Interview of Mr. Ankur Kapoor - President & CEO of Animation Live

Kindly tell us something about Animation Live and its courses

Animation Live is one of the best places to learn Multimedia and Animation. We offer more than 20 courses for students of various age groups – school kids to post graduate level programs. We have started Degree level courses like B.A, M.A in Multimedia and B.Sc in Animation. We have received good response for these courses. Our Advanced Professional Diploma in 3D (APD3D) is a complete 3 year course which includes 1 year of internship during which the student gets stipend. Our specialization courses are best suited to professionals who want to perfect a particular skill in animation.

Mr. Ankur Kapoor - President & CEO of Animation Live

Which streams within Animation industry are growing the fastest

The gaming market, entertainment and e-learning fields are growing very fast. The reason is simple; these things excite you and take you to a world that you cannot imagine otherwise. Therefore animation is very important as it helps you see and reach the extraordinary.

The projected growth estimates as per PWC puts the Animation, Gaming and VFX industry at “73.4 billion in 2014 at a CAGR of 25%”.

Kindly tell us about the job opportunities in the animation industry

Animation is being used in Entertainment Industry, Education Sector, Medical Science, Architecture, Automobile & above all Gaming Industry which is completely dependent on Animation and growing with 69% CAGR. There are many more industries dependent on animation. The job opportunities in the animation industry today are huge. Our students today work for best names in the entertainment world, advertising, sports companies, export houses and for automobile companies. This is a creative field which is growing very fast and therefore the opportunities are immense.

When we talk about career options available in the industry, you’ll find 18-20 different job profile which you can work upon as per your interest. To have lucrative career in animation one has to be highly creative and expert. For that you need to keep one thing in mind that you choose the best institute to have best career.

What are the important qualities required to become a good animator

Well, good animators may not get excellent grades in schools and colleges but they are creative, have great imagination power, are passionate and have eye for details. Today’s animators are also masters of the software to create such great visuals. In my opinion after being a part of this industry for more than a decade the most important qualities in a good animator are sense of proportion, timing and certain basic acting skills. These skills can be developed in a budding animator slowly over a period of time.

How relevant is the growth of IT industry to Animation industry

Growth of animation sector is similar to IT sector. The way IT industry has gained prominence at international level due to low cost same is with Animation Sector. Most of the work done by the Animation industry is outsourced work similar to how the IT industry evolved. Just as the IT industry is moving up the value chain from services to product markets, Indian animation companies and animation studios are also moving up the value chain to create their own intellectual property rights and partnering with international studios to produce animated properties for the global audience.

Today when we see animation being brought to excellent use in movies, advertising world and other places, we need to understand that this all is possible because IT and animation is being used together.

Kindly tell us about your expansion plans

We already have 5 world class training facilities in Chandigarh (Sec 17 & Sec 34), Patiala, Ludhiana and Sangrur. Our plan this year is to spread to rest of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. We will shortly be opening up another centre in Mohali followed by Jalandhar and Amritsar. The gap in manpower required and available in this creative field is large. To fill this gap we need many training centre’s across the country. With the growth expected in this industry in the coming years this gap will keep increasing if we do not have the right kind of training centre’s.