“Tongue of the Hidden” by Schofield Films

Conference:

• SIGGRAPH 2009
More animation videos from SIGGRAPH 2009:
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SIGGRAPH Video Review:

Issue 164: S2009 Computer Animation Festival Highlights I

Track:

22

Title:

Tongue of the Hidden

Director(s):

• David Alexander Anderson

Company / Institution / Agency:

• Schofield Films

Description:

“Tongue of the Hidden” is an original and kinetic meditation that offers an insight into Iranian culture beyond the two-dimensional popular view. The characters and environments were created entirely from the letters and written words of the 13th-century Persian metaphysical poet Hafez.

David Anderson, a filmmaker whose work has encompassed experimental animation, drama, theater, and dance, trained at Bath Academy of Art and the National Film and Television School. His degree film, “Dreamland Express”, won a British Academy Award. Later films, including “Deadsy” and “Door” (made in collaboration with the writer Russell Hoban), have gathered a multitude of awards. His film “Dreamless Sleep” won the Hiroshima Peace prize. He has been visiting professor of animation at Harvard University and now lives in Lewes, Sussex.

Jila Peacock was born in Iran, studied medicine and fine art in London, then moved to Glasgow in 1990. Her paintings have been widely exhibited in shows across the United Kingdom. In her latest book, Ten Poems from Hafez, her calligraphic images of animals are entirely formed from the original Farsi script of the poems. The work is on display in the 2006 British Museum exhibition entitled Word into Art.

In “Tongue of the Hidden”, Anderson, Peacock, and Guibert present an ethereal, shimmering landscape, with characters swaying like leaves on a tree and rising like smoke from a fire. One moment, letters are fronds of a weeping willow, and then they quickly transform into fish food, plunging through a sea of Fasrsi writing, shedding bubbles of cobalt blue calligraphy.

Software:

3ds Max, Maya, XSI, After Effects

Additional Contributors:

Director: David Alexander Anderson

Calligraphy, Translation, and Narration: Jila Peacock

Animation: Florian Guibert

Kaleidoscope and Additional Animation: Jerome Dernoncourt

Music Composed and Performed by: Anoosh Jahanshahi

Music Recorded and Produced by: Jack Pickett

Additional Calligraphy: Ahmad Khonsari

Additional Calligraphy Animation: Brigitta Anderson

Post Production: Glassworks

Thanks to: Hector Macleod, Anthea Mousley, Misha Stanford-Harris, Hannah McDonald, William Isaac, Syed Shah, William Davies, Duncan Cook, Andrew Kidd, King Lau

Thanks Also to: Rebecca Meitlis, Joe Staines, Ornan Rotem, Sylph Editions Books, Phil Pickett, Magali Charrier, Jacqui Davies, Gary Thomas, Abigail Addison

In memory of Helen Anderson and Dick Arnall.

Animation / Video Overview:

SIGGRAPH 2009 Animation / Video

Type:

Animation / Video