Here's a brilliant piece of work that deserves a standing ovation. A landmark in Indian Stop Motion Animation. Amaron Batteries latest TVC Pandu Mangal, claymated by Vaibhav Studios, is awe inspiring to say the least.

The animator at work Vaibhav setting up the model's pose

Expressions that glue viewers' eyeballs to the screen are Vaibhav's hallmark, add to that the detailed miniature, the life like lighting, the adventurous cinematography and a new level of visual complexity and richness in environment thanks to the rich team that worked on the film and one realises that film making is an art which is not limited to live action alone.

Many levels up in comparison to the 2 earlier claymated Amaron commercials (which themselves were trendsetters when they hit airwaves 4 years ago) Pandu Mangal has eyeballs popping on both sides of the screen.

A wonderful example of how animation (generally percieved as ammunition for kids brands) has been effectively used to target adults and to be specific, adult males who are car owners. Yet another remarkable thing about this claymated TVC is that it doesn't air on a Cartoon Network or an MTV, the on air activity is majorly on News Channels.

While The target audience of the TVC, its effectiveness and the thought process behind selecting animation are subjects that merit a separate study in themselves, this particular case study deals more with the animation part. The bottomline is that animation even in India is being used to woo adults too!

Before we get into the actual study,
let's accquaint ourselves with a little back story.

Around mid 2000, a new car battery brand, Amaron, entered the Indian market. O&M, the pride of Indian advertising was the agency that was handling Amaron. The team led by O&M Senior Creative Director Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar started off with 2 interesting live action commercials, but were not satisfied and were looking for a medium which would let them exaggerate and use hyperbole. They decided to go the animation way.
MTV Poga which had just begun airing then, influenced the team because of its distinctness and uniqueness. They got in touch with Vaibhav and Suresh at Famous and got hooked to the idea of claymation.

The claymated Amaron TVCs Kumbhkarna Politician and The Hare and The Tortoise became trendsetters. Amaron TVCs became synonomous with clay as well as with thier link with fables, they were more of a narrative with visuals.

Cut to..

September 2004
Amaron had improved upon its features and wanted to communicate the same to consumers. Sagar and team at O&M didn't think twice before opting for claymation again. They got in touch with Vaibhav, who since then had parted ways with Famous and had founded Vaibhav Studios.

Over to Vaibhav Studios now

The making of the commercial can be broadly divided into 4 parts, which are
Pre production, production, the stop motion shoot and post production. These broad procedures are further subdivided and listed below.

Detailed illustrations & images coupled with notes are provided for each of these. Click on any procedure to read about it. Please send feedback to anex@indiantelevision.com

The script
Agency Briefing (of the script, timelines, budgets, etc)

Pre production/ Homework!

Treatment for the film

Concept art/ inspirational sketches

Character Creation

Visual Scripting

Soundtrack recording

Animatics

Approvals and feedback

Production

Armature construction, model making

Miniature sets and props

Production management

The stopmotion shoot:

Shoot setup

The animation

Post production

Chroma keying out

Background painting & Additional animation

Compositing

Colour correction & Renders

Recording of additional sound effects to match visuals

Final Output

Credits & Team shots

Animation 'xpress case study of
Vaibhav Studios claymated Amaron TVC Pandu Mangal.
Compilation, Research & Layout - Anand Gurnani

Special thanks to Vaibhav Kumaresh, Shankar Chauhan, Arvind & Chandini Chaudasama, Satyaprakash Rath, Virender Rathod, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar and Meenakshi Bhalla for providing all insights into the making.

All Images & Diagrams courtesy Vaibhav Studios.