Unfortunately, conventional thinkers see peace promoters as idealists and utopians. Yes, even now, , years after homo sapiens first made their appearance, not everyone is convinced that peace must prevail. The only way that really works, they believe, is the one that relies on force and fear; that pores over our violent history in order to resurrect it; that treats life as a commodity to be surreptitiously appropriated not shared; that perceives those who do not belong as threats, and measures victory by the number of enemy fatalities.
Conventional thinkers see themselves as pragmatic, because war is more profitable than peace, and a first strike is a swifter defense strategy than laborious negotiation and dialogue. They boast of extremely sophisticated arms and nuclear capabilities in the name of deterrence. Not so long ago, peace history was created by a diminutive South Asian who is today perhaps the foremost inspiration for peace movements across the world.
His method called satyagraha, was based on truth, nonviolence, civil disobedience and self-rule. It is to him, and to all those who strive after him to make South Asia a place of peace, that we humbly dedicate this work. Indeed, he is the inspiration behind this initiative to educate children and young people in South Asia in the ways of peace. On October 28, , at a conference delivered to teachers at the Montessori Training College, London, he said: Peace is usually understood as an 'absence of war'.
But it is also naive, since we are aware of countries that are not at war with each other but nevertheless harbour deep tensions that are grave threats to peace. Serious obstacles to peace and prosperity exist also within countries. We have also seen how unjust systems and structures with inbuilt mechanisms to offset an uprising of the oppressed, can prevail for years. Such states may appear to be peaceful on the outside while on the inside, large sections of their population are kept in various degrees of subjugation.
Obviously, then, peace has other connotations than merely the 'absence of war'. The UN defines the word 'peace' in terms of a type of culture that exists when peace prevails. In spelling out what this culture is, it identifies the ideals of peace that have become standard principles of peace that are accepted universally. It calls the embodiment of these ideals the 'Culture of Peace' "A culture of peace is based on respect for human rights, democracy and tolerance, the promotion of development, education for peace, the free flow of information and the wider participation of women as an integral approach to preventing violence and conflicts, and efforts aimed at the creation of conditions for peace and its consolidation.
Volumes have been written on peace. It has become a universal symbol. It connotes a general state of positivity and includes all the positive qualities that are valued, cherished, and aspired to, by all human beings. Because of its universal human appeal many societies decided to educate new generations in the light of this symbol. Thus the concept of 'Peace Education' was born. In general, peace education can be understood from a negative or positive perspective.
Negatively, peace education is learning how to react in situations of conflict and war, or how to avoid them. Positively, peace education is a long term proactive strategy. It aims to promote peaceful persons who are equipped with appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes to encounter the many conflicts life offers.
The Italian educator, Maria Montessori, pioneer of the play-way method of education explains what education is, by highlighting this negative and positive perspective when she says: Establishing peace is the work of education. The Montessoria Method, Traditionally, peace education is understood in three ways: Peacekeeping means learning conflict prevention skills or ways to deter violence. Peacemaking helps opposing parties persons, groups, nations resolve conflict.
Peacebuilding means motivating people to choose peaceful solutions to problems and encouraging them to live peaceful lives. Like its predecessors Exercises in Media Education, Exercises in Education to Love, Exercises in Creativity Education it is meant to assist in promoting an alternative type of education - one that enhances the quality of life by keeping life-based learning in focus. Exercises in Peace Education is not a text book and should not be treated as one.
It contains a series of lesson plans that serve as models for teachers in educating to peace. Obviously, it would be wrong to suppose that the lessons in this manual are tailor-made for every class in every context of the vast South Asian peninsular. Intelligent use and adaptability are of paramount importance. Teachers are called upon to select appropriate themes for implementation with discretion and creativity. The manual is written in English to share ideas and concepts on peace across the subcontinent.
This does pose some difficulties as is evident in the use of poetry, acronyms, quotations and some ideas that may be foreign to a few South Asian cultures. Which is why local adaptations are indispensable. The focus is on forming persons of peace-people who will embrace and imbibe the ideals of peace and feel motivated enough to make peace a reality. The bulk of the volumes serves to create a peace mentality that will be instrumental in giving birth to a culture of peace.
The general thrust is peace building as described above. A proactive approach to developing peaceful attitudes and skills, rather than identifying problematic issues and suggesting solutions. It would be presumptuous on my part to even think of attempting to propose peace solutions to every problematic that perforates the social fabric of South Asia. Understood in this manner, Exercises in Peace Education deals with themes that bring to light the mechanisms of the mind and the heart in relation to peace and conflict.
It raises awareness, provokes thinking, challenges stereotypes, points towards solutions. It is multi-ethnic, pluricultural and inter- religious in its pursuit of peace and happiness. The lessons are graded according to themes that, in most cases, flow into each other. They are created for the education of children between the ages of 5 to A more detailed presentation of the contents of this manual follows on page xiv. Experiential learning is the key method for the acquiring of values, attitudes, perceptions, skills and behavioural modifications, in other words, their internalization.
Life and reality are the focus of the learning process.
Involvement in life is the only way in which such a learning can effectively take place. Peace teaching is best realised by putting the learners in the context of what has to be learned. Learning through group participation, is the second method used. Since peace education aims at forming a collaborative mentality, group participation in the classroom is an essential means to realize it.
Each lesson either begins with, or contains an activity that fully involves the participants. Some of these activities are meant for individuals, but most are to be shared and reflected over within groups. It is not always easy to make experiential and group learning a part of the school curriculum due to the many restrictions that favour the ingesting of content over the process of learning within contexts.
Nevertheless, the manual attempts to make this possible through a wide range of activities, which are: Throughout this manual, the skills that the students learn include critical thinking, expressivity, empathy, cooperation, decision making, resolving conflicts, exercising leadership. They also learn to respect others, to become self-reflective, to exercise social responsibility and to interact multi- culturally. The attitudes they will cultivate can gradually open them to experiences of inter-religious dialogue, inter-communitarian activity and personal and group meditation.
Elements of content that are elaborated in the 'Input' of every lesson may be committed to memory — but memorizing is not the most important concern. How one learns peace is as important as what one learns about peace. The peace lessons are a process in which the teacher accompanies the student to listen, learn and collaborate. The focus is on imbibing peace values, attitudes and skills, not merely the retention of concepts and the memorization of texts - which is often the prime focus of most academic programmes.
It depends, to a large extent, on the one who educates. The success of peace education is more dependent on the views, motivations, and abilities of teachers than traditional subjects are. Firstly, because it refers mainly to the acquisition of values, attitudes, skills, and behavioural tendencies by pupils.
This means that the teachers, who teach peace education must themselves be in line with its objectives. Teachers who carry out peace education have to cherish its values, hold comparable attitudes and exhibit similar behavioural tendencies. This precondition is problematic since most teachers do not enter the teaching profession because they hold peace education objectives; some may even have opinions, which contradict the values of peace education. Peace Educators distinguish themselves from those who impart mostly 'neutral information' in the following ways: The peace education teacher is challenged to be a role-model from whom students learn to counteract the violent images they often receive through popular culture and sometimes in their homes and neighbourhoods.
Peace educators establish democratic classrooms that teach cooperation and promote positive self-esteem among students. The pace and style of their teaching must adjust to the capacities of their pupils. They respect the identities and differences of their students. They allow their students to express themselves in a calm, non-discriminatory way - without derogatory language or put-downs.
They foster an enthusiasm for discovery and growth. Peace educators must constantly be alert to their own striving for peace. At the same time, it is not advisable to wait for ideal conditions, that is, to master peace before we teach it to our students.
Poor Relations by Honoré de Balzac
It is important that the students see our sincere efforts to learn and grow as peaceful persons, that our lives are orientated towards nonviolence and that we sincerely wish to integrate it fully into our behaviour. The peace educator must build a climate of confidence, in which any student can revert back with their doubts and questions. Peace education may be learned in the classroom but its value is tested only after the students leave it.
Environments in which they feel most at home pose a greater challenge to practising peace. Teachers cannot always control these environments. But the fact that the peace educator is available, is someone to whom they can come back to, with their doubts, is an important indicator for a more personalised peace education project. The peace educator must be intelligent and creative. To say this is to say the obvious — given the complexity of the task of educating to peace.
As has already been stated, this manual is a model and a guide for teachers to apply in their contexts. Its application needs flexibility and creativity in order to suit it to the plurality of our vast and diverse South Asian reality. The peace educator develops tact and class management skills. Discussing real issues is not a pretty affair.
Participants are prone to take sides and be influenced by their own biases. There may be moments when things seem to get out of control. This is where the educator's class management skills and tactfulness will come in handy. In moments of disagreement, agreeing to disagree amicably is the best solution. The choice must always be in favour of peace, equality and respect for all. If an educator finds the above criteria for peace education demanding and discouraging, here's good news.
The perfect peace teacher is yet to be found. Most are on the way! In a non-formal, community-based project, for instance, community leaders, teachers and local participants must plan together the way they wish to go. If, instead, the locus is a formal educational institution, then managers, headmasters, teachers, youth leaders, parents and children must be involved. A peace education imposed from above in a detached and arbitrary manner is likely to fail, either in the way it functions or in the measure of its effectiveness.
No doubt, the formal institution is the most difficult place to implement peace education. School managements, for example, are likely to have scores of reasons to prove that it is impracticable. But some of the greatest hindrances to peace education are caused by management boards that are socially or culturally polarised by stereotypical thinking and behaving. Yet, it is precisely in such contexts that peace education is most needed. In such situations, it is important to keep the whole process of implementation transparent, so as to avoid misconceptions of hidden agendas or fears of ideological indoctrination imposed by dominant groups.
I put forth one approach that, I believe, has a sure chance of success. The first step is to select the right teachers and to get them trained in the use and application of this manual. They are the ones who will be entrusted with the responsibility of guiding the project through the various stages. For this purpose, appropriate training programmes are being planned. The second stage is to get these same teachers to create enthusiasm for peace education by making it known in varied and creative ways. It is their responsibility to pose relevant questions concerning its need and viability either within the curriculum or alongside it.
If a climate of scepticism and polarisation renders the initiation controversial, a more objective manner of beginning may be necessary. I suggest that this be done either through an action research in which the effect of peace education is objectively tested , or with a team of representative 'observers' who are invited to participate in the pilot peace education programme.
The pilot would involve the implementation of a small selection of peace lessons on a group of students for a specific period of time e. During this period, the levels of change in perception and behaviour of the participating students need to be observed and recorded. Appropriate questionnaires may have to be devised for this purpose. This documentation, which forms part of the action research, will reveal whether the education imparted is making a qualitative difference in the students' knowledge, behaviour, attitude and skills. The stage of evaluation and reflection on the action research or on the reports of the observers then follows.
The students share their opinion of the mini course they have attended. The proposal to have a similar or more advanced implementation programme for the entire school is discussed. If the proposal is passed the peace education course can begin. A realistic and detailed plan needs to be drawn up to implement peace education within the school curriculum. The following factors would need to be considered: My work in media education, from to , served as a stimulant to this involvement.
I discovered that at the core of media education lay fundamental questions regarding the dignity of the human person, human rights and responsibilities, truth, equality, democracy, justice, development and peace. I felt I needed to probe these questions further. It became apparent that the urgency of a peace education programme was indispensable.
I then applied myself to the study of various peace education initiatives used in South Asia as well as other parts of the world. Newer and more participatory approaches to peace education in the light of the South Asian context were found necessary to complement and support the good that was already being done by various peace organizations across the subcontinent. Gradually the manual began to take shape in its present form. It is, one might say, the result of my own search for meaning in a world that is profiteering dangerously in the name of 'justified' wars at the expense of justice and peace.
I wish to present this work as an 'experiment' for South Asian educators, parents, community builders and youth leaders. While I trust, they will find it useful and easily adaptable, I am sure they will also find in it much to improve upon. With their help, their creativity and enthusiasm, I hope this experiment succeeds - perhaps in small insignificant corners of the subcontinent, through a network of educators and youth leaders who have the courage and goodwill to begin. And if, in the course of its implementation, it does make young people catalysts of change for a more tolerant and peace-filled world, then my efforts would have been amply rewarded.
In the course of my work on this project, I have come across many people who have shared my concern for peace. They have contributed much - through research, teaching resources, sharing ideas, availability and their prayerful solicitude. To them I am sincerely and immensely grateful. Do we have another option besides 'Peace Education'? To live alongside those who do harm and to look on without saying or doing anything to make a difference, and this is the sad part to teach our children to look on passively as well, perhaps, for generations to come!
It lays the foundation for a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that promotes a culture of peace. Throughout the book, the South Asian perspective is kept firmly in focus, although the application of the lessons suggested can be further contextualized. Each lesson is divided into the following parts: Paragraphs that explain procedure and content begin with dashes that are flush with the margin.
The rest of the paragraph from the second line onwards is indented. There are eight lesson-clusters as follows: We begin by promoting the child's self-esteem, dealt with in lessons 1 to 5. The participants are encouraged to tap into their resources through basic self-awareness and discovery exercises.
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A special emphasis is placed on feelings and the ability to identify and name them. In this second section, friendship and appreciation of others is fostered. Lessons 6 to 8 stress the importance of reaching out to appreciate and be appreciated. Lesson 9 highlights the need to feel secure and to be loved within the family. This is followed by lesson 10 on politeness, and lesson 11 on the importance of choosing wisely when making decisions. The third and fourth sections deal squarely with the reality of difference and the challenge to collaborate.
Difference, elaborated in lessons 12 to 15, is presented not only as a fact of life but also as the 'spice of life'. Through these lessons children are taught to appreciate and value the richness of diversity. Lesson 16 concludes this section with the explanation and practice of the Golden Rule. Lessons 17 and 18 present the risks that come with social diversity, namely, the threats to individual identity and the tendency to be hemmed in on oneself. The value of each individual is like the point of departure, whereas the importance of teamwork and collaboration is the point of arrival.
Through lessons 19 to 24, greed and competition are singled out for scrutiny while values that foster collaboration, such as generosity and trust, are emphasized. We then turn to a common behaviour pattern that disturbs children during their pre- teen years - the fact of bullying. Lessons 25 to 28 help students to identify bullying behaviours, to honestly evaluate the quality of their own relationships and to take necessary steps, both individually and collectively, to put an end to bullying.
A reality check helps educators test the extent of bullying in their schools. Conflict resolution skills are dealt with in lessons 29 to These are drill exercises which require memorization in order to facilitate easy recall in daily conflict situations. The lively role-plays enable children to discuss conflicts and study ways to emerge as mutual winners. The environment in South Asia is a matter of concern. Through lessons 37 to 40, children are taught that peace and pollution do not mix.
They are challenged to take responsibility for a cleaner and less wasteful environment by forming their own waste-management habits and extending their concern to the neighbourhood. Finally, lessons 41 to 53 deal with the issue of peace and the enhancement of a 'Culture of Peace'. Although the lessons are arranged for different ages, they are best oriented for teenagers between 15 to 17 years. Finally, the UN's proposal for a 'Culture of Peace' is studied and personalised through the invitation extended to each student to take the peace pledge.
It will prove useful if all or a significant portion of the exercises are methodically taught to the same set of students. Kindly see page for the correlation between the manual and workbook indices.
Product description
The sectional division of lessons below suits the capacities of participants within the respective age groups mentioned, although some lessons are adaptable for other ages as well. The diagram below explains the general plan underlying the lessons. The various themes A to G combine to lay the essential foundation for a culture of peace H.
Note to the teacher: Let the participants extend their hands and feet as much as possible. Then ask them to turn to the right, then to the left. Let them follow you as you demonstrate. Then ask them to squat on the floor. Children, do you like yourselves? Let the children speak up - they may not have followed the question but may want to speak up all the same. Do not correct them. This is an opportunity for them to express themselves.
Your comments should encourage them to do so. Their answers could range from positive to negative. Maintain that it is fine to have different feelings. We are going to clap for ourselves. A nice broad smile! This can be done individually for the first time and together for the rest of the time, depending on the number of students in the class. Choose to do this either individually or together as above.
The teacher may repeat this exercise again on other occasions. In case you need to ask me anything, I am available. After they have finished, allow them to share their answers for points 6 to 10 in groups of three or four. Wait for them to answer. The sun makes the sunflower happy. Distribute the worksheet - Take out your colour pencils or crayons and colour the sunflower. It will help you to be happy wherever you are. Put a lively tune to the poem below the picture of the sunflower in order to help children memorize the importance of self-esteem. Give yourself some dots and dashes and a nice curvy smile.
Here are three things I like to do. These are the three people who make me happy: I feel really happy when ……. How much do I like myself? I like myself because… 1 4 2 5 3 6 I am a sunflower. I am a sunflower. I want to shine, shine, shine my light. I want to grow, grow, more and more. An atmosphere of trust and a positive teacher-student relationship is important for this lesson.
If these pre-requisites do not exist, and you think that the children are unwilling to share, it would be better to postpone this lesson. I went to the market to buy a few things. I was carrying a big bag and had dropped my purse into it. The market was crowded. In the midst of the crowd I suddenly saw a friend of mine from my school days. I was very happy to meet her. We talked about the old days and the fun that we once had. After sometime, we bid each other goodbye and I continued walking towards the shop. Upon reaching it, I ordered the things I needed and asked for the bill.
Someone had stolen it. I was so thrilled to meet my friend that I did not realize that I had been robbed. Since I could not buy a thing, I returned home disappointed. That evening, I felt unhappy. No one should be forced to share. This is what the one who is speaking has to remember. Share a story from your life when you did not like yourself. Tell your group how you felt. You sit with your body facing the person directly. You do not look at him over your shoulder or from the side You make eye contact - that is, you look at the one who is speaking, without being distracted with other things such as what is happening in class, what are the other groups doing, etc.
Try to look into the eyes of the one who is speaking. Once this has been explained, give them time to recall a story, then begin. Since this sharing can be sensitive, be alert for any light-headedness. Finally, end the class on a positive note. This could happen for many reasons as your stories show.
We cannot remain sunflowers forever. Sometimes we are happy to be ourselves, at other times we are not. And this is fine. The teacher mimes the following feelings before the whole class and asks them to call out the feeling by saying "You are feeling Yawn and look drowsy. Ensure that they do not disclose the words to others. Now invite each one to come before the class and mimic the feeling- word they have. The entire class, except the group they belong to, guesses the right feeling-word enacted. Ensure that the group leader encourages different members to have a chance to come forward so that no one feels left out.
Write out the correct feeling-words on the board for all to memorize. Expanding their vocabulary of feeling-words: Now distribute the sheet, 'Feeling Faces'. For higher class participants - Try to think of a different feeling-word for each face each time, without repeating any. Give each group time to complete this exercise. Then go through it together as a class by inviting responses from all.
Fill in the blanks wherever they need help. You could take a hint about the right feeling-words from the next lesson. Distribute the sheet 'Fifty Feeling-words', or display the chart. Go through each of the feeling-words briefly explaining with examples wherever necessary. Encourage them to learn by heart some of these words. This could mean giving them time to memorize within the lesson itself, or at home.
When they are able to recall the words adequately, conduct the quiz below. Tell the class that they are going to have a feelings game. It is important that they enter into the mood of the feeling described rather than be worried about giving the right answer. If they are struggling for the word, they may be helped along with the help of the 'Fifty Feeling-words'.
How would you feel if you passed in your exam? I would feel happy. How would you feel if you were given more homework for this evening? How would you feel if your family went for a picnic? How would you feel if your best friend did not invite you to his birthday party? How would you feel if an elephant came to school? How would you feel if your teacher gave your neighbour a chocolate? How would you feel if you were left alone in the dark? How would you feel if you failed your class?
How would you feel if a lion entered your room? How would you feel if your Dad gave you a pet dog for your birthday? How would you feel if you stole something and were caught? How would you feel if you had a headache this evening and an exam the next day? How would you feel if your sister was given a bigger piece of cake than you? How would you feel if you saw your mother crying? How would you feel if you were teased at school? How would you feel if you were left out of the school cricket team? How would you feel if you stood first in a race? How would you feel if you finished last in the race?
How would you feel if you saw your teacher watching you copy during the exam? How would you feel if your principal declared a holiday tomorrow? Now reverse the exercise. Invite students to think up experiences from real life that fit those feeling- words not covered by the list above. From their experience of being distracted could they think up a proper question?
Why is it important to identify feelings? For example, the more we like or feel good about mathematics, the more eager we are to learn it; and the more we are able to remember details about it. Feelings add value to the information received by the brain. When switched on we begin to react in certain ways.
This lesson may be divided into two segments of 30 minutes each. Getting to know one's own self through what one likes: These are things we like. When someone gives me an ice-cream, I feel good. These are things we like doing. For example, when I play my favourite game, I feel happy. These are people I like. For example, when I am with my father I feel happy. Let's call it 'A List of my Favourites'. Distribute 'A List of my Favourites'. Give the children about 10 minutes to fill in their entries.
Now invite them to look at what they have written and to say to themselves: Give them time to internalise this affirmation. Sharing their Lists and Listening. Once they are arranged in groups, remind them of the importance of active listening explained on page 4. Give them ample time to complete their sharing. You could help them with further questions like: Were your lists of favourites the same as the others in your group?
What did you feel when someone else also liked what you liked? What did you feel when someone liked what you did not choose as your favourite? It is precisely the reason why we have a world of variety, of different colours, of people with varied skills, of many scientists and inventors who have created different kinds of inventions. We must encourage differences as they serve to make our world a lot better than it already is. This session could be split into two sessions of 30 minutes each, with points 2 and 3 taken together.
Encourage them to take their time and to read what they have to say first, before they make eye contact and reveal what they like about each other. That it's great to be in their company? That you are angry or irritated about him? That you do not want him anywhere near? The answers may vary. But draw their attention to the importance of 'positive stroking', or our ability to share with people what we like about them.
Positive stroking is about making people feel good because we genuinely appreciate them. Follow the procedure described above. Now ask the class: I felt happy, I felt good, I felt generous I felt on 'top of the world', I felt great, happy, thrilled. For more words, see p. In this way you can motivate yourself and carry on. Make encouragement a way of living with others: If we praised the other as often as we could: Would we not be happy people? And would we not make others happy too? Why do we feel happy when we are 'stroked positively'?
Make a comparison, once again, with pets. This session may be spread over two periods of 30 minutes each. Qualities of good friendship: What do you like most about your friend or friends? Invite them to write out their answers first, then let them share these with the rest of the class. Encourage and appreciate them for their answers.
Search for qualities of 'good friendship' and make a list of these qualities. Supplement the following list to the list already arrived at by the students. A good friend is someone who comes to help you when you are in need. A good friend is someone who listens and understands. A good friend is someone that you can trust and with whom you can share secrets. A good friend is someone who is honest 5. A good friend is someone who encourages you.
A good friend is someone who defends you. A good friend is someone who does not force you to do what you do not want to do. A good friend is someone who does not force you to do what you should not do. A good friend is someone who corrects you when you are wrong. A good friend is someone who works for your good.
Each of these points may need some explanation with appropriate examples. The things that break a friendship: These things cause friendships to break. Invite them to write out their responses and then let them share. Here are some examples. How to strengthen friendship: Make the first move. Be ready to make friends. Start with a smile, introduce yourself and get to know the other person's name. Get to know people. Show that you are interested in them. Do not talk about yourself. Be a good listener. Look at people while they talk to you. Pay attention to what they say. Tell them about what you like, your favourites, your hobbies.
But, do not brag or show off your skills. Be honest and sincere. Do not flatter your friends or cheat on them. Be courteous and kind. Do not be rude in your language. Do not use your friends. Do not be friendly only when you need them or when you wish to use them as sounding boards for your ideas and problems. Express your readiness to meet them even when you have good times to share.
Do not force your friends in any way. Respect their right to choose freely. Learn to differ agreeably. There are times when what your friends say or do may not be according to your ways of thinking and behaving. How can you make your friends respect your freedom? This delicate aspect of true friendship is never easy and takes time to learn. If you wish to disagree, do so with respect and without hurting anyone.
Display these photos on a notice board for all to see. However, this is a mood setting device and is not essential to the lesson. Can you remember the best birthday party you may have had? Various answers are solicited Dad, Mum, Uncles and Aunts, relatives, friends? Talk about the joys of a birthday for some time. Then focus on the feelings. It is the 'feeling of belonging' and the 'feeling of being surrounded by loved ones'. Whatever the answers from the students, write them on the board - under the title 'My Birthday Party'.
Lost at the Fair: Now, when they have shared enough, invite the class to sit still You are going to share with them another experience.
Ask them to close their eyes Now read the following text slowly and with expression. You are the best judge to decide if this story may affect them adversely. Imagine accompanying your mother to the fair. You are so delighted with everything you see - the noise, the music, the people, the children, the dancing, the games, the giant wheel, the merry-go-round. Everything is so fascinating. You hold on to mummy's hand as you go from one shop to the other Mother then tells you to sit down on the ground as she is going to buy you something to eat Just then a clown comes near and begins teasing a little boy playing in the sand.
Your attention is drawn to the clown who is so very funny. He begins with some tricks, he somersaults, he balances on his head, it seems exciting. As he moves away, you get up and follow him, as so many other children do. He makes people sit in a circle, calls the children in front and then performs tricks with other clowns. It is now even more fascinating. You really enjoy your evening The sun begins to set.
The crowd is leaving. You suddenly realise that your mother is not with you! All the children who were sitting near you are with their mothers or fathers, and they are going home. But you do not know where your mother is. You begin to get frightened. Where are you, Mummy! You cannot recognize your mother in any of them. You begin to cry. A policeman comes and takes you by the hand. But you do not want to go. You are now even more scared. You ask yourself, "Is he going to take me to jail?
Give them time to come back to reality. Make them feel that it was only a fantasy. Let them share their answers in groups of three. I missed my mother. The crowd was unknown to me - there was no one I could recognize. I was scared that I would not be found by my mother ever again. The sense of belonging: Fun, enjoyable, exciting, joy of having Fun, enjoyable, feeling of excitement many people around, especially and joy, lots of people, children… children. The only one who is known my mother , is nowhere around. Unique feeling I feel loved, I feel I am in the company I am not known to anyone except my of those who are mine and those who mother.
I do not know anyone except are for me. I belong to them and they my mother. Where is my mother? If belong to me. I belong to my mother. My mother is mine. I want my mother. Allow the class to deepen this concept through the sharing of experiences. It helps us grow as human beings from the time we are babies.
We learn many things through the sense of belonging: Role plays Given below is a list of scenarios for role-play. The actors act out the ill-mannered behaviours explained below. The text in italics is an invitation by the teacher to enable students point out the problem in the behaviour, and suggest remedies for well-mannered behaviour. The actors then repeat the scenario using the respectful behaviour.
The actors in the role play may be trained before the class begins. X and Y are having a discussion. Y speaks only after he has swallowed his food. X talks with food in his mouth. X and Y are eating at table. Suddenly X stretches his hand to pick up a glass on the opposite end of Y thus blocking Y from proceeding with his meal. What should X have done? X and Y are busy talking about the latest film they have seen. Z comes in with urgent news and interrupts their conversation. What should Z say if he wishes to speak? Four people are in a queue at a second class railway ticket counter.
In comes a fifth man in a suit and tie and begins to walk to the front of the queue to buy his ticket. X is talking while Y listens. Y suddenly begins to sneeze without covering his mouth. The teacher is free to add other scenarios from daily life. Etiquette Songs and poems After having performed the role plays it is important that children make it a habit to use polite behaviour in their daily lives, beginning with their families.
The songs and poems on the following pages will deepen this learning and will serve as useful reminders to respect others by practicing rules of politeness. We have learned from our childhood how to greet each other, how to meet our elders, how to eat and drink at a feast, how to Etiquette is not a fence that divides people but unites them. When you want to request something, ask a favour, etc. When you are grateful for something or for a good deed done to you. When you wish to refuse an offer made by another person. When you want to get past someone, or call attention, or sneeze.
When you want to ask permission in a formal environment. When someone thanks you. They can be taken up again at regular intervals in the lessons that follow. Three Nice Mice Sung to the tune of: The Jalebi Song they cover their noses whenever they Sung to the tune of: Recite in choral fashion: We listen when folks talk to us. When we say it so politely. Good Manners are never out of style. There are two little…..
The numbers must match the number of students present in the class. Let's begin counting from one Have several rounds of choices in this manner. The variety of instructions follows: Here is a list of instructions to the students. This list contains a variation in the manner of choosing the items that are placed before them.
It will help them reflect on the central theme of the lesson, namely, 'making choices'. Ask the student or students to choose an item. Ask the student to make a choice from among only those items that are red in colour. Think of a friend in this class. Pick up two numbers at one time. Invite both the students to come up together. Now B does the same for A. This time make A choose any item for B without asking B's opinion.
Make B do the same for A. Soyuzmultfilm has a golden collection of popular existing projects, plus new projects. All this is more than suitable for licensing, this commercial pattern works, so, naturally, we use it. Do you have plans for the development of computer games, mobile applications, VR and AR technology-based projects? Of course, we are going to use all channels to communicate with viewers and are now researching AR. We are building a brand, and it includes not only the production of consumer goods, but also cross-platform features.
We will inevitably develop graphic art with our characters and universes, as well as everything related to content. The duties of the CEO include the protection of copyright. The Aeroplane Productions studio has some arbitration lawsuits per year. Are you planning to get down to this business more closely? We have a lot of legal proceedings. Those that more actively use licensing have more problems with piracy.
Soyuzmultfilm still has many issues even with organization we have contracts with. Like Russian folk tales, it does not seem to belong to anyone, and everyone can use it and commercialize it. Such issues may not even reach arbitration courts. It is more often solved during pre-trial via correspondence. In any case, it is a large part of our activities, because it is important to keep our rights and relations with contractors in order. Now the studio is in a state of chain reaction. It is growing, and we have spent the first six months on management.
Now we have just got down to internal production and some of it will be outsourced, because it is impossible to do all the tasks at once in the same house. At the same time, we want to build a full-fledged chain production with a variety of techniques, all computerized, and suitable for a large number of shows we have planned. This is why we need in 3D and 2D technology specialists.
I want to apply to Soyuzmultfilm. Where should I send my CV? Your website is down for some reason. Send it at info souzmult. All mail goes to different departments from there. If you send a CV, we recommend to attach your portfolio as well. It goes to the HR, and if your specialty is immediately clear, then it gets to our creative producers, looking for talents. The Soyuzmultfilm website is down at the time, because it has to be remade from scratch. We will launch it again soon.
As usual, by the word of mouth. Valuable specialists are handed over from one company to another. We have a strong team of creative and executive producers, as well as project producers. Igor Kovalev is our general producer. We use their contacts, but we also involve traditional recruiting resources. How big is your staff involved in production, like animation artists, designers, computer graphics specialists, modellers?
We actually plan to have people employed, including managers. I trust our producers. They do have an eye for good employees, and they are much more professional at that than I am. We have planned a lot. Over the past year, we started all activities we had planned, and this is actually surprising. First, one of the most important tasks has been done: Before that, everything was too slow; we could do nothing about the production.
Soyuzmultfilm was packed and ready to go, with no idea if the construction would ever end, whether the building in the Dolgorukovskaya street would still belong to us. Last summer we began to move; everything was finished by autumn. A lot of time was spent on the redeployment of the puppet shop, as we had to transport all the equipment and a huge amount of scenery that remained after the filming of the full-length Gofmaniada. After that, life began to improve. We started licensing, marketing activities, and PR of the studio from scratch, because Soyuzmultfilm was already a brand.
It does not happen too often that the studio name is so well-known. This should be done to ensure that Soyuzmultfilm as a brand continues to exist and does not dissolve in the media space. We also do research and development, because we need to compartmentalize the year history, continue to study it. We are also engaged in exhibitions; we made an exhibition of Khitruk last year, this year we have three more themed exhibitions. One of them is devoted to the anniversary of the puppetry shop: Soyuzmultfilm started puppet animation 65 years ago.
We also do training, because some people need to develop their skills, and we have to get new blood. It is hard to find such numbers of perfect specialists, so we arrange refresher courses, teach people how to work with the specific software needed for our projects. Fortunately, the studio can now afford long-term planning for several years ahead, so we have some idea of what specialists we will need in the future. Production groups can make something for third-party studios, and producer groups can produce projects that cannot be implemented in Soyuzmultfilm. We do welcome this line of work.
It would also be nice to try co-production with foreign studios in the future. We have two more new activities for Soyuzmultfilm, for which we had to fight within the Animation Film Association. We are now trying to establish cooperation with Skolkovo. We have the status of their resident. We want to start developing animation technologies at their territory.
This year they are laucnhing a technology park. There will be an incubator for other studios, where they could come for cheap, by Moscow standards, and launch their animation project using the technologies of Soyuzmultfilm. We knew that Moscow provides a special economic status for technology parks, designed for science-intensive production.
Animation fits there perfectly, except for the scale of the industry. It is so small that the government of Moscow will have to specifically tailor the standards to our needs, because they like the idea of having such a place in the city. This park could be used by any animation studio with a live project that needs pushing and cutting economic risks of its launch.
We have had some experience with Cerebro in the Airplane Productions, so we already knew what the system was capable of. It was obvious that we could not do without it. There are a lot of projects, we have to multitask all the time. The probability of data loss is, of course, very high. That is why we have been using the system since summer or autumn, and it will be implemented into our pool of projects. Cerebro is running the current series; the design dept is to switch to it soon, because their tasks are arranged similarly to those of the film crew.
It creates a single information space, where nothing is lost. For example, I have no time to go into the details of all tasks, but it is important for me that opening Cerebro, I can immediately understand whether the projects are progressing, whether any issues arise.
So first of all, I track it when something slows down. I have recently heard that you plan to restore old cartoons. How will this happen? Will you outsource them, or will you work in-house? We will learn to do this in-house, because fortunately, Soyuzmultfilm already has some experience with such things. In 80 years, the studio has made 1, different animations. Many of them are in the archives, and no one has even tried to digitize them, everyone has forgotten they exist, they are not shown anywhere. Moreover, they are on the shelf simply because no one had bothered taking them out, not because they are so outdated.
But there are a lot of interesting things among them. At least professionals must be excited. Some time ago, Georgy Borodin organized a wonderful and useful lecture dedicated to Dezhkin. It traced the evolution of a person on Soyuzmultfilm, his establishment as a legendary animation artist. We want to gradually digitize and restore our entire collection, because some materials are lost, and the film has degraded in some places.
Of course, this will take more than a year. At the very least, we need to solve the problem with the jittering frame, also deal with abrasions, cracks, and scratches. The most global problem is when the original color is gone. This happens, for example, if the source master is lost and only copies with different color are left. There are only a few specialists in the country who have been doing such projects and can manage them. They find installation sheets, check all copies, look for differences. Then the material is digitized, made consistent, people search the archives for original sketches, tracing papers, celluloids, and with the help of all this we can restore the film.
This is a huge process, very tiresome and slow. First of all, we will work with the more recent projects, then move to the past. For example, now we want to develop special software to restore full features, because they can be re-released in the cinemas. Distributors are somewhat interested, because it is at least beautiful.
We remove everything that is considered technical drawbacks; do color correction, restore the soundtrack. I cannot even say which is more difficult to restore, because the source images are usually saved, but the sound source may be lost forever. In this case, you have to add new sounds or re-voice the whole thing. We have just started, so we do not yet understand the scale of what is ahead of us. In any case, our main task is to restore the films as they were, not to remake them.
There are several reasons. First, we are a strong brand. The Soyuzmultfilm brand is simply nice to belong to. Second, although the studio has a long history, we are practically a startup now. At the same time, we are in a much more favorable situation than most startups, because we enjoy the support of the brand, the state, businesses, and a large number of experts.
The support is so strong that any our project has very high chances of success. And why is it good to be in a startup? Because there is a lot going on around, and if you want to develop as a specialist and do interesting tasks, this is the place for you. Besides, when everything is just starting, you can participate in the establishment, building the processes the way they should look from your point of view.
Now you have a lot of completely different projects. How do you find specialists in computer graphics, design, animation, and artists? Do they come to you by themselves? People know that Soyuzmultfilm is reviving, and we have a large stream of incoming CVs for different specialties. We use all profile groups in social media. For some reason, there are more animation artists on VKontakte than on Facebook.
We use job search websites as well, but we look for animation artists elsewhere. They usually come specifically to work with some heads of production groups. Our projects are managed by well-known producers, so the chance to work with them does sound attractive. Young specialists come too; for example, when a producer of a series gathers a group of students, trains them, chooses the best ones, and invites them to their team. Our project managers also teach in different colleges and institutions, where they can find talented and diligent young people. This has not happened yet. Planned recruitment seems a nice way out of this situation.
Then, if we assume it will be hard to find a person for a job, we can find someone with a lower qualification, but with suitable personal qualities and skills in advance and train them to the required level of competence. We are currently developing a training system at the studio, which will allow us to fill the positions not only with outside specialists, but with our own trained employees as well. Tell us, what are your requirements to job seekers? Surely they are high. For example, if an artist wants to work for you, what do you require of them?
The artist has to send us their portfolio. After that we give them a test task. If we like the portfolio, and if the task is done well, then it makes sense to meet the person. Apart from meeting the direct supervisor, the person must communicate with our department, because even those who come for temporary projects have a chance to get permanent employment. We have a pool of permanent workers, who perform different projects depending on the production schedule.
We always meet with people before long-term cooperation, because if a person stays with us for a long time, no matter how we document our relations, they have to fit in. It is important that people are on the same wavelength. Now, as far as I can see, the team has already clicked together. We are working on it, and I hope we will succeed. Cerebro continues publishing interviews with customers. We talk with producers, project managers, and other industry professionals.
What can possibly be closer than that? In fact, for a long time I was a producer of music video projects. Besides, we were making ads. All the same, everything comes to post-production, so while working on projects, I had to deal with VFX, and this was how I first got acquainted with the industry. They were self-taught, like the majority of our generation, and they showed me their work. I was so interested that I started edging closer and closer to the VFX, until I gradually turned to this side of good and evil.
We are from Lithuania, and unlike Moscow, we do not have good online schools. When we first started, there were only few materials available on the Internet. OKTA was created by such self-taught people, who liked their work. Initially, many were very surprised that this hobby could eventually turn into a business. The market for TV advertising and television itself are becoming secondary. The product formats are changing—the ads themselves, requirements to them, and prices are now completely different.
Cinematography is now experiencing tough competition with video games. Along with the new opportunities, there are new interesting areas of work. Now we are engaged in both new things and older things. We are having interesting VR and AR projects and at the same time, we are engaged in large-scale traditional projects: The project has received an Emmy nomination, which is a major achievement for a Japanese TV show. Their market is quite secluded, and they do not have many world-famous TV projects at the moment. As for virtual reality, we are working on my favourite project, an interactive animated feature.
More precisely, it is a meditative VR journey into the world created by the famous Lithuanian painter M. It is going to be really great and beautiful, and we are very pleased to work on it. We also make projects with our French partners. And the project received international coverage. How many studios participate in your projects? How many people overall? We work with new studios a lot. Our projects engage a large number of people; we have different approaches to the selection of teams. We have a coworking space in the studio in Vilnius, where we try to gather the best VFX specialists in the region.
We have customers all over the world, but our employees mainly live in eastern Europe. Now this is the basic approach of our studio, although the cycle of development already calls for another permanent team on the spot. However, this does not mean that we are going to suspend outsourcing activities. The work system in Japan is very different from Western countries, for example, the U. The Americans tend to have a project-based approach: As for the Japanese, every new project is meant to create a relationship between partners. We try to work less with new studios, and even though it is always good to expand the circle, we emphasize the development of relations with old partners.
At the same time, we limit their number, so that we have enough time to know each other. If we work on several projects with one studio, then our mutual understanding improves, we hone the basics to find some common ground, and the result becomes better every time. Also, could you tell us about the effects that look very simple, but are hard to implement? It tracks the environment very effectively, bringing lots of interesting opportunities.
We use these opportunities on our new project and implement them in an unusual way. The hardest task is the effects, which are not intended to be seen. So you start thinking: Therefore, saying that you like different and good films is the same as saying nothing. I have favourite directors and films. They are all completely different, but each of them interests me in their own way. Despite the fact that we did a lot of animation, I myself d not like it anymore. Projects of major American companies have merged into one big animated feature in my head, and each subsequent film is of no interest for me at all.
It is much like changing a theme on your phone; the phone stays the same, but the colours are different. In these projects, huge money is invested, so they are afraid to step away from the adopted formula. Step to the left, step to the right are like an attempt to escape, a jump in place is a provocation.
Thanks to my son, I have discovered a huge world of Japanese animation, it was a breath of fresh air. People make animation relatively cheap, but they are not afraid that it will be too difficult to perceive. Viewing such stories often brings a great intellectual pleasure. They are really not afraid to seem weird and go beyond the templates, but at the same time, they manage to keep your attention on what is happening. What surprises you and inspires you when you solve problems? It is not always pleasant, but sometimes it is. When working on a project, I am inspired by the sense of globalization and the opportunity to work with people regardless of their location.
You choose not the person who is available next to you, but the person with whom or for whom you really want to work. I really like globalization in this respect. This is so cool. This is the downside of globalization—you never have an established working day. The work begins when you get up and ends when you go to sleep. Somebody is always working in any given moment, and there are issues that need to be addressed urgently. Cerebro is one of the solutions to these problems. Such tools help solve problems, provide answers to questions, because people, especially in the Eastern countries, are completely different.
When we started working with a Japanese linear producer, he answered at any time of the day. I, as a normal person, thought, if I send an email at night so as not to forget about it later , the other person will wake up and answer in the morning. So I would send a letter or a Skype message and then immediately get the answer. If something happens, I can quickly respond and go back to sleep. Earlier, we partially used Cerebro in our daily work, but since the situation in the studio has changed, we have to start anew. Using Cerebro should bring our interaction to a new level.
This will add to our comfort and improve teamwork. Working with versions, comments, a single space with constantly updated information is what we need. Of course, this is much more convenient than Google Docs, which we used before. At the moment, we plan to improve our work using Cerebro. As compared with an open-source product, there is a huge contrast. Cerebro is a commercial tool and our main task is to study and configure functions, and not create them from scratch.
On the other hand, throwing everything away and switching to another software after having put in this so much effort was hard. However, the upsides did outweigh the downsides, and the overall impression was good. As of now, we have one account, our partner has another one, and we cannot communicate with each other; we have to switch to one common account.
We had projects when we worked with several studios at the same time, using Cerebro; in one case we were a customer, in the other we were an ordering party. So we needed to have two clients and switch between them, which was not so easy. It created a lot of difficulties. If there were some ways for two partners to efficiently work in a joint account, I would be happy.
There is our new interview with Dmitry Ostroglyadov from The Polden studio. The Polden studio, led by the General Producer Dmitry Ostroglyadov, creates a special advanced interactive technology ecosystem around itself. For 10 years, the team of Polden has been working on special effects in feature films, creating memorable advertising and image content, designing and implemented TV studios, developing design and arrangement solutions for museums, and, of course, implementing large-scale multimedia installations. The recent high-profile projects of the Polden studio even include self-developed technologies, such as the Polden binocular, which presents a new way to interact with the virtual reality.
In the sixth grade, I took an interest in programming and by the ninth grade, I was already working as a programmer at the Aviation Equipment Research Institute. As a first-year student, I became a motion designer for the NTV channel. By the way, I was the first person to employ Konstantin Kharitonov. We worked on some awful movie together.
Later, my friends and I established our own studio in my native town of Zhukovsky. Now we do quite a range of stuff: When it comes to cinema, we managed to work with both Bekmambetov and Bondarchuk. Fyodor Bondarchuk engaged us in the image part; the corporate style of his Art Pictures studio. We even branded clothes for the movie crew of Stalingrad. Our main competitive power is that we burrow ourselves into some non-technical, technically complex gaps of the industry.
We search for free niches and create something absolutely amazing. Our claims are supported by special effects to a huge number of feature films, over fifty. We also did architectural design for the Moscow 24 channel and worked with many museums: This is because we are doing what we love and not just making money. It is the same now; we undertake very risky projects, and this risk hardly pays off with satisfaction from breakthrough projects.
In this case, we have to quickly upgrade our skills to the required level. This is the main difficulty here, but we still get to do what we want and implement crazy things. Do you ever need to convince them in something? People pay for our competence, and we have to make all decisions. Our work is built on trust, so we sometimes balance on the verge of being rude when dictate what we think is right. We always insist on our vision, otherwise, it would be impossible to do anything cool.
We were making an unusual image-building clip, where we never showed the aircraft — neither airplanes, nor helicopters, nothing at all. We focused on the very functions of those and represented them with huge marine inhabitants flying in the air: A flock of fish was representing the friend-or-foe recognition system. Dolphins are very sensitive, so they worked as sensors, and so on. Such poetic comparisons help us brilliantly reflect the properties of industrial equipment. We also made a whole series of commercials for Russian Helicopters.
They are a commercially successful company, selling all over the world. In Russia, few can boast something like this. So we were thinking, how can one promote helicopters around the world. We made a clip about extinguishing fires. A fiery monster attacks the city, and helicopters fight it. Now we are starting clips on rescue, reconnaissance, and so on. This is an interesting approach when film cliches are used as an international language to create high-quality advertising.
As in many companies, the main burden falls on four to five people, and all the others are sort of running errands. Yours truly, in addition to being a CEO, also sells to key accounts and creates content. In Zhukovsky, our team was all friends and mutual understanding. Now we have grown as professionals and become more rational. Every time we make up absolutely different groups of people, depending on the technology we are using.
We use various management methods, and Cerebro is the only thing that helps us keep everything under control. Back then, Cerebro was not even being licensed, just sold.
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In the s, I took the main Cerebro players to the Pilot studio, where we were working on a high-tech TV tech calculation system. When I started my own business, I followed very closely what was happening to Konstantin and Co. For me, he has always been an authority when it comes to technology.
You can plan your expenses, tasks, track the working time. To understand where goes the money, we always use Cerebro. For those engaged in production, Cerebro is convenient because it may be tailored for a great variety of applications. We are engaged in both technology and creative projects, and this is well reflected in the ideology of Cerebro. I think it is cool when you can do something for several years, polishing it to the perfect state. We patented a binocular, i. Now we are going to make software, a repository that stores large volumes of multimedia data and tells entire stories about them.
We are also interested in expanding to neighbouring markets and developing new lines of business. This is why we are currently negotiating with the Polytechnic Museum, the X-5 Retail Group, and several museum funds engaged in the preservation of the historical heritage. I would like to develop my products and sell them all over the world. How was it developing and what are you doing now?
The studio had been small until we started Belka and Strelka. Three years ago we launched a branch office in Sarov. Now we are working on two feature films and two series. As we speak, we have finished four feature films. I cannot say the exact date of the release yet. Those are pretty old, we have long since finished them. Each consists of 7 episodes. However, both these series are still in demand on TV. I wonder why no one had done it before we did.
They were already heroes. The movie turned out quite successful, not only in Russia. It was localized in 45 languages and screened in countries, almost globally. Besides, we have two seasons of a series about them, episodes in total. Obviously, it is no match to Belka and Strelka it terms of box office revenue or coverage, but the film has something raw and true in it. How do you work with them?
At our studio, we solve all issues right off the bat; it takes ten minutes at most. Now we have to deal with everything via the Czechs, because they are the main mediator. For example, if we have a question to the guys from Belgium, it can take a week instead of 30 minutes. Thus, the work is slower than usual. Approval and receiving of materials from partners take a long time. The Czechs have initiated the project; they are responsible for the creative part.
Belgium takes over rendering and final picture. The film was launched in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on August I still have little clue as to what comes next. The studio employs some people in Moscow and the Sarov branch. Our policy is that we do not try to do everything in-house and delegate part of the work. For instance, we have a fruitful cooperation with India. They have a vast human resource pool, so the substitute bench is pretty extensive. Thus, if we are risking to miss a deadline, we can delegate our work to the Hinduses, and they will do everything alright. We were choosing from several companies, and now we work with the one that has a really good Lead Animator.
However, we are reducing our work with India these days, since the USD exchange rate makes it far less interesting. The better and cleaner is our layout, the better is the material we get from freelancers or India. In Moscow, we carefully set the master lighting, deal with models, make up the image, and only then we can delegate part of the job to a different studio. Sometimes it gets pretty scary, when you take the subway and see the ads of the movie there, knowing that a large part of it is not ready yet. Hollywood works the same way. For example, we are voicing our movie and see a foreign animated feature voiced at the same time, even though its release is also in a month.
And they are not voicing the final version, but only draft material. The Czechs had also done Hurvinek and the Magic Museum just a few days before the premiere. However, the transition was pretty hard. We were used to Excel sheets and only got Cerebro for testing by the second half of the Belka and Strelka project. Because you can mark something as ready in a program, while it might not be ready at all. Previously, the projects were printed on spreadsheets hanging on the wall, and the assistants were blacking out the cells.
Now, as we have switched to Cerebro , there is nothing on the wall but one common spreadsheet. We have set up a digital process and it works. For example, artists often do this thing when they approve something in the system and after a while are like: Which software do you use to track them? I know that other companies manage several brands, including those that belong to other people.
In our case, the entire volume of licensing information is in the head of one person. If you ask our director for licenses, she will tell you everything, including licence expiration dates and extension periods. Now we actually have one major license, Belka and Strelka. The license for the new series called Planet Ai has been added. There is also Hurvinek ; its licensing period will be short, because the cinema licence is valid for six months, but as a series, it works for decades. In , we entered the list of 25 best independent studios in the world according to the Animation Magazine.
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I mean, obviously, we are not Disney, nor are we Hollywood. But within ten years, we have turned into a large company in Russia. We are becoming visible in the world and will continue in the same spirit. The way Hurvinek will be received is crucial. This is the first serious project of this kind involving Russia. In the nearest future, we plan to complete two features. We also have several projects underway. We will definitely continue Planet Ai. They already want to make a sequel.
After that I started my studies. I entered the Tomsk State University, transferred to St. Petersburg a year later, and remembered about 3D graphics only on my third year of the military department, when they asked me to use 3D animation to demonstrate the S surface-to-air missile system: Perhaps, when I handed this project over and got the credit with no tests, I decided for myself that it would be nice to do this for a living.
I think the real kick-start of the whole story was the year , when I started working at the Begemot studio under Lenfilm. At the time, they did postproduction of various series and advertisements, and I happened to gain invaluable experience there, while working on the Master and Margarita series. I learned a lot and possibly got a new qualification there as a 3D generalist: Around , Begemot, unfortunately, fell apart, and the V-Jet studio separated from it. Everything there was the same: And then the Moscow-based Dago studio, which was doing postproduction for the Admiral movie back then, hired our studio to process 16 underwater shots.
I worked on them alone, from beginning to end; it was a turnkey project, so to speak. It involved texturing, modelling, rendering, animation, VFX, and compositing. When I handed these 16 shots over, Sergey Savenkov, supervisor of the Admiral project, invited me to a party in Moscow on the occasion of the opening night, and offered me a job.
So I worked for the Dago studio from to , where I was learning something new and honing my existing skills. In March , Kamal R. Kamalakannan , who had already worked with me, a freelancer, on the Indian movie Eega, invited me to Chennai to work for the EFX Prasad studio as a CG supervisor of one project. Two months later, I realized that first, leaving your family is hard, and second, teleworking is a thing.
So I suggested that we use Cerebro, because I had used it before, while working on the Smeshariki project in St. I thought, why not? They reviewed the proposal and found that it could be done. Everything was set up by June, so I went back to Petersburg to manage the project remotely. In April , Kamal offered me the next project, Puli , also Indian, quite interesting; and again, we did the entire postproduction cycle in Cerebro. We made some 2, shots within a year or so.
The project turned out pretty decent VFX-wise, but the script had its flaws, and unfortunately, the movie failed. Finally, in November , Kamal, already the supervisor of the Baahubali: The Conclusion project back then, invited me to work on the second part of the film. This was how I ended up there. Plus the scale — huge scenery with massive battle scenes, lots of characters, elephants, boars, and a lot more.
The script was very extensive. The director of the project, Rajamouli, is an incredibly creative person; he knows how to make everything very colourful. Of course, it was quite difficult to implement all these ideas. During the year and a half when I was working on the project, the main task of the VFX team was to implement all ideas from the script and fantasies of the director in a fairly short period of time, which eventually resulted in over two thousand shots.
How many studios participated in such a large-scale project? How were they selected, and how were the tasks distributed? Supervisor Kamal directly engaged in the selection; he has a lot of relevant experience. I think he chose exactly those who could come in handy. Global tasks were distributed to studios based on their qualification in different VFX areas.
The main difference from the Puli project is the number of studios; we had 36 instead of Perhaps, the main difference was the way tasks were distributed; they were not broken down shot-by-shot, but rather task-by-task. I mean, studios were sometimes not given the whole shot, but a specific task—for example, one place had to matchmove one shot, another one did models with textures, the third one did animation, the fourth one did lighting and rendering, while the fifth one made the final composition.
Thus, we were able to make the most of the strongest points of each studio. On the other hand, interaction between studios could cause extra difficulties, but in this case Cerebro allowed us to minimize them. He is a unique person and director. His main distinguishing quality is that he completely immerses himself in all new issues and difficulties together with the VFX team to look for the best ways to solve them along with others.
Many directors avoid getting involved in the process to that extent, especially in VFX, because people usually think this is strictly for IT experts, and no one cares how they get it done. Rajamouli, however, was with us through the whole cycle, at every stage, making an effort to ensure that this project is brought to life. It is also worth mentioning that during the edit, when he reviewed final shots, he always recorded a video feedback to help supervisors and all people involved in post-production understand what exactly was the problem and make the changes he needed.
Moreover, you could always call him directly and quickly solve some issues. Working with him was very comfortable, and if he ever suggested that we did something together again, I would happily embark on this opportunity. Probably, the hardest part was the last month on the project, when we had some 1, shots left out of 2, This was the most difficult, because the deadline was too close for so many shots and tasks that had been given a year and a half before, if we count preproduction. We had very little time, even though 36 studios and some 1, digital artists were working on this together. Are there some that look simple enough, but are very difficult to implement?
The very first sequence, the one with the elephant. It has two shots; we had to make a large dummy stuffed with straw, and the main character was to shoot it with an arrow to set fire. These two shots, that take 5 seconds on screen, took our Houdini freelancer almost a year to finish. You see, that person had to spend a year over a task of course, he had other tasks as well , which will literally last an instant in the film.
Working on each sequence was different and interesting, the tasks varied greatly. This is what makes our work of VFX artists exciting: I believe that many people choose this profession precisely because there is no humdrum, no feeling that you live the same groundhog day all the time. Every single day is absolutely unlike the other: The director is an incredibly imaginative person, and all the tasks were quite complex and interesting, and this was the most important thing for me.
Therefore, I cannot think of anything special. So the list is pretty random. However, I have a personal quirk that stands in the way: You have but a month before the delivery, the deadline, and you still have a huge number of shots to process. Personally, I really want to believe that this experience will help me reduce, if not completely eliminate, the amount of raw material by the end of my next project.
For me, this is the main problem, since technical issues can be solved, but initial planning is, of course, a much more sensitive thing,. How did you use Cerebro? How quickly did the team get accustomed to it? There were no real issues; everything was smooth. When people knew we were switching from Excel to Cerebro, where everything is structured, everything is visible, the assets are stored, so everything can be downloaded from there, they realized it was really convenient and minimized the postproduction time. I think everyone was happy; it actually helped us finish this project on time.
I would even say, if it were not for Cerebro, we would not have delivered it on time at all. One of the most basic and hottest functions for me as a CG supervisor was audiovisual commenting in Mirada: I used it up to a hundred times per day.
Of course, I did also plan some tasks, but less often; this was mainly done by our Cerebro project managers. The most important feature for me was, specifically, audiovisual commenting and the ability to track overdue critical tasks; that is, understanding what exactly needs the greatest attention at the moment. All these things that are difficult to cover at once, when you have 2, shots and 1, employees.
The ability to work with them comfortably day-to-day helped us make this project. There was one thing that was not so much annoying as inconvenient. I mean, not everyone has a fast Internet connection. Since the server Cerebro file server was in Germany, and people worked in India, in the U. Sometimes it was 1, 2, 3 hours, other times—5 to However, Cerebro always puts the identification bulb symbol above the list, so I click it once to be redirected to this task.
But the file is still uploading! I mark it as unseen. After a while, the symbol appears above the list, again. I click it and get to the same place. These situations had me manually scroll through the bulbs to see exactly what I needed. I think it would be better if such tasks were moved to the beginning or the end of the list according to their priority. That is, the bulb should not appear above, but rather below. Do you know what else I would improve? When working on the project, we generate a fairly large amount of statistical data. For example, how much time this particular task has taken.
Like, we have a MatchMove task here. It contains frames, for instance, and processing took 9 hours. If we analyze such statistical data for all tasks, Cerebro could greatly contribute to planning in the future. Having all the statistics on tasks, a database of previous projects, the system could tell how long the task would take, so that people would not have to think about it at all.
This would cut the performance time and brought about some kind of an AI. We will definitely see about it. Thank you very much for the conversation. We wish you creative success! And I wish you success with your product as well. The explanation is very simple: I graduated from the university as an architect in , while computer technologies and three-dimensional computer graphics were just starting to gain popularity. They were already available to mere mortals, not hidden somewhere in secret labs of Pixar.
Architects tend to dig such things, because you study perspective and shadow projections for years and draw everything manually, and then you suddenly can make a computer do it in your stead and get an efficient image of your future house without any struggle. That was what got at me in the first place. I took an interest in it, and it turned out to be in high demand. My first ten years as an architect actually involved me being some kind of a visualizing architect, meaning that I was mostly engaged in computer graphics. Ordering people around is pretty much the only thing I am capable of these days.
I believe most professions work like that: Then you find yourself having a whole team to manage, then you realize that you barely perform tasks anymore, because you are mostly managing. After that you know you can deal with any number of people and start managing full-time. And if you have grown in the very same industry, you are not just a manager of whatever; you are a manager in a certain field of activity.
Before we talk about your company, tell me please about your sales office. We can call it an apartment store. We also have branches, usually at certain construction sites, where you can buy an apartment in the corresponding project. The sales office is where you can buy any apartment. To put it bluntly, people come here to buy a dwelling. And we have everything to accommodate them. What is the PIK Group and what does it do? Petersburg, and so on. What do we mean by vertically integrated?
This means that the whole life cycle of our facilities is under our control, starting with the site, the purchase of land, further development of the project, construction, sales and maintenance, up to its dismantling sometime in the distant future. It is all done by one company. Naturally, some stages do involve third-party contractors, but overall, the product in its entirety belongs to the PIK Group. You are already number one in Russia, do you plan to enter Western markets or something? Which department do you manage, what are your duties? This is an unusual thing, because I do not know of any other development company to have something like that, let alone something this big: We have it because our senior managers believe design to be crucial, and lots of US and Europe-based companies are what is called design-driven.
Like, you know, Apple. The design of its products and services is essential, this is why Jonathan Ive is basically the second person in the company, since what he does is so important. We have a similar approach. We think that the appearance of us and our product has to look like the same concept in any communications. Ads, marketing materials, website, facades, interiors, landscaping, framed models—those are all our doing.
We have a separate unit called PIK-Projekt that directly deals with architectural design; it employs architects and engineers. This is a story of its own. In the design department, I am the deputy head, responsible for administrative management. The head of the unit is mostly responsible for the beauty, while I ensure that everything happens on time and works like it should. You probably have more of them now, especially after the acquisition of Morton.
We, unlike some architectural bureaus or developers that build unique elite housing, deal with mass market. What is good in our product—it allows us to make affordable housing using methods that can be called industrial. This is why all architectural solutions we use are always made in the context of repeatability, typification, and so on. The more arranged and technologically similar is the product, the easier it is for us to replicate. At the same time, we, naturally, have to struggle and make the outward appearance of various projects different, so that we do not return to what was before the transformation two and a half years ago.
Everything has changed quite drastically, because the company used to build almost exact copies of its houses for 20 years, i. Now we try to make houses with similar insides, but varying outward appearances. For example, Varshavskoe Shosse was our first project under the new concept.