New animated short film brings Oneida legend to the big screen (fwd)

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New animated short film brings Oneida legend to the big screen
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415061

The Oneida Indian Nation' of New York's Four Directions Productions held the
world premiere of its first 3-D animated short film at the Syracuse
International Film Festival in Syracuse, N.Y.

''Long ago, American Indians delivered important messages by sending
runners; going from one village to another and nation to nation,'' said
Dale Rood, director of studio operations for Four Directions Productions
and a Turtle Clan representative to the OIN's Men's Council.

''Our ancestors also entertained and educated their young through
storytelling,'' he said. ''Today, communications are done much differently.
We still need to inform and educate, but in a way that captures the
attention of a public that is used to video games, cell phones and flat
screened televisions. We must also correct stereotypes of Indian people
painted by Hollywood. That's been embedded into the fabric of modern
society.''

Rood said this is why the OIN started Four Directions Media, the parent
company of Indian Country Today and Four Directions Productions. Four
Directions Productions produces 3-D video animation, high-definition video,
Web design and interactive projects for a variety of internal and outside
clients.

The world premiere, a telling of the ancient Oneida legend of Raccoon and
Crawfish, took place April 18.

''The animation is wonderful and incredible, and it's scored for an
orchestra with American Indian flutes,'' said Brent Michael Davids, Mohican
composer who wrote the score for the eight-minute film.

''There is also a place in the animation where a whole community of crawfish
is singing and dancing, so I had to make up a little crawfish song for them
to sing. It's very cute.''

The animation took the Four Directions Productions' graphics team about a
year to complete.

''If you take a look at some of your larger animation studios, they have a
whole host of people that are working on a project like this and we were
smaller than that. But if you take a look at the quality, it's nothing
short of amazing.''

Rood said to see the story come to life was very special to him.

''This story was told to me and my grandmother as it was told for hundreds
of years to countless other Oneidas, by word of mouth,'' Rood said. ''Now
young people, children and adults around the country can learn about Oneida
culture from this first, of hopefully many, legends brought to life. This
particular legend is about the moral of lying.

''What was especially exciting for me was creating characters through
animation that were once only part of the Oneida children's imagination.''

For more information on the film, visit www.4dpgroup.com.