Press Release: 22 July 2011

Naga folktales are acquiring new dimensions at the North East Zone Culture Centre in Nagaland.  Stories that have belonged to the oral tradition are now becoming animated with high end 3D software, used to create a virtual world that is colored by indigenous Naga textiles projected onto computer generated topography, and inhabited by characters inspired by Naga wooden sculptures.  The project, called “Tales of the Tribes”, uses media technology as a tool to preserve minority cultures and make ancient traditions accessible to the young generation, and in Nagaland this has become a collaborative venture by the UK based Adivasi Arts Trust, the Nagaland State Government and the North East Zone Culture Centre.

Tara Douglas, British animator and Secretary of the Trust is directing the project.  She has come to Nagaland from Delhi with her 3D computer workstation and she is presently based at NEZCC in Dimapur.  Tara is eager to involve Naga youth in the project, and to raise awareness about animation as a tool to preserve culture. On Thursday 21 July students of the Eastern Academy Secondary School in Dimapur were invited for a screening event and presentation at the Cultural Centre.    The programme began with a film screening of “The Tallest Story Competition”, a collection of five animated folktales from tribes of Central India that was produced in 2006 by Scottish based West Highland Animation.  In the programme, the five short films are competing for the best story.   The Northeast region of India was not represented in this first series of films and “Tales of the Tribes” is set to change this, with four of the five films originating from folktales from Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.  With support from the forward thinking Department of Art and Culture in the State Government of Nagaland, the short film from Nagaland is taking shape in a drama between three characters – Man, Tiger and Spirit - who are brothers in Angami Naga folklore. 

It is hoped that youth in Nagaland, with limited exposure or opportunities in the volatile region may get inspired by this initiative started by Tara, who encourages them to look towards their own Naga traditions for content for creative projects.  “We are looking to develop new styles for animation that will resonate with people over here, so I urge you not to copy the cartoons you see on TV.  Disney and Manga has already been done, let us look at Naga culture to find a new style for animation films”, she told the group of students.

Man, Tiger and Spirit

It is peaceful at the North East Zone Cultural Centre, three and a half miles out of Dimapur.  The road that brings one here is a small, pot-holed lane that passes the airport.  Though I hear a few large trucks rattling past the Centre, I have no idea where they are going, because this place feels right off the beaten track.   The monsoon rains make it even more tranquil, as the sound of rainfall has the effect of peacefully watering the land - and keeping oneself and disturbances (self inflicted or otherwise) inside. 

Inside the Centre I am playing out a drama with my characters, Man Tiger and Spirit.  I switch on the computer as soon as I hear the power back up supply come on, and then I am lost for the rest of the day in the virtual world I am creating.  It is incredibly absorbing:  To be the creator of the world, there is so much to consider! 

The first step was to “block” out the shots by putting my 3D models in position and roughly moving them about.  These sequences were rendered and placed on a timeline using After Effects software, as I am familiar with it.  I look for ways to explain to the uninitiated why so many months – even a year or more-  is required  to make such a short animation film:  There are well over a hundred shots for the five minute film, and this is something that I suspect people do not realize unless they are animation film makers themselves.    Each scene will take more than a day to “block” and “render”. (Rendering can be seen as processing all the inputs fed into the computer to create images).

The rendered sequences are inserted into the animatic (a filmed storyboard) to replace the sequence of still images that provide the “blueprint” for the film:  All of this pre-production is crucial for animation which is such a time consuming process that one cannot afford to create scenes that will not be useful for the film.   But the very first rough cut of the short film is not something one would like to show off.  That first stage was mostly completed in Delhi over the past years, and now I must make transform the rough cut into something that I can show others, so that I can get inputs from musicians for the all important audio track. 

I am going through my scenes and reworking them.  I realize that animation film-making is about getting the right shots which communicate the story to the audience, and my first rough cut did not always do that, so now I must focus on what is important in each shot and try to show it in the most interesting way:  If the most important thing in the scene is missed, it has failed.  I am learning this through experience, and it cannot be underestimated.  This is such a delightful phase in the production and I compare it to adding details to an oil painting once the composition has been sketched and the base layers of colour have been applied. The look of the film is inspired by art from Nagaland, which makes it special and different from other 3D animation films.  The Naga animation scenes are becoming noticeably more beautiful with adjustment of textures, cameras and lights. 

According to the story line, the three main characters have emerged from the cave and I have now reached the point where the characters are getting established.  The three personalities are different – “Tiger hunted, Man grew rice and Spirit did whatever he wanted…”, explains the narration;  the last part is depicted by Spirit popping out of the basket of rice that Man carries home on his back, somersaulting in the air and becoming  a shooting star.  As I go on with this blog, I want to discuss adaptation, because it is something that has to be well considered when looking at tribal folktales as content for animation films. 

Meanwhile, the Chowkidhar (caretaker) of the Centre who sits and watches me at work, (I know he would rather go home, but his responsibility is to lock up), remarks that the basket is like a Naga basket, and I feel happy that he has recognized this detail.  

Animation film production

Blog on Nagaland Animation Film

One forgets just how hard it is to reach Nagaland.  I was reminded on my fifth visit in July, 2011.  After the last trip to the Northeast, I promised that I would only travel on the Rajdhani train; it has a reputation for being safe – armed guards patrol the train at regular intervals and there are extra doors into the carriages to separate one from the hostile world outside.  I booked the train on the internet six weeks ago, and felt assured that, though on the waiting list, I would be provided a berth.  It was a formidable task to get my entire luggage onto the right platform – I was bringing all the equipment I would need for animation film production, which included my large workstation, UPS and screen. 

There was pandemonium as usual at New Delhi railway station when the train came into the platform and I ran around frantically looking for the Ticket Inspector to find out about my seat.  The clock was ticking but at last I found the inspector.   I showed him my e-ticket and he began screaming at me, threatening not to allow me on the train.  In desperation, I hunted all over for the Station Master, and then returned to the platform.   The train had started moving and  I jumped aboard somehow with all the luggage:  There was no way I could not be on that train, having booked six weeks ago, how would I ever be able to get a new booking at any time in the near future?  The Inspector continued to shout at me, threatening to put me off at the first stop - which would be Khanpur.  Remembering the bitter experience  of the robbery in Guwahati  and knowing of the notorious reputation of Khanpur,  I firmly retorted that as I was a single foreign female, I would not be getting off at Khanpur under any circumstances. 

The Inspector continued to bully me until at last I took out money – twice the original fare.  Immediately his attitude changed and nothing was too much trouble.  The Inspector made a grand show of giving me a receipt and insisting that I signed a paper declaring no grievances.   But I had them:  How was one to get to Nagaland if booking six weeks ahead could not secure a seat?  This was person who had been ready to turn me out mercilessly into an unsavoury situation and   I felt helpless, insecure and taken advantage of;  I consoled myself with the thought  that this is a prevalent situation experienced in India by common people who will get nowhere  unless they pay.  

The Rajdhani was only two hours late, and I arrived at Dimapur railway station 35 hours later at 1am,  to be met by my friend Yanger, who to my great relief whisked me and the unfeasible luggage away to his house in Duncan Bosti.

Four days later I moved to the North East Zone Culture Centre, 3.5 miles out of Dimapur near the airport. I had visited the Centre on previous trips to Nagaland, but as the friendly Director, Hekali Zhimoni , had been transferred elsewhere, I had not thought to be in touch - until I become a friend of NEZCC on Facebook.

NEZCC’s presence on Facebook indicated vitality to me; it was unusual for a Government institution in Nagaland to be so modern, and I was prompted to send a proposal to the new Director, Som Kamie, for collaboration, with NEZCC as a local facilitator for the project.  I requested a workspace with a backup power supply and contacts with young creative people in Nagaland. The response was prompt and it was encouraging, and I felt elated on meeting the young Director, spending an hour explaining the project to him: What really made a lasting impression was that he had heard of, and appreciated my hero, Verrier Elwin.

I have now been at the Centre for two days.  I have set up my workstation in a large airy room and I am staying in the guesthouse.  The Centre is almost in jungle and the night comes alive with the sound of insects - I must remember to recreate this atmosphere in the film.  As I sit alone steering through the virtual world that I am creating, I have ample time to reflect:  Contemplation and animation go together.  I hope that every person will discover what makes them tick, and then follow that passion.  I am thankful for having discovered such a rewarding outlet for inherent creativity in the tools of 3D animation.  I am absorbed so completely that I cease to notice the hours racing by.  I am reluctant to disturb myself even for tea, and conclude that animation is a divine activity that brings a soul closer to itself.  I would like to convey this to young Nagas that aspire to create animated worlds of their own, but how can one transpose this realization to another?  It is to be experienced, and it is as close as I get to satisfaction.

So many languages in Nagaland...

I went back to Nagaland for the fourth time in December 2010 to arrange for the folktales collected on the last visit to be transcribed in the Naga languages for INTACH, and also to follow up on the proposal for support from the State Government for the production of the short film – the animated folktale of Man, Tiger and Spirit.  It was a challenging visit that began with an unfortunate incident met on arriving in the Northeast;  As the Northeast Express train from Delhi crawled into  Guwahati railway station more than ten hours late, thieves suddenly appeared and my luggage was whisked off.   Without a second thought I pursued them down the dark railway track, but this proved to be a foolish mistake,  as I was mugged and my handbag was ripped from me.  It contained everything of importance for the trip, so within minutes I found myself stranded without a single rupee, no documents of identification and no contacts or mobile phone. 

After the first traumatic days, things began to fall into place.  I was able withdraw a little money from my account in Delhi and I decided to continue onto Nagaland as planned and see what could be achieved.   The next challege was the discovery that almost every village in Nagaland has its own dialect which would make it much harder to complete the task.   The Government Language Department in Kohima had some language officers, but neither computers nor audio equipment to listen to the recordings I had made; In addition as Nagas do not have a history of writing, and it proved hard reach  a consensus on spelling.  Fortunately people were helpful, and in Kohima and Dimapur my contacts had some internet facilities.   Although the job was not achieved in its entirety, by the time I left Nagaland  I felt confident that it would be possible to get the few remaining stories emailed to me in the mother tongue languages.

I received a pleasant surprise when I heard that the Department of Art and Culture would support the the short film.    I was expected to involve young people in Nagaland in the project as far as possible, and I made as many contacts as I could with anyone with digital skills as  I would be back next year to fulfill my promise.    The short film will use a complex high-end 3D software to recreate and animate sculptures in a virtual world inspired by Naga art, and it would be difficult to find anyone with the skills to help out;  the only young Naga 3D animator that I knew had taken a job as a graphic designer in the Health Department and it seemed unlikely that he would be able to help, but I knew some enthusiastic musicians in Kohima who wanted to compose the musical track.  Next time I would have to come with my 3D workstation and stay for an extended period in  either  Kohima or in Dimapur and engage some assistance for completing the short film.

Naga folktales...

The connection with Nagaland was becoming stronger with each visit.  I went back there again in 2010 to make audio recordings of folktales, a project that I had proposed to the Indian National Trust for Cultural Heritage in Delhi.  It was still not officially permitted for foreigners to go there alone,  so I was able to link up with Swiss Anthropologist Richard Kunz, who I had met in London, for obtaining the permit.  Richard had done research in eastern Nagaland and he wanted to present copies of his book to those that had helped him.  I tagged along, sharing the cost of transport; I was determined to record as many stories as possible.   Arriving in Dimapur, I was asked to hold a day of animation workshops at a new multimedia training institute, and before leaving the capital, Kohima, I submitted a proposal for support for the Nagaland animation film to the Nagaland State Government.

 On our fifteen day tour up the eastern side of Nagaland from Phek District in the south, (home to the Pochury Nagas) to Kiphire and Tuensang (Yimchungru) and to Mon District to visit the Konyaks, I was able to record thirty stories using a portable Marantz audio recording device.  Stories would be related in indigenous Naga languages and I would also record an English translation, usually done on the spot by the local primary school teacher, as I suspected that it would be difficult to find such language speakers later on.  The roads were very poor and it would take many hours to reach our destinations, often with the additional delay of a punctured tyre.  Arriving late, it was often difficult to extract stories from the villagers, who hardly ever got any visitors from outside.  The journey brought us to some wonderful locations where we swam and fished in the Tizu River, climbed to the summit of the highest mountain, Mount Saramati, spent a night in a Konyak field hut and wandered over the international border to feel the thrill of stepping into forbidden Myanmar.  At the end of the trip we had acquired many new friends and memories, and I had a collection of audio recordings that needed to be edited, organised and delivered to supporters back in Delhi.  The team at the Intangible Heritage division of INTACH had become excited about the project and they decided that they wanted to publish a bilingual book of folktales and so they asked for transcriptions of the stories in the Naga languages and  I realized I would have to go back to Nagaland to get that work done.  

Animation Workshop in Nagaland

A second visit to Nagaland came about in early 2009.  This was a direct result of the meeting with Sentila Yanger at Tribal Weave, and her submission of the proposal for Government support for an Animation Workshop in Nagaland as part of their Capacity Building agenda.  At last the funds were sanctioned and I returned to the remote state travelling on the Rajdhani train from Delhi for about 35 hours all the way to Dimapur.  The venue for the workshop was the Aries Sound Studio and there were fifteen young participants who had registered for it. 

Young Delhi based Naga animator Oyimbong Imchen was the assistant for the workshop, which attracted considerable media attention in the local newspapers.  Participants were introduced to the process of storytelling through the animation medium.  The workshop began with a storytelling session  to choose a story to develop for an animation film but as few of the participants could recollect any of their traditional folktales, the group went on to work on the story of Man, Tiger and Spirit for the rest of the workshop.   For 21 days the team assembled to learn about scriptwriting, storyboarding, character design, editing, sound recording and animation.  Although the studio was one of the best in Dimapur, the days were interrupted by power cuts and only two computers were available.  This was not very important however as the participants did not have experience of the software, and were instead encouraged to make three dimensional puppets for animation from wire, foam and latex and to try out stop motion animation using cowrie shells which are commonly seen in Naga art. 

The dialogues for the characters were translated into various Naga languages (Angami, Konyak, Chungli Ao and Lotha), and the group thoroughly enjoyed trying to create cartoon voices for the third week of the workshop.    The workshop was fun, but it was a challenge to maintain interest amongst a reserved group that had limited exposure anything other than mainstream cartoons and Japanese Manga art.  Subsequent experience has shown that students need to be pushed to come up with original ideas and to experiment with artistic styles, as they are naturally drawn to the easy options of imitating what they have seen on television. 

  

That first research trip to Nagaland

In 2008 a group of four foreigners was required for the application for a Restricted Area Permit which permitted a two week stay in Nagaland.  It is difficult to find compatible companions ready to visit a remote and troubled area, but at last I was able to assemble a group that included family, a member of the Adivasi Arts Trust and a French woman with a passion for tribal art.  The officer at Nagaland House in Delhi where we submitted our application for the permit was from the Konyak tribe, and when he heard that we wanted to go in April, he suggested a visit to his home district, Mon, in the northern part of the state for Aoling, the main festival of the Konyaks.  It was certainly a challenge to get there - we flew from Delhi to Guwahati, continued by train to Simalguri and then by road into Nagaland, to reach Mon. 

The Konyaks are the largest tribe amongst the Nagas, with a population estimated at 40,000.   Many of them also live in Myanmar, as the district shares an international boundary.  The first impression of Mon is of a desolate place with limited accommodation for visitors, poor roads and not much infrastructure or communication with the outside world.  It was also very cold at night, and tramping up and down the high street in the rain, we wondered what to do.  But then the festivities began, and people suddenly adorned themselves with their traditional jewelry and accessories, and for a first time visitor it was a spectacle.  Based in a simple, overbooked guesthouse in Mon Town, we made excursions to Wakching, Shangyu and Longwa, and the focus was to research culture by meeting people, taking photographs and absorbing the atmosphere.  The Konyaks are known for their skills in wood carving, and as the characters of the animation film will be inspired by sculptures, it was also our mission to see as many as possible.  There was interest in the animation project amongst those we met, but it was so far removed from daily existence, and so we decided to visit the capital, Kohima, to make connections with people engaged in culture.  The story I liked was apparently from the Angami tribe residing in Kohima District, so at the end of Aoling, we exited Nagaland, took the long road back through Assam and re-entered at Dimapur in the south; this was the recommended route, as the roads in Nagaland are in such poor condition and public transport is infrequent. 

Kohima is a hill station and it is surprisingly large.  We moved into a cheap lodge close to the bus stand as we had a lot of luggage (I had brought all the equipment I needed for animation film screenings, intending  to share a collection of animated tribal folktales from Central India with youth if the opportunity arose.)

It is always a good idea to do some initial research before making a field trip, and I had identified a few contacts in Kohima.  While we were there we met  a storyteller (Thomas Rengma) who was able to confirm that the tale was indeed from the Angami community, and we also met various others involved in cultural activities and made a visit to the State Museum and to a couple of Angami villages close by. 

Before leaving Nagaland I was able to establish links with the North East Zone Culture Centre and with Sentila Yanger who runs a local organization called Tribal Weave.  Sentila was interested in a Capacity Building workshop in Animation for Naga youth and I left her with a proposal that she would submit for funding from the State Government.

I have written extensively about that first trip to Nagaland and you can read more about it here: http://www.talleststory.com/adivasiartstrust/Nagaland.html