NWAVU, THE BLIND MAN Digital Lab Africadigilabafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Nwavu... · NWAVU, THE BLIND MAN Digital Lab Africa Animation fund application . 016 DA AIMATIO

0156 / DLA ANIMATION FUND APPLICATION

12018/ 02 / 25 Estúdio Criativo

NWAVU, THE BLIND MAN

Digital Lab AfricaAnimation fund application



Project Overview

Nwavu, the Blind Man is a short animation film (15 minutes) in development stage. It’s a film that proposes to combine a tale adapted from the Mozambican oral tradition with the visual aesthetic of the Batik, which is one of the most iconic artistic expressions of our culture. The animation appears in this case as a privileged means to give a second life to this tales in risks of extinction.

Our story takes us through the journey of an old blind man who ascends to village chief thanks to the strength of imagination, deceiving both community and nature with his sharp wit. From an improbable wedding to a village inhabited only by women, where all men are devoured by a terrifying lion, he shows us he knows a good opportunity when he sees one.

The process behind the making of this animated film is an experimental one. All the Characters and Backgrounds will be created as Batiks and only after that, we will scan, rig and animate in digital.



Batik Manufacturing Process



Original Vision

Until not long ago, a significant part of our knowledge came from storytelling. Stories told by our grandparents to our parents, while sitting under a cashew tree. These were stories filled with tradition, experience and popular ingenuity, which have gradually been replaced by other kinds formal knowledge. But, within them, there are many cultural and identity subtleties that are fading away. This is our starting point, the will to revitalize this tradition by taking it to a contemporary medium, recreating and reconstructing, while simultaneously preserving it.

The universe behind this story comes from a collection of traditional tales gathered by ARPAC (Mozambican Artistic and Cultural Patrimony Archive) in the 1980s in the Gaza and Cabo Delgado provinces of Mozambique. It´s been written in book format by António Cabrita and adapted for the screen by Ana Queiroz. Through this proposal we seek to integrate all these immaterial cultural features to cinema in a stylized, fantastic and surreal world, in which people communicate through indiscernible words and onomatopoeias in spaces shared at the same time by spirits, mythological figures and humans.

The Batiks, as an aesthetic choice, came up as something that carries that informality and irregularity feeling. Until now, the Batik has been a motionless kind of expression. We intend to bring it to life with this film. (More on this in the Process section bellow)

African animation films are gaining momentum and starting to emerge in the international scene. I believe the big goal is not to follow what’s being done out there, but to craft something innovative, something that resonates with our shared cultural heritage. Yes, we need to look back, but in order to move forward. I seek to explore and discover new and relevant ways to tell our stories to the world.



Batik Manufacturing Process



THE STORY

The film begins with the secret desire of Nwavu, the blind man, who wants to marry a young woman and decides to reach the Witchdoctor for help. They make a plan that involves not a spell, but ingenious trickery. He takes a huge pan to the side of the street and begins heating it in a big fire. People in the village get curious and start asking, what is the old blind man cooking? After several curious attempts, it’s with Gina that the deception unravels, when she opens the pan, the supposed meal mysteriously evaporates. The case is taken to the Witchdoctor, who informs Gina she must pay with cattle and money for the bad deeds she made. However, Nwavu shows mercy and offers to marry her as payment for her debt.

After the wedding, the blind man begins to feel jealous of the village’s younger men with good eyes and decides to look for an isolated settlement for them to live. On the way there, they find the corpse of a man with a rifle by his side. With fear of what they might find next, Nwavu keeps the gun. They reach a village inhabited exclusively by women, where a lady informs them that each and every man who arrives at the village ended up devoured by a mysterious lion. The night is noisy and endless. And when the couple manages to fall asleep, the lion roars loudly from the outside of the hut, and orders, in a human voice, Nwavu to come outside. Nwavu quickly prepares the rifle. But, in reality, what helps him is the long and defective toe nail in his left foot he puts outiside between the hut’s reed, impressing the lion, because it is bigger than his own claws. It is in this moment of surprise that the blind man fires a direct shot at the feline. And so he becomes the village chief and father to a legion of short-sighted children.

Note: We already have a finished Script in Portuguese (attached to this proposal)



Finalized Batiks



PROCESS

We are developing an unusual and experimental process. The whole universe, from the characters to the backgrounds and objects will be developed in real Batiks by master artisan Beto Sitoe. This physical side will allow us to have organic textures and color depth from the cracked wax. Although it brings added difficulties, we decided to go “analog” in this stage, so that that we could achieve a degree of authenticity that we would otherwise lose if we tried to reproduce it or “fake it” directly with software.

A series of Batiks will be produced taking in account all background and key positions for the characters. Only after that, we will scan and digitize the materials to create all the rigs, bones and articulations that will allow us to animate everything digitally. This interplay of analog and digital, can be a tough challenge, but at the same time, is very stimulating and offers us organic and unusual results.

We have done a first test of this process in a previous film (Os 5 Elementos) commissioned by de EU in commemoration of the 30 years of cooperation with Mozambique for production company Promarte, where in between each chapter we inserted short Batik animations. In this situation we used voice over narration, which in that sense, is different from the Nwavu, the Blind Man project. We are still testing facial expressions and lip sync for character dialog. (please find the link for the video here https://vimeo.com/258268673 with the following password: nwavu2018).

The film’s sound, voice recordings, Foley and Score will be leaded by Pedro da Silva Pinto (340ml band vocalist). In collaboration with two other musicians he will create a soundscape combining ambient sounds with a subtle flare of traditional Mozambican instruments.



Digitized Batiks



Character Design, Rigging and Animation Tests



ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

João Graça (1979), graduated in Communication Design and holds a Masters degree in Multimedia Art from Lisbon Fine Art School. He is one of the founding members of Anima estúdio criativo, based in Maputo, Mozambique, his country of origin, where he is established mainly as a documentary filmmaker. Worked as Director, DOP, and Editor in several film projects including feature documentary, Maputo: Ethnography of a Divided City. His interests have always revolved around Social Development and Art. He has taught Design and Film in several Mozambican Art / Creative schools and he is committed to encourage and develop film production in Mozambique.

ABOUT ANIMA

Anima is a Mozambican creative studio based in Maputo. We aim to communicate in a simple and direct way. We like challenges and we are always looking to create something dierent and innovative. ANIMA’s multidisciplinary team specializes in three complementary areas: Audiovisuals, Design and Digital Media. In our creative process, we articulate these areas in order to achieve a coherent and full spectrum communication.

Our core work areas are Social Development and the Cultural Industries. We invest in understanding local audiences and socio-cultural identity. The dynamics and diversity of the local context inspire us. We have work experience in all provinces of Mozambique and in several African countries.

“Anima” means soul or inner self, it is what makes something alive. In Mozambique this word is also used to express something fun and cheerful. It is in this positive and motivational spirit that we like to develop our work.



Team Key Elements

Film DirectorJoão Graça

ProducerFábio Ribeiro

Production AdministrationAlexandre Coelho

Original Story (Based on Mozambican Oral Tradition)António Cabrita

ScriptAna Queiroz

Art DirectionJoão Roxo Leão

Batiks and Illustration Beto Sitoe & Hélio Januário

Animation and Post-ProductionJoão Graça / Miguel Franco / Mauro Armindo

Music and SoundPedro da Silva Pinto

DistributorMiguel Franco



PROJECT TIMELINE

Concept &Story Development- Reseach and Development;- Story;- Script;- Strategy;- Legal documents;- Funding applications.

Visual Development& Pre-Production- Character Design;- Storyboarding;- Batik Manufacturing;- Animatics;- Animation testing.

Production- Hi-Res Scanning;- Splitting elements for animation;- Motion reference videos;- Reference Voice Recording;- Rigging;- Animation.

Post-Production & Sound- Editing;- Compositing and VFX;- Color Correction;- Film Score;- Final Voice Recording;- Foley;- Mastering.

Grafic Design- Print Materials;- Micro Website;- Social Media Kit;- Press Kit.

Distribution- Festival circuit;- TV Channels and Networks;- Web Animation and Digital Art Platforms.

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 57 8 9 10 11 12

2018 2019

We are Here!

*NOTE: The incubation phase and Period of Residence in France will be included in the timeline according to de success of the submission in agreement with Digital Lab Africa Requirements.



A titularidade dos direitos de autor patrimoniais e morais, incluindo o direito à autoria e integridade, sobre o conteúdo desta proposta cabe à ANM,Lda e não pode este, quer parcialmente, quer na sua globalidade, ser utilizado fora do âmbito desta proposta, nem por terceiros, sem a autorização expressa prévia da ANM,Lda.

* Obrigadofacebook.com/estudioanimavimeo.com/estudioanima

skype estudio.anima

+258 84 5245 [email protected]

Avenida Tomás Nduda nº 151Maputo - Moçambique www.anima.co.mz

Documents

NWAVU, THE BLIND MAN Digital Lab Africadigilabafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Nwavu... · NWAVU, THE BLIND MAN Digital Lab Africa Animation fund application . 016 DA AIMATIO