An Indian woman's brush is blurring the lines between painting and filmmaking in the world's first feature-length painted animation on Van Gogh, 'Loving Vincent'.
Every shot is being painted in ateliers at Gdansk, Poland, where Oscar-winning British producer Hugh Welchman is working on his film on the Dutch post-Impressionist master. Bhopal resident Shuchi Muley, 34, is one of 100 "Van Gogh artists" who are painting 62,000 frames in oils, from footages, projected atop their desks, to uncover the story of the painter's death.
Shuchi was selected by Welchman's team from among thousands of amateur and professional painters across the world. Every brushstroke conveys a sense of movement and 12 paintings cover just one second of the film on the edit table of Welchman's pathbreaking venture after his 2008 Oscar-winning film, 'Peter & The Wolf'.
Shuchi Muley was selected after a rigorous three-day test at the Gdansk studios in June. Speaking to TOI from Gdansk, she said, "I paint and animate for 'Loving Vincent'. The entire movie has been shot with actors. Now, we are painting every scene from the movie and each scene has many frames. It's like a flip book. Once we finish a scene, we are assigned a new one.
"Each of us brings our own style to the table, but we have been trained in the distinctive Van Gogh genre. The atmosphere here is tense as we are approaching the deadline," she added.
Shuchi was not a painter by profession. Growing up in Bhopal, she studied at St Theresa School and later trained as a computer programmer from a local engineering college. While she dabbled in software and landed a cushy job in India's cyber capital, Bengaluru, she always craved for oils and canvas.
In 2014, she quit her job and went on a world tour, training herself in the nuances of art at prominent studios in San Francisco and Paris. Shuchi's fairy tale moment came when she was in Seattle to meet her family this year.
"I came across the 'Loving Vincent' movie trailer on Facebook. The idea sounded incredible and I promised myself I would be a part of the film. I applied with my portfolio on their website and on the FB page. I followed their blogs, articles, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts to learn more about the movie. Finally, I received an email after a month and was invited to Poland for a test," she said.
"I passed the test and underwent training. After two weeks of painting and learning techniques, I was selected to be a painter and animator for the movie."
Every shot is being painted in ateliers at Gdansk, Poland, where Oscar-winning British producer Hugh Welchman is working on his film on the Dutch post-Impressionist master. Bhopal resident Shuchi Muley, 34, is one of 100 "Van Gogh artists" who are painting 62,000 frames in oils, from footages, projected atop their desks, to uncover the story of the painter's death.
Shuchi was selected by Welchman's team from among thousands of amateur and professional painters across the world. Every brushstroke conveys a sense of movement and 12 paintings cover just one second of the film on the edit table of Welchman's pathbreaking venture after his 2008 Oscar-winning film, 'Peter & The Wolf'.
Shuchi Muley was selected after a rigorous three-day test at the Gdansk studios in June. Speaking to TOI from Gdansk, she said, "I paint and animate for 'Loving Vincent'. The entire movie has been shot with actors. Now, we are painting every scene from the movie and each scene has many frames. It's like a flip book. Once we finish a scene, we are assigned a new one.
"Each of us brings our own style to the table, but we have been trained in the distinctive Van Gogh genre. The atmosphere here is tense as we are approaching the deadline," she added.
Shuchi was not a painter by profession. Growing up in Bhopal, she studied at St Theresa School and later trained as a computer programmer from a local engineering college. While she dabbled in software and landed a cushy job in India's cyber capital, Bengaluru, she always craved for oils and canvas.
In 2014, she quit her job and went on a world tour, training herself in the nuances of art at prominent studios in San Francisco and Paris. Shuchi's fairy tale moment came when she was in Seattle to meet her family this year.
"I came across the 'Loving Vincent' movie trailer on Facebook. The idea sounded incredible and I promised myself I would be a part of the film. I applied with my portfolio on their website and on the FB page. I followed their blogs, articles, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts to learn more about the movie. Finally, I received an email after a month and was invited to Poland for a test," she said.
"I passed the test and underwent training. After two weeks of painting and learning techniques, I was selected to be a painter and animator for the movie."