Daily Update from the Animation Workshop.

Press Release 24 January 2013

On the last working day of a three week long Animation Workshop in Arunachal Pradesh there has been a rush to get as much completed as possible for the Valedictory Session tomorrow morning. 
The workshop has been taking place at the Rajiv Gandhi University in Naharlagun, and it has provided a platform for a group of young people, several of them students at the University, to investigate ways of adapting their culture for the animation medium so that it may find new interest amongst the young generation.  As Moji Riba (Head of the Department of Mass Communications) explains, tribal culture is often considered as suspended in time, static and unchanging, and relegated to museums, but he is interested in contemporizing it, and this has inspired his support this project.

Other collaborators are the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation, and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  The Trust has invited a small team of animators to join the venture and advise the local participants how to communicate through the new medium.  The diverse team have used this opportunity to develop a folktale from the Central region for a short animation film that will be included in a forthcoming series of animated films on themes of tribal folklore – the Tales of the Tribes, currently in production by the Trust.   

The scope of this first introductory workshop was not able to includ the production phase however:  Animation production is a meticulous task and it requires accurate planning before starting the job of creating all the single frames required to bring inanimate objects to life – about 7200 frames are required for just five minutes of real time film!  Therefore the production lies ahead – once some additional funding has been found to maintain a small team of animators for about six months, the anticipated time that is needed.

The workshop participants have been experimenting through test sequences using different types of animation.  With limited drawing and software experience to date, they have chosen the technique of stop motion which has a unique charm of its own and can incorporate the textures that are a feature of  the material culture of Arunachal Pradesh.  Tribal art is handmade, and this look can be maintained by building handmade puppets in such a way that they have armatures and can be posed for individual shots captured by a digital camera connected to a computer.

Taking inspiration from the beautiful jewellery of the tribes, the group have worked hard to create a title sequence by animating with beads - a technique used by Ishu Patel in his classic masterpiece, The Bead Game (1977), and they are planning to show this in tomorrow’s session, along with the animatic -  this is a template for the animation that will eventually be created to replace the filmed storyboard images, and it also includes the first example of the audio track (mix of dialogues, music and Foley sounds).

The group have been documenting the entire workshop on video, and after its conclusion they will be editing it to make a documentary film.  All this will help to raise awareness of animation as a possible tool that can be used here by the young people to explore their own identity.  The tribes of the region are presently in a fragile stage of transition, and loyalties to clans are being redefined as an effect of increased communication and modern lifestyles.  The interesting collaboration between indigenous people and visitors from outside is expected to bring new understanding.

Press Release 23 January 2013 

As to be expected, the last days of a workshop are the most busy and productive.  This is clearly the situation for the first Animation Workshop in Arunachal Pradesh that has been taking place for the past three weeks at the Rajiv Gandhi University, Department of Mass Communications in Naharlagun.  The workshop has brought together a group of young people, most of them from the central part of the remote state, to explore ways of translating their oral folk tales for the animation medium, - and specifically choosing one story with the aim of achieving pre-production for a five minute long animation film.

The workshop began with plenty of enthusiasm, but without any prior information, the students did not know what to expect.  As time went on, only the really interested ones were able to commit to the rigorous daily routine, and by now a core team of about ten are fully engaged and making the most of this opportunity.  They have been interacting with a team of visiting animators that have been invited to the workshop by the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust, a collaborator for this initiative.  The animators now explained the whole process of preproduction - a critical phase for storytelling through the animation medium, which requires meticulous planning, bearing in mind the amount of work to actually complete an animation film.

The participants of this workshop are constructing stop motion animation models of the characters for the film: The two main characters are the brothers, Abotani and, according to the Galos, Yapom (though he is known by other names to the other tribes of the Tani clans).  There is also a trickster bat called Tapeng and Dige Wiyu, who is the omnipotent spirit of Heaven and Earth.  It has been a challenge to represent these characters, as some of them are common to all the Tani tribes - and so the decision has been to make them universally acceptable to all.  This naturally affects decisions in how they are dressed, as all shawls and ornaments are tribe specific here - so it has been decided that the story takes place before any kind of modern development, including distinctive clothes.  Other characters for the film are the wild and domestic animals that belong to the two brothers. 

As the story naturally takes place in Arunachal Pradesh, some of the students have been making a mountainous terrain using chicken wire covered with papier maché.  Now that their first animation set has finally dried, they are decorating it with trees, while several of the group have shown great skill in bamboo weaving – useful for creating the miniature traditional houses for the characters.  The animators are ensuring that the various requirements for a film production proposal are being met as the Adivasi Arts Trust is committed to sourcing the funds required to complete the production and post production phases that will finally result in the  first animation film from Arunachal Pradesh:  As a first, they feel that it should be of a high standard as it may well inspire a future for animation in the state.

The Secretary of the Adivasi Arts Trust, Ms. Tara Douglas, is also developing this project as part of her PhD research on Animating Minority Cultures in India, and today she organised the third Focus Group of the workshop to find out more about the participants experiences during the workshop.  The group expressed  enjoyment for the activities that they had taken part in, and they also conveyed their happiness that the theme of the workshop was their own folk culture, as they have all noticed that it is imminently threatened by the fast pace of development and globalized exposure that similar young people to themselves are experiencing in Arunachal Pradesh.  

Press Release 22 January 2013

A three week long Animation Workshop that has been taking place in Arunachal Pradesh is now in its concluding days.  As a collaborative venture between the Rajiv Gandhi University (Mass Communications Department, Naharlagun), the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust, the workshop facilitated a team of young people to get together and to explore how their own tribal culture in Arunachal can be adapted for the animation medium.  They had technical assistance and the benefit of the experience of a group of visiting animators from other parts of India and from the United Kingdom in this challenging task.  It was agreed that for the first animation film from Arunachal Pradesh, a story about their legendary hero Abotani would be the best choice, as he is well known throughout the region.  Abotani it is said is the ancestor of Mankind, while his brother became the ancestor of the Wiyu spirits. 

The preproduction phase of the animation film project has been handled in the workshop, bringing the oral folktale -  of which there are many different versions, into the form of a film script and a storyboard, which, rather like a comic book, is the first visual depiction of how the film will look, and how the story will be communicated.  The animators are working hard to turn the storyboard into an animatic and prepare a funding proposal now, as they do require some more financial support to keep a team of 4-6 engaged on the animation production, likely to take about six months. 

Having explored several different mediums for creating puppets for stop motion animation, Jonathan Marchant, one of the team from England, will continue to construct the final models based on the local designs, back in England.  Once all the models and film sets have been created the group would probably reconvene and begin the meticulous process of giving life to the miniature world, frame by frame to end up with scenes that go into the final film. 

The title sequence for the film is already being animated by the workshop participants and they are using beads as the medium! Films by veteran American animator Ray Harryhausen have been screened today to show understand the history of stop motion animation, and they have also been inspired by other masters of the profession such as Ishu Patel and his classic The Bead Game, made in 1977.  Such handmade techniques are best suited to the textured handmade traditional arts and crafts and also because the participants are still new to the animation medium and have yet to take up any major animation software.
By now the core group are established in the routine of the workshop, which they are enjoying tremendously as it brings new opportunities to acquire new skills and also to explore their own situation too. 

Press Release 21 January 2013

With a deadline ahead, participants of the first Animation Workshop in Arunachal Pradesh are now working to complete as much as they can before the workshop concludes in just three days time.
Over the past three weeks they have been introduced to the animation medium as a tool to preserve their indigenous culture and perhaps make it more interesting and relevant for young people such as themselves.  They have been working with a visiting team of animators, some from India and others from the United Kingdom, in this venture that has been a three way collaborative project between the Rajiv Gandhi University, the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust. 

The objective from the start was to choose one of their own folktales and then to go through the adaptation process in the preproduction phase of animation film making; their story about their legendary hero Abotani now exists in the form of a film script, a story board and it will soon become an animatic – that would then launch the production of the animation - except that the team require some more resources and plenty of time for that. 

Characters for the story have been designed and 3 dimensional toy-sized puppets are getting made using tangible materials such as aluminium wire, balsa wood, polystyrene, foam and latex, because this film will be made using the technique of stop motion by positioning the models and capturing shots frame by frame:  About 7200 frames are required in all, so it is now perfectly obvious why incredible patience is a prerequisite for animators. 

The participants are mostly from the Tani group of tribes from Central Arunachal Pradesh, and several of them are MA students in Mass Communications at the University.  They are practicing their animation technique using beads, which are painstakingly positioned and filmed, frame by frame, for a 20 second title sequence, that introduces the concept of Doini-Polo (Sun-Moon) central to the indigenous faiths of these tribes, is significant in that Arunachal Pradesh is at the most eastern corner of India and also hints at a mythical relationship between the sun and the rooster, whose crow beckons her each day. 

Meanwhile, others in the group are providing their own voices for the characters in the animation film, which will initially be dubbed into the local Hindi dialect and English, but it will also extend to all the Tani languages as well.

The film may eventually be animated elsewhere in India depending on practicalities, but local funding would ensure that Arunachalees can continue and be a part of this next stage too.  Jonathan Marchant is an expert stop motion model maker who has been visiting from Lancashire in Northern England, and he is also eager to continue contributing his skills in refining the character models so that they can endure rigorous handling over several months required to bring this film to life.  It is hoped that funding can be found as soon as possible so that the short film can be premiered by the end of the year, as part of the Tales of the Tribes animation series currently in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.

Press Release 19 January 2013

A three week long Animation Workshop has been taking place in Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh, bringing a group of young people together from several of the local tribes, making it possible for them to work with a visiting team of animators as they adapt an oral story for the animation medium.
This event is the first collaborative venture between the Rajiv Gandhi University (Mass Communications Department), the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  Each partner is providing important contributions to ensure the success of the workshop:  The University has given its premises and some facilities such as a power back up supply (essential in a part of the world where load shedding is frequent) and also some computers and other digital recording equipment; CCRD has identified the participants and some cultural experts to advise the group and the Adivasi Arts Trust has invited the animators – some of them from India (the National Institute of Design in Gujarat) and others from the United Kingdom.  The collaboration is working well, and at the end of the second week of the workshop, a core group of participants are enthusiastic and eager to spend days animating – a painstaking process, particularly when it is being done using beads as a medium - and making 3D stop motion models that will be used in the production. 

The team is working on a short animated folk tale of their legendary hero, Abotani.  The five minute long animation film will be a part of the Tales of the Tribes collection of animated folk tales currently in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.  It is an experimental project, particularly for India, where independent animation films made by artists have limited options for securing the financial support to sustain the animators for the lengthy time it takes for production.  The workshop does not address this phase, simply because it is a very specialized and demanding process that is sure to take several months to complete.  Therefore, the group must be contented with preproduction during this workshop - a critical stage however, as meticulous planning is required when every frame (and there are about 7200 required for a five minute long film) is created by hand.  There is a common fallacy that computers give quick results- though digital technology is a very useful tool that gives more reliable results and makes it possible to make certain changes later on, there is no such thing as easy animation – particularly when one committed to imbibing the film with charming details.  This film will be created using stop motion animation, particularly suited to an area where the indigenous people are skilled with their hands, as seen through their material culture (textiles, utilitarian objects and decorative accessories). 

Vijay Punia (alumni from the National Institute of Design) gave a practical demonstration today in building stop motion character models using materials that are locally available and Tara Douglas (the coordinator of the workshop) encouraged the students to continue on their own after the conclusion of the workshop to develop their skills by practising the techniques for their own models.  The materials they are using are aluminium wire, polystyrene, mseal cement, foam and latex to create the skeleton, bones, flesh and skin.

Meanwhile several of the female participants are bravely animating the title sequence for the film using beads. It is a difficult medium to use, but it will give the sequence an organic, natural style that suits the tribes and the subject matter.  The aim is to complete this 20 second sequence by the end of the workshop and to make the audio recordings of the dialogues for the characters in Hindi and in English for the animatic, which provides the blueprint for the film.

Press Release 18 January 2013

An Animation Workshop has brought a group of young people together in remote Arunachal Pradesh to explore ways of adapting indigenous culture for the animation medium.  The three weeklong event, the first of its kind, is taking place at the Department of Mass Communications at Rajiv Gandhi University in Itanagar, and it will continue for just one more week.

Participants are developing one of their own stories about their legendary hero, Abotani, into a short animation film that will be a part of a forthcoming collection of animated tribal folk tales from the Northeast region of India in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.    The film production will only begin at a later date when funds have been secured to facilitate a team of young student animators to work for several months to bring the whole story to life,  but the preproduction phase, addressed in this workshop is critical, not only because animation film making requires meticulous planning, but also because of the sensitive nature of the content, which belongs to the tribes of Central Arunachal Pradesh, and therefore must be represented in a satisfactory manner. 

The participants and visiting animators (invited to join the project by the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust – a partner for this initiative) have consulted several cultural advisers to work out how to represent the main two characters of the film – Abotani and his spirit brother.  Today they received a morning visit from Catriona Child, accompanied by Mr. Takhe Kani.  Catriona is the daughter of Ursula Graham Bower, who was one of the pioneering anthropologists to document the culture of the Apatani tribe in the late 1940s.  Her intrepid mother passed away in 1988; Catriona has lived in Delhi for many years, but this is her first visit to Arunachal Pradesh.  She has been invited by Takhe Kani to revisit the Ziro valley where her mother lived and studied the tribal people.  Despite her appointment in Ziro, she also wanted to visit the Animation Workshop to find out how the participants are getting on, because this is a very new development for tribal culture, which clearly must update to maintain interest amongst the young generation, increasingly influenced by the globalized way of life.  The animation film medium is attractive to all young people, and it may be a new way for them to express themselves artistically and also reach a wider audience, raising awareness of the little known cultures of the region.  Mr. Takhe Kani is from the Apatani tribe and has had a long term interest in the history of his own community, which brought him into contact with Catriona.

In the afternoon session of the workshop, several of the female participants started animating a title sequence for the animation film.  This is about all they can manage during the workshop as animation is an extremely time consuming process, especially when beads are used as the medium.  Fortunately only the title sequence will be animated with beads, a technique that they have discovered through the work of Ishu Patel, whose masterpiece Bead Game (1977), has inspired their own work.  The title sequence was storyboarded by Wangdan Wangpan, a young animator from the National Institute of Design in Gujerat, and it includes some important elements of the Tani tribes, namely Doini-Polo, the sun-moon couple that represent the supreme deity of the indigenous faith.  The play of beads that they must animate frame by frame involves a night sequence that is disturbed by a cock crow – which awakens the sun, which in turn is the eye, the all seeing witness, intimately connected to Abotani who it is claimed as the first ancestor of all the Tani tribes.  But animating with beads is painstaking work, so bringing the 20 second sequence to life will take several days.  Thankfully the participants have the facilities provided by the University, which allows them to continue their work during the frequent power cuts that are routine here in Arunachal Pradesh. 
 

Meanwhile, visiting animator from England, Jonathan Marchant is making a demonstration animation model of Tapeng the Bat, who will narrate the story.   With only a few days left, the team are committed to getting as much done as possible in the remaining days.

Press Release 17 January 2013

A team of local participants in Arunachal Pradesh are exploring their own cultural heritage through the medium of animation in the first Animation Workshop to take place in the remote state.  The team are mostly from the Tani group of tribes that live in the central part: These are the Nyishi, Apatani, Adi, Galo and Tagin tribes, although there are also representatives from the Nocte and Wancho tribes from the eastern region.  The workshop that has brought them together in this creative collaboration has been organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University in partnership with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust – the latter has facilitated involvement from a team of animators that have come from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat, and from the United Kingdom.  This diverse group are pooling their various talents and skills for the pre-production phase of developing an indigenous folktale from the region into a short animation film, which will be a part of the Tales of the Tribes collection of short films, currently in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.

Following the introduction to the way animation works and the various techniques that have been used, the group have decided to use the 3D technique of stop motion for their film.  This involves building toy sized models of the characters in a way that they can be positioned and filmed by capturing a single frame, before repositioning them for the next shot and eventually creating the animated sequence.  It is a technique best suited to the people of this area, for while they have no historical tradition of drawing or painting, they are naturally inclined towards making objects with their hands - a tradition that is exemplified in their intricate woven textiles and the handmade utilitarian objects and ornamental accessories that are their material culture.

The participants  began by modelling character designs using plasticene on a wire armature for support, but now they are now moving onto more durable materials to create models that can actually be animated for the film.  Jonathan Marchant, an animator who has come all the way from Lancashire in northern England for the workshop, is guiding them through the process of making these models:  The base shapes for the characters are carved out of balsa wood, and they will be articulated and painted with a ‘skin’ of latex in the coming days.   Meanwhile, others in the group are creating a three dimensional environment that represents their own world to place the characters, and this is being done using materials such as wire, papier maché and bamboo.

They are inspired by daily screenings of international animation films made by dedicated masters of the profession. Today’s screening showcased films by British animator Barry Purves that have won over sixty major awards including Oscar and Bafta nominations. Screen Play (1992) and Hamilton Mattress (2001) are two outstanding animation films that leave one wondering just how such magic can be created through the animation medium.  For more information on Barry Purves, visit his website at this link here:  (http://www.barrypurves.com)

Press Release 16 January 2013

The first Animation Workshop in Arunachal Pradesh is in full steam at the moment.  It is taking place at the Department of Mass Communications at Rajiv Gandhi University, in Naharlagun, with just about one more week to left for preproduction of  the first animation film from the state. 

The group of young participants from several tribes, mostly from the Central part have chosen a folktale about Abotani, a hero who is common to the Tani group of tribes, and his relationship with his spirit brother.  They have written a script based on the oral story that documented by Dr. Verrier Elwin in his book, Myths of the North-East frontier of India, Volume 1, first printed by the North-East Frontier Agency in1958, and later reprinted by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi. 

Wangdan Wangpan, an animation student from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, and himself an Arunachalee from the Wancho tribe has visualized it as a sketched storyboard which will be transformed into an animatic in the coming days.  As the blueprint for the film, the animatic places storyboard images on a timeline using editing software such as After Effects, along with the dialogues and some basic sounds.  The animatic gives the production team a concise idea of the work involved in bringing the film to life in animation, and this is essential, given that animation is such time consuming and meticulous work. 

As production will take several months and will only begin when some funds are found to maintain the team of animators that are required to do the work, the student participants of the workshop have decided to choose a manageable segment to animate by themselves in the coming days.  This opening sequence will be animated using beads as the medium - appropriate given that the tribes of the region are known for their fabulous bead jewellery, and as the team is looking for an indigenous look to the film by using local materials, it will work well for the title sequence, which can be a scene that stands by itself.  Having experimented yesterday with the medium, they have been planning out the sequence today in a mini-storyboard, to include the iconic symbols of the moon and sun: known as Doini-Polo in these parts, this pair is the nearest approximation to a Supreme Deity in their own indigenous faith, which the Tani tribes are working hard to keep alive, in the face of infiltration by dominant religions such as Christianity and Hinduism. 

The group have discovered that they thoroughly enjoy making three dimensional characters and sets using tangible materials, as this has always been part of their tradition – until recently all utilitarian objects and decorative accessories were handmade, using the local materials.  Unlike some of the other tribes in neighbouring states, those in Arunachal Pradesh never had the opportunity to develop the practice of drawing and painting, and with no art school in Arunachal, they are finding it exceptionally hard to illustrate their ideas in this medium.

The group welcomed a visit from Roto Tadi today.  From the Apatani tribe Mr. Tadi is one of the few practicing artists in Arunachal Pradesh.  He was invited by Obang Tayeng, from the Adi community, to try to help the group decide how to depict the two main characters in the story.  Mr. Tadi was drawn to art from his days at school and he went on to complete a correspondence course from Guwahati Art College.  He now makes a living as a full time artist, mostly working on commissions for Government publicity material, and in 1999 he illustrated a comic book for children on Abotani.  He agreed that there is limited awarenessof art and the lack of opportunities here leads to frustration when talent is not recognised. The Abotani from his comic book illustrations is clearly from the Apatani tradition, while the story for the animation film originates from a Galo source.  A detail like this is of utmost importance here when it comes to depicting the characters as all the hairstyles, ornaments and other accessories are specific to each tribe.  By choosing the Galo story, it would be contentious for the characters to have designs associated with any other tribe – a detail that eliminates most of the iconic symbols generally remembered from the culture of the area -   for example, the podom, or top knot of hair that was a classical feature of the Nyishi and Apatani tribes.

It is proving hard to maintain a steady pace of productivity in the workshop in a region that is particularly remote with participants that have limited exposure to the working practices of the professional environment.  The team of visiting animators (from Gujarat and from the United Kingdom) are well aware of the amount of commitment required to see the film to completion, and they are under pressure to convince the participants to rise to the challenge and increase their productivity during this workshop which concludes in a week’s time. January, They are hoping that their enthusiasm for the subject of animation will take root in the group so that some local people can also get involved in the production phase for the five minute long animation film that will be a part of the Tales of the Tribes series of animated folktales from the Northeast region, currently in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.  As the third collaborating partner for this initiative, the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation will make it possible to dub the film into all the Tani languages as well as Hindi and English for wider distribution.

Press Release 15 January 2013

A group of young people have gathered at the Department of Mass Communications, Rajiv Gandhi University, in Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh for a three week long Animation Workshop to discuss ways of adapting their own tribal culture for animation films.  

As the first initiative of this kind in the remote state, it has raised a lot of excitement amongst the participants, who are aware that it may be the trigger for a whole new form of cultural expression for the young generation.  As with young people everywhere, they are experiencing the effects of globalization: These young people from indigenous tribes are increasingly losing interest in their oral traditions in favour of the dynamic, fashionable medium of animation which they watch on popular cartoon television channels and on the internet.  The group - many of them MA students at the University, are ready to see if their traditional story of their mythical hero, Abotani can find new appeal in animation.  The visiting animators (who have been invited to the workshop by the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust) have artistic concerns for the film:  They are eager that the story should have an original artistic style that is representative of the rich artistic traditions of the tribes.  But this is no easy matter, as little is known about the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh outside the state, which is why they were eager to come and learn about the culture first hand, to represent it accurately in the film. 

When deciding the direction for choosing a style for the characters, where better to look for an indigenous identity but to the ancient artistic traditions of the area?  There has been little figurative artwork from the tribes of Central Arunachal Pradesh – those that claim the story of Abotani.  (Nyishi, Apatani, Adi, Galo, and Tagin).  Having visited the Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum in Itanagar yesterday, the character designers are now referring to Wancho Naga sculptures for the look of the characters in the film.  Issues of tribal identity are topical in Arunachal Pradesh as in the neighbouring states, and the local cultural consultants for the  project agree that a general look can be applied to the film, rather than using prominent symbols that can be read as from a specific, especially for the two main characters. 

Wangdan Wangpan, an Under Graduate student in Animation Film Design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmadabad, Gujarat has been leading the storyboard team that made a presentation today of the first draft of the storyboard for the five minute long animation film.  The storyboard is the visual interpretation of the film script that they wrote last week.  Inspired by a wonderful film by Ishu Patel The Bead Game, the ambitious group have decided to experiment with the stop motion medium, and they are beginning with beads as objects to animate and create a morphing sequence.  The medium of bead animation is attractive and bearing in mind the famous jewellery worn by the tribes here, it has a natural look that is appropriate.  But they are not stopping at that:  they have also started to build a three dimensional miniature set, that will include a traditional bamboo house and mountains decorated with indigenous textiles and bamboo craft. 

The workshop continues until 25 January, in collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation.

Press Release 14 January 2013

Research is critical for a cultural project, even when that project is developing an animation film - a conclusion arrived at today by a group of participants of an Animation Workshop currently taking place in Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh based on themes of tribal folklore.  Most of the participants are students, several of them in the Department of Mass Communications at the Rajiv Gandhi University.  They have teamed up with a group of visiting animators that have come especially for this three week-long event, some of them from as far as the United Kingdom.   Having chosen a favourite folk tale last week from the Tani tradition (a group of tribes that attribute their origin to the mythical hero Abotani), the group are now working to incorporate some of their local design aesthetic into the characters and backgrounds for the film. 

But the tribes of Arunachal did not spend much time painting in bygone days - their artistic expression was through the oral heritage, weaving, basketry and handmade utilitarian objects and decorative accessories.
The Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum is a good resource for researching the material culture of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, and today the animation team spent the morning at the Museum taking photographs and sketching.  The museum is well maintained and dioramas have been created of scenes depicting each of the tribes of the state.  These installations show life sized figures wearing the traditional costumes and engaged in daily activities, and ‘housed’ in well painted environments depicting villages and landscapes.  These have given ideas to the students, who will be creating miniature scenes for their stop motion characters to inhabit, as the film takes life; so as to have an original artistic style, the animators are considering recreating the mountainous terrain using woven bamboo textures and adapting the patterns of the woven textiles to depict the vegetation. 

A primary  issue of discussion has been how to show inclusivity towards the diverse tribal population of the state,  and one option that is being considered is to look for artistic inspiration from the tribes that do not belong to the Tani group, (from which the story originates);  Although possibly controversial, this approach  would succeed in showcasing the rich variety of arts and tribes in the region.   For example, as the characters are to be built as articulated models using flexible materials such as foam and latex, the team is looking at the wooden sculptures from the Naga tribes of Eastern Arunachal Pradesh (Wancho and Nocte) for design and to identify depictions of the typical features of the people of the region.  Other frequently seen symbols that may strengthen the artistic look and be interesting in the film are animal skulls – in particular, the mithun - and the painted masks of the Buddhist tribes of the north. 

The Museum is also a useful resource for purchasing any books that are available on the art and culture of the tribes.  Most of these books have been written quite a long time ago and are out of publication elsewhere, and even the more recent publications are usually hard to find.  Tara Douglas, the coordinator of the workshop was delighted to find an edition of Verrier Elwin’s book The Art of the North-East Frontier of India, reprinted in 2009 by the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, and available at reduced cost. 

The Animation Workshop initiative is a collaborative project between the University, the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  By its conclusion on  25 January the team aims to have completed the pre-production phase of the film project; although the final film will be just five minutes long (and part of the forthcoming Tales of the Tribes animation series in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust), it will take many months to complete the meticulous process of bringing each of the scenes to life.  For this, further funding support is required, and that still has to be sourced.

Press Release 12 January 2013

A team of young people in Arunachal are now mid way through a three week long Animation Workshop that has been organised to provide a platform to research the tribal folk traditions and explore ways of adapting it for animation to entertain and educate the young generation about their cultural heritage.  It is an experimental project taking place at the Department of Mass Communications of Rajiv Gandhi University, situated in Naharlagun, and it has also brought collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust. 

The team of about 20 participants are mostly from the Tani group of tribes from Central Arunachal Pradesh, and they are now deeply involved in designing characters and creating a visual storyboard for a short film about their hero, Abotani.  A visiting team of animators that have been invited to the workshop by the Adivasi Arts Trust are contributing their skills and experience to provide this brief introduction to the art of storytelling through the audio visual medium.   Stop motion models made from tangible materials such as aluminium wire, plasticene, foam and latex and then animated by capturing incremental movements in single frames is the chosen technique for this film:  It was assumed to be most accessible to a people that have traditions of making utilitarian objects and textiles, rather than painting, and sure enough, the students have thoroughly enjoyed sculpting their designs in clay, and next week they are aiming to handle some more complex materials alongside experimenting with animated movement. 

The workshop coordinator, Ms. Tara Douglas is introducing the participants to rare masterpieces of animation in the daily screening sessions.  These films have included the surreal works of Jan Svankmajer, Norman Maclaren and Ishu Patel, showing that outstanding animation has been made using a variety of materials and techniques. Today Tara encouraged the group to be vigilant in looking out for objects that can be used for animation and for making the miniature environments and backgrounds for the film. 

The character designers in the group are working to incorporate some traditional elements into their designs.  This may be possible with reference to the Naga sculptures that they have seen in photographs by Verrier Elwin in The Art of the North-East Frontier of India, (Volume 1. Pub. North-East Frontier Agency, 1959) and by using the traditional woven patterns in new ways. 

Workshop collaborator, Moji Riba, invited Oban Tayeng, the author of Folktales of the Adis (Mittal Publications, 2003) and Mishmi Folktales of the Lohit Valley (Mittal Publications, 2007) to visit the workshop in the afternoon.  Research is essential under circumstances of cultural representation where the topical question has been how to choose which tribe to commit the film to - as all subsequent details of attire and lifestyle will be dictated accordingly. Mr. Tayeng repeated his concern that the film should be authentic, finally advising the young people to settle on one version of the story and be clear about which tribe it belongs to.  He was also able to confirm some details about the spirits, which he remembered as being mostly malevolent.
 

Press Release 11 January 2013

A three week long Animation Workshop has brought a group of young people – several of them MA students in Mass Communication into contact with a team of visiting animators who have come from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat and from the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  This experimental project has been organised by the Centre of Cultural Research and Documentation (CCRD) and the Adivasi Arts Trust, on the premises of the Rajiv Gandhi University in Naharlagun, and the aim is to introduce young people from Arunachal Pradesh to animation as a possible tool for cultural revitalization.   The local participants are an equally diverse group, mostly from the Tani group of tribes from Central Arunachal Pradesh that includes the Nyishi, Apatani, Adi, Galo and Tagin.

Every morning they assemble to watch animation films, and today the coordinator of the workshop, Tara Douglas from the Adivasi Arts Trust, introduced the participants to the work of stop motion animation master, Jan Svankmajer, from Czechoslovakia with the film Alice (1988).  This was followed by a discussion on the differences between animation films by an artistic auteur and the current dominance of popular feature films. The morning session concluded with a slide show of images from Verrier Elwin’s book The Art of the North-East Frontier of India, (Volume 1. Pub. North-East Frontier Agency, 1959), to inspire the students to research their own indigenous artistic traditions for a style for the animation film. 

The group is working on an animation production of their own but the workshop can only accommodate the development phase. Having sat through several storytelling sessions and got cultural information from a traditional priest and a senior musical artiste, they have settled for a story about their mythical hero, Abotani.
There are many amusing and lengthy tales about Abotani in the oral tradition, and now,with the help of the animators, they have managed to capture a shortened version that will fit into just five minutes -   the duration of the short film that will be a part of a series, Tales of the Tribes,  with films from other tribes of the Northeast. 

With such a rich storytelling tradition, the script is very engaging.  It will have appeal with young audiences of the target age groups of 7-14 years fond of amusing gags, but the indigenous wisdom and cultural details will resonate with the elders too.  From the script the film is now beginning to take visual form through a storyboard that is being coordinated by Wangdan Wangpan and Vijay Punia, both from NID.  Jonathan Marchant, a specialist in stop motion model making  is working with the character design team to refine their designs to include more local influence.  The whole group are also planning a visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum in Itanagar on Monday to further inspire the group.

Press Release 10 January 2013

The culture of Arunachal Pradesh is experiencing a new life and a new interpretation through the medium of animation film.  This innovative project is an initiative taken by the Rajiv Gandhi University, in collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation (CCRD) and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  It has brought a group of about 20 young people together at the Department of Mass Communications in Naharlagun, to discuss ways of introducing their folk tales to wider audiences through animation films.  The film they are planning to make (this workshop of three weeks duration can only cover the planning stage) is a well known tale of the archetypal hero, Abotani -who is also the ancestor of Mankind.  It reveals his relationship to the natural and supernatural worlds and his struggle to establish himself in the scheme of the creation of the world in which he out-smarts the spirits and has to deal with a trickster bat.

Having written the draft script for the five minute long animation film, which will be the contribution from Arunachal Pradesh in the forthcoming animation series, Tales of the Tribes, in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust, the students are translating it into a storyboard.  The storyboarding stage is vital to the animation film process, as it provides the blue print for the entire production;in the storyboard, shots are sketched in sequence similar to a comic book, and from the storyboard all the scenes, actions and timings are determined.   The storyboarding team is led by Vijay Punia and Wangdan Wangpan who have both come from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat to share their skills on the project, and they have now resorted to discussing the scenes in minute detail.  

Character design has also begun with help from Jonathan Marchant, a passionate animation model maker from Lancashire in England, who found the project interesting enough to warrant him volunteering his time.    Jonathan has introduced the students, who come from several different tribes (mostly from the Tani group of Central Arunachal Pradesh), to modelling 3D sculptures today, and they have been thoroughly engaged in modelling with plasticene on armatures of aluminium wire for support. 

Tara Douglas the Secretary of the Trust, is also a PhD student at Bournemouth University and this workshop is an important case study for her research on the feasibility of translating oral folk traditions into the animation medium.  “It continues to prove difficult to gain the support, she explains.  “More funding is required for the production of the animation film which is likely to take about six months beyond the duration of the workshop and at this present moment we do not know from where this will be available.”

Tara conducted a focus group in the afternoon with six workshop participants to find out more of their knowledge of folktales and to understand their expectations for this first animation film from Arunachal Pradesh.  The group was unanimously optimistic, expressing that the if the production of the film is done well, it might just convince a lot more people in Arunachal about the potential for animation, and that the film would certainly trigger further discussion about culture between the generations. 

Press Release 9 January 2013

A group of young people from various tribes from Central Arunachal Pradesh are working together on an animation film project.  It is the first of its kind in these parts and it is an experiment in using animation as a tool to promote the tribal culture to a wider audience, as well as to ignite a new interest in indigenous storytelling amongst the younger generation here. As a collaborative initiative organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University, the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust it has attracted a diverse group of animators, some from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and others from the United Kingdom, through the Adivasi Arts Trust connection. 

The whole group of about twenty participants are working on one folktale that they have chosen to represent Arunachal Pradesh in the Tales of the Tribes, a series of five short films currently in production by the Trust.  It was hard to select from the vast resource of folk tales that are the oral history of 26 tribes that live in region.   The story of the first ancestor, Abotani is specific to the Tani Group (Nyishi, Apatani, Adi, Galo and Tagin), but it is known throughout Arunachal.  Issues that are now being discussed at the end of the first week of the workshop are about cultural details and whether to make the story culturally specific to one tribe, or whether to try and give a general version of the story and avoid contentious issues of specific tribal identity.  It is crucial to analyse these details meticulously, as cultural adaptation is a sensitive issue; with animation film production, major changes can only be accommodated during the pre-production phase.  This is the phase addressed in this workshop, and the aim of the team is to have completed a script, storyboard, character designs, some 3D visualization and perhaps some animation tests.  The production will take place over at least six months, and it requires substantial support to bring the film to completion in the final stage of post-production.

After a morning screening session, which is now tailored towards techniques of stop-motion animation which the students are planning for their film, the group divided into three teams to work on the script, characters and visualizing the film in storyboard form.  The teams were led by the visiting animators – with Tara Douglas (Secretary of the Adivasi Arts Trust) on the script team, Jonathan Marchant (an independent animator from England) on the character design team and the two animators from NID, Vijay Punia and Wangdan Wangpan leading the storyboard team.  A productive day ended with a script reading session, a presentation of initial storyboard sketches and a display and critique of the recent character designs.  Unlike the communities represented in the other four films in the series, Arunachal does not have a developed tradition of figurative art; its cultures are seen through the ornaments, weaving, basketry, songs and stories.  Without an ancient tradition to refer to, the young people are now artistically influenced by the commercial cartoons they watch on television so it will be a challenge to see if a more ‘Arunachali’ style can emerge for the film. 

The workshop will continue for another two weeks at the Department of Mass Communications (RGU) in Naharlagun.

Press Release 8 January 2013

Can the tribal folklore of Arunachal Pradesh translate into animation films?  This is the question that a group of young people are exploring in a three week long Animation Workshop that has been organised in Naharlagun at the Department of Mass Communications by the Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), in partnership with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation (CCRD) and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust (AAT).  The young graduates are from several of the tribes, mostly from the Tani group that stay in the central part of Arunachal Pradesh (Nyishi, Apatani, Adi and Galo), and they are learning about animation from a diverse team of resource people that have arrived from Gujarat (through  a connection with the National Institute of Design in Ahmadabad), and from the United Kingdom:  The team has decided to make a short animation film to represent their oral traditions for the Tales of the Tribes collection of animated folk tales from Northeast India produced by AAT.  For the visitors it is an opportunity to interact and absorb the cultural details that will enrich the animation film for international audiences as well as in this region.

Moji Riba, the Head of Department and a co-ordinator of the workshop invited Senior Artiste, Bengia Hemanto to visit the participants in the afternoon today,  to offer inputs as the group begins adapting an oral folk tale for an animation film script. Mr Hemanto’s music is influenced by folk songs from Arunachal, and he made his first recording in 1969 which was played the following year on All India Radio, and he has also accompanied Dr. Bhupendra Hazarika. 
The animators are explaining the adaptation process and encouraging the participants, who are all novices in this field, to visualize the sequence, the shots, actions and characters.  They are inspired everyday through with a morning screening session that is now focused on the stop motion technique that they are planning to use for their animation film.  Several of the students already have artistic experience or enjoy drawing cartoons.  Jonathan Marchant (from England) has now revealed that the drawings will be developed as designs for stop motion puppets – articulated models made from tangible materials that will be placed in miniature scenes and animated by stop capturing single frames – 24 per second to be precise.   Demonstrating two ready made models from his collection, Jonathan tells us, “You have to take so much care about making good models.  They become like your children”.  

Animation is a highly technical process and this workshop can only provide a first introduction to the subject, but the students are already becoming enthusiastic.  The film production is expected to take a further six months after the conclusion of the workshop.   Mr Hemanto feels that this is an interesting project, and although the story for the film is abbreviated from the original tale, he is certain that it will lead to more questions from the younger generation and ignite a desire to find out more. 

Press Release 7 January 2013

A three week long introductory Animation Workshop is currently taking place for the first time in Arunachal Pradesh, at the Mass Communications Department of Rajiv Gandhi University at the Naharlagun.  It is a collaborative project that has been organised by the University in partnership with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust to bring young people together in a forum to discuss cultural adaptation. The group of about twenty, many of them Post Graduate students are working with a small team of visiting animators that have come to research the tribal culture and folk tales as content for an animation film.  By involving Arunachalees, the team animators are hoping to raise awareness amongst the communities of possibilities of using animation as a tool to promote their culture in a wider context, while also making it accessible to children from the area who now get more opportunities to see cartoons on television than hear folktales from their elders.  

The group has chosen one a folktale with characters that are common to several of the tribes from Central Arunachal, broadly clubbed together as the ‘Tani group’ on the basis of their shared belief in a first ancestor, Abotani.  Abotani is an archetypal hero who is always able to outsmart his elder brother - who happens to be a spirit. The two are constantly fighting over land and resources, and it takes the omnipotent Dige Wiyu, the spirit of the earth, to finally settle the case and divide up the land. In the meantime a mithun is sacrificed and Tapan the bat debuts as the trickster in the tale.   The story has several themes and events– man’s relationship with nature and the supernatural, mind over might, the reason for the black appearance of the bat and an explanation for the lack of any written history in these tribes. 

Brainstorming and mind mapping sessions by the group have revealed details about the appearance and personality of the main characters for the short animation film that they are planning to make to represent Arunachal Pradesh in an upcoming new series of tribal animation films called Tales of the Tribes in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust.  The first step in developing a script for the film is to study the narrative structure of the story to decide the sequence of shots that are required to communicate it best.  “We have to reason everything.  We have to give an explanation to ourselves of every aspect of the story” says Vijay Punia, who is visiting from Gujarat, where he graduated from the National Institute of Design two years ago.  Jonathan Marchant and Jancene Bacchus have joined the animation team from Bernley, in Lancashire, England and this is the first time they have been involved in a project like this that aims to bring together storytelling, artistic, musical and technical skills and well researched cultural content in a new genre of tribal animation films.

Press Release 5 January 2013

A group of young people in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India have volunteered for an Animation Workshop to see if  animation can be used as a new tool for the promotion of their culture.  They are being hosted by the Rajiv Gandhi University at their Department of Mass Communications in Naharlagun.   The initiative for the event was proposed by the Adivasi Arts Trust with local partnership from the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation. 

Three weeks have been assigned to go through the planning process of animation film making.  It is a brand new subject and participants are getting assistance from a small team of visiting animators, from the United Kingdom and from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat.  They all want to work on a short animation film for the Tales of the Tribes collection, a series of five short films being produced by the Adivasi Arts Trust. 
The film will be just five minutes long – a brief time to convey some of the cultural essence of the tribal state.  But there are said to be 26 major tribes, so how will the group be able to choose just one story?  The animators have now introduced them to the first stage of visualizing an oral tradition and capturing the point of a long convoluted story in a concise way. 

The two animators from NID are an inspiration to the group.  Vijay Punia has brought along a wonderful collection of some of the best films that have come out of the Animation Design Department over the past years to show the young people in Arunachal Pradesh just what is possible in storytelling by using a variety of techniques that include traditional drawn animation, films inspired by Indian folk art and stop motion.  “Stop motion is literally ‘stop-motion’ – the motion is created by a series of single images,” explains Jonathan Marchant, who has come from Bernley, in Lancashire, England.  What better way to understand it than to do it?” He adds setting up a simple camera linked to video capture software to demonstrate how timing affects the action. This is his first exposure to Indian tribal culture, an opportunity that came to him through the Adivasi Arts Trust.

In the afternoon session, the Workshop Coordinator, Tara Douglas (Secretary of the Trust), also a PhD student at Bournemouth University (UK) organised a Focus Group to discuss issues of participant expectations, indigenous representation and adaptation of traditional culture to the new medium.  The ensuing discussion revealed enthusiasm for animation, for films such as Kong Fu Panda and the Japanese Anime style, and the sentiment that the content of the films was not representative of their values and stories.  Participants  are hoping that animation provides a way of raising wider awareness and pride in Arunachalee identity.

Press Release 4 January 2013

A three week long Animation Workshop on the theme of tribal folklore is taking place for the first time in the Arunachal Pradesh.  It is a collaborative venture between the Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation and the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust.  23 local participants, most of them from tribes of the Tani group, are coming on a daily basis to find out about how their folk tales can provide content for animation films and find appeal with young people, not only in the region, but in the rest of India and the world as well.  
A small team of visiting animators, some of them from the UK and others from the National Institute of Design (NID) in Gujarat, are looking at this event as a forum for discussion on the possibilities for adapting tribal folktales - of which there are no end – for new media.  These stories, full of action, adventure and supernatural beings can be brought to life to find new audiences through the animation medium.
Vijay Punia and Wangdan Wangpan who have come as resource people from NID are passionate about animation, and so is Jonathan Marchant, who took the decision to volunteer for this project a year ago.  The animators start with a daily session of animation film screenings; but these are not of the commercial cartoon genre popularized on TV, they have been retrieved from the archives of animation masterpieces.
Today this was followed by the first lecture introducing the intricate process by which animation is created, frame by frame, with a required 1440 single images for every minute of real time visual experience.  Jonathan and Punia stress the critical importance of timing in animation and they urged participants  to start studying action carefully to understand how their characters will behave.  “It is about observing the world around you through movement.  You can have a lot of fun with it because it is about observing life”, Jonathan points out.  “These are things we normally do not notice”, adds Punia.

Moji Riba, a co-ordinator of the project made arrangements for a traditional ‘Nyibo’ (priest) from his own Galo tribe to visit the workshop in the afternoon, to interact with the students and animators.  Tama Mindo is from Liromoba in West Siang District and he has been living in Naharlagun for over 30 years.  He is in popular demand for his role as a mediator with the spirits that are a prominent element of the indigenous faiths. 
Mr. Mindo soon captivated the young people with his stories about dealings with the spirits that regularly need to be appropriated by rituals and sacrifices.  According to the legends, a fraternal relationship exists between mankind and the supernatural.  He explains that environmental degradation and excessive exploitation of resources is a threat to the spirits, forcing them to retreat, and in turn blame the priest for not protecting them; while at the same time, the priestly vocation is rapidly losing its significance in modern society. 

The participants of the workshop have yet to choose the story for the animation film they are planning to make, and they have now started to find out that thorough planning is essential to the animation film making process.  Having pooled together a collection of about 15 stories, they will try to arrive at a consensus choice tomorrow for a story that will be suitable for children and able to communicate across culture,yet capture an essence of tribal culture of Arunachal Pradesh. 

 Press Release 3 January 2013

Today saw the inauguration of a Workshop of Animation and Folktales of Arunachal Pradesh at the Department of Mass Communications, Rajiv Gandhi University, Naharlagun.  This workshop is organised as collaboration between the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust, RGU and the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation, in AP.  The event has attracted several visiting animators from as far as away as England and Scotland and 23 local participants have signed up to help the visiting team develop one of their own favourite tribal folk tales into a short animation film for a series called Tales of the Tribes, also to include cartoon films from Sikkim, Nagaland and Manipur.  Tara Douglas, Secretary of the Trust is the co-ordinator of the three week initiative that also addresses issues of cultural loss and asks whether traditional oral stories can be revitalized using new media, specifically animation film. 

The Head of the Department of Mass Communications, Moji Riba welcomed the participants and guests and encouraged them to make the most of the time that has been allocated for this creative project.  Tara followed with a brief introduction and she gave more information about the animation project, pointing out that animation is a highly skilled vocation that takes time to learn.  She has invited two young Indian animators from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat (www.nid.edu) to come along as resource people and share their experience with the local participants.  Wangdan Wanpan, a final year student of the Under Graduate course is from the Wancho tribe of Tirap District and he is coming back home to Arunachal Pradesh for the first time in two years while Vijay Punia, originally from Haryana, graduated two years ago, and now works close by the Institute in Gujarat as a freelance designer.  English landscape artist and animation expert, Jonathan Marchant joined the Trust about two years ago and has volunteered his time on this occasion to show the young team how to make character models using materials such as foam and latex built on metal armatures.  Stop motion animation is a technique that has been used in many memorable films and it may offer a style that is suitable for bringing the story to life, frame by frame.

The Workshop received well wishes from Dr. Tomo Riba, Dean of the Geography Department. Renowned author and poet, Mamang Dai spoke of the threat posed by dominant languages to mother tongue languages in Arunachal Pradesh.   Mamang received the Padma Shree award in 2009 in respect of her literary achievements which includes several books-   Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land, River Poems  and Legends of Pensam, a novel inspired by themes from Adi tribal folklore.  She recounted her own thoughts on how  the spirits called Wiyus that feature in many stories  should to be depicted in the illustrations for her children’s book The Sky Queen, published in 2005 by Katha, and how it had led her to think of their potential appeal in animation.   

After lunch the participants reconvened for their first storytelling session.  Ten folk tales from several of the major tribes were related, and the animators advised the group to look at a story that would be suitable for children and might also find wider appeal beyond Arunachal Pradesh. The discussion moved on to the topic of the nature spirits of the indigenous faiths.   In the coming days, a chosen story will be transformed into a film script and a storyboard in the process of planning the animation film.

WORKSHOP SLIDE SHOW