The Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells

Set in circa 800 AD, or the Ninth Century, the leader and head of the Monastery of the small walled in community, Abbot Cellach tries to keep his nephew Brendan out of trouble and focus on building the wall that will keep the Vikings out. When Aidan of Iona finds refuge in the Abbey of Kells, Brendan soon finds out about the secret book that Aidan keeps and the mysteries out side the wall.

IMAGINE THIS 

You live in a small town that you have never been allowed to leave. Your uncle forbids its because he is afraid of the army of people that have been terrorizing the country. The same people that killed your parents. One day a stranger arrives who tell stories of the his escape from these very same people. You soon discover he has a mysterious book which requires special ink that can only be found in the forest, which you have never been allowed to go to. Your curiosity is too much to handle and you decide to go against your uncle's wishes and step into the forbidden forest for the first time...

FILM INFO 

Title: The Secret of Kells 

Directed by Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey

Writers: Tomm Moore (original story), Fabrice Ziolkwoski (Screenplay)

Year: 2009

Country: Ireland

Run time: 75 min.

Cast:

Evan McGuire ................................Brendan 

Christen Mooney ...........................Aisling

Brendan Gleeson ...........................Abbot Cellach 

Mick Lally .......................................Aidan

Liam Hourican ................................Brother Tang / Leonardo (voice) (as Liam Hourrican)

Paul Tylak .......................................Brother Assoua (voice) (as Paul Tylac)

VOCABULARY 

   Animation

   Book of Kells

   Manuscript

   Insular Art/Celtic Art

   Celtic Knots

   Aisling

   Crom Cruach

   Pagan

   Vikings

Animation: The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators’ drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. Today, animators’ drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system.

Manuscript: written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way.

Vikings: explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.[1]

Celtic Knots: are a variety of (mostly endless) knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celticstyle of Insular art.

Aisling: a strong tradition in the Celtic revival poems, they are called aisling poems – because “aisling” means dream or vision in Gaelic.

Pagan: a person who observes a polytheistic religion. It is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Someone who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is the most famous, and one of the finest of a group of illuminated manuscripts in what is known as the Insular style (Celtic style), produced from the late 6th through the early 9th centuries in monasteries in Ireland, Scotland and England. It is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland.

Kells Abbey was plundered and pillaged by Vikings many times in the 10th century, and how the book survived there is not known. The book contains the complete text of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the Gospel of John through John 17:13. The remainder of John and an unknown amount of the preliminary matter is missing and was perhaps lost when the book was stolen early in the 11th century AD. 

Illustrations:

The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript’s pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasize the themes of the major illustrations.

ROUGH ANIMATION SKETCH 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

Write or draw responses to the following questions:

What is a question or observation you made about the film we saw last week?

How did Celtic art influence the film? (Think of the atmosphere and character design) 

How is the short "The Lost Thing" similar and different to "Secret of Kells"? 

Why would the directors Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey tell this story in 2D animation and not 3D animation like Pixar?

1.     How does Celtic art, or Insular art influenced the film?

2.     Why do you think Moore decided to use 2D hand drawn animation instead of 3D animation like Pixar?

3.     Explain how the film treats pagan beliefs when the story centers on a monastery.

4.     What does the walled city represent vs. the forest on the outside? 

5.     Compare the short "The Lost Thing" with this film. How are they similar? Differences?

6.     Explain the character of Aisling. What do you think she represents?

7.     Explain the role of the book. Why is it so important for Brother Aidan to have Brendan take care of it?

Jacob Burns Film Center | Media Arts Lab -- Pleasantville, NY 10570 

INSULAR STYLE 

From late Celtic art, sometimes known as the “Ultimate La Tène” style, come the love of spirals, triskeles, circles and other geometric motifs. These were combined with animal forms probably mainly deriving from the Germanic version of the general Eurasian animal style, though also from Celtic art, where heads terminating scrolls were common. Interlace was used by both these traditions, as well as Roman art (for example in floor mosaics) and other possible influences such as Coptic art, and its use was taken to new levels in insular art, where it was combined with the other elements already mentioned. There is no attempt to represent depth in manuscript painting, with all the emphasis on a brilliantly patterned surface.

Triskelion 

Celtic Knot 

From late Celtic art, sometimes known as the “Ultimate La Tène” style, come the love of spirals, triskeles, circles and other geometric motifs. These were combined with animal forms probably mainly deriving from the Germanic version of the general Eurasian animal style, though also from Celtic art, where heads terminating scrolls were common. Interlace was used by both these traditions, as well as Roman art (for example in floor mosaics) and other possible influences such as Coptic art, and its use was taken to new levels in insular art, where it was combined with the other elements already mentioned. There is no attempt to represent depth in manuscript painting, with all the emphasis on a brilliantly patterned surface.

ancient belt buckle 

TOMM MOORE 

Tomm Moore, (born 7 January 1977) is an Irish illustrator, comics artist and filmmaker. He is co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, an animation studio and production company, based in Kilkenny, Ireland. His first feature film, The Secret of Kells, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film on 2 February 2010.

Moore is working on a second feature film entitled Song of the Sea (2014).[5] Like The Secret of Kells, it will also be traditionally animated and will be based on Irish folklore. It is currently in post-production.

INTERVIEW WITH TOMM MOORE 

MAKING OF SECRET OF KELLS 

·         Tomm Moore and his team felt it was very important to incorporate Celtic art and design along with Medieval influences as the story took place circa 800 AD. Just like in the film, the mystery about how the book of kells was made, how the ink was applied by the monks, is still unknown today. 

·         The art department referred to the actual forests in Ireland, fairy rings, olm stones, ancient Irish writings, and Medieval gothic art. 

·         The book cover design for the book of kells had to be created based on the writings on what it had looked like before it had been stolen.

·         Since the design and look of the film was very particular, the director had to create very detailed model sheets in order to keep the 200 artists in five different countries all on the same page.

·         As for the characters in the film a lot were influenced by real people that Moore knew. Aisling was based off of Moore’s own littler sister when growing up; annoying, always climbing trees with bushy eyebrows. Brendan on the other hand was a combination of Moore’s own son and himself as a young boy. The only character who was actually based on Irish history was Pangur Ban, the cat. Pangur Ban is an old Irish poem written by an monk about his cat, which means "whiter than white".

Model Page for Aisling 

Three Panels 

Still from the film