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Smit Shah
smitenator@gmail.com | Animation Film Design | GDPD
Mirages
Sponser: Self Sponsored,
Guide: Shilpa Das
AFD  26
CGD  7
FVC  14
FID  11
GD  27
IDD  6
LAD  16
NMD  9
PD  34
SUID  7
SDM  8
TD  17
Keywords
Character animation
Humour
The Absurd
Existentialism
‘Mirages’ is a short film based in the desert of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. It is a story of two men, Bhutaram and Sidaram, who are unable to see each other’s mirages.
The film, tries to point out the ambiguous nature of “reality” similar to how we cannot determine the actual existence of mirages. Thus, what seems real to one person may not be real to the other. The memories of Bhutaram’s life take the form of mirages that he gives a life to and visits every day. But, Sidaram’s failure to see them brings up the question of reality of “the real.”
The film, at a metaphorical level, reveals how we are all attached to a lot of intangible things, mementoes, and memories in our lives, which seem otherwise worthless to others. People are seen to hoard and guard these as well. The absurdity of guarding that, which is worthless, seems inherently illogical and emphasizes the existentialist view towards the world where one believes that the universe is meaningless and structureless, and we need meaning and structure in our lives. We, therefore, create this meaning.
The film helped me understand how writing for animation, and acting for animation are different from that for live action films. Throughout the film, I was trying to localise the acting and the character design, and make the characters believably from Rajasthan. This was the first time I worked on a film from scratch all by myself, right from the story, script, character design, shot breakdown, storyboarding the shots to animating them. Lack of a sponsor gave a lot of freedom to the project, but also meant that there were no practical deadlines to be followed. However, the production of the film was successfully managed in the limited budget available for the project.
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