A CGI Animated Short Film based on coconuts in Kerala, India

In National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India,  Animation students are exposed to projects and exercises from multiple disciplines and their progress is frequently evaluated at the end of each module in the form of assignment submissions, instead of conducting written exams. After the rigorous training, they are finally entrusted with handling a full-fledged project which has real world practical implications - known as the Graduation Project.

Guide                  |   Prahlad Gopakumar
Co-guide             |   Ajay Tiwari
Project Title         |   Kera Laila
Project Budget    |   1,80,000 (approx. in Indian Rupees)
Project Duration  |   96 weeks (approx. 24 months)
Film Duration      |   5 min 45 sec (approx.)  

Project Timeline:

Project is set in the context of Kerala and it focuses on the typical
mindset of those people who are driven through the politics of division
and polarization.

The most obvious way to depict the cultural separation between people is to show two groups having a verbal argument with each other. But this idea may limit the conflicts in obvious ways. To develop an interesting storyline, it is required to think laterally about something that is strange and unusual in a regular normal environment, but has the possibility if set in a fictionalized account of the context. 'What if' questions essentially helps to develop such ideas as it starts with a phrase that forces to think out of the normal situation. Since the context of Kerala and culture is already chosen, they are included while framing questions.

Some of the shortlisted 'What if' questions:
• What if a Malayali businessman finds a Tamil child?
• What if a boy is caught between obedience to Malayali parents and love for a North-Indian girl?
• What if the maps of various states argue with each other about ideologies?
• What if coconuts want to get escaped from Kerala?
• What if birds of each states want to get educated?
• What if costumes representing each cultures engage in a beauty contest?
• What if animals of each state argue about religion?
• What if languages want a cross-cultural collaboration?

Out of the above, the selected 'What-if' question is "What if coconuts want to get escaped from Kerala?". This question is interesting because it features one of the most common word that is associated with Kerala - Coconuts. The word Kerala itself means 'the land of coconuts'. Coconuts are a common association when people refer to Kerala. It is included in cuisines, products, costumes and art works. It is nearly impossible to talk about Kerala without referring to them. Hence the question has the possibilities of strong conflicts.

Story Setting:

Story Structure:

Screenshots from Animatic:

By making an animatic, the temporal and aesthetic aspects of the project
is sketched out. But this only gives a superficial vision. A film also holds multiple
layers of information, which is in its deeper dimension. Fine subtextual details
are conveyed using these deeper layers. Choice of the medium is an unavoidable
phase in order to lay the groundwork for these layers.

The medium which is selected for the project is Digital 3D Animation or Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). The reason for this choice
is the wide range of possibilities offered by the medium, although it comes with
a huge price of technical groundwork and pipeline-oriented workflow. Also the
medium resembles live action films in its execution and feel. If artist has a strong
and consistent will to take responsibility in a strictly scheduled and procedural
approach, then this medium benefits him. Since the story unfolds in the genre
of an action-drama, this medium is selected as a starting point to explore the
deeper layers of the project forward.

Character Delineation:

Model Sheet:

Dialog Script:  Since the story is action-driven, rather than dialog-driven, more work is put forward on its outlining and storyboarding, rather than a traditional script. In order to depict dialogs, a separate dialog script is prepared, which includes only the characters and their dialogs along with their situations.

Virtual Cinematography:  Once animator takes care of locomotion, body language, dialogs and facial expressions, his next job is to find how to capture
everything in a frame aesthetically to set the visual context. This step is referred to the concept of Virtual Cinematography.

Previsualization: Just like animatic which is used as a blueprint for a film, Previz is used specifically for CGI and complex live action shots. It gives clarity for all other departments about tone and complexity of the shots. Once cinematography of all the shots are done, they are rendered as a rough format (Playblasting) and edited together to create Previz version.

UV Mapping:  Animator does not necessarily work with a textured model. He can
work in a rough proxy version of model worrying only about animation,
while the surfacing artist works on the surface details separately, given
that the topology of model should not change.

The initial step for surfacing is to find a way to define the 3D model
into a 2D representation, so that a 2D texture can be applied on to it which
should be mapped exactly on the areas intended by the texturing artist.
This is exactly what happens in the process of UV Mapping.

Hand - Painted Textures:

3D Texturing:

Render Light Groups:

Render Passes:

Render Layers:

Mini- Render Farm Setup:

Editing:  All the shots are composited and exported out. The next process is to join all these shots sequentially along a timeline. This is the process of Editing. In case of an animation film, the editing comes in lots of places, even before compositing. Such processes involving editing in this project are Videomatic, animatic and Previsualization.

So an idea of how the cuts work or what the pacing is already sketched out in these sections. But once all the shots are exported out, it helps to spend time for a Final Cut along with the polished shots.

Music Scoring: In film language, two senses mainly come into play : vision and audition. Out of them, vision takes priority for most of the people because it happens directly in front of them. The second most important aspect that adds to the experience is the Sound Design, because it affects them subconsciously and helps them to navigate through the world of story.  There are 3 major elements in sound design, viz. Dialogs, Music and SFX. . 

One of the most important part that communicates the story is Music.  It  communicates the story even without a dialog, which has its own unique way of communication. Approach of musical language is just like visual language - story telling. Music has a direct link to story telling, because it deals with emotional
states, just like colors in visual language.

SFX Design:  The sources of sound are mainly from recorded sound
and from free online sources. Paid sources are also available
but that requires extra budget. 

The approach for sound design is just like anything
else - story telling. No one knows what a particular moment
sounds like except for the sound designer. He is the one who
will dictate what audience should feel at a specific moment
in the plot.