching the Diploma in Animation Engineering, Mr. Ashish Kulkarni, Animation Specialist said, “The industry was mostly concentrated in the western and southern part of India. It’s a good training initiative by Arena to focus on the creative skills from Northern India and evolve a digital film making industry “.
Speaking at the course launch, Mr. Angshuman Dutta, Area Business Head, Arena Multimedia said, “The Animation Engineering program from Arena provides a thorough understanding of both 2D and 3D animation. While 2D modules delve deep into basic understanding of the various facets involved in 2D animation such as drawing, acting, direction, camera required for producing good 2D animation, each 3D module has a separate topic of specialization, enabling students to master them. Designed with inputs from the industry, the Animation Engineering course will serve as the perfect launch pad for students keen to pursue a rewarding career in multimedia.”
Mr. Vineet Raj Kapoor, Academics Head, Arena Multimedia, Chandigarh said, “We delayed the launch of our comprehensive animation course since we needed a very comprehensive course that covered both 2D and 3D animation thoroughly so that the students can gain thorough professional competence.”
Ms. Neelu Kapoor, Centre Head, Arena Multimedia, Chandigarh commented that this course would greatly benefit artistic people enabling them to match their peers in other industry in salary and status. On passing out, we shall be helping place these students in top animation houses of the country.
About Diploma in Animation Engineering:
The module on Fine Art, Visual Design & Creative Animation focuses on developing creativity and drawing skills across a spectrum of modern media, and combines formal aspects of 2D Animation and Color theory with hands-on design work, presentation and critique.
The Cel & Digital Animation module focuses on the more subtle and sophisticated techniques of animating characters’ thoughts and emotions through acting principles. Thorough introduction of doping and slugging and color theory begins along with the creation of visual scripting and Animatics.
In the 2D animation show reel module, students apply their knowledge of Storyboarding, Sketching, Drawing, Key framing, In-betweening, Clean Up, Line Testing, Ink and paint, Adding Dialogues and Digital Editing to create a short animated film in a crew setting. Each students’ final film will be open for viewing, critical assessment and feedback by industry experts.
The 3D Animation & Visual FX module provides the foundation for work within the 3D Animation environment. Alongside traditional subjects, students begin courses in Fundamentals of Comp Animation, including the operating environment and process of 3D Animation.
In the final module on Portfolio Development, students will follow a production schedule and deliver shots by specified deadlines as in a commercial production environment. Students will submit the Final demo reel which will be open for viewing, critical assessment and feedback by industry experts.
About Arena Multimedia:
Arena Multimedia is Asia’s leader in multimedia education and has trained over 1.5 lakh students since its inception in 1986. Arena offers a range of career, professional and multimedia awareness programs. Its leading career course, Arena Multimedia Specialist Program includes modules on Graphics, Authoring Multimedia, Animation, Multimedia for Web and Games & Digital Portfolio Development.
