‘Ujaan’ (the Bengali name of the film), or ‘Ebb’ seeks to find a connection between the characters in the film who are apparently disconnected from each other. In doing so, and in a larger way, the film tries to surpass religious and political boundaries. At the same time, it comments on post colonial industrial decline in the jute industry of Bengal.
Every evening, an old fisherman and his dog eagerly await the arrival of a diya (a clay lamp) by a river. Somewhere upstream, a little girl floats a diya after she prays in a temple by a factory. The animation medium is 2D, pencil on paper. There are no dialogues and music in the film in order to reach a wider audience.
Since this is a self sponsored project, and a non-commercial one, there were no apparent client constraints. However, this made things difficult, as there were no well-defined deadlines and lack of funds hindered production. Constraints had to be created with respect to universality, the audience, the medium, a personal film language, and production costs involved. The extra time involved in the process helped me to grow and create a more mature product through better learning and creative fulfilment.
Completing an animation film in four months is definitely thinking beyond reality. It takes at least six months to conceive a story, work on the plot, script and storyboard, if not more. I consider it relevant to focus on the learning process in trying to create a good end product, rather than be bogged down by time constraints. It actually pays to work on the documentation simultaneously with the project. At each stage, there exists a learning that can be documented. These small things may be crucial for the future student as well as for me.
