The man behind Angelina Joe Lee!

CG Today : What’s the best thing about working in the animation industry?

Sanjay : We grew up reading stories from Amar chitra Katha and Panchtantra and adored them; I want to share those stories with today’s generation by means of animation. It’s always so exciting remembering your childhood and I think when you work on such projects, they tend to take you down the memory lane and tickle your funny bone and the kid inside you is again born. So in a sense such work makes you feel young and connected.

CG Today : And the question continues, what’s the worst thing about it?

Sanjay : All the good comes with the bad. Together with lots of hard work and patience the work requires high investment. The stakes are very high and the returns can be high but will come gradually as it starts becoming popular. Due to this risk factors lot of VC’s have a view “either it is a hit or a flop no in betweens”, which make it very difficult to get funding in the industry as of in India.

CG Today : In your opinion, who makes the best animator, a person with an animation degree from a college or university, or a person who has been trained by actually working in the animation production?

Sanjay : Both are equally important no shortcuts, creativity cannot be taught but it requires discipline which can be acquired through education. Animation requires hard work and with experience a person who’s been working for years will definitely be an asset. It is very important to first get proper education in Fine Arts then specialize in any one of the production process.

CG Today : On your company’s website blog, you have said, “Story is everything”. Could you embellish on that thought?

Sanjay : “Story is everything”, but that doesn’t mean other process have no relevance. Story is the foundation of the content, if the foundation is week the building will fall. I believe that, Animation is a beautiful medium to tell your story, so it is very important that your story should connect to as much audience as possible.

CG Today : Where do you look for inspiration when you are in the creative process?

Sanjay : Well, now I hardly get the time to give myself to the creative process, most of the time I am out meeting people so that I can arrange the kind of funds to infuse to the growth of the company. But I believe that the creative process is so demanding that when you see your work coming on the screen it is very inspiring and motivates you to create more beautiful contents.

CG Today : Once your project is complete, what are the steps to getting that project into theaters and making DVD sales?

Sanjay : The whole process of animation from script to screen is very challenging. Me and my team at present concentrate on the content and its target audience. Every single penny spent on the creation has to be justified. We have to plan the entire concept in such a way that when we go out in the market we focus on branding the product and that too even before starting the production. As far as distribution is concerned it’s left to the distributor to plan the distribution and marketing.

CG Today : Turtle Animations does not want to work on sourced materials, but rather, would like to produce original family entertainment. This really keeps it unique, how this IP strategy works?

Sanjay : We do work on sourced material as funds are very important for the company to keep it running. Income from IP is a gradual process. With IP, you could eat the cake and keep it too! IP creation included all that you did for an outsourcing job (and much more!), but IP is after all your own baby, it’s you who’ll decide how you present it to the world and in what manner. With IP’s you can exploit multiple revenue streams like home video, licensing, merchandising, comics, games etc.

What is crucial here is getting animation accepted by the audience and exploiting a 360 degree marketing stream, where the first release is able to create enough interest to sustain other ventures successfully.

CG Today : What are the current projects in production at Turtle Animations, when can we hear a big bang?

Sanjay : We are working on two more projects, which are on research and development stage.

Jathedaar

A full length feature film of 90 mins based on Baba Deep Singh Shahid (1682-1757), one of most honored martyrs in Sikh history and the founder of the Shahid Misl (group) as well as of the Damdami Taksal (Damdama school of learning). Tall and strong he was an exceptionally brave Sikh. A bold and fearless saint-soldier he was ever ready to risk his life for the Panth. Baba Deep Singh was a great Sikh scholar who became a soldier and martyr for the defense of Sikhism. On the outskirts of Amritsar, Baba Deep Singh and a group of heavily outnumbered Sikhs fought two fierce battles against a Mughal force of 20,000 in the year 1757. In the second of the skirmishes, Baba Deep Singh died of his battle wounds on November 11, 1757

Bombay Bikers

A concept in TV series format, Bombay Bikers is the story of a bollywood stunt family, catch being, they are cats. The family is stunt riders in bollywood by day and crime fighters by night. When the three kids (2 boys and one girl) become teenagers, they follow their parents in both lines of work, studying in high school, working as stunt rider by day and crime fighters by night. The overzealous kids usually land in trouble and their parents have to save them giving way for the gags and the storyline for each episode. This concept has great scope for a direct-to-DVD movie release as well.

CG Today : Thank you Sanjay, and continued good luck with your company and your projects.

Sanjay : Thank you, it was my pleasure sharing the experience with you and CG Today fans.

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Sanjay Banerjee

CMD, Turtle Animation Pvt. Ltd.
Mumbai, India.

Website :
Turtle Animation | Angelina-Joe-Lee

e-mail :
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