SHAKTI- final film

*****THE DIVINITY OF FEMININITY*****

It is done!

FILM STILLS

FINAL FILM IS COMPLETE! 9 scenes overall, here's a sneak peek:

DVD cover

Production Diary

Shooting frame by frame and endless cups of tea.

Making the puppets

Production

Tearing my hair out now shooting my actual animation, here's an attempt that I scrapped:

More Snakes

Made the snake puppet a bit longer and added a tongue... Also tested a close-up.

Pace Tests

Some very boring (but very useful) tests I made to establish a pace for the blooming of the Lotus flowers.

I've decided to use the technique of drawing/painting on the stems and having the Lotus buds as paper puppets...

Background test

An idea I'd had for the background was to use scanned in sections of sarees that I've collected from India. This would be to give the animation a cultural flavour and context. I did this basic test to test out colours etc.

From this video I can see that the colours of the prints really interfere with the cut-outs. The only possibilities would be the purple with dots or the turquoise. However I'd also like to try out a painted background so that the cut outs stand out more...

Lotus Stem Test

Trying to figure out the technique I want to use to create the blooming Lotus buds... Few glitches here with moving parts and camera (?!) but gets the job done...

Red Rice

Return of the ominous red rice!

Not decided on whether I actually want to use this technique in my final animation (it's very clumsy and lacks detail) but I had a play today:

Snake Puppet Tests

Made some very quick tests with the snake puppets I made this weekend. Just working on how the movement of the snake works, I think I started to master it more convincingly towards the end of the first clip. After trying out the puppets I realised that the snake's slither is more complex than I first assumed and requires a little bit more thought... I researched snake movement and found a really useful video on YouTube:

Camera Test: Lotus bud

Made a makeshift lotus puppet to experiment with the blooming sequence...

Quite happy with the result (although i had to edit out frames with my hands in shot!)

Camera Test: Face/Snake

Initial test to play with the equipment, try some basic animating and evaluate problems/issues that may arise in final designs...

it was way fun! The colours of the photos are too dull and the features look shadowy, but i think i will work with the same images, just edited slightly differently. I really like the effect of the oversized eyes and the blinking, alongside the main action of the tongue being stuck out... The snake design really needs some work (the one shown here was a very basic model i made weeks ago to try out the mechanism of the thread/tape holding the sections together)- it'll have to be thinner, with smaller segments to make a smoother slither. also, i'll have to keep the snake-skin more uniform so that the movement can actually be seen and understood. 

Next I want to try sliding the snake through the mouth of the face, by cutting a slit and pulling it through...

Production Schedule

A depressing table of all the jobs I have to complete in the making of this animation. 

To be done in the next 4 weeks.... It is there to inject The Fear!

(the highlighted ones are the ones already completed... 

I have The Fear)

'Face' experiments

playing with collage ideas for the face.

one sheet ideas

two one-sheet designs--- I like neither, and plan to make a decision on final design after i've completed filming and have a clearer view of the imagery within the film...

Artist Research

animatic

mock up of my final animation... 

including sequence, rough timing and music idea.

final story board

Developing theme

Concept art on the main imagery I intend to use in the Animation. 

Pen on paper, approx 2m long.

Concept Art

Some sketches I completed whilst searching for appropriate imagery.

Kali-kata (Kolkata)

I've visited Kolkata several times, as (rather fittingly) it is the birthplace of my Mother. The city is believed to have gotten it's name from one of Bengal's most prevalent deities, it's modern version being thought to be derived from the ancient Bengali term 'kalikkhetro' meaning 'field of the goddess'. On my most recent visit to Kalcutta I honoured this history and my curiosity  and visited the Kalighat temple, the place believed to be the site where the Goddess' toe fell.

This temple was the busiest place i have EVER been.!We (me and a brave Uncle who'd allocated himself the duty of showing me the Kalighat in all it's glory) had to make our way through markets surrounding the temple, selling garlands, pigment, idols and offerings for the goddess- a trail of saffron red and incense smoke leading us to the Goddess. We left our shoes with a stall-holder and continued into the temple barefoot, petals and dust sticking to the soles. The temple was an outside enclosure full of people worshiping and queuing to view the idol of the Goddess. There were so many people, you would be lucky to glimpse the Goddess inside, draped in her garlands and cloths, but all you needed was to see her eyes to feel her presence. We battled the crowds and for once being a westerner seemed to have it's advantages, as the priests at entrance of the Goddess' chamber grabbed my hand and dragged me through so i could glimpse her. A seconds look and that was it, a glimpse of red eyes through the smoke and there she was. I was snatched away by my uncle to move up some stairs to catch a glimpse of the full figure of the Mother from further away. As some devotees shuffled out of the way I had another second with Kali before my forehead was smeared with sandal wood and we scurried to the exit, avoiding grabbing hands from beggars and the pools of blood left behind the mornings animal sacrifice.

And after all that, without being Hindu or indeed religious in any way, i admit to feeling Kali's presence. Whether it was the atmosphere of the hoards of devotees, clanging bells, chanting and grappling to look into her eyes, or the Mother herself with red eyes gleaming, there was something real...

starting point

Kali: The Black One

Fierce Mother Goddess of dissolution and the destruction of illusion. A warrior known for her bloodthirsty brutality, devouring enemies and dancing on battlefields- drunk on their blood.

Kali is often used as a symbol of aggression and ferocity, but what I think is most important about her character is the paradoxical personality traits that are often ignored. Kali is first and formost a manifestation of the Mother Goddess Durga in her time of battle. Kali remains a Mother and is fiercely protective, thus caring. As the legend goes, at the sight of her husband Shiva she calms from the heat of battle and embraces him, a gesture that Kali devotees claim to show the Goddess as humane and nurturing. These devotees feel a very intimate relationship with 'Ma Kali' ('Mother Kali') and feel protected and loved in the worship of her...

I would really like to explore this relationship between anger/love, brutality/humanity, ferocity/beauty as a further investigation into the Hindu Goddesses. Kali shows another more complex side to the feminine archetype described by the pantheon of Hindu Goddesess, and I aim to represent her energy visually in my animation.

Previous Animations

Oh, I've dabbled...

Some very hashed together animations from previous projects.

'Daksinakali: My Mistake' is an image of me taking the pose of the Hindu Goddess Kali sticking out her tongue as a sign of her mistake. I collected all of the mistakes I made in a week and pulled them out of my mouth... An act of regret and acceptance, whilst imitating the image of Kali. This piece was projected to be the scale of a wall, in a dark room.

. 

Another stop- motion animation where I lay out around 10kgs of rice onto a bedsheet and manipulated it in front of the camera... Playful experimentation.

A piece I made as part of a larger project, interpreting a private letter found on the road:

I put together some drawings I made into a sort-of animation to add movement to them...