Dibujando mi español : The Sardegna Film Commission short films - Fifth: sustainability, climate change and quality of life

In the miniseries of analysis of Sardinia Film Commission animated short films we talked about the themes of “history, archaeology and legends of Sardinia”, “flora and fauna”, “distinguished Sardinian characters” and “anthropology, tradition and art”: the last chapter tackles the theme of “sustainability, climate change and quality of life” represented by “La Rondine”.

Theme: sustainability, climate change and quality of life

A group of children save and take care of a swallow that can’t fly with the help of the elder Aunt Igia. The short film will be produced by Claudio Marceddu’s Il Circolo della Confusione, directed and written by Eleonora Gambula and Daniele Arca, animated by Eleonora Gambula with the analogic rotoscope technique, with the voices of Cristina Maccioni, Amelia Daisy Melis, Marvin Sackey and Leonardo Grassellini. Luca Gambula will take care of the music and Tiziana Furcas will be the Sardinian language referent.

The animation technique of this short film will be the rotoscope. Created and patented by the Fleischer brothers in 1917, the rotoscope technique originally consisted in filming an actor in action and then using the frames as direct reference for the animation, tracing the main movements. This is possible by projecting the frame on a glass sheet, then an animator outlines the human figure with tracing paper sheets. Many of Fleischer studios’ works were created with this technique: Koko the Clown, Bimbo the Dog and Betty Boop, among others. It was used especially with the movements of famous dancers and singers of the time such as Cab Calloway.

Disney used the rotoscope as well for its first long feature animated film in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but in a looser way: this means that the first time you trace the movements with precision; in the next step you draw over the first sheets more synthetically in order to get the essential but more free movement; and finally an animator applies the principles of animation on the second batch of sheets in order to create the final sequence. In the case of this film, rotoscope was used to different degrees according to the level of difficulty of the scene when they needed a reference, and it was not a really corresponding tracing of the original filming, because the animators sometimes changed the pacing of the actions and the character’s expressions.

Another more modern example of rotoscoping closer to Fleischer’s original technique is the iconic music video of Take On Me by a-ha, in which the drawings are not as polished and look like pencil drawings as a stylistic decision.

Eleonora Gambula studied drawing and illustration, then stop-motion animation, which soon fascinated her with its artisanal nature. In 2008 she gained a scholarship for the IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) in Milan. After a few years working in Milan, two years ago she took a break and returned to Sardinia because she missed her home, then she went back to Milan, where she currently lives. Among her works Eleonora was commissioned by RAI for the opening titles of the fiction Romanzo Familiare, with the rotoscope technique, and the commercials for Diadora and the 50th anniversary of Kartell, both with the stop-motion technique.

In an interview in the radio program Captivity of July 2020, Eleonora told how she got the inspiration for the short film “La Rondine”: one day of December she saw a disoriented flock of swallows, and this was the beginning of the script for the short movie. After winning the tender by Sardegna Film Commission, she decided to set the story in the industrial area of Portovesme or Sarroch, because it is a landscape full of contrasts, on the line between nature and industrialization. The intent is to write a short film for everyone, kids and adults, showing how industrialization influenced the ecosystem.

Daniele Arca worked on two documentaries in 2019: in Jukebox al Carbone he took care of directing and editing, while in Bar Seui he did editing and photography. The first is a musical/social documentary that tackles the young revolution of the 60s during the economic boom period due the new industrial hub of Carbonia. The second tells the story of inner migration of Armando, that during the second postwar period had to move from Seui to go to Cagliari and try to improve his life.

Luca Gambula is a sound engineer and music producer, he collaborated with the artists Dainocova and Takoma and worked for the film Jukebox al Carbone by Daniele Arca, creating its soundtrack. Here you can listen to one of his compositions:

Cristina Maccioli is a theatre actress and as writer and editor realizes radio programs in Sardinian. She debuted in theatre in 1972, then in 1975 as associate of the Cooperative Teatro di Sardegna she participated in the show Su Connottu by Romano Ruju, Francesco Masala, Gianfranco Mazzoni and since then is present in many productions of the establishment known with different names, currently it’s Sardegna Teatro, based in the Teatro Massimo di Cagliari. You can hear her voice in the trailer of the short film in the role of Aunt Igia.

So we finished the miniseries of Sardegna Film Commission short films! This little project is what led me to write articles for the blog more regularly, I am very glad it is appreciated, thank you readers! In a very near future I will talk once again about Italian animation, in particular a work by Nuova Animazione Sardegna, stay tuned!