Decoding VFX and Animation for New Age Cinema
Hyderabad Film Festival 2026 · October 3, 2026 · CINIC × Communitie Hyderabad
By Neel Madhu, Founder — Apple Arts Studios
A Great Conversation on the Future of Cinema
On October 3, 2026, I had the opportunity to be part of the Hyderabad Film Festival panel — 'Decoding VFX and Animation for New Age Cinema' — hosted by CINIC and Communitie Hyderabad. It was one of those conversations that reminded me why this industry matters: not just the technology, but the people building it, teaching it, and shaping what Indian cinema will look like in the next decade.
Joining me on stage were VFX Shashwat and Harshit Penamata — two people doing genuinely interesting work in this space. The discussion covered a lot of ground: motion capture, real-world production challenges, the gap between education and industry, virtual production pipelines, and where things are heading for new-age Indian cinema.
The Panel
The event brought together some of the most engaged, curious creative minds I have met in Hyderabad — a mix of students, working professionals, and filmmakers all genuinely trying to understand where the industry is going. When you walk into a room where hundreds of people are packed in, sitting on stairs and standing at the back just to hear a conversation about motion capture and VFX pipelines, you know something is shifting in the AVGC ecosystem.
The panel was part of the Hyderabad Film Festival's AVGC spotlight — a dedicated push to surface conversations that usually happen only inside studios and post houses, and bring them into a more open, accessible format for the next generation of filmmakers.
"When hundreds of people sit on stairs and stand at the back to hear a conversation about motion capture — something is genuinely shifting in the AVGC ecosystem." |
What We Discussed
The conversation spanned several areas that I think about every day running Apple Arts Studios — India's largest motion capture studio, operating since 2011 with 127 cameras, 27 team members, and credits across games, films and AI projects across 18+ countries.
Motion Capture in Indian Cinema
Motion capture is still widely misunderstood in India — even inside the industry. Most people associate it only with superhero films or games. What I wanted to communicate on this panel is that mocap is increasingly part of mainstream South Asian filmmaking — and projects like Raaka, directed by Atlee and starring Allu Arjun for Sun Pictures, are proof of that. Raaka set a world record: 37 performers captured simultaneously in a single volume, single shot — the first time this has been achieved anywhere in the world. That kind of production ambition is now happening right here in India.
Technology vs Craft — The Real Conversation
One thing I always push back on is the idea that better technology automatically means better storytelling. It does not. The craft of performance capture — understanding what to capture, how to prepare performers, how to process and clean the data, how to retarget it to the character — that is still deeply human work. The technology enables it. It does not replace the people who understand motion, performance, and production.
The Education-to-Industry Gap
This is the part of the conversation that the audience responded to most. There is a significant gap between what students are learning about VFX and animation and what is actually happening on production floors right now. Virtual production, real-time pipelines, AI-assisted data processing — these are not future technologies. They are in use today on major projects. The curriculum in most institutions has not caught up.
Where Indian Cinema Is Going
The next five years are going to be decisive. Indian productions — particularly Telugu, Tamil and Hindi — are investing in technical infrastructure that was not here three years ago. Motion capture, performance capture, facial capture, real-time LED volumes — these are becoming production-level tools rather than experimental ones. Studios that build technical capability now will define what Indian cinema looks like at scale.
The Audience — A Room Full of the Right People
What stays with me from this event is not the stage — it is the audience. Hundreds of students and young professionals who chose to spend their evening at a panel on VFX and motion capture rather than anywhere else. They asked sharp questions. They pushed back on generalisations. They wanted specifics — on tools, on careers, on what the pipeline actually looks like at a production level.
That is the audience the Indian AVGC industry needs to be talking to consistently and honestly. Not just at festivals — but in workshops, open studios, and through the kind of content and education that meets them where they are.
Grateful for the Opportunity
Thank you to the Hyderabad Film Festival and CINIC for putting this conversation together and for creating a space where these discussions can happen publicly. And thank you to VFX Shashwat and Harshit Penamata for a genuinely good exchange of ideas on stage.
Representing Apple Arts Studios at events like this matters to me — not just for visibility, but because I genuinely believe the next generation of Indian filmmakers deserves access to the clearest possible picture of where the industry is going and what it actually takes to build something technical and creative at this level.
"If you have raw mocap data anywhere in the world — or a production that needs motion capture in India — we are here. India's largest motion capture studio. Since 2011." |
About Apple Arts Studios
Apple Arts Studios is India's largest motion capture studio, based in Hyderabad. Established in 2011, we operate 127 OptiTrack and Vicon cameras across multiple volumes, with a team of 27 specialists and over 5,000 shoot days of production experience across 18+ countries.
Our production credits include Napoleon, Transformers, Call of Duty, Gotham Knights, Far Cry 6, and Raaka — where we achieved the world record of 37 performers captured simultaneously in a single volume, single shot. We also offer standalone post-processing, Technoprops Stereo HMC facial capture, AI and robotics dataset capture, and professional motion capture tools developed in-house: AAS Capture, AAS Calib, and AAS Video Compressor.
CONTACT & FOLLOW Website: www.appleartsstudios.com LinkedIn: Apple Arts Studios Instagram: @appleartsstudios YouTube: Apple Arts Studios |
