Schirkoa – Genesis

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Somewhere down the line while working day and night for broadcast animation work in Singapore, I realized I lost my way while pursuing animation. I should be tiring on my own stories rather than the product renders and commercials.

Thus came the idea of a perfect society. A utopian city with a twig of immigrant complication. And the literally similar looking citizens. I conceived it as a graphic novel in 2010. The thematic allegory and lore was so dense that I decided to realize it in a short film first. The film at its core is simply a metaphorical reaction to the sort of world we live in. A mental dystopia with a misinterpreted idea of a ‘perfect life’, and the unknown territories it can lead us into.

I was excited. I left the job and took a long break to write and create the animatics for the short film. It was a painfully long and nervous process. I had never told a story this dense before and I wasn’t really earning enough to fund it. So I had to take a job eventually that made things even harder as there was no time to work on the film everyday after work and family. Something about the story intrigued me so much that I kept going. Sometimes I couldn’t work for stretches as long as 6 months. But after excruciatingly nervous yet fun 4 years I could finish it.

The look and design is inspired by both classic anime and modern stylized games. Hence its sort of a hybrid. And I am hoping to maintain this look in my future films.

From a technical standpoint, Schirkoa would not have been possible without the achievements made in motion capture and rendering today. Mixamo & Redshift are just one of the few names that helped boost Schirkoa’s pace of production.

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7 Comments

  1. *hey man! Congratulations. Wanted to ask: what is your computer setup?! I think that may inspire some folk out there… anything from you mouse to your GPUs goes. 😉

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  3. I was just surfing some info over at the CGSociety site when I came across your 04-18-2013, 07:14 PM post. I just wanted to tell you that I feel your work is absolutely stunning.Your style, cinematic and character development and modeling, is, to me, new and innovative. Your storyboard artwork and presentation were equally as remarkable and unique. I am also a CG artist and illustrator working on a short film. I simply wanted to tell you that your work is excellent and above par. I’m going to follow your progress and hope to see your project make a major impact, so please don’t give up or out/ Thanks for the inspiration. It came at the right moment!

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    1. Dear Gino,

      I am awfully sorry for this late reply.

      I can’t thank you enough for writing this comment. It’s not big awards or press that makes my day wonderful as an artist. But it’s appreciation such as yours, a fellow animator and artist who are praising my work from the perspective of a cg filmmaker and who understands how painful it can be to make this happen amidst life, work and bills. Not to mention why finding our own style is so important.

      Please update me of your progress if you can. I wish you best!

      Ishan

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  4. Hey Ishaan 🙂 First of all many congratulations for getting so close to your dream project 🙂 It took me some time and some searches to realize what schirkoa actually mean 🙂 at least I think that I got the real meaning behind the name by deciphering this…SHIR-Ko-AA 🙂
    So I wanted to ask would you mind if I write a blog on my site on your project..just because I want to increase your audience,I know you have some really fascinating audience, just a little awareness for the people around me about your interesting work 🙂 If you are ok with it , I will share my post first with you than on my website.

    And if you are thinking who am I ? It’s me.. Neerja Joshi( your friend Dinesh’s wife )

    Thanks
    NJ

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    1. Hello Neerja,

      So good to hear from you. Your blog looks fantastic. I didn’t know about your writing skills. Really dig your posts.

      Thanks a lot. It’s so important to create personal art apart from work isn’t it? I hope when the film comes online next year you both like it.

      Please go ahead.I’d love to have it a place in your blog. And in case you require some extra matter, you can download the press kit from here :
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yz2k3fzst1t5bu/Schirkoa_PressPack.pdf?dl=0

      Cheers
      Ishan

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      1. After reading your blog, couldn’t resist commenting on it 🙂
        Thanks a lot for looking at my blog 🙂 It’s small endeavour from side towards a long cherished dream 🙂
        Well rightly said 🙂 It’s important to create something just for yourself 🙂
        Thanks for allowing me to write something on your movie 🙂 I am slow writer, so it would take some time 🙂 and I will definitely look at your press doc for more details on it 🙂
        And both of us are looking forward towards the opportunity of watching schirkoa 🙂
        Say my hello to sharad 🙂 and thanks too, as she was the one who invited me to your movie page 🙂

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