Interview! Claycard Studio

1. Can you give us a brief synopsis about Claycard?

Claycards studio is a full fledged stop-motion / claymation animation studio it was conceived to provide a breath of fresh air to the current VFX scenario by bringing in the beauty of hand-made animation, our characters when conceived were just a figment of our clay imagination but now seem to have taken a life of their own , we look forward to develop our unique IP and also expand as a claymation service provider to other studios and channels.

2. What drew you towards the concept of Claycard? How different it is it from other animation companies?

“Simplicity is more innovative than complexity” and this profound saying is probably the driving force behind the conception of claycards. We know the potential of simplicity when it comes to  making big impressions on the general human psyche.  If you still remember commercials like ICICI Chintamani, Amron Battery and others, then its because of its simple approach towards animation. With Claycards we intend to take this approach further to the next level of imperfecting with perfectionism .Claycards studio is a full fledged stop-motion / claymation animation studio where we believe that adding a human touch to animation is always refreshing than usual 2D, 3D, VFX works.

3. Tell us about the services you offer at Claycard?

Claycards Studio is one of the largest stop-motion studios in India.We specialize in Stop-Motion, Clay Animation and Miniature set design. We are fully equipped with Pre-Production & Post-Production facilities with latest technology.

We also have an extensive workforce of experts in Animation and Miniature set designs.
We already  have an extensive miniature set of an entire active city and landscape. We also have a 4,000 sqft shooting floor with live editing facility.

Claycard can customize and produce stop motion projects like

• Commercials
• Feature Films
• TV Series
• Home video Movies 

We already own an extensive miniature set of an entire city with more than 15 fully equipped interior sets like Coffee Shop, Bar, Church, Movie Theater, Bakery and much more with all their props all crafted in high details. The studio owns more than 12 characters that can be customized and animated as per the client's script requirements. We have very high end and well rigged models with metal armature and foam latex , our technology and innovation increases the shelf life and durability of the models , making it a perfect choice for the production of an entire series .

4. Tell us about your achievements at Claycard since its foundation in 2008?

Technically Claycard Studio is a new venture under Infothrust Technologies Pvt. Ltd. We did have an earlier studio named Clayology where our major productions were  for Social Media and Viral Marketing campaigns. With Claycards, we are expanding ourselves in creating I.P, producing television series, movies etc..

5. What challenges have you dealt with while developing Claycard? How did you tackle it?

The major challenge was to take up a project of creating a mammoth city with hundreds of buildings and their interiors along with thousands of well crafted props in its right anatomy and proportion compared to each other to justify the aspect ratio. It was only Geometry in our mind for couple of months.  But with excitement about reaching new heights and setting new standard in stop-motion, all challenges were dealt with smile and zest.

6. Tell us a little about the team at Claycard and the employee strength?

Our team consist of 17 members. Our employees are our biggest strength, we are lucky to have a well experienced and passionate team under one roof.

Our team has three verticals. Research, Production & Promotion. Each vertical is handled by a bunch of experts with good experience and background. We also have freshers who are enthusiastic and full of passion always helping us in seeing things in a new perspective.

The company was founded by Sri Jagadish Manek and Prabhat Kiran with a vision of creating the most versatile stop-motion studio in the world. We are glad that we are already heading towards that direction.

7. What projects have Claycard worked on so far?

Our maiden project ‘A day in Claytown’ has just completed its pilot episode. Since this is our inhouse I.P, we are giving more attention and time to it.

Stop-motion Project in Making

8. What are the upcoming ventures in the pipeline at Claycard?

Our biggest venture is a Web 3.0 portal with claymation as an integral part. Its too early to reveal the project details at this stage. All we can say is that the beta version of our portal will be launched in next 6 months .

9. You have put an extensive stop motion miniature set, tell us about it?

Actually this is not the entire set. This is only an extension of the main set that we set for a trial shoot. We are planning to have a miniature set that will be more than 10 times of the current one. Claycard has a shooting floor which can be expanded upto 20,000 sqft in Bangalore. 

Thus we are planning to make the largest & most detailed miniature set in the world appropriate for film making.

Our set will have all the amenities of a modern city which includes Coffee shops, Bars, Theaters, Parlors, Bakeries, Museum, Malls, Workshops, Homes etc..etc.. and detailed interiors for each of the mentioned exteriors.

Approximately 35% of our work has been completed and we are ready for our shoots. The rest will be over within 8-10 months time.

We find this as our investment for coming future where cost of production will be much lower with a ready-made set for every possible shoot.

Stop Motion Movie Set

At Annecy Animation Film Festival, France

10. Stop motion technology is used a lot in Hollywood, Indian feature films are still alien to it,do you see a use of this technology in the near future?

India is still on a growing stage. Animation is still considered as children’s entertainment here. We can expect bigger studios giving it a try in the next 2-3 years , but having said that we cannot write off the potentiality of this enormously growing industry. We all know how “The Simpsons” shifted the gears of the hollywood animation industry from age group 3-12 to adults , so you never know that turning point for the indian industry might be just around the corner.

11. Creating a miniature set is a very expensive project,what challenges did you have to deal with?

We did face challenges at every step. We did a lot of research and imported many raw materials, chemicals, latex etc from various countries as they were not available in India. Preserving them is another challenge that we are going through, but we are glad that we handled it successfully so far.

12.You would be representing Claycard Studios at Annecy. What are your plans for the trade fair? What would you like gain from it?

To be honest, I am not going with any plan as such. This trip is more of exploration about the inner perspective of the animation industry. Knowledge & Network expansion will be the biggest gain for me in this trip. Beyond that all will be considered as an added bonus.

13. What are your plans for the future?

Our Plan is to create our own I.P and market it through social media.
Since we are ready with phase 1, we are also working towards getting into a J.V in producing t.v series for the likes of Cartoon Network, Pogo, BBC etc..