Shelley Page gave the opening keynote at NASSCOM animation and gaming summit with an overview of how DreamWorks operates ("there is never such a thing as can't be done, rather how can we do it and how long will it take?") and some of the opportunities and challenges they have faced setting up a studio in Bangalore.

She started with a great quote:

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood, and don't assign them tasks and work but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea" Antoine de Saint Exupéry

India offers DreamWorks access to new talent (everyone is hand picked), a custom specced studio designed to their needs, access to new resources and a rich education sector. The challenge is in ensuring the sector produces high quality specialised training and in recruiting the technical staff (against who DreamWorks competes with NASA, Microsoft, Google etc) in a sector where animation is not yet considered a suitable career by many parents (who have invested heavily in their children's education).

Interestingly, whilst many of the game companies we met have not seen a link between animation and gaming, Shelley illustrated their convergent need (especially around artist talent) for people who think the outside box, have original ideas, create memorable characters and have an artistic eye. She used the example of Robot, a Japanese gaming house who encouraged their staff to make films and this year won an Oscar for their animated short.

Shelley's mantra is "always steal from the best". With her eye candy showreel she showcases and promotes some of world's best animation, from both established and up and coming talent. Check out the following films, which are funny, beautiful and always original:

Overtime by Supinfocom: a Jim Henson Tribute

Oktapodi: by Gobelins Graduation Film (won an Oscar)

Tim Tom by Supinfocom

Frequency Morphogenesis by Onni Pohl

Anchored by Lindsey Olivares

The Beatles Rock Band by Passion Pictures

Evian Skating Babies by Moving Picture House

Log Jam by Andreas Hykade (won Annecy and Aardman subsequently commissioned him to create a series of 30 for Nickelodeon)