AOD The new South Asian Voice influencing the Future of Motion Picture and Animation Design
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Over the past two decades, animation has become a staple part of any form of visual content; whether its film, marketing, social media, TV, or video games. And, it’s not just the place and significance that animation holds in our lives that has shifted—the technology, the skills, knowledge and talent behind it has also evolved drastically, making motion graphics and animation an international practice that is no longer the monopoly of Hollywood.
In this global context—where taking the lead in motion graphics and animation is anyone’s game provided you have the right talent—an interesting emerging voice from South Asia is AOD. This celebrated design educator with a growing global reputation offers an impressive motion graphics and animation degree from UK’s Northumbria University—a study experience that allows students from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India to enter the world animation industry with exactly the know-how they need.
This is a closer look at AOD’s animation degree offer, the faculty behind it and the growing recognition for the work of their alumni.
Myth busted:being a serious animator does not mean being a serious tech expert
One of the most common misconceptions about animation is that you need to be a serious ‘techie’ to really ace the industry. While this was true ten years ago, this is not the case any more. Speaking about the changing landscapes of animation, an alumnus from AOD/Northumbria motion graphics and animation degree said that the growing accessibility to technology is really shifting the focus to creativity, design and the art of storytelling.
“A decade back, the world of animation was about who can pull in the biggest budgets to hire the most competent tech teams to render the most life-like movements. So, it was natural that the bulk of the best work came from big names like Pixar or DreamWorks. And, it was hard for someone who was predominantly creative, to even imagine making a movie happen without having astronomical budgets or having the tech expertise themselves.
“She added that the industry is really changing now, with more and more intelligent apps and animation software that can handle the bulk of the technical aspects, while the designers and creators can focus on the storytelling in their work. “Technology is becoming more and more affordable, and intelligent. I feel like the biggest challenge for the human creators of animation is now becoming more about what we really want to do at the end of the day—which is essentially, storytelling.”
It’s not about balancing between design and tech—it’s about making them work together
A member of the AOD animation degree faculty mentioned that the course has been specifically designed and tailored to meet these new industry shifts, with students being offered a study experience that bring both design thinking and the necessary standards of technological know-how.
“Some think it’s about a balance between creativity and technological application. For us, these are not two different things. With our interdisciplinary approach to education, we see technology and design working together, as dynamics that influence the same process. We’ve found that it has a really good effect on the students’ approach to animation and the way they solve problems.”
An all-star faculty of global experts
AOD’s animation degree education offer comes with another remarkable aspect to it; this is the international faculty behind it. The Programme Head, Anandh Ramesh who hails from India, is an animator with global experience in the US and Canada, working with the likes of the animation giant Pixar.
Ramesh, who is a S3R3 Mentor from ACM SIGGRAPH, has been mentoring animation students globally through the SIGGRAPH Student Services Resume and Reel Review Process. He was also a guest tutor at the global learning platform Udemy, the chief mentor at MAAC Annanagar CGI faculty and an advisor at WiseWords. Anandh’s formal education is from the iconic Vancouver Film School in Canada, the University of Texas at Arlington and PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore.
He moved to Sri Lanka three years ago at AOD’s invitation, to lead its motion graphics and animation degree. Since then, Anandh’s work has been instrumental in drawing out the best of young talent at AOD. Anandh currently leads a faculty of film, animation, tech and storytelling experts to deliver the motion graphics and animation degree at AOD.
The future foreseen with AOD motion graphics and animation degree
Speaking about the future of the industry, a faculty member at AOD shared that the school is, in fact, focusing its degree course experience towards creating talent for the fulfilment of five major future forecasts on the business of animation.
“We understand that the development of computer-generated film will alter the form, as well as the content, of film animation; so this is something we’re looking to address in our education. Another major shift is that animation is no longer a career limited to animators who want to make movies. In addition to supplying entertainment in theatres and on television, and advertising spots for TV, social media and digital channels, animation has also become an essential teaching aid in education and industry—something we are really looking to drive in the next three years. So, essentially the graduates we create will be approaching the animation industry from these multiple facets,” he said.
The change is already happening; AOD alumni begin to make waves in animation
Already, this relatively young degree programme which started only a few years back, has started making waves. Twenty one AOD student volunteers are now being selected for SIGGRAPH Asia. Meanwhile, the work of Akiel Surajdeen (class of 2018) is being featured in the Homegrown magazine in India and Poornima Meegammana (class of 2017) was featured on BBC, talking about how “women should make technology work for them” as she won the Internet Society 25-Under-25 award in 2017. A project by Sachin Sanjeev (class of 2018) was even featured in the Smithsonian museum in USA. “When we graduate, we go out there with some amazing tools to not just animate, but also to network, make business and work with other professionals. It’s exactly what we need to step out into the world as young animators; so, we’re really thankful to Anandh, other faculty members and AOD for taking us in the right direction to influence the future of motion picture,” said an AOD alumnus.
AOD trains young talented minds to take on tomorrow, and evolve into the kind of young professionals who can truly make a difference in the social and economic dimensions of Sri Lanka. AOD’s groundbreaking education offer comes through four disciplines from the School of Design, School of Fashion, School of Business and the School of Technology.
September 2019 enrollments for all degree courses are now in progress.
Reach AOD Colombo on 0775727772, email: info@aod.lk or walk in between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday – Colombo Innovation Tower, No 58, Lauries Road, Colombo 04.
Visit www.aod.lk
Follow the official hashtag #extraordinaryminds #AOD on social media.