The film explores the changing relationship between a mother and daughter through their lives. It shows the daughter growing up and experiencing different stages like birth, childhood, marriage, and leaving her mother's home, which causes the mother to feel lonely. These memories are witnessed and collected by a white crow. The fantastical world uses elements of Hindu rituals to metaphorically represent the stages in their relationship as it evolves over time.

1. The Art of White Crow’s Hair

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7. White Crow’s Hair
Film by: Smit Shah
Guided by: Akash Gaur
G. L. S. Institute of Design
(GLS Institute of Design, GLS University, Ellis Bridge Area, Near Law Garden,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat-380006)
Bachelor of Design (Animation)
2017-2021
Graduation Project
2021
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8. Contents
- Acknowledgement…………………………………………. 07
- Project Details………………………………………………. 08
- Story Development……………………………………….. 10
- Storyboard…..…………………………………………….... 21
- Shot Division……………………………………………….. 33
- Research and References…..………………………….. 40
- Background Design………………………………………. 49
- Character Design………………………………………….. 66
- Stylization……………………………………………………. 86
- Visual journey………………….…………………………… 103
- Film Stills…………………………………………………….. 111
- Conclusion and Learnings……………………………… 117
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9. Acknowledgement
The journey of making this project was hard but thanks to all of them who helped me to
accomplished the film. I express my heartfelt gratitude to our professor and faculty Mr Akash
Gaur for his great support, encouragement and guidance throughout the project. I would like to
thank my friends for their feedback and help, without whom the project wouldn’t have been
possible. I would like to thank my parents for their great support in every way.
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10. Project Brief:
Film Concept:
The film shows how ageing brings in change in the relationship of mother and daughter through an imaginative world
where the mother resembles the river and the daughter grows and learns by experiencing the world around her. The film
shows many Hindu rituals and their elements as a part of the world setting up a context. The world also reflects how the
life of the mother fish and her eggs is synonymous to the relationship between mother and daughter. All these memories
are collected by the white crow.
A story about the relationship of mother and daughter and how it changes as they grow old has been depicted through the
fantastical world. It is a 5 minutes long film which walks you through the different stages of their life.
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Project Details

11. Target Audience
Budget
Pre-production : 5500
Story and boards: 3000
Character and Background Design: 2500
Production : 1,12,652
Traditional backgrounds: 15,652
Animation: 55,000
Clean up: 42,000
Post - Production : 19,450
Compositing and editing: 11,450
Sound and Music: 8000
Total: 1,37,602
The film doesn’t cater to any specific kind of audience or age groups as the film shows the relationship
between mother and daughter through an imaginative world. There are a few visual renditions of Hindu
rituals but the overall story is relatable for the viewers.
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12. First Draft
Story
Development
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16. “ Brainstorm ”
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17. Second Draft :
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18. “ Final Timeline ”
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* Mother - (M) *Daughter - (D)
(M) seated on a
chair holding her
(D) in her hand.
Digs (M small) Rain
(WC) taking
white hair (D) Birth
(D) holding
hand of (M) for
support while
swimming
Fish sleeping
around her eggs
(D)’s first period
(WC) taking
black hair
(D) leaving
(M)’s hand
(M) does tilak on
(D)’s head
*White Crow - (WC)
(D) ties a piece
of cloth
Forest Marriage
(D) leaves the nest and
(M) is alone
Fish comes out
of the eggs
(D) feeding
crows and
(WC) and river
going far off
the land
Fish comes
to the shore (D) picks up
the fish and
looks at it.
(WC) flies to her
nest with white
hair in her beak
(WC) cowls White hair and
black hair in
the nest are
dancing in air .

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Palette :
(Roughly) World shown to understand the story :
Nest
A place where the daughter takes the pledge, gets married and leaves her mother. The loneliness
becomes a part of the mother’s life.
The marriage Mandap’s welcoming flower decoration has been juxtaposed with the nest location to
give a feel of Indian marriage and the decoration is not seen when the white crow is living and the
broken Diya lying on whose witness pledges were taken.

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Palette :
Palette :
Mango Island
Forest
A place of happiness, prosperity and fertility. Different
poses of the mother show her caring and watching her
child grow. The daughter is attracted to the mango f just
like any other child is to sweetness.
The falling jasmine flower is a celebration of the
daughter’s birth.
This place is built on wishes, beliefs and the regular life
of the people. Here the daughter sees more people and
she learns to wish like them.
The first time we see other people who are busy with
their daily chores. This place is a reflection of reality.

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Palette :
Banana Island
Hair Donation Island
Palette :
(excluded from the film)
A barren empty land (head) and sad place where the girl
for the first time observes reality and she develops
sympathy for people.
As she goes through this change in her emotional
trajectory, the daughter starts getting more mature.
A place of calmness where the daughter for the first-time
experiences a change and she starts her journey into
womanhood. This is the first big change in her life.
The mother acknowledges that and prays.

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Origin of the Story :
The idea of white crow first came when I was having conversation of colouring the hair with my mom and
usually many crows take rest at our railing of balcony which automatically create a connection. The human
tendency of interpreting hair and the colour of crow as black is indelible, which created many questions
about beauty, importance of that specific colour, judgement towards specific colour and ageing. Ageing is
the most important factor that creates a fear of losing someone.
Spending some time at the bank of the river gives some company makes you feel cozy and attached. The
river in itself gives a feel of motherly nature.
Another instance that I observed when my sister left the house after her wedding, which made her mother
feel completely alone.
Those concepts of ageing, learning, change, intimacy and connection with the environment, humans and
other living beings became the important aspect of this story.

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Storyboard

24. In this version mostly
compositions, location and
characters movement were
explored.
Also how characters will
move from one location to
other that all location feel
cohesive.
Version 01
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28. Final version:
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35. Shot Division
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42. Research And
References
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43. -In India according to the
mythology, girls are
considered as Goddess
Laxmi.
-Many places in India (ex. Ritu Kala Samskara [Tamil Nadu])
people celebrate and do’s pooja on the first menstruation of
girls to mark a girl’s transition into womanhood.
Laxmi pooja (West Bengal)
-The trunk of a banana
tree denotes good luck
and prosperity.
-A banana leaf are
offered to Lord Vishnu
and Goddess Lakshmi as
a religious offering.
-In West Bengal, during
Durga Puja, the devotees
transform a Banana tree
into a beautiful bride and
call it “Kola Bou”. As per
the ritual the trunk is
draped with saree and
the devotees worshipped
the tree.
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44. -People ties a cloth or Sari to a tree taking the name of god to bring
there wish true or after their wish comes true. This ritual is not only
perform in hinduism but in many other religion.
-Hindus consider
mango as a symbol of
prosperity, fertility and
happiness.
-The mango tree is
personified with
various gods and
goddesses like
goddess Laxmi and
Lord Ganesha.
-It is believed that
Lakshmi, Govardhan,
Gandharva and fertility
God resides in mango
tree.
-The mango tree and
peepal tree is
considered sacred in
Hindu religion.
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45. - Fish (matsya) is considered the first avatar of God Vishnu
and he saved the world from great flood. [At the end of the
story we find a dead fish comes at a shore.]
- According to hindu belief system the ancestor go to Pitri
loka after their death and crows are the only birds which
act as a messenger to Pitri Loka. So, feeding them is
considered as feeding our dead ancestors.
- When the first draft was created there was no thought of using Hindu rituals in a metaphorical way
but the elements of the story and mother’s character brought this aspect which has been shown in the
film.
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46. News and character was reference for the hair donation scene for the daughter’s
character. (excluded from the film) 44

47. Visual Inspiration from the film
Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki)
Gamak Ghar (Achal Mishra)
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48. Character Inspiration
from the film
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The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)

49. Gond painting (movement, composition and form) Julian Onderdonk’s Bluebonnets (palette)
Visual
Inspiration
from the
paintings.
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50. J. M. W. Turner paintings (palette and texture) Nabibaksh Mansuri paintings (palette and movement.)
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51. Background Design
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52. Mangoes place
Digging space
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53. Nest
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54. Forest
The sunflower and badam branches were removed and paddy was
added in the back.
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55. Hair Donation Space (excluded from the film)
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56. Banana Island.
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57. Fish Nest
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58. Background elements
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61. Painted
Backgrounds of
Mangoes Place
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63. Painted
Backgrounds of
Banana Island
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64. Painted Backgrounds of Forest
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65. Painted
Backgrounds
of Nest
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67. Painted
Backgrounds
of Riverside
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68. Character Design
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69. Daughter
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71. Daughter’s Hand
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73. Daughter’s ( character
exploration )
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76. Mother
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77. Mother (younger)
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78. Mother’s Hand
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79. Mother’s (character exploration)
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82. Husband
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83. Crows
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85. Fish
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86. Supporting Characters
Patients (excluded from the film)
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*outline - ol *fill - fl *detail - de *Mother - M *Daughter - D
Colour Palette

88. Stylization
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97. Process
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98. Process
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99. Style Exploration
Exploration 01
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100. Exploration 02
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101. Exploration 03 99

102. Exploration 04
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103. This texture is used to blend
the overall shot with digital
animation add ons and also
increase or decrease the
brightness and contrast of
shot.
Textures
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105. Visual journey
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106. I started exploring and visualizing
when I was brainstorming the story
so, I can form place accordingly as I
structure the story.
At first I was trying to explore the
dynamic part of the story through
movement and direction of the
river flow. (Leaving character aside
for this part.)
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107. What if the world was formed using the
movement of river’s waves ?
I started composing by curves.
As hair and river can be integral.
Tried to bend perspective and depth in
different forms possible.
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108. Daughter on a boat
made by her own
hair. (with
character)
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109. Using mother’s caring postures
as a part of the world. All this
explorations were done while
figuring out the second draft of
the story.
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112. Forming it through
lines and curves. The
curves would look
like river and hair
both, together.
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113. Film Stills
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Credit: Divya Ambigapathi

119. Learning
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I like to explore various kinds of relationship that living creatures go through, how they build them and how it
impacts their environment. This time, for my graduation project I want to explore the relationship between a
mother and a child and I realized that the one thing that affects this priceless relationship is ‘ageing’. Ageing is a
major factor in most of the relationships because as a character grows he/she changes and so does their
demands, needs and the importance and the affection towards that person. I often come across a lot of things
while going through the news columns and articles which triggers certain questions in my mind and I try to use
those elements and situations as a part of my stories. While developing this story, I had this simple question, “
Do white crows look beautiful? ”. Using this simple question, I tried to build a correlation between the two
characters then exploring the various possible structures, environment and elements through which this story
can be played. This exploration took me through the different possible visual journeys where new stories and
characters came in and helped me improvise the story further by building an intricate relationship between two
characters.

120. Conclusion
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The process of making the film and watching makes us grow someway. At the end, I
would like to conclude with a poem by Rumi :
“ Something opens our wings.
Something makes boredom and hurt disappear.
Someone fills the cup in front of us.
We taste only sacredness. ”
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Thank You

122. It all started when mother river took birth,
and the earth evolve.