Film in the Making
Conception
Reliving a Forgotten Chapter of History
Not just an ordinary tale being told, A New Dawn is an attempt to consciously relive a significant moment in history which lives and breathes its repercussions into our present and most decidedly, into the future dawn of the Indian nation.
The Challenge
The creative world is vast but there are the rare and few human personalities since the dawn of time who have a canvas even vaster in scale and depth, making it almost impossible to capture or do justice to even a fragment of their lives. And yet, the team at Studio Eeksaurus was presented with this very challenge when they were asked to make an animation film on Sri Aurobindo.
The Initial Research
The creative team extensively researched not just the life events of Aurobindo Ghose and the atmosphere in the country at the time, but also, everything pertaining to that period from the culture dynamic between the ruler and the ruled, costumes, architecture and even the ship that the young Aurobindo arrived on. But going even further, Studio Eeksaurus shifted from the expected computer generated graphics to an extremely complex but rewarding handcrafted animation in which each frame is drawn, painted and brought to life. The artistes have used their own styles and also been inspired by several renowned painters including the Bengal School of Art, Francisco Goya, Pieter Bruegel, Haren Das and Zainul Abedin. creating the perfect mood for what is to come.
Script development
The script development started on 11 September 2021 with the research about Sri Aurobindo's life and its major events. On 28 October 2021, a team from Studio Eeksaurus came to Puducherry to know more about Sri Aurobindo and align with the project team on the remaining goals towards the completion of the film. After several iterations, the first version of the script was finished on 26 February 2022. This first version was then further revised and the final version was completed on 18 October 2022.
Storyboard development
The storyboard development started on 7 March 2022. Here are some glimpses of the storyboard development.
The storyboard development completed on 30 November 2022. Here is a glimpse of the "Behind the scenes".