Burden National
In a world where animation is often seen as just entertainment for children or flashy effects for films, the National Institute of Design (NID) in India offers a unique and deeper perspective. Its Animation Film Design (AFD) program focuses not just on technical skills but on the power of storytelling through animation. This essay explores why the AFD program stands out and how it helps students develop both as artists and storytellers.
The Animation Film Design program at NID, which began in the 1980s, is one of the first of its kind in India. Unlike other animation schools that emphasize commercial animation or technical software skills, NID’s approach starts with creativity, culture, and personal expression. The program encourages students to use animation as a medium for storytelling and emotional expression, deeply rooted in personal experiences and cultural traditions.
For me, this unique approach felt like a perfect fit. Growing up, I was fascinated by stories, especially the ones my grandmother used to tell, stories about ancient Korean myths, nature, and the world around us. One day, while listening to one of her tales, I imagined how I could bring those stories to life through animation. This desire led me to discover the Animation Film Design program at NID, which emphasized creating meaningful stories rather than just flashy visuals.
The program’s curriculum is built on the idea that animation isn’t just about creating beautiful visuals, but about creating a connection with the audience through emotional resonance. Students start by learning basic design principles, sketching, and observing human emotions. This foundation allows them to understand how movement, color, and texture can evoke specific feelings and reactions.
In the early phases of the program, students are encouraged to analyze real-life human behaviors, how a person’s body reacts to joy, sadness, anger, or surprise. This understanding is essential because emotions are at the core of most effective animations. The program also emphasizes story development, where students learn how to build characters and plotlines that are rooted in universal emotions or personal experiences. By doing this, they learn how to craft stories that are emotionally engaging.
At NID, students are not confined to digital or 3D animation alone. The program encourages the exploration of traditional animation techniques such as 2D animation, stop-motion, sand animation, and shadow puppetry. Each of these techniques requires a deep understanding of how emotion can be conveyed through movement and texture.
For example, In stop-motion animation, students must carefully manipulate objects frame by frame, requiring meticulous attention to detail. This process helps students become acutely aware of how small changes in movement can communicate different emotional states, such as a trembling hand expressing fear or a slow, flowing gesture representing calmness. In sand animation, students draw directly on sand, where the texture and fluidity of the medium add emotional weight to the story. The medium itself becomes a metaphor for the passing of time or the impermanence of memories, evoking a sense of nostalgia or fleeting beauty.
By working with such diverse techniques, students at NID learn how to manipulate both the visual and emotional components of their stories. This multi-dimensional approach helps them develop a personal visual language, one that speaks not just through technology but through emotion and connection.
What truly distinguishes NID’s Animation Film Design program is how it encourages students to connect emotionally with their stories and characters. Rather than focusing on external trends or commercial demands, the program challenges students to ask deeper questions about why their stories matter and what kind of emotions they want to evoke in their audience.
To achieve this, students are required to develop a strong personal narrative. They are encouraged to draw inspiration from their own experiences, cultural heritage, and emotions. Whether it’s through a family memory, a cultural tradition, or a personal moment, the stories created by NID students are deeply tied to their own sense of identity. This allows the students to infuse their films with authenticity and emotional depth that often gets lost in more commercially-driven animation programs.
The students also participate in workshops and collaborative projects, where they engage with mentors and fellow artists to develop their storytelling abilities. The constant feedback from peers and faculty, combined with the program’s emphasis on personal exploration, helps students fine-tune the emotional aspects of their films.
The Animation Film Design program at NID is much more than a technical training ground for animators. It’s a program that emphasizes emotional storytelling, cultural depth, and personal expression. By focusing on the emotions that drive stories and experimenting with different animation techniques, NID students are able to create animations that are not only visually stunning but also emotionally compelling.
By: Yejin Cho
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