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Zeeshan Parwez, a musician, video director and animator, talks about his inspirations, aspirations, and the challenges he faces in the animation industry.
Q. You’re a musician and video director with a degree in marketing, how did animation get into the equation?
I was always fascinated with audio and video since I was a kid. I could imagine storylines and sequences in my head; and if you saw me blinking constantly, then that would mean that an intense scene was playing out in my head at the time! Since I was illustrating back then, I began designing my own comics. Though they were quite amateur, the characters were fun, and I would try to make them come to life on paper. Years later, video production just happened. I was sitting and doing something random when it occurred to me, why don’t I go towards video [production]? Similarly, the idea of animation just crept inside my head and I wanted to make it possible. So I instantly bought a Wacom tablet, learnt Photoshop and went for it.
Q. Did you face any challenges when you first started making animated music videos in Pakistan? There were a lot of challenges – still are. First, labour is expensive and [it’s a challenge because] you need to hire a lot of people for months in order to make a video or create something for a TV spot. Most of my animated videos lack finesse because of limited budgets – you can only invest a small fraction of your time to something like that. To answer your question, budgets and getting hold of the best illustrators (and convincing them to draw 12 images for a second) are the two biggest challenges.
Q. What has been one of the most inspiring pieces of animation that you have ever come across? I seriously can’t single out any one piece. I’ve simply been exposed to so much, nowadays I find everything from videos on Vimeo to small Japanese clips fascinating. I can, however, mention one anime series that had a great impact on me. Although the animation in it isn’t top-notch, the art direction is just perfect. It’s called Samurai Champloo and I would encourage everyone [interested in animation] to watch it.
Q. What has been one of the most fun/innovative animation techniques that you have ever used? Rotoscoping – it’s not fun; in fact, I HATE it. But its final output makes me really happy. In this technique, you draw/sketch different movements, and then stitch them together to make a movie clip. An example is the video we (two other animators and I) made for Mekaal Hasan Band’s song, Waris Shah. All the band members were shot on HDCAM, and all those video streams were converted into JPEGs. Since there are 25 frames (that is, images) per second in a video, I removed half of them to be left with around 12 to 13 pictures per second. And that’s the number of drawings we produced for each second. Half of the song required this sort of animation, so we drew approximately 2,500 pictures in a span of seven months!
Q. In your career as an animator, is there anything you would have done differently? Like I said, I wish I had the budget to do the things I want to. Quality means putting in more capital, and I seriously think we should opt for pristine quality. I’ve given up the DIY approach; it’s time for serious work now.
Q. Do you think animators in Pakistan are taken seriously? You’d be surprised to see how awesome some Pakistani animators are. We have the talent and the potential to achieve great things. Although animation is yet another art form that people from the corporate side want to delve into, they can’t because of ridiculous demands and deadlines. Animation requires a lot of patience, because there is a great deal of touch-ups that need to be done every time. Think of it as music, the more a composer listens to it, the more he/she would feel that it could benefit from a few modifications.
Q. Is Pakistan ready for a full-length animated feature film? Pakistan was ready for a full-length animated movie 10 years back. We can produce something GREAT.
Q. Your words of wisdom for aspiring animators Hang in there, create whatever you want to, and just go for it. Learn, learn more and at the same time, send me things so I can learn as well!
This article originally appeared in the January 2012 issue of Spider magazine.
