Appendix
The Creative Process
Working on this project has been a wonderful learning experience, filled with frustration, personal satisfaction as well as pain and joy. It is one thing to come up with interesting ideas and another entirely to bring them to life. There is a Yoruba adage that translates as:
Anybody who tries to do something never done before, will see things never seen before.
The process of creating computer animations is rather time consuming and pains taking. In this case, after choosing the topic, an abstract was written to help crystallize the idea. A story board was developed for the visual component. Initially the modeling was done using Softimage 3D, which has a steep learning curve. However, after more technological advances in the CGI industry, I had to learn a newer, more user friendly package-Maya. Which has good particle, and lighting effects required for creating the mysterious atmosphere in the animation.
The modeling was done using NURBS (Non Uniform Rational B Splines) for the characters and polygons for part of the environment. Texturing was done with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as well as Deep Paint 3D.
The story is based in a primal forest type of environment, where the main character, Awa-awa is engaged in a speechless dialogue with a Chiwara, headdress. In a cave nearby, is another mask, Ngilé, it is so powerful that it floats in mid air above a pedestal. Tension between 'Awa' and Ngilé, causes the latter to explode without getting damaged. The explosion only scares the little Aqua'ba out of the cave. After this, 'Awa' is free to jump off her pedestal and dance around ending up under a huge Baobab tree. Suddenly, one-armed Bagga, appears on the scene and interrupts the dance. Something magical happens and Bagga starts to dance with Awa. The story ends when Awa vaporizes and is transformed into an invisible mask.
As explained in the main paper, the main character, 'Awa,' is based on a Senufo diviner's figure. It has several features considered ideal in female beauty-a graceful long neck, pointed breasts and arched eyebrows. The protruding stomach is commonly found in fertility figures. The Chiwara, is an exact duplication of one variation in this headdress. While Ngilé, the mask in the cave, is an Ngi secret society mask from the Fang in Gabon. Bagga, the one-armed character, was inspired by a figure in Leger's Creation of the World. Aqua'ba, the little character in the cave, is a cross between an Aqua'ba fertility doll from Ghana, and a Dan spoon from the Ivory Coast.
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