The Genesis

Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) is the academic and training wing of Maya Entertainment Limited (MEL), a leading computer animation and visual  effects studio for film and television in India . MEL was started in the year 1996 by Ketan Mehta, the internationally acclaimed producer-director (credited  with the making of Bhavani Bhavai, Holi, Mirch Masala, Maya Memsaab, Sardar and The Rising).

A latent demand in the Indian production houses for quality animators and visual effects professionals, spurred the need to establish an academic platform to  impart and train young creative talents. This effected in the establishment of MAAC as a premier 3D Animation and Visual Effects institute in the year 2001,  with its first centre in Mumbai. Today, the institute has spread across the entire length and breadth of the country with more than 60 centres and is the  only animation training brand from India to have a successful presence in the Middle East , Nepal and Sri Lanka .

Today, ‘animation’ is no more restricted to Cartoon Characters only. Remember that mind-blowing scene from Godzilla, where the beast's tail swings, savagely  reducing New York skyscrapers to little mounds of rubble? Or the one from The Mask where Jim Carrey's eyeballs pop out and his tongue comes lashing out of  his mouth as he watches Cameron Diaz crooning in a nightclub? Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic Park , Independence Day, Tomb Raider or Harry Potter could  not have been successful without the involvement of quality computer graphics.

But that does not mean that world-class animation is the prerogative of Hollywood only, we are equally competent at home…Few know that the much-talked about  shot of the film Ghulam, which saw Aamir Khan jump off the railway track just when the train was about to hit him, or when Akshay Kumar performed gut -  wrenching stunts atop the air bound helicopter in Khiladi 420 or when Amitabh morphed into Manoj Bajpai in Aks were all about special effects created on  personal computers.

According to an industry forecast by Anderson Consulting, the animation industry in India is poised to touch a whopping USD 1.5 billion (or even more) by  2009. Notably, it was only USD 550 million at present. The growth is largely credited to the fact that a bulk of the international animation assignments are  being outsourced from India .

Courses offered by MAAC

MAAC provides courses and related training in the areas of 3D Animation, Digital Film Production, Post Production and Visual Effects for Television and  Feature films. At MAAC the training is enhanced by real time work on live projects for film and television.MAAC offers a range of courses in sync with the  aptitude level of the student. Once can choose from Short Term Courses, Career Courses and Specialization

The Short Term Courses at MAAC are designed to give a student a jump start into the 3D Animation, Visual Effects and Computer Graphics Industry. A clear and  concise course curriculum delivered by means of practical lectures, frequent workshops and seminars leads one through the shortest and best path to build a  successful career in this Industry. It comprises of 5 different programs - Alpha Maya, Beta Maya, Omega Maya, Media Maya and Maya Archi.

The Career Courses at MAAC gives one a head start after 10 +2 by taking him through various aspects of 3D Animation from pre-production to production to post  production. The content enables one to adapt into a CG oriented lifestyle and fit into a broad range of work spheres. The two modules offered under these  courses are Advanced Diploma in 3D Animation & Visual Effects (AD3D) and Professional Diploma in 3D Animation and Visual Effects (PD3D).

MAAC has also tied up with University of Cambridge International Examination (CIE), wherein CIE will validate MAAC’s AD3D & PD3D programme. This process will  involve continual monitoring by which CIE will ensure that quality standards are maintained, and that students are provided with the most appropriate forms  of assessment. CIE will also quality assure MAAC's academic systems, ensuring that administration meets the expected standards of international best  practice. Students who meet the programmes’ assessment criteria and pass their award will receive a CIE certificate, printed in Cambridge and bearing the logos of both MAAC and CIE. This will give graduates a distinct edge  when it comes to landing jobs with frontline global companies or pursuing specialized courses overseas.

The Specialization Courses are the advanced level courses that allow one to explore the high end in Visual Effects, Animation and Editing. It helps one to  pick up skills necessary to become specialized in High end visual effects, Editing and Character Animation. The modules offered in this course include  Compositing & Editing and Compositing & Editing with 3D.

MAAC keeps abreast with new technology and takes proactive initiative for upgrading the course content and infrastructure to cater to the industrial  requirements. The multifarious opportunities that await the students upon completion of the course at MAAC take them on a career path that may traverse one  or more of the following roads.

• Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production

• Advertising

• Graphic Designing

• Character Animators

• Environment Designers

• Compositors

• Creative Visualiser

• Effect Specialists

• Character Modelers

• Texture/Shading Artists

• Lighting Artists

• Character Riggers

• Editors

• Architectural Pre-Visualizers

• Game Asset Developers

The MAAC Advantage

 MAAC holds an edge over any institute in the same field because of its USP, which revolves around CREATIVITY and PEDAGOGY. The three-fold  MAAC advantage revolves around the following benefits:

1. Creative Team: MAAC is promoted and run by a team of creative professionals who thrive on their imagination and inspiration. Moreover the instructors are  industry certified.

2. End Users: MAYA Entertainment, the parent group is the real life end user of all that is being offered by MAAC – both in terms of the inputs (the  software) and the outputs (the trained students – since the really talented ones are absorbed in the organization itself). Also MAAC is one of the very few  institutes that offer Character Animation.

3. Real Life Environment: Because of the business constituents of MEL, the students are trained in an On-the-job environment. Hence, the training also  incorporates additional intricate

elements like camera angles, storyboards, editing. MAAC’s competitors, due to infrastructural constraints cannot recreate this On-the-job environment.

Animation - The Industry

According to latest NASSCOM statistics, the Indian Animation industry is poised to reach US$ 1.5 Billion by 2009 from its current size of US$ 550 Million.  Even the global digital animation industry is poised to grow from the current size of US$ 45 billion to a whopping US$ 100 billion by the end of 2009. There  are already around 30,000 animation companies around the world, of which 70 percent have a turnover of US$ 1 million.

The international animation industry is increasingly looking eastwards, as the costs of real sets, studio space and outdoor location skyrocket abroad. In  fact, the NASSCOM report states that around 40,000 more professionals will be needed in India by 2008. The animation industry is extremely labor intensive  and has the capacity to absorb as many trained animators as are available. Especially considering the fact that India has one of the biggest film industries  in the world as well as a reputation for low-cost, high quality software engineers.

The fields that require Computer Graphics & Animation are Films, TV Serials, Advertisements, Computer Games, Movie Titles and Internet sites among others.  The volume in the Computer Games segment alone has been projected at about 3 times that of Hollywood . As Animation transcends language barriers, Internet  sites have to rely on it heavily so as to communicate internationally. A typical animation movie requires 700 – 800 animators. Mr. Ronald D'mello, MD & CEO, MAAC  draws up the following analogy, “The scope of animation in today’s scenario is similar to the demand for software 10 years ago”.