MONUMENTS – Animated Film Making Of

Professor Miloš Ćirić (1931–1999) in his early period 1961 created a series of bibliophile books, including the book SPOMENICI (MONUMENTS), illustrated with original woodcuts and printed in ten numbered copies. The book illustrated segments from the poetry dedicated to suffering in World War II.

Profesor Miloš Ćirić (1931–1999) u svom ranom periodu, godine 1961. izradio je seriju bibliofilskih knjiga, među kojima je bila i knjiga SPOMENICI, ilustrovana ori­ginalnim drvorezima i odštampana u deset numerisanih primeraka. Knjiga je ilustrovala segmente iz poezije posvećene stradanjima u drugom svetskom ratu.

Iva finds the forgotten bibliophile book of her grandfather and remains amazed at black and white graphics expressively showing scenes from the old war. One would say: an unexpected theme for such a young person, but extremely simple geometric forms of Miloš Ćirić seemed suitable to her for animation. She decides to make a new film from those graphics, and to her grandfather an animated ”monument”. For the background music, she chooses the old composition of Zoran Erić, the professor from the Faculty of Music which happens to be called ”Cartoon”.

Iva pronalazi zaboravljenu bibliofilsku knjigu svog dede i ostaje zadivljena crno-crvenim grafikama koje su ekspresivno prikazivale scene iz davnog rata. Reklo bi se: neočekivana tema za tako mladu osobu, ali krajnje jednostavne geometrijske forme Miloša Ćirića učinile su joj se pogodnim za animiranje. Ona odlučuje da od tih grafika napravi svoj novi film, a svom dedi animirani ”spomenik”. Za muzičku podlogu bira staru kompoziciju Zorana Erića, profesora sa Fakulteta muzičke umetnosti, koja se igrom slučaja zvala ”Cartoon”.

This is not one of the rare animated films created by the revival of woodcuts. All previous films were done using the technique of animated collage and in them, the clips from graphics were in a traditional way set in motion under cameras. The film created a media breakthrough: specific features on the print of woodcuts as remains of cutting using a chisel are not only a static background: by fast superimposing of woodcut textures a stroboscopic flicker effect is obtained and thus a graphic sheet turns into a live animation texture. Reduced geometric forms are revived by sustained movements appropriate for two-dimensional figures-symbols.

Ovo nije prvi od retkih animiranih filmova načinjen oživljavanjem drvoreza. Svi raniji filmovi bili su urađeni tehnikom animiranog kolaža i u njima su isečci sa grafika na tradicionalan način bili pomerani pod kamerom. U filmu prisutan je medijski pomak: karakteristične crtice na otisku drvoreza, kao ostaci rezanja dletom, nisu samo statična pozadina: brzim superponiranjem drvoreznih tekstura dobija se stroboskopski efekat treperenja i time se grafički list pretvara u živu animacijsku fakturu. Svedene geometrijske forme oživljava uzdržanim pokretima primerenim dvodimenzionalnim figurama-simbolima.

Direction and animation: Iva Ciric
Music: Zoran Eric, fragment from composition “Cartoon”
Belgrade 2010.

Festivals:
Balkanima, 2010, Serbia
Animanima, 2010, Serbia
Kimera Festival, 2011, Italy
BFDKF Kratki Metar, 2011, Serbia
Golden Knight Film Festival, 2011, Russia
Hiroshima, 2012, Japan
Picolo Festival Animacione, 2014, Italiy