Adobe powers Amar Chitra Katha’s first feature film, Sons of Ram

Nov. 6, 2012 - PRLog -- Adobe Systems Incorporated  today announced that ‘Sons of Ram-Heroes will Rise’, the first full-length animated feature film from the house of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK), has been powered by Adobe technologies including Adobe® Premiere® Pro , Adobe® Photoshop® and Adobe® After Effects®. Photoshop was used as the primary software for visual development during the pre-production stage and in crafting the entire background of the movie. After Effects was used extensively to create special effects and to convert the movie into stereoscopic 3D for cinematic excellence, while Premiere Pro streamlined the entire editing process.

Based on ACK’s bestselling comic book Sons of Ram, the feature film brings to life mythological characters Luv and Kush and captures their journey through enchanted forests into the revered land of Ayodhya. The story is a contemporary tale of brotherhood, courage and adventure, set in the backdrop of the epic Ramayana. The film was released by ACK, in association with Cartoon Network in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu across 400 screens pan-India on November 2, 2012 in 2D and 3D.

Additionally, one of India’s well-known comic characters, Shikari Shambu also makes his cinematic debut on the silver screen with the short film ‘Shikari Shambu and the Man Eater’ that will be showcased prior to the screening of the main feature ‘Sons of Ram’. This short film has been produced end to end using Adobe technology including Photoshop for pre-production, Flash for animation and After Effects for post-production.

Commenting on the release of this film Umang Bedi, Managing Director, South Asia, Adobe Systems said “Over the last couple of years we have seen phenomenal growth of the Indian animation industry. This latest production by ACK Animation is a prime showcase how this industry can apply world-class technology with creative skills to bring well-loved local stories to life . At Adobe, we are delighted to be part of the creative journey undertaken by such an iconic brand like ACK, helping bring the characters we grew up reading about as children to new audiences.”

Kushal Ruia, Head, ACK Animation Studios and Writer & Director, Sons of Ram said, “The vision of the team with this release was to not only introduce a whole new generation to the world of ACK and Tinkle through film, but simultaneously also create new stories which continue to inspire and entertain in true ACK tradition. What you have is a visual reinvention of Indian stories from the great epics, mythology, history, literature and oral folktales in a whole new digital avatar that is reinvented using technologies from Adobe.”

Kushal outlined some interesting details on the production of the movie using Adobe technologies and how it helped his team:

·         The complex background and breathtaking scenery in the movie has been created in Adobe Photoshop. It was the primary software for all kind of visual development and background art production for the film.

·         In particular, the mixer brush in Photoshop worked wonders as it helped the team mix colors in a similar format to the traditional painting process, making it a more intuitive and organic way to approach colours than merely 'picking' them.

·         The ‘content aware’ feature in Photoshop significantly helped reduce a lot of manual labour for replicating parts in a painting. The team at ACK could immediately focus on the part where the action lay, rather than painstakingly filling up vacant space with redundant foliage and bushes.

·         Using the easy interface of Premiere Pro, even first-time editors got swiftly accustomed to the basic tools and functionalities. That swift jump from the learning phase to the actual editing phase proved crucial in streamlining the workflow and ensuring closure within extremely tight deadlines.

·         The biggest boon of using After Effects for the Sons of Ram pipeline was its versatility. After Effects was not only used for effects work but also compositing and converting the 2D film into Stereoscopic 3D.

·         Additionally, the stability and reliability factor of After Effects made working on complicated animation projects with multiple layers and compositions a breeze.

Sons of Ram traces the familiar narrative coupled with the great storytelling tradition of Amar Chitra Katha and promises to grip its audiences in a tale of brotherhood, adventure and fun. Complete with a brand new gang of loveable characters, this feature is an epic coming-of-age adventure as never seen before. The voice cast of the movie includes actors like Aditya Kapadia playing Luv and Sunidhi Chauhan playing Sita. Songs in the movie have been composed by Gaurav Issar and Shailu Rao while the lyrics have been created by Asif Ali Beg.

Watch the trailer for Sons of Ram here: http://www.sonsofram.com/

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About Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd.

Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd is India’s leading storyteller focusing on young audiences and families. ACK has been entertaining and enlightening generations of Indians for over five decades with some of India’s most loved brands including Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Karadi Tales and well-known proprietary characters like Suppandi and Shikari Shambu are part of ACK Media.

ACK Media develops products for multiple platforms including print, home video, broadcast television, films, mobile and online services. The company is headquartered in Mumbai and has design studios in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

ACK Animation Studios is the animation wing of ACK and has already launched several animated properties, including the ACK Animation Series on Cartoon Network and the Award winning Telefilm Tripura.