National Students' Meet

The sessions and workshops went on for 3 days and the students were overwhelmed interacting with the speakers. The showstopper was Mr. Manjul Bhardwaj. He addressed all the students’ and inspired the students to follow their passion and work relentlessly through the Theatre of Relevance and Mr. Madhu Nair from DNEG, showcasing the brilliance behind Hollywood Blockbuster films Pacific Rim 2 & The Fast & Furious 8.

The students took back a huge pool of knowledge and learnings and were already asking about the next National Students Meet.

The exceptional workshop “Magic of Unfading Silhouettes” by the MAAC R&D team was the finale of the education & learning imparted at NSM. Apart from the Fun & Learn, there were day trips to ‘Colva Beach’ to witness the mesmerising beauty of the popular holiday destination. MAAC students truly had an exquisite time during the DJ Gala Night.

Their effort was noticed in a big way - the prestigious Limca Book of Records recorded the event, and the panel is in the process of deciding whether to include it as a World Record.

The idea behind MAAC's annual Students' Meet is to encourage animation & VFX students from all over the country to come together and be a part of creative & technical seminars, workshops, case studies, panel discussions - as well as to participate in fun activities. NSM provides a platform to collaborate on live projects, network with eminent personalities of the animation industry, and get access to real-life experiences & industry insights.

During the four-day event, MAAC students attended workshops & spent time with leading names from the industry. Sanath PC, founder-director of Firefly Creative Studio, took students behind the scenes of the mega blockbuster, Baahubali. He spoke about VFX techniques used in the movie and kept the audience spell-bound with its magic.

National Award-winning director Shoojit Sircar was the showstopper at NSM 2016. Sircar conducted a session on film-making, which was followed by sessions on the craft of photography - conducted by acclaimed fashion photographer Colston Julian - and animation design by veteran film designer Dhimant Vyas. There was even a workshop on pre-production, conducted by Sanjiv Waeerkar, chief creative officer at MAAC.

As the curtains fall on NSM 2016, students look forward to having their work entered in the Limca Book of Records, and a year full of learning & fun.

Day 2: The formal inauguration by MAAC business head, Ram Warrier was followed by two incredible sessions by Yulien Tso (supervisor & senior compositor - MPC Advertising), and E. Suresh (founder - Studio Eeksaurus Pvt. Ltd.). The icing on the cake was the special screening of the animated movie, Fisherwoman and TukTuk that won India its first ever award at Annecy International Animation Film Festival,2015. Post-lunch, students attended workshops by industry stalwarts, including creative workshop by Ajit Rao, acting in animation by Kulvinder Bakshish, and pebblemation workshop by MAAC R&D team.

Day 3: This was another day of learning that started with a panel discussion between veterans in the field of animation & VFX. In the next session, students experienced a live session where prominent animators like Ajit Rao, E. Suresh, Arnab Chaudhary & Sanjiv Waeerkar drew on Wacom tablets. The first half ended with a session by film director Arnab Chaudhary, popular for his animation film, Arjun - The Warrior Prince. The evening came to a close with the much-awaited masquerade theme party.The gala night also saw winner announcements for various inter-team competitions organised during the three days of NSM. Winners received a gold medal. For a special competition organised by Wacom, the winner received a Wacom tablet worth Rs. 8000.

As the event came to an end, students said their goodbyes & carried back fond memories of NSM 2015 - fun workshops, amazing interactions, and exciting moments spent by the beach, and at the gala night.

More than 150 students, apart from the faculty, staff and team of MAAC, attended this four-day, fun-cum-learning event. NSM 2014 saw interactive sessions on 'VFX Technical & Showcase', 'Making of Chatur Chetan', 'TVC Film Making', 'Animation', and 'VFX in Feature Films' by eminent personalities such as Mr. Madhusudhanan (National Award winning VFX supervisor), Mr. Kaizar Mandal & team (Creative Director, Dreams Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Vaibhav More (independent film maker & founder of Vaibhav More Films), Mr. Suresh EC (director-animations of Aisthis Media Creations) and Mr. Viral Thakkar (Computer Graphics Head (Films) of Pixion) respectively.

In the event spanning four days, informative workshops on theatre and photography were conducted by Ms. Suruchi Aulakh, theatre artist and acting trainer modelling lead from Xentrix Studios, and Mr. Ashok Kandimalla, a photography expert.

Other entertaining activities such as SPLASH, a pool party and Grand Gala Night were organized. However, the showstopper of the event was the 'Scene set up with Miniatures' Workshop conducted by the Research and Development team of MAAC. This workshop focused on the study of modelling, texturing, lighting and special effects, which are the most important functions in the Animation and VFX production pipeline. Students were made to create a complete miniature model in just 3 hours with the help of the team and the output was phenomenal. The workshop was a major crowd puller at the National Students Meet 2014.

Three cheers for the MAAC team & the students to make this event a grand success!

Learning from the Experts
Students received a unique flavour of workshops, alongside knowledge sessions conducted by industry stalwarts such as Nishith Takia (Krayon Pictures), Piyush Panjuani (Equus), Sapan Narula (Director of Photography), Kulvider Bakshish (Theatre Performer, Director, Actor, Trainer), Guru Vaidya (Adobe), Chetan Sharma (Animagic Studio), Gayatri Rao (Animagic Studio), Amit Rane and Kane Lew (DR Caesar Photography Studio), and Shashank Tere (Production Designer).

Gala Night Prize Distribution
The Gala Night marked the final evening of NSM 2013 at Goa. Students were awarded for their works completed during the NSM sessions and workshops. WACOM gave out latest, high-end tablets as a prize towards the Digital Painting Competition. ADOBE gave out cash prizes to Quiz Contest winners.

After five days of fun, learning and creativity, students let their hair down and shook a leg to the tunes of the DJ; a fitting end to the event.

Kudos to the MAAC team and the students who participated for making this event a grand success!