Animating Indianness: A study of assimilating Indian images in a western narrative A Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Of MASTER OF DESIGN By Paritosh Singh (11119011) DESIGN PROGRAMME INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR KANPUR 208016 JUNE 2013 ii iii ABSTRACT Keywords: Design, Animation, Indianness, Indian Visual Art, Animation History. In India, animation is still considered synonymous to the cartoons and often made for children. As television entered into Indian household the cartoons become synonymous to Disney. Majority of animations in India are influenced from the visual styles of various global productions. Few questions arise out of it like, is it necessary to keep following the visual language of the best selling global productions? The Indian audience is ready to witness something new and has not yet been presented with enough of Indian visual language in animation. There can never be another Disney, so why not create an identity of our own? The rich culture of storytelling in Indian art styles might be the answer. Indian visual narratives are not just the visual styles that express Indian identity but also reflect a way of thinking and recognizing the world. Therefore, a Panchatantra story embodies not only identifiable flora, fauna and characters but more importantly Indian values. Along with entertaining, visual narratives also showcase the manner in which a culture visualises its world. Thus, Indian images are easier to relate to an Indian audience than a western image. Indian animation with its identity will be able to stand out distinctly at the global platform, like Disney and Japanese anime. It will avoid the Indian animators from turning into just a labour force for outsourced work. Also, it will spread the awareness of languishing Indian art forms across the globe. Therefore in this thesis work, the lack of Indian identity in animation scenario of India is studied using the case-study methodology. And hence, the Indian visual language is explored in animation to create an identity that is closer to our own culture. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deepest appreciation and sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor Ms. Koumudi Patil who provided me with her constant support and guidance throughout my thesis work. Her precious and timely inputs helped me in keeping the focus and working in the proper direction which was much required for completion of the project. Also, I would like to thank the complete Faculty of Design Programme, IIT Kanpur for building up the necessary infrastructure including Communication Design Studio with the world-class Cintiq tablets which played an essential role in creating animation films for this thesis in an efficient manner. Further, I am also thankful to my juniors and all my batch mates for their continuous feedback and encouragement throughout the process. Last but not least, special thanks go to my family for their blessing and care along with the continuous encouragement to face all the challenges in life. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE ………………………………………………………………..………............ ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………….……............. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………..….............. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………................. v LIST OF EXHIBITS ………………………………………………………..….................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………………………………............... 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ………………………………………………………............. 3 2.1 Visual narratives in Indian Art …………………………………………………........ 3 2.1.1 Murals of Ajanta........................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Kaavad......................................................................................................... 5 2.1.3 Patua............................................................................................................ 5 2.1.4 Warli............................................................................................................. 6 2.2 History of Animation ………………………………………………………….…........ 8 2.3 Animation in India ……………………………………………………………........... 16 2.3.1 Clair Weeks and The Banyan Deer ……………………………………......... 16 2.3.2 Bhimsain and Ek Anek Aur Ekta …………………………………………...... 19 2.3.3 Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama ………………………………...... 22 2.3.4 Roadside Romeo …………………………………………………………....... 25 Chapter 3: Study & Analysis of Indian Art in Animation ………….………………......... 28 3.1 Nina Sabnani’s Mukand and Riaz ……………………………………………....... 28 3.2 Narayan Shi’s The Freedom Song ……………………………………………...... 31 3.3 Nitin Donde’s Pot of Gold ………………………………………………………..... 33 3.4 Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues ……………………………………………....... 35 Chapter 4: Design Methodology …………………………………………………….......... 38 4.1 Choosing a story ………………………………………………………………........ 38 4.1.1 Popularity …………………………………………………………………........ 38 4.1.2 Genre ………………………………………………………………………....... 39 4.1.3 Characters …………………………………………………………………....... 39 4.1.4 Famous short instances …………………………………………………....... 40 4.1.5 Adaptability in Animation ………………………………………………......... 40 4.2 Choosing an Indian art style …………………………………………………........ 41 4.3 Characteristics of art style ……………………………………………………........ 42 4.4 Designing Characters …………………………………………………………....... 42 4.4.1 Defining Persona ............. ………………………………………………....... 42 vi 4.4.2 Converting Persona to the Character ……………………………………..... 42 4.5 Defining colour scheme ………………………………………………………........ 42 4.6 Creating backgrounds …………………………………………………………....... 43 4.7 Developing Animation …………………………………………………………....... 43 Chapter 5: First Animation: Alice & the Cheshire Cat …………………………….......... 44 5.1 Story ………………………………………………………………………….…........ 44 5.2 Indian Art Style: Tholpavakoothu …….………………………………………....... 44 5.3 Analysis of Art Style ………………………………………………………….…...... 45 5.3.1 History ………………………………………………………………………..... 45 5.3.2 Puppets ………………………………………………………………….…...... 46 5.3.3 Stage ………………………………………………………………………....... 48 5.3.4 Music & Sound ……………………………………………………………....... 48 5.3.5 The Play ……………………………………………………………………...... 48 5.4 Characters ………………………………………………………………………...... 49 5.4.1 Alice …………………………………………………………………………..... 49 5.4.2 Cheshire Cat ………………………………………………………………...... 51 5.4.3 The White Rabbit …………………………………………………………....... 52 5.5 Colour Scheme ……………………………………………………………….…...... 52 5.6 Background Elements …………………………………………………………....... 53 5.7 Animation ………………………………………………………………………........ 55 5.7.1 Pre-production: Storyboarding ………………………………………............ 55 5.7.2 Production: Flash Animation ……………………………………………........ 56 5.7.3 Post-production: Editing …………………………………………………....... 56 Chapter 6: Second Animation: Alice & the Caterpillar ……………………………......... 58 6.1 Story ……………………………………………………………………………......... 58 6.2 Indian Art Style: Gond Tribal Art …………………………………………….......... 58 6.3 Analysis of Art Style ……………………………………………………………....... 59 6.3.1 History ………………………………………………………………………...... 59 6.3.2 Aesthetics …………………………………………………………………........ 62 6.3.3 Process ……………………………………………………………………........ 63 6.4 Characters ………………………………………………………………………....... 64 6.4.1 Alice …………………………………………………………………………...... 64 6.4.2 Caterpillar …………………………………………………………………........ 65 6.5 Colour Scheme and Patterns …………………………………………………....... 66 6.6 Background Elements …………………………………………………………....... 68 6.7 Animation ………………………………………………………………………........ 70 6.7.1 Pre-production: Storyboarding …………………………………………........ 70 vii 6.7.2 Production: Flash Animation ……………………………………………........ 71 6.7.3 Post-production: Editing …………………………………………………...…. 71 Chapter 7: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………... 72 7.1 Analysis of first animation…………………………………………………………... 72 7.1.1 Characters…………………..………………………………………………….. 72 7.1.2 Composition………………..…………………………………………………… 74 7.1.3 Movement …………………………………………………………………….... 75 7.2 Analysis of second animation…………………………………………………….… 75 7.2.1 Characters ……………………………………………………………...……… 75 7.2.2 Composition………………..…………………………………………………… 76 7.2.3 Movement ………………………………………………………………………. 77 7.3 Future scope ……..…………………………………………………….................... 77 References …..……………………………………………………..................................... 78 Appendix 1: Types of Animation …………………………………………………………... 81 Appendix 2: Process of Animation ……………………………………………………..…. 83 viii LIST OF EXHIBITS Exhibit 2.1 Four acts of narrative in Cave One of Ajanta ……………………………....... 4 Exhibit 2.2 Scenes from the Act 1 of the narrative...……………………………………… 4 Exhibit 2.3 Kaavad in its closed and open state ……………………………………..….. 5 Exhibit 2.4 Patua scroll painter singing with the scroll …………………………………… 6 Exhibit 2.5 Warli painting on the wall ………………………………………………………. 7 Exhibit 2.6 Five images sequence from a vase found in Iran …………………………… 8 Exhibit 2.7 Timeline of Animation …………………………………………………...…. 9-15 Exhibit 2.8 Storyboard of The Banyan Deer …………………………………………...... 17 Exhibit 2.9 Article published about the production of The Banyan Deer ……………… 18 Exhibit 2.10 Lead character of The Banyan Deer and Disney’s Bambi ………….……. 18 Exhibit 2.11 A still from Bhimsain’s The Climb ………………………………………….. 19 Exhibit 2.12 Characters in Ek Anek aur Ekta ………………………………………….… 20 Exhibit 2.13 Characters from the western animations …………………....................... 20 Exhibit 2.14 School book covers with illustrations of characters ……………….……… 21 Exhibit 2.15 The poster of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama …………………. 22 Exhibit 2.16 Character of Lord Ram in Japanese animation …..................................