acknowledgement

I would like to thank Ms. Suchita for giving me the wonderful opportunity to work at Nickelodeon, India. I would also like to thank Mr. Girish for being my industrial mentor and guiding me throughout the duration of my project.

Prof. Sham Patil, for being my mentor at MIT and ensuring that everything went smoothly without a hitch.

I would also like to thank my colleagues and certain people in the editing and sound studio for helping me out whenever I needed it.

I also want to thank friends and my family for supporting me.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank MIT Institute of Design for the development of my skills and overall persona.

table of contents

Chapter 01.

Chapter 02.

Chapter 03.

Chapter 04.

Chapter 05.

Chapter 06.

Chapter 07.

Chapter 08.

Chapter 09.

Chapter 10.

Chapter 11.

Chapter 12.

About Nickelodeon

The Client’s Brief

An Introduction

The Beginning

Meet DJ and PJ

The Characters

Promo One

Promo Two

Promo Three

Obstacles Faced

The Diwali Project

Retrospection

01

04

05

06

07

11

17

27

35

45

46

51

Serial Number Title Page Number

There once was a boy Who loved to dream

Reality was an illusion It would seem

Until came alongHis best buddy

Who wasA fun loving surdy

And this is their journey In weathers; rain and sunny

Brought to life By the stroke of a pen

This is their story Of now and then

Nickelodeon India was first started in 1999 by Viacom 18. In 2004, Viacom made a deal with Mattel India in order to gain more original programming for Nickelodeon India and to obtain the rights to air “exclusive Mattel programming”.

With an approach that puts ‘kids first’, Nickelodeon takes pride in encouraging kids to be themselves – funny, messy and free-spirted.

Being true to its philosophy of connecting with kids wherever they are, Nickelodeon gives kids a complete multi platform brand experience.The touchpoints range from on-ground interactions, digital innovation and consumer products to name a few.

Nick is one of India’s leading kids channel and is available in over 34.2 million households all over the country.

Nick India is a television channel devoted to children in India based in Mumbai. It is part of Viacom 18. Its sister channels are MTV India, Vh1 India, Sonic(Nickelodeon), Colours and Viacom18 Motion Pictures. Nick India is an arm of Nickelodeon (USA).

ABOUT nickelodeon

Chapter 1

Believing that ‘education’ and ‘entertainment’ go hand-in-hand at a young age, Nickelodeon offers ‘edu-taining’ shows like Dora the Explorer in its pre-school block – Nick Jr. Given its ‘award-winning’, ‘well-researched’ and ‘safe’ shows, it’s no surprise that Nickelodeon enjoys equal support from the parents as well.

DQ Entertainment signed a “co-finance and production agreement with Nickelodeon India” in 2010 in order to produce a “high-end television series” called Keymon Ache.

Following are the shows that are aired on Nick:Live Action Shows:> Power Rangers Mystic Force> Pick-a-Trick

Animated Shows> Keymon Ache> Ninja Hattori> Oggy and the Cockroaches> Penguins of Madagascar> Perman> Zig and Sharko

Late Night Shows> As Told By Ginger> Allegra’s window> Spongebob Squarepants> Rugrats> Blue’s clues> Danny Phantom

03

I was part of Nick’s creative team which is known as OAP (On Air Promo). As the name suggests, this division deals with creating promotinal videos for the channel. All in all, there were eight members in the team; the Creative Head- Suchita Karmokar, the team Manager Archana Singh, Producers Anthony Carneiro, Girish Joshi, Kedar Tilak, Sanhita Das, Himani Chaudhary and Vikram. Their main job is to produce promos for the different programs aired on Nick. Their job would include but is not limited to the generation of the script, editing the footage according to the script, managing and coming up with ideas for the sound, shooting live action, or shooting live then adding animation to it, etc. In a nutshell, they have to oversee the entire process of producing a promo till it gets aired on television.It was a great learning experience to work with them as I got valuable insight as to how a team works together as a unit to make the channel work.

Nick shares office space with MTV, Vh1 and Viacom so it is not only a pretty fun place to work at, but also very inspiring. Viacom18 has also been voted amongst the top 50 Great Places to Work! A nice lounge with comfortable sofas, vending machines and an occasional beer provide the perfect setup for generating ideas! Foozball and tabletennis tables are provided as stressbusters. Whenever you seem to run out of ideas, a visit to any of the aforementioned places would give you the right kind of boost to jump-start your brain into creativity mode.And since this was a common space for all the three channels, you get to interact with people from different departments, share your ideas with them and get their feedback on the same.

Frequent surprise visits by celebrities is just the icing on the cake.

04

the client’s brief

Chapter 2

Nickelodeon wanted me to come up with a series of short animated gags for kids between 12-16 years of age. These gags could be PJs(poor jokes), situational jokes, one-liners, conversational jokes and anything whacky that the children would connect with. They should be easy to understand and provide clean laughs for kids.

It was necessary that these gags be between two characters. These characters could be anybody. For example, a brother and sister, neighbours or friends. Anything likely of forming a pair had to be considered.

I had to take the responsibility of managing the entire process which consisted of:

1. Conceptualization: This was the initial phase where characters had to be developed and given traits and characteristics with which children of that age group would identify with. 2. Pre-production: This phase involved developing the gags, character design, visual development and making storyboards.

3. Animation: The characters had to be brought to life in this phase taking due care of their expressions and movements and synchronizing with the storyboards developed.

4. Post-production: The final stage where voices had to be given to the characters and a background score needed to be added in sync with the animation. And adding the finishing touches before the animation can get the ‘go ahead’ sign.

05

an introduction

Chapter 3

A promo, shorthand for promotion, is a form of commercial advertising used in broadcast media, either television or radio. Promos are generally used to promote a program airing on a television channel, radio station, television network or radio network. Majority of the work done at Nick, India are creating promos for the shows aired on the channel.

A promo consists of information regarding date and time of when the program will be aired, the name of the channel on which it is being aired, details regarding any new upcoming shows or series, contest promos, teasers, promos regarding values that the channel promotes, holiday or festival promos are some of the different kinds aired on Nick.

A promo should run often enough to create anticipation and awareness but not so often that it becomes irritating. The creativeness of the promo, the quality of the production and the nature of the promotion will all affect how much air time you can give promos before they become irritating. However, if done right they are an entertainment element, and become part of the channel’s personality.

For instance, some of the promos aired on Nick advertising certain shows use Bollywood as their main theme and incorporate elements like the flashy, filmy style as well as voiceovers that imitate famous personalities.

06

the beginning

Chapter 4

These gags that I would come up with would be used as fillers in between shows or as promotional videos for advertising any specific brand alongwith the Nickelodeon packaging.

Now to give me a little inspiration to begin, my mentor Girish gave me a hypothetical situation where these animated shorts would be made for Center Fresh’s “Zubaan Pe Lagaam” series. After watching a few advertisements for Center Fresh, I tried recognizing a pattern they use to make their ads stand out. They’re whacky, funny and to put it simply, they talk about the art of zipping it! Nick wanted to build something along the same lines with PJs and one liners.

So I came up with a bunch of jokes that could be fitted in the “Zubaan Pe Lagaam” zone.1. A well-dressed man came out of a fancy hotel and orders the doorman, “You there! Call me a taxi.”Doorman bows courteously and says,” Certainly sir, You are a taxi.”

2. Mrs.Sood’s neighbour - a very talkative & nagging lady is always complaining to Mrs.Sood about her son who imitates her and makes fun of her. Mrs. Sood is fed up with this lady’s constant blabber. One day she angrily asks her, “Mrs. Sood, have you told your son to stop imitating me?”“Yes, I told him to stop acting like a fool”, answeres Mrs. Sood.

3. Basanti: “Bhag Dhanno bhaag! Aaj teri basanti ke izzat ka sawaal hai.”Dhanno, stops abruptly throwing Basanti off. She(the horse) sits down, removes a Centerfresh and starts chewing without a care in the world.Basanti starts throwing tantrums, screaming & yelling at dhanno. Dhanno: “Tujhe apni izzat ki padi hai? Mere peeche Gabbar ke 10 ghode pade hai uska kya!”Basanti gets even more angry and opens her mouth to yell again....A herd of Gabbar’s 10horses comes and runs over Basanti.

4. A vampire bat returns to the nest with blood smeared all over his face. The other bats thinking he’d found a victim get excited and start bombarding him with questions. Fed up with the continuous chatter he says, “Follow me and i’ll show you.”He takes them to an open field with a few trees around. The other bats are very excited and impatient and say, “Show us, show us”. The bat says, “Do you see that tree over there?” “Yes, yes we do.” comes the chorus.“Well, i didnt.” replies the bat.

5.“O Wow, wow! Look at the speed of that airplane,” said one very chirpy, talkative bird to another as a plane flew above their heads. “Hmmph,” snorted the other bird. “Even you’d fly as fast if your tail were on fire.”

07

meet dj and pj

Chapter 5

The production pipeline of a typical animated short or a movie can be divided into three stages : pre-production, production and post-production. The pre-production also includes the development phase. This basically includes research, conceptualization, script writing and the pitch. During this phase one generally comes up with the script, visuals and details of the characters and other relevant information to support the pitch. After this one goes ahead with the storyboard, animatics, layouts and environments.

Teenagers spend a lot of time with their friends and so friendship becomes one of the most important relationships in their lives. Since the target audience was kids between the ages 12 to 16, it was decided that the two characteres would be two friends.

Following names were considered for the two characters: Sochu and Smartie, DJ and PJ, Arty and Farty. After much deliberation, they were lovingly christened DJ and PJ. Here on is the step-by-step process that I followed to bring them to life. Before starting with the character design, I listed down character traits, habits, likes-dislikes, attire and a background story for both the characters to give them credibilty.

It is important to keep these points in mind while designing the character.

Introducing DJ:> DJ is somewhere between 12 to 14 years of age.> He is a deep thinker and is always lost in thought.> A music lover and like many teenagers, he has his earphones plugged in most of the times. > He has a tendency to rhyme his words or recite his sentences.> He is the cool kid on the block. He wears clothes that are two sizes bigger and no matter what weather, you’ll always see him with his favourite pair of gumboots on!

Introducing PJ:> Pj is a sardar boy between 12-14 years of age.> A so called intellectual surd, his mission is to prove that contrary to common notion, sardars are smart!> He loves to surround himself with books!> He loves to come up with one-liners, jokes and loves to play pranks on people.

08

DJ and PJ in different age groups

09

Initial character exploration for DJ and PJ

10

11

the characters

Chapter 6

PJ had already begun taking form during the first few doodles that you saw. Based on some designs that were approved, these characters were developed giving additional details like the spotted turban, the round glasses, the checked shirt. I wanted to Indianize these characters, which is why I have maintained the roundity in most characters. I have also tried to incorporate the Indian style of drawing the nose. The big open mouthed, toothy, whacky smile was given to bring out the PJ’s crazy personality!

pJ

12

Model sheet, gestures and expressions for PJ

13

DJ’s character took a little time to finalize. I wanted him to look very different from PJ yet I wanted both the characters to look like they belonged to same world.

Details like headphones and gumboots were finalized keeping in mind the fact that DJ is a music buff and he is the cool kid on the block. He always wears oversized and loose clothes.

I have tried to give it a slightly Indian feel by incorporating the style of drawing where the eyes ane nose are joint together.

The images you see are various experiments with respect to clothing styles and look&feel.

DJ

14

Model sheet, gestures and expressions for DJ

15

Secondary characters are crucial to the story. I listed down a few characters who would be seen with or around DJ and PJ in the film. These characters could be chhotu the chaiwala, DJ’d little kid sister, PJ’s punjabi mother, students in the school and so on.

others

15

16

fINAL characters

17

promo one

Chapter 7

The Story

One day PJ arrives in the school canteen with a black eye and bruises on his face. All the kids notice him and get excited except for his buddy DJ, who is merrily enjoying his food and is blissfully unaware of the commotion. PJ approaches him and announces that he’s hurt. DJ and a few other friends shoot him with questions as to how he got hurt. DJ makes fun of him asking if he’d gotten beaten up by someone. This angers PJ and he decides to play a prank on his friends who keep asking him where and how it happened. He tells them he’ll show them how and where it happened. The curious kids excitedly go with him to the grounds thinking they’ll see the people who beat him up. PJ points towards a tree and asks them if they could see that tree. The friends excitedly jump up and down in affirmation. He then says that unfortunately he didnt see that tree implying that he ran into the tree and bruised himself.

The Script and Screenplay (The script was written by Girish)

Shot 1 (At the school canteen)PJ: “Abbe DJ! Dekh lag gai yaar”Camera: Midshot, Opens with DJ eating and pans to the left as PJ enters.

Shot 2 (Abstract)DJ and friends: “Kya hua? Kaise hua? Kab hua? Kahaan hua? Aisa kab tak hoga?”Camera: Midshot

Shot3 (Canteen)PJ(angrily): “Mujhe lagi hui hai aur tu mazzaak kar raha hai?!?”

18

Shot4 (Canteen, Abstract)DJ: “Lagta hai tune jhagda kiya. Gandhiji ko yaad karo jhagda bilkul mat karo.(In a Sunny Deol voice)Paaji! Unse bhi keh dena mere bhi bahut dost hai jo mujhe bachaane kabhi nahi aayenge, hehehe!

Shot5 (Abstract)Friends: ”Par yeh sab hua kaise??”

Shot 6 (Canteen)PJ: “Arre bas karo sawaalon ke kauvo. Chalo mai tumhe dikhata hoon.”Camera: Closeup, Zoom out to midshot and pans left.

Shot 7 (Outdoors- Ground)PJ(Pointing towards a tree): “Kya woh ped dikh raha hai?”Friends(chorus): “Haan haan haan!”Camera: Midshot to zoom and pan right to the tree.

Shot 8 (Outdoors - Ground)PJ: “Mujhe nahi dikha”Camera: Closeup

Shot 9 (Outdoors)Friends(surprised): “Hain!”Camera: Closeup, zoom to extreme closeup.

19

DJ dreaming as usual in the school canteen Everybody is surprised to see PJ arriving all bruised

He complains that he is hurt badly

And he gets angryHe feels offended that they are making fun of his situation

Everybody bombards him with questions

storyboarding

20

DJ wonders if he got beaten up

Says he didnt see it

PJ decides to show them where it happened

Surprised that they fell for his stupid prank

He asks them if they can see the tree in the distance

21

The two main locations for this promo were; the school canteen and the grounds outside the school. In this promo the backgrounds very simplistic and minimal. The rest of the backgrounds that you may seen in the movie are all abstract.

With the reference of these images, I picked up a few prominent elements that comprise a school canteen which could be incorporated in my backgrounds. For example, rows of table and benches, menu, self-service area, counter.Other elements that I have used in the background are dustbins, ketchup bottles, plates and spoons, bulletin board and a food rack.

For the outdoor background, I needed one view of a school building and one of a tree where PJ hit himself. I’ve kept it simple using only the school building, a road leading upto it, a fence and a tree.

background design

Reference Images

22

Final background designs of the school canteen and grounds.

23

Final Frames

24

25

26

PRODUCTION

Now that the pre-production had been approved of, the next stage that followed was the production. Considered to be one of the longest and most gruelling phases in the animation film-making process, it was here that the actual work of animating began. However, before beginning with the animation I had to record the dialogues with which I would need to animate the lipsync. For the lipsync, the sound studio had to be pre-booked and the sound technicians had to be informed way in advance owing to the fact that five channels shared a common sound studio.

After the lipsync was completed, it was decided that all the animation would be done on Adobe Flash, mainly because it would take lesser time as compared to doing traditional cell animation.

The character models had to be built prior to the animation. These were recreated on Flash, keeping in mind the joints and scope of motion in the human body. After the models were ready, I worked on their facial expressions and mouth positions for the lipsync. I managed to complete the animation for this film in a month.

POST-PRODUCTION

This is the final phase which involves compositing, video and sound editing and special effects if any. The entire film had to fit in the 25second time frame. Once I had all the final shots ready, with the help of an editor at the studio, I put together a rough video alongwith the voiceovers I had recorded. The editor gave inputs as to the length of some shots and how to change the sequence of shots to make the story flow better. After the first video was made and it was shown to the head for approval. With the feedback a lot of changes were made. At some points I had to go back to the animation stage and re-do a lot of shots.

The compositing of the final movie was done on Adobe After Effects and the final video and sound edit was done on Adobe Premier Pro.

Once the final cut was ready, I had to sit with the sound designer and figure out the music for the film. This would include deciding a background score, adding sound effects, ambient sounds.

27

promo two

Chapter 8

The Story

PJ is jogging at the local park, deciding that today he will run nonstop, no matter what. After a few rounds he is dead tired and approaches his buddy DJ, who is lazing around listening to music. He complains to DJ that he had decided to run till the songs on his iPod got over, but the songs never seem to end! The sly DJ laughs at him telling him that he’d put the iPod on continuous loop and bursts into laughter. PJ angered that he was outsmarted decides to show DJ that he too can be smart. He decides to crack a smart joke when DJ offers him water to drink. He asks him, “ Do you know why we drink water?” After thinking DJ gives up and asks him why. PJ says, “Because we can’t eat it silly!”

The Script and Screenplay (The script was written by Girish)

(At the park)Shot 1PJ(tired and out of breath): “Abbee....DJ..”Camera: Extreme long shot, zoom and pan right to long shot.

Shot 2PJ(breathing heavily): “Thak gaya yaar”Camera: Long shot

Shot 3PJ: “Socha tha jab tak iPod ke gaane khatam nai hote tab tak bhagunga. Lekin gaane khatam hi nahi hote!”Camera: Misdhot

Shot4DJ: “Hahahaha. Maine tera iPod loop pe lagaaya tha! Yeh le paani pi, tujhe zarurat hai!”Camera: Midshot

28

Shot 5(DJ offers PJ water)Camera: Long shot

Shot 6PJ: “ Tujhe pata hai hum paani kyu pite hai?”Camera: Midshot

Shot 7DJ: “Kyu pite hai...?”Camera: Closeup

Shot 8PJ: “Kyuki hum usse kha nahi sakte...hahahhahahaa!” (gulps down water)DJ(hitting him on the head): “Abbe Chup!”

29

DJ listens to music in the park PJ arrives after a jog and is dead tired He complains that he is exhausted

DJ tells him he’d put the iPod on a continuous loop

..but to his dismay the songs never end!He had decided to run until the songs on his iPod got over..

storyboarding

30

PJ realizes he was tricked This angers him DJ offers him water

Looks at the water and asks DJ, “Do you know why we drink water?”

Looks at the water and asks DJ, “Do you know why we drink water?”

Its because we cant eat it, says PJ very smartly

31

Happily gulps down the water DJ smacks him on the head for his stupid joke Water splashes onto screen

PJ is speechless

32

Green grass, walking/jogging track, trees, plants, bushes, shrubs, flowers, lamps, benches are some of the defining elements of any park. As in the pictures above, some parks have a water body like a fountain or pond. In some pictures you can see buildings and skyscrapers behind the park; a common sight in crowded cities like Mumbai. I have used elements from these references to design my park.

There was only one background for this promo- the park.

background design

References Images

33

The main elements in this background are: lawns, bushes, grass, flowers, lamps, trees, wooden benches, dustbins, buildings in the background, a road running all through the park for walking or jogging.This bakground is a little more detailed as compared to the previous film. This film also has many animated details in the background like women exercising, people walking, some sitting around, butterflies and birds.

34

35

promo three

Chapter 9

This is the last promo of the DJ and PJ series that I worked on. The main aim was to create as many promos as possible so this was a work in progress as my internship duration got over. I have documented whatever I completed for this promo.

The Story

PJ is sitting at his desk, furiously scribbling away something on a piece of paper. He is surrounded by books with French names. DJ arrives and wonders what his buddy is upto. PJ dreamily tells him that he is writing a love letter to his crush Jaspreet. DJ keeps pestering PJ with questions which annoys him. DJ peeks into the letter trying to figure what PJ has written but he can’t understand the language. PJ claims that it is French because obviously it is the most romantic of all languages apparently. DJ is skeptical because PJ doesnt know how to write in French. When he mentions this to PJ, he gets frustrated and says that its not like she knows how to read French. DJ is stumped.

The Script and Screenplay

(Location: PJ’s room)

Shot 1PJ is scribbling away at his desk, when DJ arrivesDJ:“Dude. Kya kar raha hai?”Camera: Closeup, zooms out to long shot.

Shot 2 PJ: “Dikhta nahi kya? Letter likh raha hoon!”Camera: Point of view shot, closeup

Shot3 DJ is surprisedCamera: Closeup shot

36

Shot4 PJ(dreamily): “..Woh bhi Jaspreet ko! Camera: Long shot

Shot 5DJ: “Lekin yeh kaunsi bhasha hai?”PJ: “French hai yaar...wahi toh sabse romantic hota hai!”(PJ starts dreaming of Jaspreet)Camera: Midshot, camera pans left and zooms in.

Shot 6 (DJ enters from screen left)DJ: “Lekin tujhe French likhna aata hai kya?”PJ: “Nahi yaar!!”Camera: Midshot, Over-the-shoulder shot

Shot7 DJ: “Toh fir???” Camera: Midshot, Over-the-shoulder shot

Shot8 PJ: “Toh usse French padhna bhi toh nahi aata na!”(DJ turns back towards the camera with a surprised expression)Camera: Midshot, over-the-shoulder shotCamera: Long shot

37

PJ is scribbling away at his desk when DJ arrives DJ asks him if he knows to write in French PJ gets irritated because its obvious he’s writing a letter

PJ sees her face in the bubble that DJ blowsPJ says he’s writing to his crush JaspreetDJ is surprised at his outburst

storyboarding

38

The bubble bursts! DJ laughs at PJ DJ pesters him asking him what language he’s writing in

PJ tells him that he’s writing in French... ..because its the most romantic of all! PJ goes back to dreaming where Jaspreet blows him a kiss

39

He is just about to kiss her When DJ asks him if he knows to write in French PJ gets really annoyed and says that he doesn’t know French!

DJ is stumpedPJ exclaims its not as if she knows how to read French!

Now DJ wonders how she’ll read it

40

The main background for this promo was PJ’s bedroom.For designing the room I studied a few bedroom interior designs and ofcourse took a little real life inspiration from my brother’s room!

The two images above are contrasting, one is exceptionally neat and tidy whereas the other one is messy. I took some interesting elements from both rooms such as the bookcase, a beanbag, computer table, a guitar to add a little personality to the room. Both rooms have a certain colour scheme to it which you can also see in the designs I have come up with. In order to give it that Nick feel, I have also added a few posters of cartoons that PJ loves to watch on Nick.

background design

References Images

41

42

43

Final Frames

44

45

obstacles faced

Chapter 10

Handling this project on my own was the biggest challenge of all because an independent animation film-maker has to focus on all the finer aspects of making the film rather than just concentrate on a part of it. He has to make the film from scratch and see it till the very end. As a student, I had been taught all the aspects of making an animation film and I have made a few films independently so I was pretty confident of handling this project solely.

In the beginning Nick did not have an animator/designer on their team. This was a bit of a drawback because I wasn’t getting the right kind of feedback for my designs and I ended being a little confused and often found myself stuck in a loop. There were times when I had to rely on my design sense and take the call to go ahead with a few things.

Since there was a time constraint attached with this project, I had to use some softwares that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. For the animation, Adobe Flash was the best option available. The character model and the animation took a lot of time as I wasn’t fluent with the software.

I also found that in these major firms, no one really took an intern seriously. Motivation and support were scarce, which a regular employee wouldn’t have found the lack of. There were times when I was ready to give up, but working at Nick has cleared up a lot of notions I had, for the better, and I feel that I am much more confident about learning anything new!

46

the diwali project

Chapter 11

Nick comes up with a set of promos during the holiday season and festivals. As Diwali is one of the major festivals/ holiday seasons in India, Nickelodeon wanted to come up with promos to foster festivity among viewers.

One of the projects I worked on apart from the DJ and PJ gags was the Nick Diwali Campaign. The campaign included a set of three promos. My role was of a concept artist and I mainly worked on the pre-production and visual development for these. The producer for this campaign was my mentor Girish and Kedar was handling the animation as well as pre-production.

The promos were to be filmed in a choreographed musical style with kids around the ages 12-15. The songs were composed to a catchy Bollywood style beat. All the three songs for the promo would be shot in a green screen set-up. I personally attended the shoots and learnt a lot about how shots are taken, various camera angles are used to maximum advantage and other technical know-how. Since the dance was choreographed by professionals, it was a little difficult going to the shoot with a predecided storyboard in mind and a lot of shots were thought of on the spot. It was an interesting learning experience as I caught a glimpse of the action behind the scenes right from deciding costumes to managing the actors!

After a lot of thought and conceptualization, it was decided that the background would be animated while giving it a 2-D ‘cut-out’ effect. Initially we had thought of actually cutting paper and making the backgrounds, but working for a TV channel has a lot of constraints with respect to deadlines. So it was decided that the backgrounds would be designed on Adobe Photoshop itself using different textures of paper. They would be animated in Adobe After Effects. I would be designing the backgrounds for only one of the promos - “The Keymon and Zig & Sharko Diwali Special Promo.”

The main setting for the promo that I would be working on was a cityscape. I worked on the backgrounds keeping the whole mood of how Diwali, in India is celebrated. Elements like the traditional ‘diya’ on the windowsill and porch of houses, the rice-bulb lights with which homes are decorated, fireworks etc were incorporated in the background. The spirit of the festival is reflected in the backgrounds developed.

47

The backgrounds had to be given a paper cutout feel to it so these were some of the references that we looked at;Background Design

48

Keeping in mind the different kinds of shots that were taken, these are the few inital concepts that I came up with. These however were not approved mainly because they looked too flat.

49

50

51

retrospection

Chapter 12

To conclude, I would like to say that it has been an eye opening experience to work with Nickelodeon, India. I have developed valuable insights into procedures that weren’t clear to me earlier. I learnt new softwares like Adobe Flash and Adobe After Effects, which I wasn’t familiar with before joining.

I learnt a lot from my colleagues and mentor about how the industry functions, what the viewers expect, and most importantly I learnt to work outside my area of comfort.

I also understood that it didn’t matter what I, or anybody else for that matter, chose for their diploma project. Only the journey, in this case, the process, mattered. It was a fun-filled and informative journey for me and the end product verified the journey.

Devika MenonAnimation Film Design

Graduation Project 2012