Why Verrier Elwin?
It all began with a series of five short animated tribal folktales from Central India. The programme was called “The Tallest Story Competition”, and it was an initiative by a small Scottish company called West Highland Animation. The Series Director, Leslie McKenzie had been preserving the Gaelic minority language and culture through animation for about two decades, and she had established long term links with the Gaelic cultural organizations in Scotland. She was convinced that the Scottish Asian minority also required animation films based on Indian culture and she was able to raise funds to make “The Tallest Story Competition” - a series of animated folktales from the minority tribal communities in Central India - in Gaelic, for screenings in Scotland. A character was needed in the programme that would appeal to Scottish school children, and Norman was created to present the short films. Based on a real life popular Scottish children’s comedian, Norman Maclean, He wore a kilt and a sporran, his appearance was heralded by bagpipes and he spoke with a strong Scottish accent, introducing each of the short films, offering a Trophy for the story that got the most votes in the competition.
“The Tallest Story Competition” was dubbed into seven languages (including five regional Indian languages) and it was screened to approximately 15,000 children in India and in the United Kingdom. Tribal children were delighted to see their own familiar stories come to life in animation and in each area they were eager to choose the story from their community as the favorite. The Adivasi Arts Trust was set up to distribute the series and to continue the work of engaging with young indigenous artists to adapt their stories and art for digital media. .
The Adivasi Arts Trust is now producing a new collection of animated folktales, this time with a focus on stories from the North East region of India and it will have more directorial inputs from tribal artists.
In the first programme, the Gond story “Best of the Best”, about an arrogant mouse and her kindly friend the bird, had been voted as the favorite film. Strong links had been established with the team of Pardhan Gond artists based in Bhopal who had created the artwork for the film and were eager to adapt another one of their stories. The question was how to link Central India and the first collection to the new stories from the North East?
In the first programme, the Gond story “Best of the Best”, about an arrogant mouse and her kindly friend the bird, had been voted as the favorite film. Strong links had been established with the team of Pardhan Gond artists based in Bhopal who had created the artwork for the film and were eager to adapt another one of their stories. The question was how to link Central India and the first collection to the new stories from the North East?
Anyone who researches tribal folktales from India is sure to come across Verrier Elwin. The son of a Bishop, he was a high academic achiever at Oxford University, where he studied English Literature and Theology. His mother’s strong religious faith influenced his decision to go to India and work to benefit the poor, and in India he soon became a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, whose philosophies were another great influence in his life.
For nearly three decades Elwin lived amongst tribal communities documenting their culture and folktales, which he compiled into several large volumes. Two of the stories from “The Tallest Story Competition” were sourced from Elwin’s collections “Myths of Middle India” (1949) and “When the World was Young: Folk-tales from India's Hills and Forests” (1961), and as I continued the research I discovered that in later life Elwin had moved to the North East region where he had become the Advisor for Tribal Affairs to the Governor of Assam. His later collections of folktales, “Myths of the North East Frontier of India” (1958) and “A New Book of Tribal Fiction” (1970) recorded folktales from the area now known as Arunachal Pradesh: Here was the link I needed for the new animation films.
For nearly three decades Elwin lived amongst tribal communities documenting their culture and folktales, which he compiled into several large volumes. Two of the stories from “The Tallest Story Competition” were sourced from Elwin’s collections “Myths of Middle India” (1949) and “When the World was Young: Folk-tales from India's Hills and Forests” (1961), and as I continued the research I discovered that in later life Elwin had moved to the North East region where he had become the Advisor for Tribal Affairs to the Governor of Assam. His later collections of folktales, “Myths of the North East Frontier of India” (1958) and “A New Book of Tribal Fiction” (1970) recorded folktales from the area now known as Arunachal Pradesh: Here was the link I needed for the new animation films.
The account of his life was interesting, and entertaining, full of fresh, humorous observations on his time spent in tribal areas. There was potential material for a script that would be required for his dialogues as presenter of the new “Tales of the Tribes” collection. Elwin died in 1964 but I discovered that he still had family in Shillong (Meghalaya), and so I went there to meet his son. Ashok began to tell me of the neglect of his father’s work, the court cases over rights and the lack of interest in the family for the legacy left behind. I spent many hours pouring over Elwin’s work – books and booklets that were out of print, albums of historical photographs, personal letters and handwritten diaries, and I tried to introduce the idea of a possible cartoon character of his father. When the suggestion came from Ashok himself, I knew that it was worth a try.
But how would I be able to develop a cartoon character of the great man? I made a brief summary of Elwin’s life and character and I posted it in the Adivasi Arts Group that I have set up on Facebook, with an invitation to members to have a go at creating an Elwin animation character. But no one seemed to know much about Elwin outside a few academic institutions.
The Short Course in Character Design
I heard of a short course in Character Design at Bournemouth University to be held in May 2011. Never having had much inclination or natural talent for caricature, I felt this was a disadvantage in the world of animation, which I had joined through a BA course at Art College. This was an opportunity to learn more about character design. I had already started to introduce character design for animation to indigenous artists in workshops in India through books on the subject. I expected to gain a better understanding of character design from the course, and I also hoped to learn how to guide and encourage character design for indigenous artists back in India.
How would one be able to create a character, breathe life into it and make it charming and appealing to the audience, escaping the pitfall of a “wooden” character that no one can relate to?
The students on the course were provided with plenty of useful learning material in the form of E-books and PowerPoint presentations. Lectures by the tutors highlighted key points in character design before we embarked on a grueling two day regime that consisted mostly of life drawing, something I had been weak in at Art College and had neglected ever since. Although it was hard work to keep up with the fast pace of sketching, students became so involved in churning out one and two minute poses that time passed quickly. Other practical exercises were 3D modeling using plastiline on an aluminum skeleton and giving personalities to puppets in improvisational scenarios. At the end of two days we were sent away with a hefty assignment to choose and design a character, create model sheets, pose sheets, a character profile and a report on the project that all had to be delivered in eight weeks.
Verrier Elwin, Cartoon Presenter
The short course provided the opportunity to start designing a cartoon presenter for “Tales of the Tribes”. I decided that by the time Elwin would be offered the job of presenting the stories he would have been in his mid fifties; having lived for many years amongst the tribes and written extensively about them he was an expert on tribal culture and would be qualified for the task.
I found myself chuckling at pertinent observations made in his autobiography and noted that some of the anecdotes might translate well into animation to amuse children. Leslie McKenzie suggested that a side kick character who responds to Elwin as the audience is expected to might make him more interesting; I considered having a mouse that lived in his pocket, but finally decided against it, hoping that Elwin would be interesting enough on his own.
He seemed to be the archetype of an eccentric Englishman, and his quirky personality had to come across in the animation character. Descriptions of him have recorded that he had been tall, fair and blue eyed. I tried out several different designs of the character and concluded that he needed to be depicted as short and cute (rounded) to appeal to children. Lavish hospitality received in tribal villages on tours in his official capacity would have led him to gain weight. He also wrote that, though he had extensively traversed remote areas by foot, when he was older, his young agile companions innocently remarked on him being “a fat old man”. (Elwin also added that this was never considered as an insult in conditions where malnutrition and short life expectancy were prevalent).
As a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Elwin was committed to the philosophy of simplicity and of wearing clothes of hand-spun khadi. In the village he probably would have worn a wrap around sarong known as a lungi, though when the occasion required (such as on his visits to the city), he would wear a suit. I decided that the cartoon character would be dressed in a traditional handspun kurta-pyjama outfit and waistcoat .
In the autobiography, Elwin had also remarked that he made a point of walking barefoot everywhere for many years to show his solidarity for the Independence movement:
“I took a vow that I would go barefoot until India won her independence but I did put on sandals when I visited a town. I kept this vow for about fifteen years and got so used to it and saved such a lot of money on socks shoes and polish that I felt rather sorry when I no longer had an excuse to continue.”[1]
“I took a vow that I would go barefoot until India won her independence but I did put on sandals when I visited a town. I kept this vow for about fifteen years and got so used to it and saved such a lot of money on socks shoes and polish that I felt rather sorry when I no longer had an excuse to continue.”[1]
With the animation character, this particular detail would reveal his simplicity, adaptability (footwear was uncommon in his rural environment) and eccentricity.
Elwin was an intellectual and I wanted to show this by emphasizing the size of his head in proportion to the rest of his body, and by exaggerating the size of his spectacles. Elwin has also been described as a cheerful, approachable, friendly character, and it had to come across in the character design.
I remembered the simple design for Norman that had been createdat West Highland Animation. Elwin needed to be easy to animate and simplicity suited the theme of tribal folk stories and the rest of the artwork in the series. Norman had been a culturally specific character – his costume, paraphernalia and the accompanying music established him immediately as a Scotsman. Elwin on the other hand, was not a stereotyped British person. He had spent so long in India that he required Indian accessories, mannerisms and accent: Elwin appreciated and collected tribal art - his avatar would wear a colourful hand-woven shawl from Nagaland and each story would be introduced through a tribal artifact. He was also romantic, sentimental and contemplative, communicated by the character removing his spectacles in moments of deep thought. Elwin would also have a book in his hand, which he would open from time to time, and he would keep a pen in his waistcoat pocket. As a comforting paternal figure (suitable as a storyteller for children) he would have a rich, gentle, deep voice. As he enters the scene he might be humming a tribal melody or recollecting the words of a folk song.
Conclusion
The short course was helpful in providing dedicated time required for character design. Improvisational acting exercises increased awareness of different types of movement and posture, and online feedback from the tutors was helpful in raising new questions about the character and in providing motivation for new sketches.
I now realize how deeply you need to know your character to design him. However, I have decided that my character design will not be used in the animation series: it would be more appropriate for the only European character in the series to be designed by a local artist.
