Career in Digital Content

DIGITAL REVOLUTION

Digital content revolution has created the demand for a new breed of professionals

   A career in digital content could be exciting as it allows professionals to combine knowledge with pedagogy and technology. It also gives ample scope to multimedia experts to unleash their creativity by creating engaging visuals to bring abstract concepts to life. The digital content revolution has accelerated the demand for academicians, editors, instructional designers, graphic animators, illustrators and technology experts.
   Some of the industries where these skills are used include education, television and film industry, advertising and media, publishing, web and IT industry.
   
INDUSTRY STATUS   

The last few years have seen digital content bringing about phenomenal changes in the field of education and entertainment. There is a huge transformation in the way educators today are using digital content in the classroom. Today, digital content on mobile phones and other multimedia content can be linked with social networks. Besides, satellite-based education is revolutionising classrooms worldwide by facilitating live delivery of lectures.
   Further, digital content is being beamed through DTH services; this is providing learners access to quality entertainment right in their homes. In terms of media, the trend has shifted from 2D to 3D, whether it is in the real-life video or in the animation industry. Recently, stereoscopic 3D has made an entry into movies and in education and is likely to feature in televisions and mobiles too.
   
GROWTH AREAS   

Growth areas in digital content are
   branching out in animation and filmmaking. Animations can be 3D or 2D animations. In addition, the area needs subject matter experts, instructional designers (ID), graphic visualisers and software professionals.

SKILL-SET REQUIRED

Freshers entering this area must have good writing, editing, and IT skills. They must be creative and have knowledge of 2-D/3-D animation, video editing, sketching, programming and project management.

REMUNERATION

Freshers are paid anything from 10,000-20,000 per-month depending on their qualifications. Growth in this field is similar to the IT industry, with 15-20% growth in salary. Of course, highly talented individuals command a higher salary as in any other industry, and experienced creative managers and media experts get a six-figure monthly salary.

Sunil Sharma

Moderator:

Dil Se Desi Website ( Click here to visit)

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Academic Programs in Demand

EVOLUTION REVOLUTION

 

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES THAT HAVE EVOLVED IN TANDEM WITH THE INDUSTRY AND MARKET DEMANDS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH AN ADDED ADVANTAGE

INTERNATIONAL CHEF DIPLOMA 

Institute of Hotel Management

 The four-semester International Chef Diploma will include two semesters of teaching at the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Mumbai, then two semesters of teaching at George Brown College, Toronto, Canada, followed by paid internship (Industrial Training) at Canada (Canadian - Culinary Skills Work Study Programme).This new chef-training programme will provide a candidate an accredited Chef Training Certificate from George Brown College and a certificate from IHM Mumbai. 

   www.ihmctan.edu  

MASTER IN DESIGN ANIMATION 

Industrial Design Centre of IIT Bombay

 The Master in Design Animation programme at the Industrial Design Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay strives to create experts, who will eventually emerge as leaders to influence the future of animation. It aims to draw upon India's rich resource of indigenous images and narratives for socially, culturally and contextually relevant animation. 

The programme would equip animation-makers with skills of international standards while offering scope for experimentation and explorations, using diverse media, techniques and tools. 

   www.idc.iitb.ac.in  

LLB (FIVE YEAR INTEGRATED PROGRAMME WITH EMPHASIS ON ENERGY LAWS) 

University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

 The five-year integrated programme with emphasis on power/electricity laws at the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) is designed to develop a new generation of legal professionals, who will be adept at serving the legal requirements of the power industry. The eligibility criterion is minimum 50% marks at higher and senior secondary level (class X and XII), and admission criterion is the UPES Law Studies Aptitude Test (UL-SAT) followed by group discussion and interview.

   www.upes.ac.in  

MAIN MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES 

Mass communication is one such field which is attracting a lot of youngsters these days and why not, when it has to offer such interesting career options in the fields, like various kinds 

of media — newspapers, magazines, radio, television, advertisements, public relations among others.Though its presence has been there since long but it is only in recent times that it's been able to earn due recognition. Efforts are on to add professionalism to different areas of mass communication, with many universities and institutions offering various professional courses. The subject covers a wide area, comprising closely related fields of advertisement, communication and public relations. Almost all kinds of establishments whether business, government or political are availing of services, offered by these industries, therefore an encouraging sign for those looking ahead to making a career in mass communication. As regards personality traits, excellent communication skills, being a good team player are important, besides being confident and hardworking. Other attributes vary depending on the area one pursues.

 Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai

 The MA in Media and Cultural Studies programme at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai will impart intensive hands-on training in video production, including direction, research, scripting, editing, camera and sound. It will also teach basic skills in community radio, graphics and web design. It offers a strong research focus that will enable students to produce documentaries and short films.Work opportunities would be in the areas of media and television production, independent media practice, media education, advocacy and research. 

   www.tiss.edu  

INTEGRATED MASTERS IN APPLIED SCIENCE 

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

 The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) was established with the objective of offering educational programmes to meet the requirements of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It offers BTech with a specialisation in Avionics and Aerospace Engineering, and Integrated Masters Programme in Applied Sciences, with special emphasis on Space-related subjects. The curriculum for the five-year Integrated Masters in Applied Science offers rich content of theoretical science in the first three years and provides specialisation in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Material Science and Remote Sensing and GIS with stress on experimental studies in the last two years. Students who successfully complete the academic programme with a first class will be absorbed as Scientist/Engineer SC in ISRO with a service condition of five years. 

   www.iist.ac.in  

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN TOURISM AND LEISURE 

Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior

 The Post Graduate Diploma in Tourism and Leisure programme at the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior covers a judicious mix of tourism and leisure-specific knowledge and skill inputs, being developed in the background of the fast-evolving tourism scenario. The programme is approved by AICTE and equivalent to an MBA programme. The scope and diversity of tourism and leisure segments is such that the programme will lead to a variety of employment options and growth avenues, not only in a business organisation, but also in self-employment and/or in carrying forward family businesses in this field. 

   www.iittm.org

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TECHNOLOGY LAW 

Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property (IP) and technology law education had never been emphasised in the curriculum of legal education in India before the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law started functioning from the academic year 2006. The school is the first of its kind to impart legal and IP education within the IIT system .The school offers six-semester, three-year full-time residential LLB leading to the degree of Bachelor of Law with specialisation in Intellectual Property Rights as per the requirements of the Bar Council of India. 

   www.iitkgp.ac.in   

FIVE YEAR INTEGRATED MASTERS (MS) PROGRAMME - SCIENCE 

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research

The government of India had established Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) in 2006.Three of these institutes are functioning in Kolkata, Pune and Mohali and two more will start functioning from this year at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram. At the IISERs, teaching and education will be totally integrated with state-of-the-art research, nurturing both curiosity and creativity in an intellectually vibrant atmosphere of research. Each IISER is an autonomous institution conducting its own Masters and Doctoral programmes. Students are encouraged to work on research projects during the vacation periods in the first four years of their Masters programme in various research institutes outside IISER. 

   The programme integrate the conventional Bachelors and Masters programmes for a more holistic science education, bringing together the conventional disciplines in biological, chemical,mathematical and physical sciences. The programme stresses on the unified nature of science and train by some of the best practitioners of science in India.The students take part in research activities, both in IISER as well as at other leading laboratories of the country, thus providing them a symbiotic relationship between conventional education and research. 

www.iiser-admissions.in  

 Sunil Sharma

   Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group

&

www.dilsedesi.org

Career as IT Professional

Technical details

THERE IS A GROWING NEED TO DEVELOP NEW SOFTWARE EMBEDDED WITH INNOVATIVE AND USER FRIENDLY FEATURES. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, APTECH LTD, GIVES AN OVERVIEW

The IT industry, t o d ay, embraces a huge gamut of areas of expertise to suit the requirements of diverse sectors of business and industry like airlines, retail, banking, insurance and travel and tourism. New age needs of IT include:

Animation and multimedia - this has shown tremendous growth in the entertainment and media industry. This includes web development, 2d-3D animation,VFX and programming.

Hardware and networking - increased adoption of IP-based service offerings like VoIP and IPTV, data centres automation solutions and unified communications has increased hardware and networking needs. The use of wireless devices like Blackberry, Apple iPhone or Xbox, capable of accessing data on news, sports etc, has induced greater processing power and network speed.

BPO/KPO - IT/ITES services for data entry processes to high-end data analysis and project management are required for the booming BPO/KPO industry.

Gaming - there is huge growth in the business of mobile gaming, console gaming and PC gaming due to the increased use of mobile phones.

Learning services - this includes learning solutions and content development for various industry segments.

GLOBAL HUB

India has become the global destination for all IT and ITES needs, thanks to the huge pool of technically qualified English-speaking professionals and cost-effective quality output. According to recent NASSCOM estimates, the Indian ICT industry will contribute 7% of the country's GDP by 2009, providing direct employment to more than 2.2 million people and indirect employment to nearly twice that number. The industry is growing at a rate of around 20-22 % in IT services and around 55% in ITenabled services annually.The past few years have seen a gradual evolution of global perspectives about offshore outsourcing. India remains an integral part of any major global sourcing strategy and is also developing as a brain bank for providing learning solutions and content development for international markets.

CAREERS IN THIS INDUSTRY

The industry continues to be amongst the largest employers, directly employing (at present) more than 1.6 million and indirectly creating employment opportunities for an additional 6 million people in related industries.

Training in any branch of IT is sure to give a great career growth. There are various degree and diploma programmes available in the country to make a career either in animation/multimedia, hardware and networking, programming and so on.

REMUNERATION

Adequate training and exposure can bring in good packages for the aspirant. The salary range for an IT professional, depending upon the corporate house he/she is working with, can be anything between Rs 15,000-20,000 initially. After gaining experience, a person can carry a yearly package of Rs 6-10 lakhs, depending on his/her area of expertise.

Over and above this, a professional can also work as a freelancer and take up individual projects of developing websites, programming or designing and earn handsomely. One can also be an entrepreneur without much investment. Besides, it has great scope for women who prefer to stay at home and pursue a profession. For Indian professionals, outsourced international projects are another good source of income.

The scope and growth of IT and ITES sector is tremendous in the coming days and trained manpower is in great demand. Today, a career in this field is one of the most enterprising ideas that one can perceive.

Sunil Sharma

Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group

Career in Animation -2

An Animated Career!

Animation is one of the most lucrative career options available for bright young creative minds. One of the premier institutions catering to the skill sets specialization based training for the Animation Industry is Frameboxx Animation and Visual Effects. Started in December 2007, the company has already setup 13 high class education facilities in India and on their way to increase these numbers up to 35. An International presence is also in the pipeline. Founded by a group of highly talented business and technical evangelists, the company offers academic programmes that vary in length from 12 months to 20 months. There is a very strong emphasis on skill sets s p e c i a l i z a t i o n , thereby helping mould a true Techno-Artiste.

The team has been instrumental in innovating and building some of the finest animation training services and companies in the past. With Frameboxx the objective is to take animation training one notch higher than the prevailing trends. The company has major initiatives up its sleeves which it will be announcing in a short while. So the wait is over if it is a career in animation that you are looking for.

Animate your career with Toonz

Toonz Academy one of South Asia's state-of- the- art training facilities in 2D and 3D animation. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Toonz Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Singapore, which also owns the flagship Indian animation studio, Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd.

Toonz academy follows a varied approach on animation training should be. We don't allow our students to touch a workstation for the first few months of training. The aim is to instill the correct fundamental basics and only then teach them how technology can aid them.Thus we will produce animators who will meet the highest standards of the industry.

It has become increasingly difficult for all those animation enthusiasts out there to decide what constitutes good animation education.We asked Dino Corders, Dean of the Toonz Academy. "First of all you need good drawing skills; software cannot camouflage a bad artist. Preferably a programme that covers basics like life drawing, layout animation, and fundamentals would be a perfect launch pad. 3D animation is more complex, in addition to the basic skills; you need to have a perfect understanding of the anatomy of animals and physics in nature along with basic mechanical motion." Dino has over 17 years of experience in the industry and has been part of famous animation productions like Tom and Jerry, Spiderman, and X-Men.

Toonz Animation's client list includes some of the biggest names in the media and entertainment industry.

Arena's Animation

Arena Animation, a pioneer, trendsetter and global leader in animation and multimedia education has launched a series of seminars called "Perspectives- Animation in India: Future and Careers." The aim was to create awareness among students of the unlimited career opportunities in animation and to create a neutral platform for budding animators to interact with the industry professionals.

"Perspectives aims to bring together professionals from the animation community on a common platform to share their knowledge, thoughts, views and experiences of the animation Industry with the students, which would enable them to think beyond the obvious and get an insight into the tremendous career options within Animation, VFX and Gaming," says R. Krishnan, global head of Arena Animation.

As a part of this exposure Arena Animation brings celebrated speaker Chris Webster, head of Animation Provision at the University of the West of England, Bristol to Delhi on the 25th of February. His talk is titled "Movement without Meaning is Pointless."

Arena Animation has been offering world class training in industry relevant animation and multimedia techniques to students aspiring for global careers in this industry.With an extensive network of centres all over the globe, Arena Animation has trained over 2,00,000 students internationally since its inception in 1996. It trains students as well as professionals in the latest industry relevant courses backed by alliances with world leaders, a world class faculty and the latest technical educational tools.

Arena's students are placed everywhere.

Animated by Picasso

Starved of international quality animation professionals, Indian animation industry has found new hope with foreign collaborations in animation education finally taking place. The pioneer in international quality animation education in India is Picasso Animation College, which is set up in collaboration with Canada based Centennial College. Within a short span of time, Picasso Animation College has earned the reputation of being a premier animation education player with 133% on campus job offers.

The college has a unique training methodology developed by full time Canadian experts working with Picasso's corporate office. Companies such as Crest, DQ Entertainment, and Annirights visit Picasso campus regularly for recruitment. While creative focus and international standards are central to Picasso, students also get two to three more hours of contact hours than in of any other conventional animation training institute.

The academic team of Picasso consists of international and Indian professionals who have worked with studios such as ILM, I-MAX, Core Digital Pictures, Electronic Arts, Prana, and Moving Pictures, and creative artists who worked for animated movies like Casper, Flubber, Jumanji, 101 Dalmatians and game projects like Need for Speed- Underground. Picasso is the only animation college in India with Hollywood animation experts as trainers. Picasso Animation College offers UGC recognized, three year degree program in Animation and a Digital Animation course of nearly ten months. Admissions are open for the batches commencing in March and June with a limited capacity of 25 each.

The Maya of Creativity!

It is said there is no biz like showbiz. But even showbiz as we know is changing.Hollywood initiated the process with Walt’ Disney Films and the rest of the world followed suit. Today Tom & Jerry, Donald Duck, Superman, Batman, The Incredibles are part of the life of young and old alike, in some form or the other. The common chord that binds them is animation. On the home front films like Hum Tum, Krishna Cottage, Awara Pagal Deewana and Krish have done fair justice to this creative art form. Indeed use of computer graphics in films is surely turning out to be one of the most viable ways of using digital technology to draw the audience fed on a diet of special effects laden Hollywood films.

With so much happening on the animation front the industry is currently valued at $ 45 billion, ready to leapfrog to $ 75 billion in the not so distant future. Indeed, the world of 3D animation and visual effects is a large one with an ocean of possibilities.

It is not surprising, that quite a number of institutions have come up to empower young creative minds with the skill-set required to be an animation professional. Vikas Tewari, Sr.VP & Zonal Head (North & East) says, “Unlike other professions at Maya Academy we do not look for academic qualifications. The sole quality we require is the originality of thoughts and expression and an innate creative streak. We do not even expect the students to have a prior knowledge of software, since we start from scratch. But determination to stand out in the crowd is of crucial importance”. MAAC offers technical courses in 3D Animation, visual effects and postproduction techniques, supported by live projects, seminars and workshops, Vikas continues,“We take great pride in our intuitive philosophy of evolving strong conceptual knowledge which in turn enables us to focus more on a talent’s conceptual base.It is only then that we move auto the related practical sciences”.


Sunil Sharma
Moderator
Dil Se Desi Group

Career in Animation - 1

More than just pen and paper

IF YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR FIGURES, AN INCORRIGIBLE ITCH TO DRAW AND A CREATIVE EYE FOR DETAIL, A CAREER IN ANIMATION COULD WELL BE YOUR ULTIMATE DESTINATION

Dinosaurs leaping on the screen, their teeth bared, and trumpet blasts on the soundtrack. In 1993, Steven Spielberg created magic by bringing the 'Jurassic Park' alive on the screen. The movie not only broke box-office records around the world, but also marked a significant time in the evolution of visual effects.

Welcome to the world of film animation - a world where reality meets imagination, where dinosaurs walk across silver s c re e n s, where a ' S t u a r t L i t t l e ' becomes the second son to a family of humans, and a 'Shrek' rules the ' p e r f e c t k i n g d o m ' . This is a world of s p e c i a l e f f e c t s, u n b e l i ev - able graphics and exotic technologies that mesh and converge to create unbelievable real and virtual experiences. It's a world that beckons c re at ive minds to u n l e a s h their power; and it's calling you!

If you have a passion for figures, an incorrigible itch to draw and a creative eye for detail, a career in animation could well be your ultimate destination.

T h o u g h Animation' sounds simple but a lot of work goes into its preparation. It is the art of conceiving an action by d r aw i n g i n a n i m at e objects or characters, which are made suitable for filming. Off late animation has become so high paying a profession that it will soon be m at ch i n g the pay packets of s o f t w a re professional s.

According to a recent survey by N a s s c o m , animation industry is expected to grow by 25 per cent annually. Increase in the use of special effects on screen and success of animated movies like 'Hanuman' has given birth to animation industry in India. Television channels are also applying animation techniques as a relief from the l a ck l u s t e r hum-drum viewing. There are ample career opportunities in the 3-D animation industry and a passion for the job can take aspirants to great heights.

Though one need not be an artist to be a successful animator, he/she should have basic appreciation of art and the requisite skills can be honed at the college. You can be absorbed at various levels depending on your skill sets, as graphics designer, visual artist, supervisor, digital film animator, senior animator, content writer, clean up artist, web designer or web author.

A career in animation offers you a good salary package. As a fresher, one can expect the starting amount to be anywhere between Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 15,000 as a junior artist. Within two years, he/she can become an assistant and earn between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 45,000 and within seven years the remuneration could go up to Rs.1 lakh a month. What's more, there is no age limit for learning and one can be successful even at a late age.


Sunil Sharma
Moderator
Dil Se Desi Group