India emerges as global centre for animators

LONDON: India is emerging as a global centre for animators with some of the top international companies planning huge investment in the country.

India-animated Freefonix, a 10 million pounds budget, is one of the BBC's biggest ever animation projects.

The futuristic tale of mismatched musicians was two years in the making across three continents and involved more than 200 people.

The Bollywood-BBC tie-up on Freefonix is the first of many, according to the BBC children's series to be aired this week, the series' UK-based producers Cinnamon Entertainment said.

Managing director Anthony Bouchier said more readily available funding and skilled animation teams are drawing TV show-makers to India.

"We saw that there were opportunities not only to outsource but to actually get investment for animation out of India. In the UK there is a major problem with animation for children because the broadcasters do not have sufficient budgets to finance animation, so it all has to come from private sources," he said.

Bouchier said Freefonix, a 40-episode series launching on Friday is the first of its kind for the 7-11 age group.

"The BBC is involved in some very exciting projects and the majority of those are financed out of India. India is coming to the rescue of BBC animation."

Cinnamon is part of a new breed of media company specialising in making the most of tax breaks and subsidies available in various countries.

Created by Magnus Fiennes, brother of Joseph and Ralph, Freefonix was financed with funding from sources including Indian private-equity investment, The Isle of Man Film Fund and the BBC.

The scripts were written in the United States and UK, the voices were recorded in the UK, the music and general production work was done in the UK and the Isle of Man and then a team in Paris modelled the characters and backgrounds.

The whole-thing was then sent to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, where it was animated. The final post production was done in Ireland.

According to a report in The Guardian today, Freefonix is testament to the way the production process for animation projects has been revolutionised by the internet, which allows teams in various countries to swap files instantly and to communicate on videolink services such as Skype.