The Grand General is an Individual animated short film made as a part of my graduation thesis/Graduation project, under the sponsorship of Trip Creative services for their
in-house IP: Folktales of India.
The film is based on a true story told by my grandfather about his grandfather. Thus, creating a generational tale.
INCEPTION
The film came to its conception upon the expanded ideology that folk tales were tales with a moral about everyday lives told from person to person spanning across a generation.
Keeping in with the Folktales of India’s distinctive features, the characters and the
world surrounding them had to be designed in a particular folk art of the region.
world surrounding them had to be designed in a particular folk art of the region.
Subsequently, as the story was based in
Karnataka, the treatment of the film had to bebased on a folk art of the same.
Karnataka, the treatment of the film had to bebased on a folk art of the same.
Stylistically, the film was inspired from the folk art of Karnataka, Togalu Gombeyaata, A form of shadow puppetry with puppets made with colored goatskin for its transparency and its ability to display color in the shadows.
The Folk art has its roots in the art of the Vijaynagara empire. The Vijayanagara empire, translated , “City of Victory” was the prosperous capital of the largest and most powerful kingdom of its time in south India. The folk art is still practiced to this day in the Villages of Karnataka.
SWADESHI MOVEMENT
The swadeshi movement advocated the boycott of foreign goods and British institutions. Started formally in 7 August 1907 from Town hall in Calcutta, it was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism.
From 1918-1947, the movement was strengthened by Mahatma Gandhi, when he took a pledge to boycott foreign goods by burning 150,000 English Cloths in Mumbai in 1921. This action encouraged the citizens of India in every village, town, and city to take to the streets and burn all their British goods. This was around the same time my grandfather was born.
My Grandfather was an extremely social person. A storyteller at heart and a comedian
by demeanour, he always had a smile to share, a couple of chocolates in his pocket and was always armed with jokes ready to fire away!
by demeanour, he always had a smile to share, a couple of chocolates in his pocket and was always armed with jokes ready to fire away!
His stories, although funny, always had a lot of subtexts that were included nonchalantly. All his "funny stories" were directly linked to him being a Dalit!
His stories reflected a view of life from the past,that disclosed a societal construct that was so fully imbibed in him, that he didn’t even for a second think about what the stories meant.
He narrated these stories, in a humorous way as if delivering a joke with a punchline! Without ever batting an eye.
VISUAL DEVELOPMENT
FINAL CONCEPT ART
The Folk art usually was performed on a white screen, with no specific setting.
However, there were accounts of such plays using black and white printed sheets of pictures for context.
However, there were accounts of such plays using black and white printed sheets of pictures for context.
This opened up numerous possibilities for explorations.
Other Iterations
STORYBOARDS
BACKGROUNDS
COLOR REF
Additional Promotional Material
FIN.
