India's Accel expands cartoon production
IT group to open motion-capture facility
Chennai-based Accel, which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, is investing close to $1 million in the 24-camera motion-capture facility, which Accel says will be the only one of its kind in the territory.
India is building a growing reputation in the animation and special-effects industries.
"We are setting up the facility now because the demand for animation sequences in the domestic entertainment industry is growing rapidly," Accel's chief technology officer S. Muralidharan said. "Using real-time motion-capture techniques for animation reduces time and cost of production by at least 40%."
Company expects the facility to lift Accel Animation Studios revenues from $500,000 in its first year of operation to some $4 million in 2007. Muralidharan says the company is working about 50-50 with outsourcing and its own IP models.
Accel Animation is in production on the 133-part TV series "South India Fables" with L.A.-based Long Tale Intl. as international distributor. It also is producing "Raju the Auto Rickshaw," a feature-length, straight-to-DVD movie for Canada's Kahani World. Last year, it delivered 40 minutes of single character animation for "Friends Forever," a pic produced by Mumbai-based shingle Celluloid Dreams.
Next up is "Cityzens" a $12 million theatrical movie co-produced with L.A.-based Netrikan Entertainment and exec produced by Long Tale's managing director Omar Kaczmarczyk. Pic is skedded for delivery in 2010.
