Wancho Animation Workshop
The Wancho Animation Workshop was organised at North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, with support from North-Eastern Council, from 16-30 March 2021. 8 Wancho participants were invited to interact with students, media professionals and anthropologists to develop their traditional story The Wancho Story of the Gourd for the Stories of Our Ancestors series.
In the workshop, participants experimented with techniques of stop-motion animation and pixillation to create test sequences for the short film. The workshop also included talks by anthropologists, artists and linguists.
Animation Workshop in Kamhua Noknu
An Animation Workshop was organised at the Government Middle School in Kamhua Noknu, Longding District, from November-December 2020. The objective was to introduce animation as a way of telling local folktales, and the participants began to develop a selected story The Wancho Story of the Gourd into a short animated film for The Stories of Our Ancestors project.
The participants experimented with stop-motion animation using local clay to create characters to animate with. They also experimented with pixillated animation and animated masks.
Animation Workshop in Khezakeno
Tara Douglas and Leslie Mackenzie visited Khezakeno, in Phek District, Nagaland in March 2019, and they organised a workshop in the local school for children to design characters for the adaptation of a local story, Tso Tawo, for a short film. Translations into Kheza as well as voice recordings for narrations and dialogues were also achieved. The film is the first to have been completed for the Stories of Our Ancestors project. The production was done at West HIghland Animation in Scotland, directed by Leslie Mackenzie.
Animation Workshop to create Presenter Character for Tales of the Tribes
A one month long workshop was held in August 2016 at Centurion University in Bhubaneshwar, in collaboration with the Institute of Knowledge Societies to adapt and develop the personality of Dr Verrier Elwin as the presenter of the Tales of the Tribes series of films. Three animation graduates from National Institute of Design: Wangdan Wangpan, Rabindra Bhagat and Kirat Brahma were invited, as well as the designer of the character, young artist Arak Sangma from Meghalaya. During the workshop, the character dialogues were recorded with Mani Ravi providing the voice; the storyboard and artwork were completed and the team began work on the animated linking sequences. The animation was completed in April 2017 by Wangdan Wangpan.
Gond Animation Workshop at IGRMS, Bhopal
An Animation Workshop for Gond artists was organised in Bhopal at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in 2015 to invite a new team to work on the Pardhan Gond story, Manjoor Jhali, The Story of the Peacock for the Tales of the Tribes collection.
A team of Pardhan Gond artists created the artwork that was required and the young animation team, recent graduates from National Institute of Design experimented with the technical processes to bring the artwork to life. The film was later completed by them in the following year.
Animation Workshop at Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi
An Animation Workshop was organised in collaboration with Lalit Kala Academi, at Garhi Studio in New Delhi in February 2014. A small team of animators were invited to explore ways that the story of Abotani from the Tani group of tribes in Central Arunachal Pradesh could be brought to life.
The character models for the film were made by Jonathan Marchant. The props included two minature tribal huts made by Galo consultants in Itanagar. The short film was completed the following year by the animators, and the Premiere Screening took place on 18 October 2015, at Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh
Animation Workshop in Arunachal Pradesh
An Animation Workshop was organised in Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh, in collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi University in January-February 2013. The objective was to introduce animation as a tool for young people in Arunachal Pradesh, and to develop a local story for a short animated film for the Tales of the Tribes series.
The story of Abotani was selected; it is shared by several tribes known as the Tani tribes of the central belt. During the workshop, elders were invited to advise the group, and one of them was Tama Mindo, a traditional priest.
The animation resource people included two from National Institute of Design and two from the UK.
Gond Animation Workshop at National Institute of Design
The Gond Animation Workshop was held at National Institute of Design in September 2012. Three Pardhan Gond artists were invited to interact with Post Graduate students of Animation Film Design and the objective was to select one of their local folktales to develop into a short animated film. The Story of the Peacock was chosen and the artists (Venkat Raman Singh Shyam, Dileep Shyam and Rajendra Shyam) began to create the artwork.
Traditional Bana player, Narayandeen Tekam joined the group and provided music for the film . An exhibition of Pardhan Gond art was also organised at the Institute.
Animation Workshop in Manipur
An Animation Workshop was organised in March 2012 in Imphal, Manipur, in collaboration with the Department of Art and Culture, Manipur and the Film Development Society. The objective was to develop a local Manipuri folktale for a short film. The Meitei story Tapta was chosen by the Meitei participants of the workshop.
The animation resource team included two Post Graduate students of Animation Film Design from National Institute of Design.
The short film Tapta was completed by the team in Manipur two years later and it is part of the Tales of the Tribes collection.
Animation Workshop in Sikkim
An Animation Workshop was organised in Sikkim to select and develop a Lepcha folktale for a short animated film. Nye Mayel Kyong was chosen by the team. In addition to local participants, the animation resource team included two graduates from National Institute of Design. The artwork was created by students of Tangka painting from the Directorate of Handloom and Handicraft. The workshop took place at Nyamgyal Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok.
The short film Nye Mayel Kyong was completed some years later by Girgit Studios, with artwork by the Tangka artists for the Tales of theTribes series.
Animation Workshop in Nagaland
An Animation Workshop was organised in Nagaland in January-February 2009, in collaboration with Tribal Weave and supported by the Government of Nagaland. It took place at Aires studio in Dimapur and for two weeks local participants experimented with various animation techniques to develop a local story for the animated format. The story was Man Tiger Spirit, and it is shared by several tribes, though the Angami version was chosen.
The short film was completed in 2011, following a couple of months of the production based in Dimapur at North East Zone Culture Centre. It had the Premiere Screening at the Hornbill Festival 2011, and it is included in the Tales of the Tribes series.
Workshop for Tribal Artists at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 6-21 June 2008
The workshop held at IGNCA engaged 40 participants for 15 days in the preproduction process of developing animated films. Three groups set about creating scripts, storyboards, character designs and test animated sequences for stories from the Pardhan Gonds, the Santhal and from Manipur.
Workshop for Tribal Artists at IGNCA 2008
