Ranchi, Aug. 18: The city will be in for a tryst with a slice of history as preparations to air an animation serial on Birsa Munda, the first of its kind, are on the anvil.

The serial, which took almost two years to complete, has 13 episodes and the director of Srijans Media, the production house behind the serial, is planning to include more episodes if the serial manages catch the audience?s fancy. Each episode of the serial spans around half an hour.

The serial is based on the life of Birsa Munda ? the legendary tribal leader. It is a joint effort of a team of 12 members, most of whom are students of Arena Multimedia, a sister concern of the house. According to K.K. Dubey the director of Srijans Media, creating an animation movie or a serial is a difficult task as the details of each frame has to be charted out independently.

To make an animation film, the first stills of each and every frame have to be drawn by the key animator, which are then scanned and coloured on the computer, he explained. Other animators draw the remaining frames that enable the characters to move. A background artist prepares the background of the films through specialised software.

?Each frame requires detailed background work ? creation of the characters, their dress, movement of the characters, background scores, as well as dialogues. Only trained professionals can make animation serials,? Dubey said. Though the serial is more or less complete, the final touches are yet to be put on it. The students are, at present, working on the music and the voice-over of the serial. ?We are still undecided about the choice of a particular satellite channel to air the programme on. It is the intellectual property of the production house but we may make a deal with any of the channels that air entertainment programmes,? Dubey added.

?We have taken utmost care to produce each and every detail, from the facial expressions of the characters to the folds of their clothes, to perfection. Even the flow of water and the effects of winds have been shown like a real film. We can proudly say professionals from Ranchi are far more creative and hardworking than those from other places. And the cost of making an animation film is about ten times less than that in Hyderabad and Bangalore, the bigger hubs of animation,? said Salim, a member of the team.

Dubey also revealed that the production house has bigger plans for the future if this ?experimental project? makes it big. ?We also have plans to market another production on small stories for children. The compact disks for the production will be available by November,? he said. As of now, this serial will attract other aspirants to join the industry, he believed. Srijans media is also working on another animation programme for an NGO that is working for primary school students. The film is around 50 minutes, and aims to educate primary school students about the different channels of communication.