Figures In Red

‘Figures in Red’ is a highly creative, educational video created for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The animation was created for the permanent Ancient Greek Vase collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The film physically accompanies a very rare vase from 520 B.C. which depicts Herakles driving a bull to sacrifice. The museum commissioned this film in order to educate visitors on the vase making techniques used in Ancient Athens.

The story is set in a workshop in ancient Athens and recreates a day in the life of Andokides, a famous master potter and his apprentice Simon. Through their story we follow the sophisticated process of black figure vase painting and how this standard technique suddenly shifted for the first time to the red figure painting. This moment of epiphany changed the course of art history.

Our aim was to create a narrative based, character driven story that appeals to audiences of all ages. With the use of animation we created a fun and engaging film that educates viewers how these rare and extraordinary Athenian vases were created.

The detailed environments and the high quality frame by frame animation bring Andokides and his workshop to life. The soundtrack consists of a realistic sound design, complimented by an authentic ancient Greek music track performed on a Lyra.

Connecting the viewers to the ancient past will help them understand and appreciate the great artistry of the vases and most importantly the profound shift to red figure vase painting, which for the time  was as monumental as the shift from black and white to color photography.

The work was developed in close collaboration with a team of experts from the MFA who offered invaluable information and guidance so that the educational part of the story, the artifacts and procedure of vase painting are as detailed and accurate as possible.