Standing united, transitioning from mechanical to organic and developing a holistic approach of problem solving- Squaring the circle.
We begin the film with seeing the omnipresence and all-pervasiveness of a ‘grid’ in our existence; on a larger scale, the cities are planned in grids and on a smaller scale, we learn to fit out letter and numbers into grids.
Were we as humans always this rigid and self restraining, or somewhere deep, do we have an existence that permeates this system?
Join in, as the Martian too, who explores the possibilities of existence beyond a ‘grid’, as we all tap to the irresistible music of the Square dance.
Trailer
In the course of the film, we see a young kid in a classroom struggle to make numbers ‘fit into the given grids’, following which, we see that this is a shared frustration amongst the other kids. This frustration peaks to a point that their curiosity and imagination overpowers the grids.
We then see a sequence of liberated lines (from the grid) metamorphosize into figurines that dance to the rhythms. The figurines consist of elements from nature and tradition ( embodiment of the organic existence of or predecessors).
When we make our way back into the reality, we now observe that the kids are no more restricted by the presence of the grids (the notebook shot)
Square Dance
An academic outcome of the National Institute of Design, Andhra Pradesh - Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (KHM) online seminar 2024, Based on the theme of 'Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury
Direction, Concept and Animation:
Sreelakshmi Mohan
Sanika Kulkarni
Meenakshee R Nair
Swayam Hulle
Shreya Agarwal
Radhika Verma
Light Painting directed by:
Sanika Kulkarni
Sound Design:
Chen Tongqi
He Jiaqi
Tang Yufei
Li Zemei
Wang Yanjie
Liu Yening
Mentored by:
Sekhar Mukherjee
Isabel Herguera
Zilvinas Lilas
Special thanks to:
Kalshu Patawane
Communication Design Batch of 2021, NID AP