CREAMY
JAIN MODI.
Drowning Fish Experimental Animation
Experimental short film developed as part of the Semester 5 Animation course at the National Institute of Design, Andhra Pradesh.
CLIENT
Stop-motion · Mixed Media Animation
MEDIUM
Academic Project
TEAM
Archit, Salil, Avinash, Samriddhi, Creamy
Drowning Fish is an experimental animated short created as part of our fifth-semester Experimental Animation course. The film explores the cyclical relationship between creation, destruction, and rebirth through a myth-inspired narrative that mirrors today’s environmental crises.
The project blends Indian mythological sensibilities with a contemporary sustainability lens, using handcrafted materials and stop-motion to create a tactile visual world. It reflects on human greed, nature’s resilience, and the thin line between myth and modern reality.
A Story about a grandmother who tells her grandson a tale of the birth of the world, when the world is ending.
The spark came from Myths of the Northeast Frontier of India by Verrier Elwin—a collection of stories about life, death, and creation. Inspired by these themes, our team set out to reinterpret the myths for a modern context.
Early brainstorming sessions led to the idea of using myth as metaphor for ecological imbalance. The story evolved into a layered narrative on deforestation and global warming, framed within an otherworldly visual language rooted in Indian aesthetics.
Our visual approach was a fusion of contemporary Indian fine art and universal character forms.
The defining design cue was the continuous nose-to-forehead line, inspired by Indian folk and modern art. We explored paper-based mechanisms to bring physical movement and texture into each frame.
Every character, from the god and the crabs to the grandmother and the child, was built using paper puppets with articulated joints, giving them a handcrafted charm and tangible presence.
The animatic helped us plan the flow of the film, understand timing, and test visual transitions before moving into physical animation. It allowed us to refine the pacing, balance moments of stillness with movement, and prepare lighting and set arrangements in advance.
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The production process was collaborative and full of improvisation. We often used creative jugaad, like building a camera stand from scrap and using handheld projectors for lighting.
Late-night shoots and manual adjustments became part of the workflow, turning challenges into opportunities to experiment.
The final film brings together mythic and contemporary worlds in a visually cohesive way. The stop-motion textures, practical lighting, and mix of materials give it a distinctive handmade look and feel.
Drowning Fish became a project where we explored handcrafted animation, worked with sustainable materials, and learned how strong collaboration can shape a film from start to finish.
A film built on great team effort and collaboration.
Meet the faces behind every frame.