Creative Multimedia @ Indiajoy 2019

Pencils & Pixels Art Competition make an impressive debut at India’s largest digital media and entertainment event.

Creative Multimedia Group, India’s largest and best digital media career catalyst participated in the 2^nd edition of Indiajoy and made its presence felt with its new talent discovery initiative: The ‘Pencils and Pixels Art Competition’.

Indiajoy is the largest congregation of Gaming, Animation, VFX, E-Sports and Entertainment Events in India. A digital entertainment revolution of sorts, Indiajoy attracted over 30,000 visitors from 50 countries and was held for 4 days from 20 – 24 November 2019 at HICC, Novotel, Hyderabad.

One of the biggest attractions at Indiajoy 2019 was the Pencils and Pixels Art Competition. Conceptualized and executed by Creative Multimedia Group, the art competition turned out to be a favourite among the crowds with heightened participation on all the three days (20 – 23 Nov. 2019). The competition was sponsored by reputed digital media and entertainment companies including Digital Domain, DNEG, DQ Entertainment, Firefly Studios, Green Gold Animation, Makuta, MPC, Purple Talk, and Rotomaker.

The ‘open-to-all’ traditional and digital art competition challenged participants in 15 categories including Face Painting, Manual Sculpting, Traditional Painting, Sketching, Cosplay, Photography, Origami, Digital Concept Art, Digital Matte Paint, Rotoscopy, Matchmove, 3D Lighting, 3D Animation, Digital Sculpting, and Particle Dynamics.

People across age groups and professions including students and professionals participated enthusiastically in this three-day, traditional and digital art competition. Veterans from diverse verticals of the digital media and entertainment industry were invited to judge the entries and give away the prizes. They spent quality time with participants, especially students from various multimedia academies and appreciated their art skills. A total of 69 winners and runner-ups took home prizes, award certificates, cash vouchers, and even job offers.

The special guests from the industry who graced the competition, inspired students with their pep talk and gave away the prizes included: Mr. P.C. Sanath – Founder, Firefly Creative Studio, Mr. Srinivas Mohan – VFX Supervisor, 4-time national award winner and member of the prestigious Academy Awards Committee (Oscars), Mr. Seth Crofton – Vice President, Chillar Games, Mr. Madhav Reddy – Founder & CEO, Rotomaker, Ms. Sonali Joshi – Senior Recruitment Manager, Digital Domain, Mr. Dileep Varma – Founder, Cirqus Arts, Mr. Asish Dantu – Pipeline Supervisor, Digital Domain India, and Mr. Srinivas Vasanthala – Head of 3D, DQ Entertainment.

Thanks to the overwhelming response garnered by Pencils and Pixels Art Competition, Creative Multimedia Group is chalking out plans to initially organize the event at multiple locations across the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, followed by a national roll-out in a phased manner.

Despite growing demand for CG artists, there are scores of talented freshers across the country, ready to be employed but are missing out on job opportunities due to various factors including poor visibility and access. The Pencils and Pixels Art Competition seeks to bridge this gap by creating an invaluable talent discovery platform with benefits for both career aspirants as well as recruiters. Essentially, Pencils and Pixels will leverage Multimedia Group (India’s largest and best digital media career catalyst) to afford valuable job opportunities the vast placement network (comprising leading CG studios and MNCs) of Creative for winners of the art competition.

Growing importance of Animation, Graphics and Illustrations in the Medical arena.

Image Credits: trinityanimation.com

The use of Animation and graphics is extending beyond the conventional fields of media and entertainment – film making, gaming and advertising. For years, Animation and multimedia have been used to tell stories, convey messages and entertain. Today, Animation is also being used to educate, research, simulate and more. It is making inroads into areas such as Science and Technology, Retail, Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Healthcare. A range of Animation techniques – 2D, 3D, 4D and Flash combined with advances in technology are driving new applications for animation, even as “Medical” is emerging as one of the fastest growing verticals of the animation market globally.

This was highlighted during a presentation made during the 21^st Anniversary Celebrations of Creative Multimedia Group held on 20^th July, 2019 at Ravindra Bharathi. (Creative Multimedia Group runs the best animation college Hyderabad can be proud of.)  The presentation was made by Dr. Neeraj Raj, a pioneering expert in Multimedia + Animation and a distinguished speaker at several national and International forums on Digital Medical Education. He holds the distinction of setting up Andhra Pradesh’s first Multimedia Studio and one of the first Animation companies in India. An accomplished artist, his cartoons have been published in leading publications and exhibited at the World Humour Conference.

Dr. Neeraj graduated as Best Outgoing Student from Osmania Medical College and went on to establish “Medisys”, the first and largest ever MOOC for Medicine offering over 150 SmarTeach Online courses. He also set up the first ever Virtual Medical University offering PG, diploma and CME courses and is the proud recipient of the “Vaidyashree Award” for outstanding contributions to medical education. Eminently qualified to hold forth on medical animation, Dr. Neeraj was invited as a special guest for the celebrations, during which he delivered an in-depth presentation on how this emerging discipline is taking shape.

Dr. Neeraj Raj is at the forefront of the medical animation revolution in India, having established Immertive Pvt. Ltd., an enterprise specializing in creating immersive experiences in healthcare using Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies. Stating that Animation is no more just about entertainment, he said: specializations such as Medical Animation are gaining ground as distinct verticals and helping expand the animation sector in India and across the world. In fact, the time is not far away when we will see every animation institute in Hyderabad and India imparting special courses in medical animation.

Image Credits: medium.com

Offering an immersive learning experience for animation students of Creative Multimedia, India’s most sought-after digital media catalyst, Dr. Neeraj screened a series of animation films showing the practical benefits of medical animation and stating: “To put it simply, medical animation has made it easier to explain/articulate things that were not possible earlier.” The animation films screened by Dr. Neeraj offered an easy-to-understand and crystal clear view of how medicines work inside the body, how surgical procedures are done and how the brain reacts to different stimuli and other physiological changes.

Elaborating on the growing role of Animation in healthcare, he said: “Hitherto a niche area, medical animation is now gaining increasing importance with the advent of new-age, game-changing enterprises in the healthcare space.

Globally, some of the major companies in the medical animation space include Immertive Pvt. Ltd. (India), INVIVO Communications (Canada), Random42 Scientific Communication (U.K.), Animated Biomedical Productions (Australia), AXS Studio (Canada) and a clutch of US companies such as Hybrid Medical Animation, Ghost Productions, Scientific Animations, Radius Digital Science, Nucleus Medical Media, Visible Body, Elara Systems, XVIVO Scientific Animation, Blausen Medical Communications, Trinsic Medical Animation and Viscira. (Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/medical-animation-market-223188473.html)

These companies are testing the limits and leveraging the practicality of animation for various purposes including: educating patients, making audio-video demonstrations – simulating a medical device or action of a drug on the body, cellular/molecular animation, emergency medical care education, surgical training, forensic reconstruction and more.

Image Credits: YouTube.com

Specifically, the therapeutic areas where medical animation is being used include: Cardiology, Dental, Gastroenterology, Gynaecology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Oncology, Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery. Medical Animation in being used by many players across the healthcare eco-system including hospitals, medical device manufacturers, medical academies, life science companies, medico-legal firms, forensic departments and insurance companies.

Medical Animation is benefiting modern healthcare immensely. Though intended for different audiences, it is most commonly used as an instructional/educational tool for medical professionals and patients.

Art and science have combined and complemented each other to enable medical animation. In collaboration with medical experts, 3D Animation Artists and Medical Illustrators are bringing their knowledge of human anatomy, colour, light and matter to create medical animation. While continuous advancements in technology have helped shape CG (Computer Graphic), the combined effect of these developments is evident in visual communication across industries and verticals including medicine. The foundation for medical animation is medical illustration which is an industry-recognized specialization in numerous colleges around the world: The Department of Art for Medicine at the John Hopkins Medical School, U.S.A. is a popular example.

Image Credits: clinicaltrials

With rising adoption of medical animation by healthcare and pharmaceutical companies; influx of start-ups; expansion of the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries and rising population and lifestyle diseases coupled with the growing number of surgeries across the world, the medical animation market is expected to touch USD 301.3 Million by the year 2021, growing at a CAGR of 20.8% during the forecast period 2016 – 2021.

Current trends and future projections indicate that Medical Animation is expanding rapidly and is poised for a bigger presence as the sector throws up a plethora of attractive job opportunities. Medical Illustration and Medical Animation are in-demand skills with great scope for growth due to the dearth of trained talent. Being a fast-growing, sunrise sector, Medical Animation makes for a promising career pathway. And pursuing an industry-recognized animation degree course in India is the best way to get started.

Visual Effects sector, egged on by the mother of necessity, to emerge a safe career haven for aspiring artists.

Image Credits – thearmageddontimes.com

One of the most powerful enablers of film making in this technologically advanced digital era is Visual Effects (VFX). It’s a magic wand that film makers are wielding brilliantly to craft stunning, out-of-the screen cinematic experiences. And it’s been happening since ages, (though the VFX basics remain the same) in a slightly crude or elementary fashion compared to modern day special effects wizardry. From the use of miniature models in the early 1900s, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the 1990s, and other advancements such as motion-capture (mocap) and animatronics along the way, VFX has helped stretch the scope of film making vastly.

Traditionally, Hollywood has been a super power in film making and the driving force behind the global media and entertainment industry’s growth. And it’s no secret that the VFX sector is growing rapidly on the back of demand from mainstream Hollywood films helmed by creative film makers who understand the impact of special effects on storytelling. Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Michael Bay, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are some of the prominent film directors credited with extensively using special effects in their films and popularizing the craft. VFX is growing bigger every year as more and more filmmakers exploit its creative power to dramatize the visual narrative.

As per an online report, there are about 30 VFX-based Hollywood films slated for release this year (From September to December 2019): Star Wars – Episode IX, The Goldfinch, Frozen II, Terminator: Dark Fate, Zombieland: Double Tap, Zeroville, Artemis Fowl, 3 from Hell, Spies in Disguise, Motherless Brooklyn, Downtown Abbey, Sonic the Hedgehog and Ford v. Ferrari to name a few. And these are in addition to a bunch of 3 dozen odd films which have already hit the screens this year (From January till August) and hundreds of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and other language films and television serials/Netflix series based on VFX which are in the making and scheduled for a 2019-2020 release/premiere worldwide.

Apart from cinema, gaming is another major accelerator for VFX. Every year, scores of new games are being introduced in the market to cater to the burgeoning demand. The line-up for this year’s gaming releases is impressive to say the least. The entertainment world is waiting with bated breath as the biggest names in the business rollout brand new games and fresh editions of existing games from their creative pipeline. Many of these games are expected to be launched during various upcoming gaming events across the world such as EGX Berlin (November 1-3), SIGGRAPH Asia (November 17-20), India Game Developer Conference-2019 and GDC 2020 (March 16-20) to name a few.

Image Credits: pundschus.com

Is it only movies and gaming that are fuelling VFX? Certainly not! Advertising is another major area where Visual Effects is being used to tell unforgettable stories. Be it an explosion, a car chase, an adorable CG character or a sublime utopian world, VFX is creating it all for film makers and enabling stories that engage, enlighten and enthral. The Vodafone ZooZoo commercial, Happydent City Lights television commercial, MTS Internet Baby Ad Campaign, the KitKat Dancing Babies Ad Campaign and the Kawasaki KB 100 morphing advertisement in the late 1900s are some of the best examples in Indian advertising history where VFX was used to stunning effect.

Apart from films, gaming, and advertising, Visual Effects are also being used increasingly in creating high value, mission-critical presentations, videos and other promotional material for companies across industries and verticals including education, engineering, healthcare, hospitality, infrastructure and real estate, manufacturing, science and technology, research and e-commerce to name a few. All of these are adding momentum to the VFX engine as it picks up speed and races towards projected revenues of USD 23,854 million in the year 2025. From the days when people were curious to know what is vfx to this exciting era of digital media and entertainment, VFX has come a long, long way.

What’s evident is the fact that, as VFX is growing bigger every day, more film makers, game crafters, ad builders and promo builders in addition to other new users are make it an indispensable tool for everything from business to entertainment and education. And this is great news as more VFX studios are required to execute the work which in turn means more jobs will be created and artists can look forward to thriving careers. As technology is evolving, Visual Effects is expanding in scope to include many specializations. Some of the popular roles in VFX include Motion Graphics Artist, Digital FX Animator, Visual FX Artist, Compositor, Roto Artist, Matte Painter, 3D Compositor, Audio-Video Editor, Match-moving Artist, Digital FX Artist and DI & Colour Grading Artist apart from talent required for many other integral tasks such as Simulation FX, Motion Capture, 3D Scanning, Character & Creature Animation, Concept Art, and Previs/Pre-Visualization which also require specialized VFX effects skills.

The growing use of VFX in cinema, gaming, advertising and other sectors/industries is triggering a spurt in demand for special effects training academies such as Dilsukhnagar Arena which have been doing phenomenal work in the field since 1998. The academy has trained outstanding VFX artists, many of whom are working with top CG studios, have been honoured with the coveted Oscar for their contributions to the award-winning Hollywood film ‘The Jungle Book’ and collaborated on many other popular Hollywood blockbusters such as Captain Marvel and more. At Dilsukhnagar Arena institute, the emphasis is on enhancing employability: by creating an enabling environment, extending prompt learning support, facilitating experiential learning and selflessly travelling the extra mile to ensure that students rise to their potential and achieve their career goals.

This learner-oriented, industry-specific approach to VFX training is the key to helping the global digital media and entertainment business cope with the surge in demand for readily employable talent. The industry needs more such competent institutes which can deliver the best VFX training in India and across locations around the world. As cutting-edge technology driven by innovation – the mother of necessity evolves to meet the emerging needs of creative film makers who are pushing the boundaries of storytelling, VFX is becoming indispensable to the craft, even as new roles are being created and more talent is being recruited. Exceptional talent passionate about building careers in Animation and VFX can confidently step in to the exciting world and enjoy a secure and rewarding future even as the industry expands.

21 years of spirited career-building and nation-building.

India’s largest and best digital media education powerhouse celebrates its 21^st anniversary.

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Ravindra Bharathi, the prestigious National Theatre, and the cultural showcase of Hyderabad wore a festive look with flowers, festoons and fandangles. As the warm rays of the morning sun bathed the campus in golden yellow, the first of the invitees started trooping in.

It was a beautiful Thursday morning on the 18^th of July 2019. A huge, magnificent muggu (rangoli) in the form of the number ‘21’, splashed with rainbow colors and lined with fresh marigold blossoms, grass flakes and rose petals greeted guests at the expansive stairway to the entrance. The day was special: the 21^st Anniversary day of Creative Multimedia Group, India’s most sought-after digital media career catalyst.

Famed for enabling some of the biggest success stories in Digital Media and Entertainment, Creative Multimedia marked this important milestone with a spectacular extravaganza at Ravindra Bharathi. Accomplished professionals from academia, industry and government graced the celebrations, affording heightened importance to an annual attraction that’s now folklore in the digital media education space.

This is the flagship event of Creative Multimedia Group which includes Dilsukhnagar Arena and Creative Multimedia College of Fine Arts, two of the most sought-after names in creative art and digital media education in India. The event is aimed at affording fruitful opportunities for students to enrich themselves with precious domain knowledge and practical insights from industry leaders who grace the event. Creative Multimedia Group.

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Dr. T. Papireddy, Chairman – Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) was the Chief Guest of the day while the Guests of Honour included Dr. Kavita Daryani Rao, Vice Chancellor – Jawaharlal Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU), Dr. Phani Sree Vagvala, Registrar – JNAFAU, Anil Pant, MD & CEO – APTECH, Dr. Neeraj Raj, Founder – Medisys, Praveen Kilaru – Production Head at Digital Domain, Binayak & Kaizar from Green Gold Animation, Srihari, Founder – Parrot Communications and Ganesh Kumar, Strategic UX Designer – Infosys.

Dr. T. Papireddy, Chairman – Telangana State Council of Higher Education was the Chief Guest of the day. Congratulating the group on its 21^st anniversary, he said that the flourishing $500 bn multimedia industry needs more such passionate training powerhouses as Creative Multimedia.

Addressing students, Dr. Kavita Daryani Rao, Vice Chancellor of JNAFAU recalled that Creative Multimedia was the first to tie-up with the University for the Visual Art Degree Program. She complimented the group for its unquestionable strength and consistency in imparting industry-focused career programs for 21 years and wished the group more success in the years to come.

Striking a chord with students, Mr. Anil Pant, MD & CEO of APTECH highlighted the prolific job opportunities in multimedia saying: “This is one sector which will never experience a recession due to the deep penetration of internet, explosive growth in mobile phones and advent of new content platforms.”

“Today, people across age groups, gender, social strata and region are consuming content. There is an audience for every genre of content and with spiralling demand, multimedia talent like you who are create that content will never be out of a job and will always enjoy job security.

Highlighting the surfeit of job opportunities in multimedia, Mr. Anil stated: “You guys (digital media students) attract multiple job opportunities. Many are in a comfortable position to tear up at least 2 job offers. Thankfully, you are not affected by the employment crisis facing fresh graduates in mainstream sectors like Engineering. Less than 15% of engineers today are getting jobs and the average starting salary of software engineers is very lower. Also, unlike software and related sectors where new skills are required to stay job-relevant due to rapid technology changes, the basic skills required in multimedia are the same, ensuring that talent will never go obsolete in this industry.”

While parents, for long, have preferred Engineering and other mainstream careers pathways to Multimedia which is not considered aspirational, rewarding and stable enough, Mr. Anil exclaimed: “Today, with the kind of prolific opportunities and demand for multimedia talent, I wish more parents would allow children to take up multimedia careers. This is the time. Collectively, across digital media and entertainment verticals, the industry needs more than 1,00,000 trained people today but is unable to meet demand. Too many jobs are being created but we just don’t have enough talent.”

Mr. Anil treated students to a screening of “Fattu Rap” – the latest promo of Arena Animation. Exhorting students to be proud of embracing a multimedia career, he said that India is has now emerged as a major destination for the biggest names in global media and entertainment. Commending the Founder and CEO of Creative Multimedia Group, Mr. Raja Sekhar Buggaveeti, he said: “Rajasekhar is the most passionate individual I’ve come across in the Multimedia training sector in India. Staying committed to Enhancing Employment^TM for over two decades, producing 26,000 creative art professionals and facilitating jobs for them is no small achievement and I wish the government of Telengana recognizes his efforts.”

Mr. Neeraj Raj, Founder of Immertive Pvt. Ltd., an enterprise specializing in creating immersive experiences in healthcare using Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies. Stating that Animation is no more just about entertainment, he said that specializations such as Medical Animation are gaining ground as distinct verticals and helping expand the animation sector.

Elaborated on the growing role of Animation in healthcare, he said: “Medical Animation is at the forefront of modern healthcare. Though intended for different audiences, it is most commonly used as an instructional/educational tool for medical professionals and patients. Offering an immersive experience, it shows how medicines work inside the body, how surgical procedures are done, how the brain reacts to different stimuli and other physiological changes.”

Mr. Neeraj said that Medical Animation is growing bigger as AR, VR, MR and other emerging technologies are helping improve the quality of medical animation while enabling newer applications. As a result, the field is expanding fast and creating more job opportunities. He wrapped up his presentation with a thank you note and congratulated Creative Multimedia for maintaining its excellent placement record for twenty one long years.

Praveen Kilaru, Production Head of Digital Domain made an enthralling presentation on his studio’s best works including such Hollywood movies as “Avengers: Infinity War”, “X-Men: Days of Future Past”, “Iron Man 3”, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, “The Fifth Element” and “The Jungle Book”. He congratulated Creative Multimedia on 21 years of leadership and said that the group’s placement initiative “Our Campus-Your Interviews” is the best by any animation and VFX academy in India which has helped scores of students win rewarding jobs at top studios and realize their career goals.

Mr. Binayak and Mr. Kaizar from Green Gold Animation made a presentation on the evolution of the character Chhota Bheem and the behind-the-scenes of the stereoscopic 3D Animation film Kungfu Dhamaka. The team presented an elaborate AV on the creative and animation production process of the film, taking students on an educative journey through the production pipeline of a 3D animation film. The film was produced by Green Gold Animation and features the immensely popular character Chhota Bheem as the protagonist.

A team from Green Gold Animation comprising Binayak and Kaizar made a presentation on the evolution of the character Chhota Bheem and the behind-the-scenes of the stereoscopic 3D Animation film Kungfu Dhamaka. While Binayak is the director, Kaizar is the creative director of Kungfu Dhamaka. The film is about Bheem in the land of the dragon, attempting to rescue the emperor’s daughter from the clutches of the evil Zuhu, emerging victorious and earning the respect of the people. The film was produced by Green Gold Animation and features the immensely popular character Chhota Bheem as the protagonist. The team presented an elaborate AV on the creative and animation production process of the film, taking students on an educative journey through the production pipeline of a 3D animation film.

Mr. Srihari – Founder of Parrot Communications, an established graphic design studio in Hyderabad inspired students with a short speech stating that multimedia is one of the most rewarding professions in the world

Mr. Ganesh, Strategic UX Designer at Infosys held forth on the growing role of UX Design in today’s digital marketing era and said that an array of job opportunities are being created around UX Design. Stressing on the dearth of trained talent in the job market, he said that companies are willing to pay high salaries for trained UX Designers. Mr. Ganesh urged students doing Graphic and Web Design to consider training in UX Design as it is one of the most sought after skill sets attracting salaries upto INR 7 lakhs per annum for freshers.

Creative Multimedia Founder & CEO Raja Sekhar Buggaveeti thanked everyone for joining the celebrations and making it a big success. Renewing his group’s commitment to Enhancing Employability^TM, he said that Creative Multimedia students are well placed to attract the best opportunities in the job market by virtue of the inspiring mentoring, world-class training resources and a ramified placement network dotted with the biggest animation, VFX, gaming and IT companies including  Prime Focus, Technicolor, Deluxe Digital, DQ Entertainments, EA, Green Gold Animation, MPC, Makuta, Firefly, Deloitte, Infosys, Microsoft, Amazon and TCS to name a few.

As a digital media education powerhouse, Creative Multimedia Group imparts outcome-driven Animation, VFX, Graphics + Web/UI-UX Design education through its institutions – ‘Dilsukhnagar Arena Animation Academy’ and ‘Creative Multimedia College of Fine Arts (CMCFA)’. Creative Multimedia Group is the proud winner of the Best Digital Media Academy Award and has shaped 26,000+ successful multimedia careers till date.

CREATIVE MULTIMEDIA GROUP 21ST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS on Thursday, the 18th of July, 2019.

It’s time to rock it. We are ringing in our 21st anniversary with a mega extravaganza on Thursday, the 18th of July, 2019 [8:30 AM to 5:00 PM] at Ravindrabharathi Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad. Add your energy to the celebrations and pump up the excitement! We are counting you in. #ArenaAnimationDilsukhnagar #21st #Anniversarycelebrations.

Contact us for any details: 040 2404 2343.

Enhancing Employability of Young India. Since 1998

Image Courtesy: aarp.org

Unemployment has always been a thorn in the flesh for India. Recent trends are proving worrisome, especially for young aspirants prepping for a career in the real world. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data showed that the unemployment rate rose sharply to touch a 28-month high of 8.4% in the third week of April 2019. Since India’s Independence in 1947, unemployment has been hovering in the range of 5.74% (Average of 71 years). While the lowest unemployment rate was 2.9% (in the year 1953), the highest unemployment rate of 9.7% was registered in the year 1982.

The current rise in unemployment presents a disturbing picture highlighted by shrinking jobs and expanding pay crisis. While this trend can be attributed to several factors including slower job creation w.r.t the number of fresh graduates joining the workforce every month, one of the key reasons is sub-standard education for students which fails to provide them suitable jobs. As a result, many settle for low-salary, non-core jobs to earn a living and are thus not gainfully employed, while others remain unemployed for long periods, up to two years in many cases.

This begs the question: What’s the point in churning our degree-holders who lack employability skills and are unfit to be a productive part of the workforce? And spare a thought for the millions of career-aspirants who invest precious resources with the dream of gainful employment.

The book ‘JOBONOMICS’* by Goutam Das presents an in-depth analysis of India’s employment crisis. With hard-hitting facts and real stories, the book highlights the magnitude of the problem and the immediate focus needed on skills-oriented education stating that “India has a culture of knowledge, not one of skilling.”

This culture has been impacting sectors across India for many years now. In fact, this piece is a continuation of our previous blog which touched upon the job crisis, pointing to the fact that unemployment is more prevalent in mainstream career pathways such as Engineering and Management which were until now highly sought-after and appealing.

Lately, Engineering has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. India produces 1.5 million engineers every year but barely 7% are employable according to an India Today Web Desk Report. In fact, a McKinsey report red-flagged the issue a decade ago revealing that only a quarter of India’s engineers were actually employable. This trend is influenced largely by the outdated and sub-standard education (inadequate, irrelevant and inferior) paradigms not just in engineering but management, science and arts too. Virtually every discipline is riddled with the same issue: sub-standard education leading to low employability of graduates.

Creative Multimedia

How can India tackle this problem of low-quality education? Leading the way for academies/colleges across disciplines/sectors in India is Dilsukhnagar Arena, a revolutionary multimedia institute focused on experiential and innovative education. For over 21 years now, Dilsukhnagar Arena has been singularly committed to Enhancing Employability^TM. The famed institution widely acknowledged as the Largest and Best Digital Media Academy in India has successfully skilled over 26,000 students and enabled fruitful placements for them at top companies.

Here’s how Dilsukhnagar Arena got it right…….right from the beginning!

Driving Knowledge: To ensure that education evolves at the same pace as industry, Dilsukhnagar Arena works closely with top recruiters to update its multimedia courses according to current talent needs. This helps equip students with advanced knowledge to stay at the cutting-edge of the discipline and to be recognized as well-informed and industry-relevant talent.

Building Communication: Despite a sterling academic performance, candidates with poor English language skills can lose out on jobs as, English – the common language of the corporate world, is a vital employability skill. Dilsukhnagar Arena affords students a strong grounding in English to enhance their employability and to equip them with this vital advantage so they can stay confident during the interview and at the workplace.

Improving Competence: In most cases, education is not industry-aligned and fails to prepare students for employment. The resulting skill gap ensures that students are not readily employable. Dilsukhnagar Arena thrives on experiential training to close the skill gap through a variety of hands-on training programs: the reason for the high employability quotient of Dilsukhnagar Arena students and the academy’s popularity as the first port-of-call for leading recruiters across industries.

That’s not all, Dilsukhnagar Arena’s prolific mentoring, learning resources, and value-additions, all add to the superior training programs which are designed with the singular goal of Enhancing Employability^TM. Acknowledged for its benchmark training, Creative Multimedia, Dilsukhnagar Arena’s parent organization has been bestowed with the Best Digital Media Academy in India Award (thrice) and the Award for Academic Excellence (twice) by many reputed organizations.

Having facilitated employment for over 26,000 young Indians till date, Dilsukhnagar Arena Institute, with a rich legacy spanning 21 years, has contributed its bit to nation building ever since its inception way back in 1998 and is a veritable role model not just for Digital Media but for other disciplines across the board including Engineering, Management and Science in India.

Education must be a productive instruction and training procedure designed not just to impart knowledge but also help develop skills, especially for young people in colleges who are the immediate future of the nation. Irrespective of the discipline and the academy, the need of the hour is to scrap/refresh outdated curricula to meet the current industry requirements, ensure improved and adequate training infrastructure, and introduce experiential programs designed in collaboration with industry experts so that students acquire relevant, job-ready skills. This will help enhance the quality of education and improve student’s employability.

The goal should be to empower students with high employability skills and put them on the path to productive employment with better jobs and more rewarding work: the key to the improved socio-economic progress of India.

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*More on this in our next blog (other factors such as technology which are poised to impact employment in a big way in the near future).

 

Digital Media Mania!

Growing preference for Digital Media & Entertainment careers over hitherto glamorous pathways such as Engineering and Management.

Mayank was possibly in the happiest phase of his life. All of 22, the relief from chucking studies for good was visible on his face. Fresh as a dewdrop, the newly minted graduate was upbeat about his career and raring to step into the real world. A lucrative job, the satisfaction of standing on his own two feet and the pride in his parent’s eyes; his dream future was just before him. Sadly, life didn’t play along and the dream went bust. Mayank, an aspiring Engineer from a reputed college now finds himself jobless, even a full year after graduation.

His father, an employee with a Hyderabad-based PSU is a worried man. Mayank, from Dilsukhnagar Hyderabad, completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and was keen on building a career in the manufacturing sector. Unfortunately, he was unable to get a job through his skills are highly relevant in industries such as Aerospace, Automobiles, Defense, Electronics, Infrastructure, Marine, Metals, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceuticals and Energy.

Mayank’s case is not an isolated one. This is the plight of lakhs of engineering graduates in India who find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. The employability rate of fresh graduates is declining steeply. Studies indicate that nearly 40 percent of the 15 lakh engineers India produces every year are not readily employable. Another study by ASSOCHAM reveals that only 7 percent of MBA graduates are employable. With the exception of government-run IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) and a few others, a majority of the 5,000+ business schools in India are producing ill-equipped graduates who are unable to find gainful employment.

While there are several reasons for this sad state of affairs including the obsolete curriculum, and poor training, one of the key factors is the mushrooming of engineering and management institutes and the widening demand-supply gap with more graduates chasing fewer jobs.

While students across career streams, and the industry, in general, are grappling with this crisis, nowhere is it more concentrated than in hitherto mainstream career pathways such as Engineering and Management. As a result, students are increasingly scouting for superior alternatives. In the recent past, the academic sector has been witnessing a major shift to digital media and other new-generation career pathways which are proving to be more rewarding, secure and growth-friendly.

Image Courtesy: Linhart PR

The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector is going great guns, growing at 13.4% year-on-year (YOY) to touch INR 1.67 trillion in 2018. It is expected to cross INR 2.35 trillion ($33.6 billion) by 2021, at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.6%, according to a FICCI and EY report. The movie industry, of course, is a major contributor to growth. Just one look at the index of films in leading film database websites will give you an idea of the huge business generated annually. The M&E sector is entering a phase of accelerated growth, powered by many factors including new video streaming platforms, the spread of regional content, growth of smartphones and penetration of affordable broadband. Truly, these are exciting times and a harbinger of the huge growth ahead for the M&E industry.

This huge growth is likely to translate into a plethora of jobs and boost opportunities for students learning Animation, VFX, Gaming, Graphic Design, Web designer courses and UI/UX Design courses. In fact, the media and entertainment sector’s growth is directly proportional to the population growth, as virtually every individual consumes entertainment in some form or the other. In this context, it’s safe to say that a career in M&E offers a secure and stable future with strong potential for career growth.

Today, jobs in media and entertainment are becoming more and more attractive. In fact, exciting and rewarding job opportunities exist not just in M&E sector companies but across other businesses including Animation & VFX Studios, Gaming Studios, Film Production Houses, Television Channels, Content Production Companies, Advertising & PR Agencies, Digital Marketing Firms, IT & ITeS Enterprises, Infrastructure & Real Estate Companies, Education & Training Companies, Pharma Research Firms, Industrial Design Agencies and e-Commerce & e-Education companies to name a few.

While an Animation/VFX/Gaming fresher commands INR 25,000 – 30,000 per month as starting salary, Graphic and Web Design freshers command INR 20,000 – 25,000 per month in the job market depending on various factors including the recruiter, the job role and the candidate’s caliber. Importantly, as this is a highly creative field, the growth potential is unlimited. Exceptionally talented candidates with 5+ years of high-quality experience are well-positioned to attract six figures salaries and more.

Some of the big recruiters of digital media talent across industries include Walt Disney Studios, Amazon, Deloitte, HCL, Infosys, Microsoft, MPC, Technicolor, TCS, Prime Focus, Deluxe Digital, Cyient, Prana Studios, Makuta, Green Gold Animation, Reliance Digital, DQ Entertainment, Orient Blackswan, Thomson Reuters, Tech Mahindra and EA to name a few. All these companies are many sought-after companies offering rewarding jobs with tremendous scope for career growth.

The shift, or perhaps more appropriately, ‘Exodus’ from conventional career streams to Digital Media & Entertainment is visible and is gaining traction even as technology and trends unshackle growth.

P.S.: Watch out for our next blog “Enhancing Employability of Young India. Since 1998”, a narrative on how India’s best digital media academy has been playing the training game smartly to help its students avoid the “unemployability issues” plaguing fresh graduates of engineering and other mainstream disciplines in India.