What I love most about animation is that it is a powerful tool for storytelling. It is a combination of visual effects, sounds and narrative that provokes all senses. While watching movies we allow ourselves to become immersed in a different universe were we are part of the character and their stories.
“That’s why there are fairy tales, that’s why people invented them. That’s why there are songs, too… to get you away from reality, so you can realize that you’re human.”
—Elin Pelin, Kosachi
For my presentation, I chose to talk about the Bulgarian animator Theodor Ushev. I decided to research his work because he is a renowned animator, and I was sure that I would find plenty of sources to base my analysis on. Not very creative of me, but it was a practical decision. The man was nominated by the Academy, after all.
However, after completing my research, I felt so humbled and inspired by this man. The true value of his work can be measured not by the numerous awards that Ushev has won, but by the strong feelings his movies provoke in the audience. I saw his last animation, Physics of Sorrow, just before I went back home for the holidays, and it left me in tears. However, that’s another topic that I will discuss in my next post.
With his masterpiece Blind Vaysha, Theodore Ushev takes us on a journey through the forth dimension to remind us something so simple, yet often forgotten – to live in the present.
Political and Social environment in Bulgaria:
In the sixties, Bulgaria was a communist country part of the “Eastern Bloc” and censorship and propaganda favoring the party dominated the social and art world of the country. The access to any foreign goods was highly limited, and the only way to buy American jeans, for example, was through the black market.
The production of the first black and white TV had just started and there was a ten-year-waiting list for buying a car. The major rule in art, during the Soviet regime, was to use the so-called “socialist realism” to serve the mission of the party in charge.
Theodore Ushev:
In these dark for the Bulgarian art years, where art was just a commissioned work for the party and freedom of speech and expression were non-existing, in a small city called Kyustendil one of the most successful and renown experimental animators Theodore Ushev was born. Son of the painter Asen Ushev, he studied Scenic Arts in Fine Art High-school in Plovdiv and Graduated from the National Academy of Arts with Masters of Graphic Design. Part of a strict educational system with old traditions in art, he became an illustrator.
In 1999, ten years after the fall of communism, he moved to Canada in search of a better life. There he gained the reputation of an innovative and bold animator. Under the patronage of the National Film Board of Canada, he creates experimental short-movies that have won him numerous awards. His movie Gloria Victoria was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2013, and his latest masterpiece – The physics of Sorrow is Canada’s this year’s entry. So far, his most famous work is the eight minutes short movie The Blind Vaysha.
Narrative:
Based on a story by the contemporary Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov, the movie tells the story of a girl with an unusual condition – she could see only the past with her left eye and the future with her right eye. Longing for the comfort of the past and the hopes of the future, Vaysha was trapped in the present.
It is a simple concept of lost hopes and dreams that is universal and relatable.
The story, as Ushev states, is a parabola of the modern person, who is so concentrated on his past and so desperate to see his future, that he is just lingering on the surface of the present, without actually living in it.
He found inspiration on how to portrait the story on “one-month immersive writing residence at Frontecraud Abbey”.
Credits: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/presented-by-the-nfb/director-theodore-ushev-bringing-blind-vaysha-life-four-dimensions-146560.html
The Medieval period, the Byzantine religious paintings and Bulgarian Rennessaince engravings, inspired him to create an animation using the so-called linocut style (originally, used to satisfy the need for more accessible religious art)
Ushev made his “Medieval fairytale” using a Cintique tablet. To recreate the original technique of engraving he never used the “undo” command on his computer while animating. He said:
“It creates a natural feeling of the unpredictable, of mistakes and the holy imperfection of the image – which is the basis of every creation”
He drew every color on a separate layer and animated them individually to create an engraving looking artwork. Some images have more than 64 layers.
Problem:
The problem of the unlived life.
We are not provided with an effective solution. After the visit of hundreds of healers and witches, the only solution for Vaysha is to “find a way to unite her vision”. Giving up on one of her “realities” would mean staying forever either in “the beginning of the book, where nothing has happened yet” or in “the black page of an already told story that has come to an end”.
Setting:
Inspired by the Abbey, Ushev incorporated the 12th-century old castle and village into the setting of the film.
As for the duality of the screen, he found inspiration in contrast between the medieval city and the modern military base nearby.
Character:
Vaysha is a timeless character, she has no present, no home.
“There is no unity of place and time this film. Vaysha ties to measure the time but it is not possible”
Vaysha is living in a four-dimension reality where the four dimensions are time.
Ushev says that Vaysha has “the Dorian Gray Effect’ – the same way his portrait is aging and he’s not changing in reality, Vaysha is changing her face without having her age
He had to-draw her face in every scene to make it look different
Sound and Music:
The Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas voices the film, in both English and French. Ushev did not want to influence her natural rhythm and timing by giving her visual cues, because he appreciates when artists contribute to the final artwork with their interpretation of the story.
The narrator guides the guides through the movie, creating a progressive story. The two conversations happening at the same time in Vaysha’s head just add to the motif of duality in the life of the character.
“That’s one of the tragedies of her life, and also in ours, because we have these conversations in our heads: while we live in the present, we’re nostalgic about the past and afraid about what the future’s going to bring.”
Birth scene “Music for the funeral of Queen Mary” – following Gospodinov’s understanding that in the worlds there is just birth and death and nothing in between them.
The rest of the movie, Ushev worked with the Bulgarian composer Nikola Gruev whose work is referred by the critics as “Balkan Psychedelic”
Performance:
The animation looks almost static.
Ushev strived for simplicity and re-did every action that seemed too complicated or complex. Theodore was afraid that by “over-animating” he would destroy the story. He was working alone to make it as personal as possible.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would like to say that the juxtaposition between image and sound, past and future, made the animation look like a tale of an old universal problem. The simplicity of the film makes the moral of the story accessible to everyone, without overstating it.
Reference:
Animation World Network. (2020). The Past and Future Torment the Present in Theodore Ushev’s ‘Blind Vaysha’. [online] Available at: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/past-and-future-torment-present-theodore-ushev-s-blind-vaysha [Accessed 5 Jan. 2020].
Connect, C. (2020). Director Theodore Ushev on Bringing ‘Blind Vaysha’ to Life in Four Dimensions. [online] Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/presented-by-the-nfb/director-theodore-ushev-bringing-blind-vaysha-life-four-dimensions-146560.html
Desowitz, B. (2020). ‘Blind Vaysha’: How Theodore Ushev’s Zeitgeist-Grabbing Short Taps Political Anxiety. [online] IndieWire. Available at: https://www.indiewire.com/2017/01/blind-vaysha-theodore-ushev-short-1201776201/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2020].