FMP Indigenous People Research

After researching world cultures I came across a map that presented a possible way that the world could be divided to present different cultures. It was divided into 11 European, Anglo American, Austral-European, Latin American, Slavic, Islamic, Sub-Saharan African, Sino-Japanese, Indic, Southeast Asian and insular oceanic. 

Anglo American

Inuits - Canada

 The inuits first came to America looking for settlement but moved up North as the land was already occupied by the hostile Indians. The conditions in the arctic were too extreme for most but the inuits were able to adapt. Within Canada there were 8 different types of inuits that all settled on the coast. Each tribe had a distinct appearance that set them apart from one another. 

Australia-European

Yali Tribe-New Guinea 

The Yali Tribe live in the highlands, the least accessible areas of the island. They are known as New Guineas most dreaded cannibals of the island, not online eating their enemy's but 'destroying them' so much so that they are said to grind their bones to dust which they later throw into the valleys to ensure they never return. The clothing that the Yali people wear is all symbolic, indicating there age, ranking ect. The women wear skirts made from grass where the layer continue to go up until 4, which shows that she is read to marry. 

Latin America

Quechua People-Peru

With around 2.5 million, the Quechua are the largest indigenous people in America currently. They have become widely spread over the years from the andes mountains to the amazon rainforest. There was a drastic drop in their population during the spanish invasion, as they brought diseases along with them that in turn wiped out millions of native people.   

Slavic

Tindi-Dagestan

Dagestan is located on the coast of the caspian sea, which it shares with Kazakstan and Iran aswell as others. It is Russians most diverse republic with several dozen ethnicities. Dagestan translates to 'land of mountains', which is fitting due to its dramatic landscape. These diverse tribes of people live within the mountains often grouping together within there ethnicities rarely mixing. To the left is the isolated village of Tindi, taken by Hungarian born mountaineer in 1890. These people descend from Avar tribes and settled here in the 4th century AD due to the heavy rainfall perfect for farming. Islam is the dominate religion here with slight christian influence coming over from neighbouring country Georgia. 

Islamic

Tuareg People- North Africa

The Tuareg people follow a nomadic lifestyle, traveling across the boarders of North Africa in small communities. They are believed to be descendants from the North African Berbers. Cultural heritage is very important to the Tuareg culture, music and poetry are sacred on muslim holidays. There lifestyle originally would revolve around hoarding, but due to conflicts within the countries and natural disasters they have been forced into other lines of work. More recently some Tuareg have been forced into refugee camps after making demands to rule their own region leading to fighting. 

Sub-Saharan African

Omo Valley-Ethiopia

There are 8 different tribes on the Omo River in Ethiopia with other 200,000 people. Currently they are in danger as a dam is being constructed in the river which will eventually lead to these tribes being forced to relocate as they rely on floods. The tribes women will blow horns and shout taunts which the men whip them for, the scars are supposed to symbolise devotion to their husbands. 

Sino-Japanese

Ainu People-Japan

The Ainu people are the original inhabitants of Japan. They entered into a war against the Japanese over the ownership and influence of the island. As Japan grew they took over the south of the Ainu's Island it opened them up to a variety of new diseases such as small pox. There population dropped by 34% after 3 lost battles which lead them into being enslaved. During there enslavement, they were banned from using there language and they were slowly pulled away from there culture. They are considered to decend from the jomon jin people from Japan but contemporary researchers believe a possible european decedent is possible due to the facial structure of the Ainu men, although DNA analysis doesn't suggest any links. 

Southeast Asia

Akha People-Lao

They are an indigenous hill tribe, living in the high mountains in laos and yannan. They most likely originated from China, although the Akha disagree. Despite there long history in Lao they are degraded by other residents being referred to as "kha" meaning slave. They continue to use agriculture as a form of currency, trading from family to family or village. Akha religion is a mixture of animism and ancestor worship, they worship the land and nature. Their religion is very important to them so much so that to be considered Akha ethically by them is to practice their religion.      

FMP Timetable

FMP Culture study (Jimmy Nelson)

During this topic I came across Jimmy Nelson's series 'Before they pass away'. It involved him travelling around the world photographing tribes who continue to live their traditional way of life despite development around the world that provides a simpler way of life. Nelson wanted to document these alternative ways of life by living amongst these people to get a full understanding of their culture and lifestyle.

Nelson began his career after a 10 year stay at boarding school in England, as an escape he traveled for a year to Tibet and returned with photographs that would later be published across the world. From this point onwards he would be commissioned to do this for a living and continue to photograph areas and people rarely seen. 

I took inspiration from this and would like to create short animations based on cultures similar to these. I will most likely go about this using the rotoscoping technique as so far from my experience its the best way to get an accurate representation of movement. I will need to find a way to tie these shorts together suggestions such as a plane or girl travelling the world have been suggested which are two possibilities I'm looking into. I was equally taken by Glen Keane's 'Duet' as it showed the evolution of two peoples lives from childhood, this technique was very effective and would allow room to fit multiple settings and situations in.    

Here are a few sketches I did of Nelsons photographs- 

FMP Culture Study (National Geographic)

National Georgraphic is a magazine that primarily focuses on Geography, History and world culture. For these reasons I feel it would be a perfect research tool for my FMP as its research is usually well researched and reliable. The magazine was one of the first thing that spark the idea to use culture as my FMP topic. I was looking through some old issues of Nation Geographic and came across 'the defenders of the amazon' issue. The pictures were very strong and empowering and match the artical which was promoting the tribes of the amazons standing up to those destroying their homes and culture.  

Below is a part of the article that had the biggest impact on me, it was so discriptive even before seeing the pictures I already knew what it looked like. From this I began making the concept art and drawings as I felt this description was a good place to start.  



"The plane clawed through the haze of forest fires around the Brazilian frontier town of Tucumã. After half an hour heading south and west at a hundred knots, we crossed the twisting course of the muddy Rio Branco, and suddenly there were no more fires, no more roads, no more ragged clear-cut pastures stippled with herds of white cattle, nothing but trackless forest wreathed in mist. Below us lay Kayapo Indian country, five officially demarcated tracts of contiguous land that in sum make up an area about the size of Kentucky. The reserve, which is among the largest protected expanses of tropical rain forest in the world, is controlled by 9,000 indigenous people, most of whom can’t read or write and who still follow a largely subsistence way of life in 44 villages linked only by rivers and all-but-invisible trails. Our National Geographic crew was headed to one of the most remote, the village of Kendjam, which means “standing stone” and which took its name from a dark gray mountain that now appeared before us, arcing some 800 feet above the green canopy like a breaching whale. A little past the mountain lay the glittering braids of the Iriri River, the largest tributary of the Xingu, itself a major tributary of the Amazon. The Cessna swerved down on a dirt airstrip slashed through the forest between the rock and the river and taxied past small garden plots and thatch houses arranged in a circle around a sandy plaza." http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/kayapo/brown-text 

week 1 - Dice Tsutsumi Character Response

Tsutsumi is an animation artist and illustrator, he originally worked as art director of Pixar Animation Studios. I've chose him as an one of my animation references as his work is fairly different in comparison to the other two animators I am looking at. His current project 'the dam keeper' was nominated for the 2015 academy awards for best short film. His style of animation is a heavy influence within the shirt and seems as if it was animated by him alone.       Above you can see 4 examples of his work, he has a very distinctive look. All his illustrations tend to have a grainy surface giving it a rough textured appearance. 

Above are a series of picture used to inspire the final picture below. I originally was going to use the hedgehog as a template but whilst watching David Attenborough's 'life story' I came across the Jerboas who's shape was more interesting. 

week 1 - Elsa Chang Character Response

What drew me to Elsa Chang was how her illustrations were more like concept art. Many of them suggest a whole story but we are only getting one frame of it. The first of the pictures above was what gave me the idea for my pair of characters. I wanted to make concept/ illustration art to present a situation where both these characters meet. Chang is more subtle with her use of colour, using faded pastel's making her images soft.  

Above are the pictures I used as references whilst developing the two characters. After looking at Chang's Bonnie and Clyde tribute art above everything else just fell together. I used pintrest to find a setting which is where i came across the milkshake bar. 

The process for creating this concept art was the same as Brittney Lee's, I lightly sketched it out and got the proportions correct. Then once I was happy I used a fine liner to go over it. This was then scanned into the computer ready for me to add a coloured layer. Trying to make two characters equally stand out but at the same time not clash proved difficult. I found when the dress was too brightly coloured it looked bland along side another character. I then moved onto deeper colours such are black and burgundy. These became the primary colours in the final result.   

week 1 - Brittney Lee Character Response

I chose Brittney Lee as my Animator reference after reviewing her 2008 series 'Hawaiian gods and goddesses'. Nature and culture will be two key themes through out my final project. The way Lee presents these through her work is what drew me to it. Often the actual outline and layout to her pieces are very simple, leaving the detail to the shading, colour and tone. Above are 4 examples of her work, she tends to only work in an extended portrait layout so when the series of pictures are places next to one another they fit. 

Above are a series of pictures I used to inspire the final outcome. The first was the name, I looked at a variety of Hawaiian names and the meaning behind these names, I eventually settled with Lekika which is Hawaiian for 'one who can foresee'. I went through pictures of ballet dancers to find the best pose for my character aiming to finds one that looks as if she's being possessed. This was to show Lekika in the process of 'foreseeing'. I then combined this pose with Brittney Lee's style of drawing to create the first draft for my character. 

Following Lee's style I just created a basic outline of the Lekika, in a pose that made her seem as if she was being possessed. I originally just had the character but after completing that  felt it was too plain and had nothing for me to work with. I added a ribbon type material wrapping around her body inspired by the animation w.i.t.c.h during the transformation sequence. 

FMP spider diagram