H’wood’s animation school to enter Hyd
■ The Telangana government had signed an agreement with the Los Angeles college in July. ■ The quality of education in animation in Hyderabad is expected to go up by many notches.
Hollywood’s famed Gnomon school of animation referred to as “The MIT of visual effects” is all set to commence operations in Hyderabad in October. The Telangana government had signed an agreement with the Los Angeles college in July. In a bid to ensure that the animation experts in Hyderabad are world class, Telangana government tied up with the college to train people looking at careers in visual effects and games industries. Since they are starting in October which is mid-academic year, they will roll out short courses before going full-throttle ahead.
The courses will span for 12-16 weeks while they complete the paper work to create an Indian subsidiary. They will be operating out of the IMAGE incubator in Raidurgam initially. This institution is considered one of the best in the world. Their faculty will be in the city to design courses, train trainers and give away certification from Gnomon.
It may be mentioned here that the Gnomon instructors are working professionals from studios such as Disney, Digital Domain, Blizzard Entertainment, Naughty Dog, DreamWorks, Industrial Light and Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks. This institute has been touted as the most reliable route to get a real job for art-school graduates focused on Hollywood. The quality of education in animation in Hyderabad is expected to go up by many notches because of the presence of such a renowned international company.
“We are getting softwares used in Hollywood to India. About a month ago we signed up with Gnomon and they are starting their campus in Hyderabad. When we are attracting companies to do international quality work, we need to have people who have knowledge of latest software and international applications. While we do have a large number of training academies here, to get global kind of understanding we signed up with Gnomon,” said IT Secretary, Mr Jayesh Ranjan.
Meanwhile, Telangana government is in talks with popular game Angry Birds founder Mr Peter Vesterbacka who visited India earlier this month. Mr Vesterbacka in a tweet last week mentioned the discussion he had about Image Tower with the IT Secretary.
Mr Ranjan added, “We spoke to him about image tower, gaming market and talent available here. He is also into lots of teaching and learning based on AR/VR and in Telangana we already have a policy in place for it.”
Meanwhile, about Gnomon, Star Wars Director J.J. Abrams said, “I only wish that Gnomon had existed when I was a kid. Their professors and founders are people who truly inspire. They don’t just teach the ‘how to’ they give you context, understanding and expectations of ‘how to on the job.’