Cheap Animations

Cheap animations (in the news, the ship stuck example)

India has prospered very well on the technology front. There are a multitude of companies that have sprung up specializing in a lot of outsourcing work. One of the things they've gained some momentum on is animation. This comes on the lines of a lot of flash that's deployed in websites. Animation has become cheap to make and put wherever one needs it. It also gets on your nerves when its overdone. The other night I was watching TV and there was news about a small ship having lost course. The ship had been beached off the coast of Mumbai after hitting a rock and losing its propeller blades. This was due to heavy rains and stormy weather off the coast of Mumbai. Now, the camera teams could not get out there because this was in the middle of nowhere and was not accessible by road. So, the news reports coming out had an old antiquated picture of the ship that they managed to pick from the docks and scan into their systems. One of the news channels was more creative in their thinking. They picked up an animator and asked him to create an animation of a ship getting stuck in rock on the coastline. And then all mayhem broke loose. This story had very little to write/ speak on and it was a very slow news day. Soon enough the news sites started one-upping each other with their version of the graphic. Within a matter of minutes all the channels were flooded with this absurd and immensely annoying graphic of a ship going a few feet before getting stuck in rock !! This animation played on for hours together with the only worthy news of being reported for the day. That's pretty much what happens when you get something for cheap.