My minor project The Blind Caterpillar which is a 2 1/2 min hand-animated film completed in 5 weeks has been selected for Kinofest which is taking place in Bucharest in Oct.

It’s hard work writing a script, like pulling teeth out. After many revisions here is the script for my Major Project Kaulah, it’s time to start production so I am not going to make any more major changes.

Kulah Script 08

I have been working hard on my Major Project at RMIT AIM for the last couple of months, I am making a short hand-animated film based on a poem by the Sufi poet Rumi. Here is a translation of the poem by Coleman Barks:

The Water You Want

Someone may be clairvoyant, able to see the future, and yet have very little wisdom.

Like the man who saw water in his dream, and began leading everyone toward the mirage.

“I am the one with heart-vision. I’ve torn open the veil.”

So they set out with him inside the dream, while he is actually sleeping beside a river of pure water. Any search moves away from the spot where the object of the quest is.

Sleep deeply wherever you are on the way. Maybe some traveler will wake you.

Give up subtle thinking, the twofold, threefold

multiplication of mistakes. Listen to the sound of waves within you.

There you are, dreaming your thirst, when the water you want is inside the big vein on your neck.

— Mathnavi IV: 3226-3241
Version by Coleman Barks
“Say I Am You”
Maypop, 1994

This film was made in 5 weeks for my minor project at RMIT University AIM. The inspiration for it came from a poem by the the 13th century Sufi Mystic, Jalal al-Din Rumi.

Or here is the link to the YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_W69D6z3_A

I used the Samtiq which is a DIY-Cintiq that I made at the start of the year to do the animation and it proved to be a great tool.

For those interested in seeing a better quality version than the YouTube one, here is a quicktime (70mb):

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These backgrounds were were designed and laid out by me and drawn in illustrator by my fiancé:

Here are a couple of scenes in the cleanup stage:

Here is the second revision of the animatic for my minor project “The Blind Caterpillar”:

It’s been almost a month since my last post and things have changed quite a bit. I have been very busy with my minor project so I haven’t been able to post much on the blog but I have started scanning some of the sketches for the film and start to post them here then I will start to post more of the animatics and final artwork as the project evolved.

Here are the first batch of the concept sketches, click the images to see the larger version in the gallery: