Toronto, March 13, 2005
NRIpress
Karansher Singh's brain behind Ryan, winner of the Best Short
Film (Animated) award at the Academy Awards this year.
Karansher Singh is now associate professor, computer science,
at the University of Toronto. He is also the software R&D
director for Ryan - this year's Academy Award winner in the Best
Short Film (Animated) category. He graduated from IIT Chennai,
did his Masters from Ohio State University and went on to do his
Phd. Specialising in computer graphics and animation.
Karan said, "We translate an artistic vision into a bunch
of equations, in addition to handling all technical scripting
and programming aspects of an animated production." His involvement
with Ryan director Chris Landreth goes back to almost a decade.
“He’s the artist and I am the scientist in our projects,”
says Singh. “When Chris suggested this idea, we both knew
we had to film it.” Naturally so — the 13-minute film
documents the life of Ryan Larkin, “the gifted animator of
the late sixties who defied traditional norms set by Disney to
pioneer computer-generated imagery (CGI)”.
“We’ve tried to give the film a Salvatore Dali kind
of feel,” he says. Singh calls it “non-photo realism”,
and admits it’s his kind of animation: “I love fashioning
painting-like imagery while rendering visual effects.”
He may have worked with the biggies (Dinosaur and The Lord Of
The Rings films, to name a few), but his heart lies with independent
projects like Ryan. “That’s where you can break new
ground,” Singh points out. “The Oscar win is a boost,
but it certainly doesn’t make life easier for indie filmmakers
like us.”
But why did Karan choose animation of all the professions?
"Because I am too scared to go out and find a real job. This
is a sandbox for someone who never grew up," says the 35-year-old.
Why, then, did he train to do what he calls a 'real job'?
"Honestly, being in school is avoiding a real job even though
it trains you for one." Does he ever want to grow up? "For
sure... when I grow up I am going to be an archaeologist, like
Indiana Jones."
So how important is an actual Oscar when even getting nominated
for one is a dream come true for most Indians in the entertainment
industry? "Not very. Awards look nice on a fireplace,"
he says nonchalantly. "And maybe someday it can buy you a
cup of coffee on e-bay," he adds.
''Ryan" won the animated-short Oscar. It's more ambitious-looking
than the other nominees. (Bill Plympton's ''Guard Dog" and
''Lorenzo," by Mike Gabriel and Baker Bloodworth, are not
on the tour.)
Landreth's movie is the only one to feature speaking adults.
It's also the only one that uses its form to speculate about the
inner workings of the human mind.
The beauty in ''Ryan" comes from the way it prizes candor
over goofy tricks, paying attention to sad people and reaching
out to rescue them.
THE FILM | Ryan
Oscar®
Winner for Best Short Film (Animated)
A gentleman panhandler. One of
the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar nominee. Poor beggar.
An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel.
Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed.
Ryan,
directed by Chris Landreth, is based on the life of Canadian animator
Ryan Larkin. Thirty years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada,
Ryan produced some of the most influential animated films of his
time. Today, Ryan lives on welfare and panhandles for spare change
in downtown Montreal. How could such an artistic genius follow
this path?
In Ryan
we hear the voice of Ryan Larkin and people who have known him,
but these voices speak through strange, twisted, broken and disembodied
3D generated characters... people whose appearances are bizarre,
humorous or disturbing. Although incredibly realistic and detailed,
Ryan was created and animated without
the use of live action footage, rotoscoping or motion capture...but
instead from an original, personal, hand animated three-dimensional
world which Chris calls 'psychological realism'.
