The Ocean on Top of Our Mountain
Geoscience animation outreach project for children of the Indian subcontinent, celebrating and sharing its unique geological past as common heritage to all residents.
Introduction
The Ocean on Top of Our Mountain
The characters of the film:
The filmmaking process has started from April 2024. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists funded the major project cost; the writer of this film Professor Nigel Hughes, University of California, Riverside -Earth and Planetary Sciences also personally funded some works for the film.
Nusrat & Gutishuti
Character Design: Nusrat
Nusrat is a Himalayan village girl. She is curious about life. She found Gutishuti very interesting and went on a journey with her to understand the earth.
2019
Concept sketch
2020
2020
Final look for the teaser
2024
Final look for the film
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil
2019
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil - 2019
2019
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil 2019
2020
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil – 2020
2020
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil – 2020
2024
Gutishuti A Trilobite fossil – 2024
Ordovician seafloor 450 ma ago…
Look Development
Outdoor shots
Indoor shots
Dinosaurs of Indian subcontinent 160 – 65 ma ago…
Isisaurus baby, about foot
Rajasaurus was an abelisaurid theropod, a large, bipedal carnivore dinosaur.
Isisaurus was a large, long-necked sauropod (herbivore), with a 148 cm humerus.
Duration of the film 20 minutes
The series will transmit the science-based story of the subcontinent’s past to its children in an exciting, visual way that can be completely understood without requiring reading ability. It will be produced in Hindi/Urdu, Bengali and English versions, with an animation and audio style that reflects the artistic traditions of the subcontinent.
Evolution of whales 50 ma ago…
A goat-sized, four-legged creature, from 50 ma ago
”Walking whale" was the first aquatic cetacean, from 48 ma ago
King lizard is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale, was alive 40-30 ma ago
As the particular target audience is children in rural communities whose may have experience of finding fossils themselves, the series will be made freely available digitally across the subcontinent. Style and content will be subject to further refinement for scientific accuracy.
The project is a collaboration between the University of California – Riverside and animators associated with Dristikon Arthouse. This promotional video has been sponsored by the Association of Petroleum Geologists – India, the Paleontological Society, the Geological Society of America, IGCP668, the US National Science Foundation, and Fulbright
It was conceived at the Chitrakatha Festival of Student Design held at the National Institute of Design, Vijayawada and organised by Director Sekhar Mukherjee. It is directed by NID-AP animator Trisha Banerjee and her colleague Debraj Sarkar, and involves the work of NID-AP students.
Our Videos
This is a series of 10 x 10 minute animations telling the story of India’s 9000 km journey as a continent and the animals that accompanied it on the journey. To make these freely available over the internet to children all over the subcontinent.
First storyboard during Chitrakatha'19
Document of Registration
We are very glad to present to you all , our document of registration issued by
The Writers Guild of America, West, Inc
