Animation & VFX are used widely in many areas like TV, films, ads, medicine, training & education, e-learning, legal & insurance, 3D visualisation, architecture, etc. Another interesting area in this industry is the creation & design of games for PC, Internet, mobile, gaming consoles (Playstation/ Xbox).The gaming industry is estimated to grow at 14.3 per cent per year to touch INR 45.8 billion by 2019.
The Animation & VFX industry is expected to grow at 16.3 per cent to reach INR 95.5 billion by 2019. VFX & Post-production services, meanwhile, are expected to grow at 26 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, according to a FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Report.
As this industry is growing so fast, there is a constant demand for skilled professionals from both, Indian studios as well as for internationally outsourced projects.
Reliance Education, a part of Reliance Entertainment, ventured into this sector of education to tap the bountiful opportunities present. It helps prepare for creative careers in Animation, VFX, Web design, Multimedia & Gaming. Started in 2009, it has emerged as a premier VFX and Animation Academy with a pan India presence.
Reliance Education has taken a leadership position by setting academic benchmark in VFX and Animation education space and is ranked 4th amongst top 10 Animation Institutes in India. The evaluation was done on the following four parameters of excellence- Faculty competence, Pedagogic system, Infrastructure and Placements. (* Education World Magazine- May 2014)
In an interview with EducationBiz, Atul Vohra, CEO, Reliance Education tells us about their vertical integration into pre-production, production, post-production and provision of end-to-end solutions to their franchisees.
Tell us about Reliance Education. How did you plan to venture into education?
Reliance education started by opening our own studio in animation and VFX. We were involved into a lot of IP (Intellectual property) development, animation, films and have produced films like Krishna, Shaktimaan and many more. Our growth strategy is to reduce the gap between the talent pool available in the market and what industry needed by training students accordingly in our studios. We saw a big opportunity in this sector. Being into this industry we planned to expand our network and started our own school in Pune in the year 2009. We started franchising in 2011. At present we have more than 20 franchisees across the country.
What is the USP of Reliance Education?
Our USP is the curriculum that we have designed. Everyone speaks about its industry relevance but we are the only ones that provide industry ready curriculum. As this curriculum covers the life cycle of animation film development or a VFX shot, we train our students accordingly. Thus, we’re involved in pre-production, production and post-production. Our brochures are also designed in the same format as per industry wherein you can see what you learn in what stages. This is our uniqueness as no one in this industry has mapped their curriculum in this manner. Our excellent faculty are also required to have production experience.
What have been the challenges faced and how did you overcome them?
Ours is an established brand but we are quite new into education. We faced many questions regarding the way of teaching, time taken to teach and more. Students wanted to learn on part-time basis rather than attending the regular full-time course, they wanted to learn more in less time and also pay less as fee.
We overcame many challenges by explaining them to invest time in order to learn properly. Students are very keen on moving into digital platforms but we insist on making the shift slow and steady. We explained them by giving an example that if we understand what a client is saying and can draw the same on paper, then the tools can be very easy to use. This would result in effective work.
Franchising facts:
We are looking for people with entrepreneurial skills . The financial investment required would be anything between the range 20-50 lakhs varying from city to city. The period to reach the break-even is 18 to 24 months with a return on investment of 20 lakhs per month thereafter.
With dazzling growth projected through 2024, venturing into animation education, which is huge in demand, can prove to be a cash cow for an edupreneur.
