With cell phone towers and rapid urbanisation taking a toll on bird population, P. Shanmukh Madhav, a Class IX student of Bhashyam Public School, has come up with an animated short film ‘Spear of Sparrow’.
The animated film that lasts for about four minutes depicts how sparrows started disappearing due to lack of safe nesting places and better living conditions. It took three months for Shanmukh Madhav to wrap up his first movie.
Shanmukh Madhav says, “Though my father helped me in scripting the story, it took me 90 days to can the short film by visiting the computer lab as I don’t have a system at home.”
Inspired by his father P. Rajesh, a television mechanic, Shanmukh Madhav has been nurturing his creative pursuits for the last four years. Initially, he fell in love with clay moulding and came up with a variety of creations.
Later, he ventured into mouth painting, designing a two-inch motherboard and creating a bunch of science-based working models, and eventually discovered his passion for visual effects. “That’s when I joined the photo-shop 2D-Animation course during my Class VI summer holidays,” says the student.
Post the completion of his first animation course, Shanmukh Madhav went ahead to get trained in Visual Effects (VFX) and 3ds Max.
“Everyday, after my school hours I would spend a couple of hours experimenting with the graphics in the lab. The learning process inspired me to make animated films.
‘Spear of Sparrow’ is the first step towards realising my dream,” he explains. While the youngster’s school would last for not less than nine hours, he would dedicate another hour to make his animated movie. How did he strike a balance between studies and filmmaking?
“When you are doing what you love, you will never get exhausted,” he reasons.
It took me 90 days to can the short film by visiting the computer lab as I don’t have a system at home
—Shanmukh Madhav
