Some of my Graphic Designs

Below are some of my graphic designs..Lot more coming up..
1. Adobe Photoshop Works:
The logo and first look of a short film by my Animaster batchmates, designed by me:

Moral Mohan: The concept of a short film.

An image showing the importance of quality check! Caption:"Dont let the QC man come back to you!"

Poster and first look of an animated video, rendered in Maya 2009 and Edited in Adobe Photoshop:

One of the frames of a 3D Video(cross-eyed view) created in Autodesk Maya 2009:

A model created in ZBrush software and rendered in Autodesk Maya:

Rendering of Creative Cruisers logo in Maya 2009:

2. Adobe Illustrator works:
Below is the art created on the occassion of Valentine's Day, using Adobe Illustrator(vector art):

Created on the occasion of Women's Day, the blue spirals in the background of the image below stand for the turmoils faced in today's lives and the stars and the leaves denote the fresh energies and achievements that women bring into our lives:

Some of the Graphic Designs for "Maven: Knowledge, Fun, Entertain":

Logo Creation for BioSquare Biotechnologies:
The green gradient indicates life, biotechnology and freshness. The blue shape in the background and the clear font indicates fluency and professionalism.The colours used for the letter "Q" indicates a square with creation embedded within it.

New Anilmation logo created using photoshop and pixlr. It signifies simplicity, elegance, clarity and consistency. Anilmation is the brand name that I use to publish any creative work, whether it is writings, graphics, music or videos on various platforms like Blogger, Loudly, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Youtube, etc:

Plain design for the Amazon Kindle book: "Avanthika: The Maahishmathi Saga": The design needed to be plain to match the mood of the story and the mystery inside it.

Fan Art of "Spiderman: No Way Home", inspired by the peacock, Spiderman's eyes and Doctor Strange's New York Sanctum symbol: Created using hand drawing and adding colors using Google's "Snapseed" app:

Dookudu movie's(A Telugu movie that was released in 2011) alternate logo, created completely using Autodesk Maya 2008:

A recreation of the apex flying creature of the movie Avatar(2009), created using Autodesk Maya 2009:

Cover art of Anilmation's first book published on Amazon Kindle platform, titled "iDonkey":

With love.. Anil

Bandham - The Bond (English)

*** Bandham ***

*** The Bond ***

కోయిల కూసిన వేళలో చూస్తే వచ్చింది మంగళగిరి,

Koyila kuusina velalo chuusthe vachhindi Mangalagiri,

"At the time the cuckoo sang, came Mangalagiri(town),"

ఆశీస్సులు అందిస్తున్నట్లు చూస్తున్న ఆ గాలి గోపురం,

aasiissulu andistunnatlu chuustunna aa gaali gopuram,

"The tall tower of Mangalagiri Temple looks like it is giving blessings"

పచ్చని పైరుల అందాలలో తడిసి ముద్దైన విజ్ఞాన విహారం,

pachhani pairula andaalalo tadisi muddaina vijnaana vihaaram,

"the Vijnana Vihaara School is washed in the beauty of lush green crops spread all around it,"

ప్రయాణంలో కనిపించిన అప్పుడే నిద్ర లెగిసిన నూతక్కి గ్రామం,

prayaanamlo kanipinchina appude legisina nutakki graamam,

"The Nutakki village is waking up just when I was travelling across it"

చెలిని త్వరగా కలవాలంటూ తహతహలాడుతున్న హృదయం,

chelini twaragaa kalavaalantuu tahatahalaadutunna hrudayam,

"The heart is anxiously awaiting to see the bride soon."

నింగికి ఎర్రని రంగు పూస్తున్న సూర్యుని కిరణాలలో,

ningiki errani rangu puustunna suuryuni kiranaalalo,

"In the sun's rays which painted the sky red,"

కళ్ళ ముందుకు వచ్చేసింది పెళ్ళికి ముస్తాబైన పాలెం లోని నిలయం!

kalla munduku vachhesindi pelliki mustaabaina paalemloni nilayam!

"came before my eyes my ancestral home in Ramachandrapalem village!"

ఆ ముందు రోజు దసరా తెచ్చిన సంబరాల వేల,

aa mundu roju dasara techhina sambaraala vela,

"In the time of celebrations that Dussehra brought the day before,"

ఏడడుగుల ప్రయాణం ఒక జీవిత కాలపు ప్రాయం అయిన వేల,

edadugula prayaanam oka jeevitha kaalapu praayam ayina vela,

"The seven steps which turned into life-long love"

అతిథుల ఆశీస్సులు శ్రీ రామరక్ష అయిన వేల,

atithula aaseessulu Srii Raamaraksha aina vela,

"When the elders' blessings turned into Lord Sri Rama's care,"

విద్యుత్తు కాంతుల రూపంలో సూర్యుడు  దీవించగా,

vidyuttu kaanthula roopamlo suuryudu deevinchagaa,

"The sun's blessings came in the form of the night's lighting"

పారాణి పూసిన రంగులలో, కళ్యాణ తిలకం తీసుకొచ్చిన అందంలో,

paaraani poosina rangulalo, kalyaana tilakam teesukochhina andamlo,

"In the colours that paaraani and the beauty that wedding vermillion brought"

ప్రియ సఖిగా వచ్చిన కొత్త పెళ్లి కూతురి అడుగులలో,

priya sakhigaa vachhina kotta pelli kuuturi adugulalo,

"In the steps of the sweet heart bride"

వధువు పెట్టుకున్న సిగ్గు తోటలోని పూలలొ,

vadhuvu pettukunna siggu thotaloni puulalo,

"In the flowers that bride put from her garden of shyness"

నా వధువు మొదటిసారి సిగ్గుతో కళ్ళు పైకెత్తి చూసిన వేల,

naa vadhuvu modatisaari siggutho kallu paiketti chuusina vela,

"when my blushing bride looked up for the first time"

చివరి అడుగు వరకూ వదలనన్న చెయ్యి తో కట్టిన మాంగల్యం,

chivari adugu varakuu vadalananna cheyyitho kattina maangalyam,

"The yellow thread that was tied to stay together till life's final step,"

నా మరదళ్ళు, చెల్లెళ్ళ ఆట పట్టింపులతో

naa maradallu, chellella aata pattimpulatho

"In the teasings of my cousins and sisters,"

నా వధూమణికి వాళ్ళు పెట్టిన చక్కలిగిలిలో,

naa vadhuumaniki vaallu pettina chakkaligililo,

"In the tickles that they gave to my cute bride,"

ఎప్పటికీ ఈ నవ్వులు ఆగకూడదని ఆడిన ఆట,

eppatikii ee navvulu aagakuudadani aadina aata,

"In the games that we played to desire these smiles life-long,"

దసరా సంబరాల్ని మరిపించే ఆ సమయంలో,

dasaraa sambaraalni maripinche aa samayamlo,

"In the celebrations that made us forget the dussehra festival"

ముడి పడింది వివాహ బంధం! 

mudi padindi vivaaha bandham!

"a marital bond was created"

విందు భోజనాల ఆహ్లాదకర రుచులలో,

vindhu bhojanaala aahlaadakara ruchulalo,

"In the tastes of wedding dishes"

ముడి పడింది ఒక ప్రేమ బంధం.

mudi padindi oka prema bandham.

"a love bond was created"

నింగిన విరిసిన మల్లె పువ్వుల చుక్కల పందిరిలో,

ningina virisina malle puvvula chukkala pandirilo,

"In the jasmines that spread like stars in the sky"

అనంత లోకాలలోని అరుంధతి నక్షత్రం మమ్మల్ని దీవించిన వేల,

anantha lokaalaloni arundhati nakshatram mammalni deevinchina vela,

"when the celestial far away Arundhati star blessed us"

పెళ్లి కూతురు జడలోని మల్లె పూల పరిమలంలోని ఆహ్లాదంలో,

pelli kuuturu jadaloni malle puula parimalamloni aahlaadamlo,

"In the jasmines of bride's plaited hair"

ముడి పడింది ఒక జీవిత కాలపు ప్రేమ బంధం!

mudi padindi oka jeevitha kaalapu prema bandham!

"a life-long love bond was created"

తుది శ్వాస వరకూ కలిపి వుంచే ఆ విడదీయలేని బంధం!

thudi swaasa varakuu kalipi vunche aa vidadeeyaleni bandham!

"the bond which keeps us together till the last breath"

With love.. Anil

*** బంధం ***

*** బంధం ***

కోయిల కూసిన వేళలో చూస్తే వచ్చింది మంగళగిరి,

ఆశీస్సులు అందిస్తున్నట్లు చూస్తున్న ఆ గాలి గోపురం,

పచ్చని పైరుల అందాలలో తడిసి ముద్దైన విజ్ఞాన విహారం, 

ప్రయాణంలో కనిపించిన అప్పుడే నిద్ర లెగిసిన నూతక్కి గ్రామం,

చెలిని త్వరగా కలవాలంటూ తహతహలాడుతున్న హృదయం,

నింగికి ఎర్రని రంగు పూస్తున్న సూర్యుని కిరణాలలో, 

కళ్ళ ముందుకు వచ్చేసింది పెళ్ళికి ముస్తాబైన పాలెం లోని నిలయం!

ఆ ముందు రోజు దసరా తెచ్చిన సంబరాల వేల,

ఏడడుగుల ప్రయాణం ఒక జీవిత కాలపు ప్రాయం అయిన వేల,

అతిథుల ఆశీస్సులు శ్రీ రామరక్ష అయిన వేల,

విద్యుత్తు కాంతుల రూపంలో సూర్యుడు  దీవించగా,

పారాణి పూసిన రంగులలో, కళ్యాణ తిలకం తీసుకొచ్చిన అందంలో,

ప్రియ సఖిగా వచ్చిన కొత్త పెళ్లి కూతురి అడుగులలో,

వధువు పెట్టుకున్న సిగ్గు తోటలోని పూలలొ,

నా వధువు మొదటిసారి సిగ్గుతో కళ్ళు పైకెత్తి చూసిన వేల,

చివరి అడుగు వరకూ వదలనన్న చెయ్యి తో కట్టిన మాంగల్యం,

నా మరదళ్ళు, చెల్లెళ్ళ ఆట పట్టింపులతో

నా వధూమణికి వాళ్ళు పెట్టిన చక్కలిగిలిలో,

ఎప్పటికీ ఈ నవ్వులు ఆగకూడదని ఆడిన ఆట,

దసరా సంబరాల్ని మరిపించే ఆ సమయంలో,

ముడి పడింది వివాహ బంధం! 

విందు భోజనాల ఆహ్లాదకర రుచులలో,

ముడి పడింది ఒక ప్రేమ బంధం.

నింగిన విరిసిన మల్లె పువ్వుల చుక్కల పందిరిలో,

అనంత లోకాలలోని అరుంధతి నక్షత్రం మమ్మల్ని దీవించిన వేల,

పెళ్లి కూతురు జడలోని మల్లె పూల పరిమలంలోని ఆహ్లాదంలో,

ముడి పడింది ఒక జీవిత కాలపు ప్రేమ బంధం!

తుది శ్వాస వరకూ కలిపి వుంచే ఆ విడదీయలేని బంధం!

-మీ అనిల్ :)

Day: 29 june 2010

Having watched Raavan this tuesday, came to know why Raavan flopped so miserably and turned out to be second big disaster for BIG Pictures after its "kites" met a tragic end!

Seems like they are poised to make a heavy loss this fiscal!
And having seen Raajneeti the same day, found out how different these two huge films are!
It was almost like Mahaabhaarat vs Ramayan! And Mahaabhaarat won by a huge margin!
By the way, Videocon d2h has the best DTH package in comparision with any other service! 
Just imagine: all the best regional and hindi channels[GEC as well as all hindi movie channels], and all the infotainment channels[discovery, NGC, animal planet and History] are available in the basic pack for just 150!
And thats not all. There is also the english movie channel MGM added in to put in spice to the pack!
At first, it sounded like the d2h has gone crazy and giving top channels even in the south basic pack! And it certainly is the best pack by a long way!
Even the highest pack[called diamond pack] costs you only 250 odd bucks that has all the sports, english entertainment and movie channels, etc that you ever need!
As far as quality of equipment/service is concerned, not much information is available though. 
But the packs are the best. Quite sure that sun direct will also add more quality channels soon to counter d2h's offer!
So dth customers, you can watch out for some exciting news soon!



With love.. Anil

11 Visual Confusion Photography Shots– Brain Teasers!

fantastic photographic trickery!

 

 

Sent to you by ANIL via Google Reader:

 

 

11 Visual Confusion Photography Shots– Brain Teasers!

via Graphic Design Blog - An Ultimate Resource for Graphic Designers by Charlie B. Johnson on 1/7/11

Photography is truly an art in itself. Learning the art is one thing, but to execute it perfectly is another whole dimension. As technology progresses, newer and better photography equipments are invented. This growing technological advancement has given way to different types of photography like panning, hi-speed, long-exposure, macro and even wave photography. But today, I would like to introduce yet another amazing technique of photography to my readers that goes by the name "Visual Confusion Photography". This trick is an interesting illusion that confuses our eyes to believe something which is actually not true. Confused??? Let me explain…different people in the pictures below are positioned and captured in such different ways, which are impossible to do in real life. Actually, most of the pictures are faked through Adobe Photoshop, but the following images are truly NOT photoshopped. I myself was amazed when I found out the trick behind these images. Anyhow, to further clarify your confusion, you have to "CLICK" every image and enjoy the actual positioning of people in these pictures. You will be surely amazed on viewing the real shots. Time to see for yourself

1. Floating in the air? At a first glance, it may seem as if the 2 boys are hanging from top, while the whole scenery looks upright and relatively normal. But now when the same image is rotated 180˚, you will see the actual picture that the boys are simply lying on a ledge near the river. Surprised? Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

2. Sitting or Hanging?

Anyone at first sight would believe that there is nothing peculiar about this photo and the man is simply sitting at the edge of a building. But the reality is tilted. When you rotate the picture 90˚ counter clock-wise, that is what the real picture is. You will that the man is hanging firmly from the edge of a wall. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

3. On the Wall?

The perspective of the girl and the guy confuse us as to what is the right position. You must have thought the guy is sitting on the wall while the girl is lying on the wall. Now see the picture when it is rotated clockwise…the girl is simply leaning on the wall while the guy is on his back with his feet on the wall. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

4. On the Bench or the Ground?

Another normal image you think? It's just a guy sitting on a bench right? Wrong! The real picture is when it is rotated 90˚ counter clock-wise…the guy is actually lying on the road with his feet on the wall as if he were sitting on it. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

5. On the Roof or Stairs?

This is another great example of visual confusion photography. You're thinking he's lying on a zigzag roof right? Wrong again…the image is simply upside down. When this picture is flipped 180˚, you will see that the guy is simply lying on the stairs of an empty arena. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

6. Is he really Spiderman?

Are you thinking he is Spiderman to do a stunt like that? Well, for one, he doesn't look like Tobey Maguire to me. Neither was he bitten by a spider. This image was simply taken from above and rotated enough to create an illusion that he is hanging from the wall like a spider. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

7. Peeking from the train?

Some of you may think that this image is photoshopped. Well I'm afraid it's not. The image was really taken from a moving train, but it is just rotated. When you re-rotate the image counter clockwise, you will see that the guy is peeking out from the window of the train. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

8. Walking on the sky?

This is another yet another brilliant example of visual confusion photography. This is not a Photoshop manipulation and neither an illusion. What you see as men walking on the sky is just a reflection from the ricer stream running by. The image is flipped 180˚ to reveal the real picture as below. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

9. Going down or up?

At first glance, this picture looks as if the guy is climbing down a steep hill. But the reality is entirely opposite. When this photo is flipped 180˚, you will notice that the guy is actually underneath a staircase in an upside down position, creating an illusion of climbing up. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

10. Standing or sitting?

The guy is leaning underneath a wall with his feet on the ground…so what's so unusual about it? When the image is rotated counter clockwise, you will see that the guy is actually sitting in a wall shelf and his feet are on the wall, creating the impression of standing. Click the image above to see the REAL PICTURE

11. The "Unsolved" Brain Teaser!

Guys, this is one image that even I was unable to figure out. I have cracked the logic of the guy in front of the bed, who is leaning onto the wall and the bed in a "push-up" position. But simply cannot figure out how the ladder is stuck on the wall and the other guy has managed to balance himself up there on that ladder. I want you all to help me figure out this one…it will be real fun!!

Image Credits: http://www.designswan.com/archives/8-interesting-visual-confusion-photography.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/keirfernie/with/5206106451/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/randyblu/4570436526/

 

 

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Android 2.4 aka Honeycomb needs heavy hardware support?

Just found this news article!!

 

 

Sent to you by ANIL via Google Reader:

 

 

Android 2.4 aka Honeycomb needs heavy hardware support?

via Androidos.in by Gaurav Shukla on 1/4/11

If any of the rumors going through blogosphere are true, Honeycomb running tablets might be limited to higher end only. According to a report in PC Mag, Android's next version codenamed Honeycomb will have minimum requirements in the form of Dual Core processors, and 1,280×720 screen resolution.

Currently only nVidia Tegra 2 processor only meets the requirements, and has also been made the reference design for Android 2.4.  These statements are coming from managing director of Korean electronics form Enspert, which launched an Android tablet for telecom operator KT last year.

While, I do not want these rumors to be true, there seems a significant truth in these. We have already heard the Tegra 2 is reference design in a separate leak, all the leaked tablet plans with Android 2.4 on-board also have Tegra 2 in them.

But do not worry, Chip market is also waiting to explode with dual core processor everywhere from Qualcomm to Mediatak and other companies, with significant price drop in sight.

 

 

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2 Oct 2010, sat-The acting session

Acting they say is never just about a single person's skill. 
It is a combination of many factors: synchronisation and timing being one of them.
This has been experienced in the schedule on 2 oct 2010 when the dialogue delivery was not matching. 
They do appear funny for an experienced actor or a filmmaker, but since we are all fresh talent, 
I guess it is but expected that there will be several retakes before the final shot is finalized!
In order to reach the shooting location near Kengeri [near the Bangalore-Mysore Highway], there is a lot of travelling to do:-
A minimum of 2 hour journey, from Bangalore North to Bangalore South, passing through landmarks like ISKCON, and then walking through an uneven terrain full of shrubs!
It cant get bigger than this! And there is enough collection of funny shots and moments to fill one whole DVD!
But all that will surely turn into sweet memories once our final product gets ready for release!
Hopefully shooting of the talkie part ends next weekend to give our team enough time to work on the voice recording [dubbing] part
 and then the post production work!
Wishing our whole team of "Creative Cruisers" who is working hard on this project all the luck!

With love.. Anil

2oct10, fri- The reverberations of "sada shiva.."[Mahesh Khaleja]

The song reverberates long after it is over, mainly because of its powerfull and clearly audible lyrics. No wonder it has turned out to be a chartbuster the day it was released even before its official audio release!
It gives a sense of hope that He will come to our help, even though personally I believe He is so powerfull that everything from has been planned in advance by Him, everything following strict rules of universe set by Him, so strict and powerfull that He himself cannot change the future [as some say the writing of Brahma cannot be changed by anyone. Not even by any God].
Our only duty is to perform our activities and thank Him for whatever He has given us-joy or despair, without any complaint.
Coming back to the song, hope that the song picturization also matches the expectations. 
There have been many occassions when we expect something from a movie or a song but it turns out to be below average!
There is already a image created in the minds of the audience by the songs [not to talk of the expectations, which will always be high for a superstar's movie!!]
and we can only eagerly wait for the final product to splash on the big screens on October 7th!!

With love.. Anil

Vector Based 2D Graphics tool-- Illustrator!

Worked on Adobe Illustrator and it was so smooth! Of course it wasnt a big file, but liked the way it worked and the options we have in it!
The user interface is strikingly similar to Adobe Photoshop except for some icons and options.

If you are wondering what is Illustrator and vector based graphics, vector graphics is the technique which completely removes any kind of pixellation which is visible in pixels of most of the images we see[like jpeg, png, etc..]

In SVG[Scalable Vector Graphics] format, we get the same quality and clarity of the image, no matter which level of zoom you are in!
So you can zoom in to 10000% and still find the sharp details just like they were at 100% or 25% zoom level!!
So, welcome to the "pixellation-less" world of vector 2D graphics!
Below is the simple svg image created by me!

The original SVG image is located here at Wikimedia Commons.


With love.. Anil

Lets give children a better life by joining hands with CRY-"Child Rights and You"..

Lets give children a better life by joining hands with CRY-"Child Rights and You".. 
Be human..Be a volunteer.

Independence special: Leader and Oye!

Watched Leader again, now on Maa tv, it is such a kind of movie which has a feel good feeling sans all the masala stuff.
Earlier, couldnt watch some parts of the movie due to a busy work
Overall its a very sensitive film, touching the obvious issues of corruption, cunning politics as well as casteism.
In a way, with it's simpler story and sensibilities, it feels better than Raajneeti!
Raajneeti is too much like an adulterated masala with too much spice added to it. It could have been a much better movie sans Ranbir and Katrina's love story!!

Another movie that has that fresh feeling is "Oye".
Amazing cinematography as well as realistic.
Pixelloid has done a remarkable work as seen in its behind the scenes video for this movie.
The compositing[mixing the virtual shots and the live action shots] is very neat and we can hardly tell which is real and which isnt!
Coming to the sun direct crisis that refuses to leave, we continue to miss UTV Bindass, UTV movies, UTV Action, WB and UTV World Movies.
All that we can do now is hope that sun direct sorts this issue soon enough to avoid further loss of customer confidence.

And another important development has been the frequent powercuts, which took 1 day break on 15th August on the eve of independence day.
This allowed me to render some of the first images of the project inspired by avatar!
Rendered the first 2-3 seconds which shows the logo of Anilmation with the text "An anilmation creation".

With love.. Anil

29 July 2010, Thursday

Update on the animation project:

By monday, I guess most of the texturing for navi1 was complete[90% approx].
Need to do it for navi2[neytiri] now..Same color scheme and strokes, but differences in proportion and details..
So, it shouldnt take much time to colour or make-up her..
Another thing worth mentioning: Shifting gears! From a pentium 4, 1GB ram to one with pentium 3, 128MB ram..
Guess this also teaches us to look at both extremes in the same light.
Never get over-excited over momentary happiness/joy nor distress in despair.
In short, level headedness.

And the performance in a photoshop test[creating a copy of image of a game menu in Permeative Technologies, Bangalore] on wednesday could have been better, not because some new tools can be used but because some steps could have been avoided or altered. 
Even working in Photoshop is a kind of art. 
Since there are several ways of doing it, you need to know which tool is best in the given circumstance and also need to be good in painting with the mouse.
Anyway, it was a good learning experience. Obviously, not the same could be said about the travel from Forum Mall to the bus station, which seemed to go on forever. Literally the "journey of a lifetime", fighting for every inch of available space in the packed bus in strange postures!!
Hope someone had "scaled out" that bus![in animation terminology!]

29 june 2010, tuesday

Having watched Raavan this tuesday, came to know why Raavan flopped so miserably and turned out to be second big disaster for BIG Pictures after its "kites" met a tragic end!

Seems like they are poised to make a heavy loss this fiscal!

And having seen Raajneeti the same day, found out how different these two huge films are!

It was almost like Mahaabhaarat vs Ramayan! And Mahaabhaarat won by a huge margin!

By the way, Videocon d2h has the best DTH package in comparision with any other service! 

Just imagine: all the best regional and hindi channels[GEC as well as all hindi movie channels], and all the infotainment channels[discovery, NGC, animal planet and History] are available in the basic pack for just 150!

And thats not all. There is also the english movie channel MGM added in to put in spice to the pack!

At first, it sounded like the d2h has gone crazy and giving top channels even in the south basic pack! And it certainly is the best pack by a long way!

Even the highest pack[called diamond pack] costs you only 250 odd bucks that has all the sports, english entertainment and movie channels, etc that you ever need!

As far as quality of equipment/service is concerned, not much information is available though. 

But the packs are the best. Quite sure that sun direct will also add more quality channels soon to counter d2h's offer!

So dth customers, you can watch out for some exciting news soon!

With love.. Anil

Irritant people and show off..

The culture of showoff had reached such heights that we take parties for granted.
A birthday party a few days back was more of a test for patience, a show of glitz and status than any enjoyable ceremony for the little one.
Personally speaking, there is a lot of fake faces put up in most of the parties, especially of those whom you know very little.
You just see the make-up covered faces of people who are as vulnerable and ordinary as any other inside.
There is nothing as ugly as a place full of fake and artificial smiles.
Thats precisely why I dont believe in such glitzy parties untill and unless its some close family/friend's ceremony.


And there are also those irritating, bugging people who give free advice to others as if they know each and every page of the Britannica Encyclopaedia.
And worse still, they even call them losers based on the path they are on[like "B.Sc/B.Com? oh..no. you should have done engineering/medicine"]. 
Let me be clear that they may be down for the time being, but not out.
Every day there is some goal. Sometimes we reach it, and sometimes we dont. But the beauty lies in the journey that we embark upon. 
As we get the feeling of achievement, the race towards our goal gets thrilling. It is similar to Cheetah's sprint in the wild plains of Africa.[The most thrilling scene that you can see in nature].
But in a rat race, many people compromise on many things to crook themselves into a hole and suffer the whole life.
So for those who think that I am out and done with, I guess they got the message across loud and clear.

Congratulations to the winners!!

With the prizes of deccan herald short story contest having been announced, its heartening to see that so many people were interested in writing!
Congratulations to the winners and eagerly awaiting to read their works in the coming issues of Sunday Herald!
Its been a nice experience while writing the short story, and there was never a moment when it seemed boring.
In fact, the later script writing for our acting session also involved lots of corrections and learnt so many things as we kept putting details into the basic story and making it entertaining rather than a documentary work!
All of it was exciting and amazing to say the least!
Of course the bigger challenge will be to extract the performances out of everyone to make it look good on the screen.

With love.. Anil

Lost in the ocean of Maya!

Not a day passes off without creative ideas coming up as to how the whole animation project[demo reel] can be shot!
A camera angle makes such a big difference that an ordinary looking scene can be made to look exhilarating and breathtaking!
This is where James Cameron's Avatar scores heavily over any other movie..Its not enough to just create lots of beautifull stuff in 3D.
It needs to be captured in all its visual glory whether giving the right lights at right places, bright colours or the camera movement and angles.
And one of the breathtaking shots of avatar is the shot where the birds dive down next to mountain heaven's height[during Jake's first flight]! Watching it on the silver screen, it looks like if they went crazy or what!! That shot shows the spirit, beauty of nature, energy and passion that the director had in his story!
Similar shot was in the all time master piece by the same director--Titanic. The shot where the ship races with the dolphins/killer whales takes the breath away and expresses the feeling of winning a race with the nature with the largest and most beautiful ship ever built then!
The camera again was spot on, giving thrilling moments to the audience!
It is shots like these that cant be missed when making a trailer! For now though, modelling keeps me engaged every moment!
The making itself is an experience to be enjoyed!


By the way, "New York" on max the other day was nice! Frankly speaking, I saw it without any great expectations, but the tale of 3 friends and the 9/11 effect was well told..
The screenplay was crisp and the movie moved at a good pace. And it was based on facts. A must watch movie for those who forget the other extreme of fighting terrorism-the innocents should never be hurt.

With love.. Anil

Movies that really make an impact and entertain!

There have been so many movies and so many more reviews, good or bad, or fair or unfair.
But there is one thing that Indian movies didnt try to do: welcome an innovative idea that tries to transform the common mindset.
When I say common mindset, it doesnt mean breaking our customs or forgetting our culture.
It means reminding ourselves of the fact that we are all humans before anything else.
We have the inherent urge to explore. We love. We hate. We are afraid. We fight back.
But we never had meaningless traditions by birth. Its all fed into us and brainwashed by our society and innumerable entertainment sources[even that is a part of the society].
For eg., with all respect to the makers of the early 1990s Telugu film "Chanti", which was aired on Gemini tv on tuesday evening, the movie had some terribly shocking scenes which insult the society in a very unrealistic way.
There are several ironies in the film some of which are even outright funny, but let me focus on one incident where the villains insult an innocent woman in the run up to the climax.
The whole village [numbering more than a hundred perhaps] become mute spectators to just 3 men who are seen as highly powerfull in the village.
I know this is a common sight in a zillion movies, but the most shocking depiction is when the same society pleads the woman not to go.
How the hell do they have the right to ask someone to stay back when they proved thenselves useless?
Do they want her to suffer the same thing again and again in the name of culture in the blind-deaf-dumb society like theirs?
Of course nothing is real in movies, but this scene is outright shocking because it goes to the extreme of unrealistic, sadistic, spineless depiction of society.
It shows how the entertainment media catch the weak point of the society and use it for their advantage/business.
And the censor board thinks that showing these scenes of insulting a society is better than showing heads rolling?
There have been so many paradoxes like Magadheera being given an A certificate despite not having a single scene of insult or shock.
Even the film "Mahatma" has been in the news last year because of a line in the song which says "Gandhi is not just a surname of Indira..Its ..."
The name Gandhi in fact stands for truth. It stands for more than a surname of some one, which is right and theres nothing insulting in it.

Some of the moments that really stir you up in some recent movies on set max are:
1. "Aaj main pehli baar ek angrej ko tiranga lehrate hue dekh rahaa hoon" the dialogue in Chak De when Kabir Khan sees for the first time an Indian tricolour being hosted by an Englishman during the women's hockey world cup campaign.
It makes a big impact on anyone who sees the movie. In fact the whole movie is one gem of a package from the director, who seems to have written the script not with a pen but with his heart and patriotism and love for hockey and sports in general!
Even the inspirational words from Kabir Khan to his team are amazing. They can be said in any situation to pump up your spirits in a big event like a WC final! One important feature of that dialogue is it never pleads you to do well. Rather just enjoy the game to the fullest during the whole game! Felt like giving a standing ovation for the whole team which made the movie!

2. So many dialogues in the movie "fanaa" are just so beautiful that they refuse to fade off ever! Personally the best was:
"Agar bhool se bhi humse koi bhool hui ho toh usko bhool samajhke bhool jaanaa. Lekin bhoolna bas us bhool ko. Bhool se bhi hume mat bhoolna!" cinematography and music are the strengths of the movie as well as the gracious depiction of love in this movie!
Taking all these factors together, its one of the most beautifull movies!

3. The camera work in the "haule haule" song of "Rab ne" is amazing and catchy.
The beginning shot showing SRK without any cut is probably the highlights of the movie!
The most important thing is the camera never loses its focus on the main character-Surinder singh! and follows him for quite a long time in the song..
It makes even the ordinary scene of the song look fabulous and attractive!
Even though Raj's character looks dumb, irritating and unappealing, it is Surinder's character that saves the day for "Rab ne.."


With love.. Anil

Jumbling up of a movie by Max!!

Rarely has anyone seen such a big goof up by a top class channel like SET MAX.
On sunday "mera movie", fanaa was being aired and everything went fine untill probably the third or fourth break.
After 1 hour or so, there was a jumbling up of the movie. The 10 minute climax was shown at around 9.10pm, which might have confused most of us as to how come the 2.5 hr movie got shortened to just 1.5 hr!
Then came the slew of previous parts where the story went backwards and ended with Aamir khan being given shelter by Kajol!! What a gem of a fumble!
MAX--"Jumble" bana de!" would have been an apt tag line at that moment!
Guess the bosses at MAX noticed it and avoid any such goof-ups in the future!
 
With love.. Anil

The making of a 3D video:

Over the last few days, some interesting facts have been learnt regarding making a 3D video.
Let me tell you that creating the 3D effect is an art in itself.


Its not just enough to make a 3D movie by using stereoscopic camera and render it. You need to make sure that the audience feel the effect of 3 dimensional characters and environment.


And thats what was worked upon during the making of the "Anilmation-3D" video. When you watch a video, there are two things that effects your perception of the depth/3D:


1. Far away objects/environment.


2. Close by objects.




Its not as easy as you may think to create a good 3D effect all through the video.


As many of us know, to create a 3D movie, we need 2 cameras capturing the action from slightly different angles/positions.


To make close-by objects have the 3D effect, you need to decrease the coaxial seperation[one of the many attributes of a stereoscopic camera, which simply means the distance between the right camera and the left camera]


so for the close-up shot in the anilmation video where the letter "A" is shown, this distance was kept very low[approx. 0.3 units]


And in the same shot where the camera rotates and focuses on the other letters, the seperation has been increased slowly to a higher value as the main focus would be on farther objects[or letters]


In the case of the following shot where the camera runs through the tunnel, the sepeartion was kept to a much higher value, so that we can feel that the letters are coming closer and going farther. This is a challenge as we need to make sure we dont make a fuzzy video without clarity!


Overall, it does seem to be an exiting feature of Maya 2009 using which we can explore a whole new world of possiblilities in 3D movie making!







With love.. Anil

తెలుగు తల్లి పదమాల వెటూరిగారికి అశ్రునివాళి, మంగుళూరు గగన విషాదానికి సానుభూతి

"వేణువై వచ్చాను భువనానికి.. గాలినై పోతాను గగనానికి"

సాక్షాత్తు ఆ తెలుగు తల్లి మెడలోని పదాల హారంలోని ముత్యాలలాగా వేటూరి గారు ఎన్నో అందమైన పాటలు వ్రాసారు.


అందుకేనేమో. తెలుగు తల్లి తన చేత దగ్గరుండి మరిన్ని పాటలు వ్రాయిచుకోవాలని తనను తీసుకెళ్ళిపోయింది.


వేటూరి గారంటే ఒక రచయితే కాదు. ఒక వ్యక్తిగా కూడా చాలా మంచి పేరు తెచ్చుకున్న మహా కవి.
ఆయన ఎన్ని పురస్కారాలు అందుకున్నారో అనేకన్నా ఆయనకు తెలుగు భాష మీద వున్న ప్రేమ, ఎంత మంది మనస్సులను ఆకట్టుకున్నారో అనేది తెలుసుకోవాల్సిన విషయం.


మన అచ్చ తెలుగు భాషలోని మాధుర్యాన్ని చాటిచెప్పుతూ ఆయన వ్రాసిన గేయాలెన్నో. ఈ కాలం వున్నంతకాలం అవి గుర్తుండిపోతాయి.


ఒక "రాలిపోయే పువ్వా నీకు రాగాలెందుకే" కానీ, "యమహా నగరి" కానీ, "ఉప్పొంగెలే గోదావరి" కానీ, అలా చెప్పుకుంటే ఆయన వ్రాసిన ఎన్నో పాటలు ఎప్పటికీ మాసిపోని సంపదగా నిలిచిపోతాయి.


తెలుగు భాష తియ్యదనాన్ని మనందరికీ చూపించిన మహా కవి వేటూరి గారికి ఇదే నా అశ్రునివాళి.


తనికెళ్ళ భరణి మాటల్లో: "సాదా సీదా పదాలు వేటూరిని చేరి పరవసించిపోతాయి పాటలైపోయి!"


అలాగే అదే శనివారాన మంగళూరు లో జరిగిన గగన విషాదాన్ని చూడలేక ఆకాశం కూడా కన్నీరు పెట్టుకుంటూ చినుకుల్లా కురుస్తుందేమో అనిపించింది. వారందరికీ ఇదే నా ప్రగాఢ సానుభూతి...