Road to the Oscar

Every March, the world eagerly watches the Oscar Ceremony in Los Angeles.
There are even contests to guess who all would win the Oscars each year. The
Indian film industry and the media go into raptures if an Indian movie even gets
nominated. So far, the Oscar has eluded the Indian film industry. But some
Indians, especially in the technical field, have tasted the Oscar glory.
Unfortunately, the amount of media coverage given to technical people who have
won Oscars is minimal. Few know that an Indian woman from Trichy, Tamil Nadu,
has won an Oscar. Only a handful know the name of the young woman, Vanitha
Rangaraju-Ramanan, who won it for her technical work in the animation movie,
Shrek in 2002. It could well become a double Oscar if the sequel, Shrek-2, wins
in 2005. Rangaraju is leading the technical team in the sequel.

Deepa Kandaswamy spoke with the woman of the moment about her road to the Oscar.

Tell us about yourself-your family, place of birth, childhood, etc.

I was born and raised in Trichy. I did my schooling in Holy Cross Girl's
School and Higher Secondary at St. Joseph's Convent. I did B. Arch at REC,
Trichy (now NIT). I have one younger sister, Vinotha, who lives in Dindugal,
Tamil Nadu. She's a gold medalist in BA Economics, after which she got married
and settled down. My parents still live in Trichy.

Small town to Tinsel town: Vanitha Rangaraju with her Oscar for technical work in Shrek which won the award for 'Best Animated Feature Film' in 2002

I currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, with
my husband Ramanan. We met when I was working in Bangalore. Got married in
Trichy, and came to the US together to do our masters at the University of
Texas, Austin.

What influenced you to take up your chosen field? Were you technically
inclined as a child?

I always had an inclination toward math and engineering in school. I loved
the problem-solving aspect of it. Also enjoyed programming a lot when I was
first introduced to it.

What was your experience at REC like and do you miss Trichy?

Trichy is my hometown. I was born and brought up there. I only went to Bangalore
and USA to work. REC is a fun college. Very large campus with many different
departments. Architecture was a smaller department with a much more family-like
feel to it. Also had a better balance of male and female students. I definitely
miss Trichy, my home, my parents, my sister, and all my friends.

When and how did you become interested in animation? What made you decide
to leave for the US?

All those Tom & Jerry cartoons I watched, while I was young, inspired
me. After I got my B.Arch degree, I was working in Bangalore when I saw this
interview on TV just after Toy Story had come out in 1995-the first full
length 3D CG feature film. It was a very fascinating interview and they were
talking about how people from many different fields contributed to the movie's
creation. I have always loved animation, and that interview got me seriously
thinking about entering that field. I knew I had to work very hard to get there,
and I was willing to do it. So I left India in 1996 to do my MS in Architectural
studies (majoring in computation and simulation) at the University of Texas at
Austin.

Architecture to animation is a huge transition, isn't
it? How did you cope? Didn't people try to dissuade you? Did your family and
friends support you in this endeavor?

Yes it is a huge jump. The people who helped me were the ones who didn't
think it was silly for a professional architect to want to become an animator-my
parents, my husband Ramanan whom I married just a few months before I started
this crazy quest to go to the US to work on 3D animated movies, my friend Vidya,
and family friends Babu and Kala.

How did you get into Pacific Data Imaging (PDI)?

The field of feature animation is extremely competitive. Not only do you
need the right qualifications, you also need the right attitude, and most of
all, you need commitment to pursue the dream. I was able to get an internship
during the last semester (Fall 1998) at Industrial Light & Magic, the
leading visual effects studio in Northern California. That was a big break. That
gave me a chance to get my "foot in the door". Right after I completed
my internship, I was to go back and finish my Master's thesis in Austin when I
got the job as Lighting TD at PDI (now PDI/DreamWorks) to work on Shrek! They
had just released Antz and started production on Shrek, so it was a great time
to start my new job. This was in April 1999. Needless to say, five years from
then, I am still trying to get back to school to finish my Masters. I will wrap
it sometime in the near future.

What exactly do you do as a Lighting Technical Director?

As a "Lighting Technical Director", in addition to digitally
lighting the film, the lighting department is responsible for bringing the many
different components of a shot together-complex geometry, motion of the
characters, textures, the effects such as fire and dust, and the matte
paintings. Technical directors are people who help make this happen, with both
their artistic and technical abilities.

In addition to working as a lighting TD on Shrek, I was also
a lighting animator on several shots, and co-developer of the "crowd
system" for many sequences in Shrek-like the swamp sequence where all the
fairy tale creatures overrun Shrek's swamp, the tournament sequence where
Shrek does the WWF-style fighting, and the final big Cathedral sequence. I also
worked on the extended scenes for the DVD, and many Shrek commercials.

How was your "Shrek" experience?

Shrek is based on a book. And everyone when I say that immediately thinks it is
this big book that has the whole story in there-kinda like Harry Potter. But
no, the book Shrek was based on, is about 10 pages long, out of which half the
pages are pictures! In fact, the only characters from the book are Shrek and
donkey. The rest were all developed by our own very talented story artists. You
have probably heard it a million times but I'll say it one more time-it's
all about the story. It's the story that drives everything; computer is just a
medium that conveys it.

Shrek lives in a fantasy world, so the art directors came up
with a multitude of environments that Shrek journeys through. Environment play
an integral role in this movie, just as much as the characters that walk through
them. There is a variety of complex environment in Shrek, ranging from the lush
green forests to the dark, scary dragon's keep. The richness and detail is
achieved through some brilliant work on the part of the lighting department,
visually enhancing the whole story.

Shrek
is visually the most complex film of all time, in my opinion. It has all the
natural elements that are so difficult to create in 3D animation- moving
trees, water, mud, dust, crowds etc. Plus it is a fun story, a bit of a
departure from the mainstream animation we have seen so far. It plays at
different levels to audiences of all ages. A 3 year-old enjoys the movie just as
much as a 30 year-old or even a 70 year-old. And finally it has a message that
touches everyone. To work on such a complex but extremely funny movie was a
phenomenal experience.

What was your reaction when you heard Shrek won the Oscar
for the technical work?

Shrek actually won the Oscar as the 'Best Animated feature film'. The
technical achievement, which translated into making Shrek a visual success, also
helped tremendously in getting the award; but the category was best animated
film. It felt great. Almost unreal. I am so happy to have been a part of this
great team. It is so hard to believe! I still remember watching the Oscars in
India six years ago, wondering how it would be to touch the statuette, to feel
the appreciation of the entire world for your work on a movie. And I actually
got to hold the statuette in my hands, when our producer Aron Warner returned
with it to PDI. It was a wonderful feeling.

So many people whom I hadn't even kept in touch with wrote
to me, congratulating. To me that's what makes it all worthwhile. It is
special to be a part of the Oscar winning team, but it is made even more special
when that makes your friends and family proud.

Are you an American citizen now?

Nope. Just a green-card holder.

How does it feel to be the only Indian woman to have won
an Oscar?

It's a pretty great feeling. I've to reiterate that this Oscar was given
for the entire team that worked on the movie. But I was the only Indian woman on
the crew, so that is pretty special.

What are the projects you are currently working on?

Shrek 2-the sequel has been released this summer in which I did the lead
lighting. The other is Madagascar-a really fun movie about four friends (a
lion, a zebra, a giraffe and a hippo) from a New York Zoo who find themselves
stranded on an African island.

In closing, do you have any words of advice for young
people who wish to pursue a career in animation?

To me, watching animated shorts/films is a lot of fun. It is great
entertainment. To actually create that piece of entertainment, and on top of
that get paid to do it, is the opportunity of a lifetime! I enjoy every minute
of my work, and that makes for a rich and full life! It's an unbelievably fun
industry. I'm so lucky to have found, and I wish everyone would explore this
as a serious and viable career.

Animation is still an up-and-coming field in India. In my
opinion, culturally in India, we haven't come to accept full-length animated
movies as a worthy form of entertainment. People require a lot of drama and
emotions in the movies they watch, which is why mostly you see Indian movies
that deal with complex relationships, traditional beliefs and culture. But there
is tremendous scope for animation to become mainstream. One thing I can't
stress enough is the value of education. Animation is an industry where people
from many different fields work together, bringing very different talents to the
table. So whether you are an engineer, photographer, painter, programmer,
architect; everyone has the ability to make a large contribution to the project.
So learn the things you are learning well.

Deepa Kandasamy

The author is a writer-engineer based in Trichy, TN, whose
articles have been published in five continents, including in Dataquest, PC
World, The Hindu,The New India Express, The Christian Science Monitor, Herizon
(Canada) and Khaleej Times (UAE). Her article in Dataquest on the "Talibanism
of Technology" was nominated for a UN media award and voted best
non-fiction article of 2003 http:/www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/vote0308.htm