The Procession was created for the UCD Classical Museum as part of an M.A. module on ancient material culture. The M.A. students were challenged to plan an animation of the vase scene which would help museum visitors to understand the vase. The Procession explores the different features that we can see in the original vase scene. Nike has wings, so here we see her flying. Nike is pulling on the bull’s halter, so here we see her take control of it. The young men beckon, so here we see them beckoning Nike along. The young men are wreathed, so here we see them crowned with wreaths by Nike, bringer of victory.
Rather than starting with a static vase image which then comes to life, The Procession moves from the action of the animation towards the image of the original vase. This leaves us with a memory of movement, so that when we look at the vase at the end we carry on associating the still figures with the liveliness of the moving ones.
The storyboard for The Procession.
You can find out more about the MA project and exhibition in this Panoply blog post.
The music for The Procession is 'Master of the Feast' by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons, by Attribution 3.0.
Bad Karma was created from the winning entry in the 2015 Irish Schools’ Storyboard Competition. The story re-imagines the vase's scenario to include a three-man running race. Two of the runners prove to be massive cheats! The goddess Nike, bringer of victory, crowns the two men who seem to be joint winners, but she accepts the complaints of the third runner and, with a knowing smile, transforms the cheats into animals. What happens next – will the new winner barbecue the ‘bulls’?!
The storyboard for Bad Karma.
Most ancient Greek stories celebrated outstanding heroes, unlike our modern taste for stories about underdogs. But ancient and modern people share a love of stories in which gods, goddesses, or superheroes intervene to right injustices, just as Nike does here. The Greek word tísis meant ‘punishment’, ‘retribution’ or ‘vengeance’, though it could also mean ‘reward’. In Bad Karma, the cheats get their punishment while the honest athlete gets his reward.
Ancient Greeks also loved stories about metamorphosis, that is, changing form or shape-shifting. Sometimes these are acts of retribution; sometimes they are acts of harshness or mercy. Perhaps the most famous example is when the hero Odysseus encounters the semi-divine witch, Circe, in book 10 of The Odyssey. There are animals snuffling round her house and Odysseus realises that they are his crew, magically transformed by Circe! The Roman poet Ovid collected 250 myths of transformations and turned them into one amazing poem, The Metamorphoses. It became one of the most influential poems of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Depicting the metamorphoses became a favourite challenge for talented artists.
The Bad Karma storyboard was created by Eamonn O’Broin and Frank O’Grady of Gonzaga College, Dublin, winners of The Irish Schools’ Storyboarding Competition, 2015. For the competition, pupils were challenged to plan an animation based on their interpretation of the vase scene. UCD Classical Museum Curator Dr Jo Day said of the winning storyboard: ‘We really liked the inventive way the characters use the whole scene, hanging from the decorative border and dropping in to the action. As a teaching tool it encourages you to think about how the whole vase works together, front and back, figures and decoration.’
The competition was sponsored by the Classical Association of Ireland-Teachers.
You can find out more about the competition and Steve’s visit to the winners’ school in this Panoply blog post.
The music on Bad Karma is ‘Letters’ by Nigel Eaton on the hurdy-gurdy.
