Life & Work with Pramita Mukherjee of Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pramita Mukherjee

Hi Pramita, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It’s been a long 17 years since I have been working in the Animation and Visual Effects industry. I was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. Right from my childhood, I loved sketching and playing musical instruments. I also learnt and practiced Indian classical dance for over 17 years, but what captivated me the most was cartoons and always dreamt of making animation movies someday. After high school I did a certification course on 3d animation and landed as an intern in Mumbai in 2007 , doing months of graveyard shift learning as much as I could. Back in those days, there were very few animation studios in India who were working on animated features for Hollywood, Crest Animation was one of them and that is where I started my journey as a Character Rigging intern.

Over the next 10 years I worked in various roles, projects and animation studios across India. Then in 2017 for the first time I stepped out of India and joined DNEG in London, one of today’s largest Visual Effects and Animation studios. Unfortunately I had to move alone, and it was initially hard for me to adjust and get used to the work, life in a new city and culture but I was lucky to be part of a few excellent projects and soon was promoted to leadership positions.
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At the end of 2019 , I moved to LA when I got an opportunity to join DreamWorks Animation. I guess when I started in India just like everyone else I always dreamt of living and working in the LA animation industry. These last 5 years in the US have not only given me immense exposure to the industry and Hollywood from within but also provided me incredible opportunities to volunteer and be able to give back in many ways . Some of it includes being a mentor for communities like WIA( Women In Animation), being an active part of the VES Awards Committee ( Visual Effects Society ) , joining the Board of Directors for nonprofit organizations like AIA( Asians in Animation) and upholding animation everywhere including panel sessions and conferences for the Academy, LightBox Expo, Siggraph, Comicon and many more.

In a nutshell, in last 17 years , I have worked across three continents and was fortunate to know and collaborate with thousands of extremely talented artists from diverse backgrounds across the world and got the opportunity to play significant role in features like Academy nominated Puss in Boots:The Last Wish and The Boss Baby along with blockbusters like Kung Fu Panda 4, Wonder Woman 1984, Croods 2, Venom, The Fantastic Beast and to name a few.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Haha ! It has been so far an adventurous journey full of hurdles but at the same time I feel they have played such a crucial role in shaping who I am today. As soon as I started my career the Indian animation industry was hit by the 2007-2009 recession since most of the work was coming from the US. As an intern I was making $5 a day , with hardly any savings and was out of work for 8 months, that too in Mumbai, one of the most expensive cities in India. A 19 year old me had to borrow money from friends and parents as I was clueless how to survive. Honestly, there were so many days I wanted to leave and go back to study, but I am glad I didn’t quit.
The next 10 years were eventful with both ups and downs and then in 2017 was stranded again with no job because of sudden unforeseen studio closure , where both me and my husband who also belongs to the animation industry lost jobs. Unfortunately we got opportunities in 2 different countries and I had to move to London alone for work. At the same time my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 Cancer, and we both had to continue working in different countries for almost 2 years to fund the treatment cost back home. This profession can be tough sometimes, especially finding jobs as often there aren’t too many options in the same city or even country.
But as I mentioned earlier all these obstacles were great learning experience, that made me stronger both as an artist and individual.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I started my career as a character rigging artist but then I transitioned into the Character Effects aka CFX department. My role as a CFX Development artist is to often explore and design how the clothing, hair and fur will move for an animated or CG character. I usually work closely with the Director, VFX Supervisors and Head of Animation early on a feature to define cloth and hair motion. And over the course of a movie my job is to animate the cloth and hair for characters along with adding a lot of subtle detailed secondary motion onto everything. I guess what I am most proud of is my commitment to give 100% every time irrespective what role I am playing in a movie.

Apart from work I volunteer and mentor for Women in Animation, where I have mentored over 90 aspiring women artists from the US, Europe and Africa in the last 4 years on how to survive and thrive in this profession. When I started, I barely had any support and want to ensure the next gen women artists feels supported.

I also volunteer for many other communities and mentorship programs in our industry to maximize my possibilities to give back. Like being part of the prestigious VES(Visual Effects Society) Awards committee, non profit Board member for AIA(Asians in Animations), nomination jury for various awards mainly for student and short films and being part of many speaking and moderating panels in multiple occasion over the years , like for Light Box animation expo, Siggraph , The Academy and Gnomon school of Visual effects to name a few.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The continuous learning attitude, taking risks and the passion and dedication to make movies look good.
With the constant evolving art and technology, it is very important to continue to learn. Whenever I work
on a new movie , I always ensure I learn one new skill to add to my expertise. Also the primary lesson I learnt is that there are no shortcuts to success and survival is tough in this career. You have to be focused and give your 100 percent all the time. At the same time also voice up and stand for yourself with confidence, because often no one else will.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breathe_with_pramita?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

Image Credits
Richard Harbaugh

John Truong