Road to the Oscars
Vanitha Rangaraju-Ramanan talks about her long journey from Trichy to Hollywood to win the coveted award.
Every March, Indians are in ecstasy if an Indian movie is just nominated for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. So far, the Oscar has eluded the Indian film industry with the exception of Satyajit Ray who received the coveted statuette for lifetime achievement. However, very few would know that Vanitha Rangaraju-Ramanan — an Indian woman from Trichy, Tamil Nadu — has actually won an Oscar.
Rangaraju-Ramanan won it for her technical work in the animation movie Shrek in 2002. It may become a double Oscar if the sequel, Shrek 3 wins in 2008.
Excerpts from an interview...
Rangaraju-Ramanan won it for her technical work in the animation movie Shrek in 2002. It may become a double Oscar if the sequel, Shrek 3 wins in 2008.
Excerpts from an interview...
Tell us about yourself and your family.VR: Trichy is my hometown. I was born and brought up there. I did my B.Arch. at the Regional Engineering College, Trichy. I worked in Bangalore where I met Ramanan whom I married.
I live in California with my husband and seven-month-old daughter, Ananya. My folks come from a large family, with my dad having six brothers and three sisters. It's always great fun with the whole gang getting together during summer vacations. I've one sister, who lives in India.
I live in California with my husband and seven-month-old daughter, Ananya. My folks come from a large family, with my dad having six brothers and three sisters. It's always great fun with the whole gang getting together during summer vacations. I've one sister, who lives in India.
How did you become interested in animation?I was working in Bangalore when I saw a TV interview immediately after Toy Story (1995) — the first full-length 3D Computer Graphics (CG) feature film — had been released. It was fascinating and they talked about how people from different fields contributed to the movie's creation. I've always loved animation, and that interview got me seriously thinking about entering the field. Therefore, I left India to do my master's degree, majoring in computation and simulation at the University of Texas, Austin.
How did you get into Pacific Data Imaging (PDI)?I got an internship during the last semester (autumn 1998) at Industrial Light and Magic, the leading visual effects studio in California. That was a big break. After I completed my internship, I immediately got a job as Lighting Technical Director at PDI (now PDI/DreamWorks) to work on Shrek. It was April 1999 and the production on Shrek had just started.
What exactly does a lighting director do in the movie? How is it different from, say, a graphics director?In addition to digitally lighting the film, the Lighting Department is responsible for bringing the many different components of a shot together — complex geometry, motion of the characters, textures, effects such as fire and dust, and the matte paintings. Technical directors are people who help make this happen, with both their artistic and technical abilities.
What was your reaction when you heard that Shrek had won the Oscar for technical work?Shrek actually won the Oscar as the Best Animated Feature Film. The technical achievement, which translated into making Shrek a visual success also helped tremendously in getting the award. To answer the question, it felt great... almost unreal. I'm so happy to have been a part of this great team. It is so hard to believe.
I still remember watching the Oscars in India, wondering how it would be to touch the statuette. And I actually got to hold it when our producer Aron Warner returned with it to PDI. It was a wonderful feeling.
How did you get into Pacific Data Imaging (PDI)?I got an internship during the last semester (autumn 1998) at Industrial Light and Magic, the leading visual effects studio in California. That was a big break. After I completed my internship, I immediately got a job as Lighting Technical Director at PDI (now PDI/DreamWorks) to work on Shrek. It was April 1999 and the production on Shrek had just started.
What exactly does a lighting director do in the movie? How is it different from, say, a graphics director?In addition to digitally lighting the film, the Lighting Department is responsible for bringing the many different components of a shot together — complex geometry, motion of the characters, textures, effects such as fire and dust, and the matte paintings. Technical directors are people who help make this happen, with both their artistic and technical abilities.
What was your reaction when you heard that Shrek had won the Oscar for technical work?Shrek actually won the Oscar as the Best Animated Feature Film. The technical achievement, which translated into making Shrek a visual success also helped tremendously in getting the award. To answer the question, it felt great... almost unreal. I'm so happy to have been a part of this great team. It is so hard to believe.
I still remember watching the Oscars in India, wondering how it would be to touch the statuette. And I actually got to hold it when our producer Aron Warner returned with it to PDI. It was a wonderful feeling.
Tell us how it felt working on 'Shrek' 3? How was it different from 'Shrek'? Was it easier or tougher?It has been six years since the first Shrek movie released and many hardware and software advances have been made in the field of computer graphics.
As an industry leader in animated films, PDI always strives to keep ahead of the rest. For Shrek 3, we pushed the visual complexity of the film even further than the previous two instalments, including realistic hair, clothing, crowd, lighting, etc. Do you plan to get into other areas of animation?I've been involved in different capacities in each of the Shrek movies. I worked in the capacity of a Lighting Technical Director in Shrek, a Lighting Lead in Shrek 2 and now for Shrek 3 I am the Crowd Lead. So yes, I do look for new challenges in each. Please tell us about your future projects.I'm currently working on Madagascar: The Crate Escape.
What would you say to young hopefuls, especially school students, who want to get into animation? The field of feature animation is extremely competitive. Not only do you need the right qualifications, you also need the right attitude, and most of all you need commitment to pursue a dream. Animation is where people from many different fields work together, bringing different talents to the table. Therefore, whether you are an engineer, photographer, painter, programmer or architect, everyone has the ability to make a huge contribution to the project.
So learn the things you are learning well. Nowadays, many schools offer courses specifically designed towards computer animation. There are many degree programmes as well. A good combination of strong foundation skills with relevant education guarantees a great start in the field of computer animation. Of course, nothing is more valuable than having some experience working in a CG company, so it would be good for students to look for internship opportunities there. Do you think there will soon come a day in movies when actors will be completely replaced by graphic characters that look like real people?No. It is a totally different medium and each has its way of telling a story. They aren't mutually exclusive, so you will continue to have both live action features with real actors and animated movies with CG characters. Human actors will always be around.
In your opinion, how long do you think it will take the animation industry in India to make a mark on the global scene? Who do you see in the future as the other major players apart from the US?Well, we are already seeing some studios doing a lot of animation work in India and they are doing a rather good job as well. What you need is also a sufficient talent pool to support the industry, which is still in the nascent stages. France and many other European countries have always had a focussed big on animation as has Japan and Korea.
Courtesy: Gulf News Report
