Donkeys are usually slow and stupid, but Shamsuzzaman’s intellectual Donkey named Pachu is exceptional, always making a fool of his owner.
Pachu’s owner Lechu is not big hearted. He does not give Pachu his daily meal. So what? Pachu gets by, entering villagers’ crop fields and taking what he needs.
AFM Shamsuzzaman’s SW Multimedia animation studio is at the end of production of ‘Lechu and Pachu’, an entertainment cartoon for children.
The Bangla version will be screened on television before June this year.
SW Mulitmedia is part of a new wave of Bangladeshi animation companies hoping to gain a share of the multi billion dollar global animation market.
The business idea is simple. Hand animation is very labour-intensive and in most cases simply too expensive to do in Europe, North America or Japan. More than 30 years ago the large US studios started outsourcing to Canada, and then to the Philippines and South Korea. A few years ago the outsourcing wave reached India.
Now it could be Bangladesh’s turn, says Shamsuzzaman. "Our labour costs are cheaper, around 50 percent that in India, which of course could make the country a hub for outsourcing animation."
The local cost for 2D animation is around $35 per second, compared to more than $100 in the West.
Zahin Hasan, managing director of another local company, Toon Bangla, is less convinced that Bangladesh will be able to undercut India simply on price, but still sees a bright future. "They have a much bigger animation business but each of their studios was smaller than we are now when they started," he said.
His 2D studio in Dhaka has around 35 young animators busy preparing demos for prospective western customers.
On a lazy afternoon, Imam Hossain, an animator of the studio was fully concentrated making a sketch of a rude bull for the company’s demo.
The bull that Hossain sketched on a plain white paper was static, but when scanned by a special camera, exclusive software gave it life. And then the bull was roaring ready to knock down a girl, the heroine of the demo.
Zahin explained how they put life into a static creature. He said usually clients supply character designs, prop designs and some basic background sketches on a storyboard. The storyboard shows which characters are in each scene and what happens in each scene.
At first only rough drawings – key frames – are made for each scene. Key frames are viewed sequentially in a "line test" to check whether the motion of the characters and props looks good. If the motion looks okay, the key frames are cleaned up – refined and in-between drawings are added to the sequence to make the movements look smoother. Once all the clean-up and in-between is done, colour is added.
The drawings are then scanned and software is used to composite – that is, to put the characters, props and background together to create a lively scene.
Toon Bangla has already completed its first export project, the opening credit sequence for the feature film Karma Calling, which will be released in 2008. The client is an American company.
"We produced a short cartoon introducing each of the main characters," said Zahin.
At present SW Multimedia’s animation production is fully concentrated on local work. The company has completed the production of an 8-episode 2D animation series for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign for UNDP and UNICEF.
The studio also produced a 5-episode-animation project for the British High Commission on climate change. All of these productions have been broadcast on local television channels.
Alongside client projects, SW Multimedia is involved in producing self-sponsored projects on various social and development issues. These include ‘Play’ on the subject of children’s rights, ‘Rupa’ that deals with domestic violence and ‘The Gift of Life’ that highlights bio-diversity and environmental issues.
"Animation is a very good medium to communicate. It can be used to prompt behavioural changes," Shamsuzzaman said, adding that the Lechu and Pachu cartoon, along with entertaining children, would teach them different social norms.
But the industry is not without risks. In the last few years several of the original animation studios have folded, hit by high costs.
Although setting up a studio does not require a huge investment in hardware or software, the main investment is simply in keeping it running until it breaks even, said Zahin.
He said, "Western clients will work with a young and unknown animation studio only after you have produced a free demo for them. You have to assume that you will not break even in your first year as you will be doing a lot of free demo work".
"For the industry to thrive, we need entrepreneurs to invest in animation studios here and to run them just as professionally as the Indian animation studios," said Zahin.
The sector is now small but it has the potential to grow very quickly, however it requires investors who are willing to take big risks, Zahin observed.
"Foreign clients will work with a Bangladeshi studio if it can produce animation of international quality at a price lower than our rivals. I think we can do that," he said.
"It’s a billions of dollar market globally," said Shamsuzzaman of SW Multimedia said.
However, a shortage of animators remains a big challenge. He said only around 500 animators are working in different studios in Bangladesh, whereas India has produced 10,000.
Like donkey Pachu the Bangladeshi animation industry will have to be smart to survive.