http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/nyregion/10oneida.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

February 10, 2007

A Tribe Turns to 3-D Animation for Modern Storytelling

By SHADI RAHIMI

VERNON, N.Y. — In a stately country house on a quiet stretch of upstate New
York dominated by agribusiness, an American Indian tribe is using high-tech
animation to preserve hundreds of years of history.

Until now, members of the Oneida Indian Nation had passed down through oral
tradition the story of “The Raccoon and the Crayfish,” a morality lesson
about the consequences of lying. Now, the Oneidas plan to share the tale
with the public with the same 3-D technology used by Pixar Animation
Studios to make hits like “Toy Story.”

“There’s always been a sense of urgency that comes with the fear that we’re
losing not only our stories but a lot of other aspects of Oneida
tradition,” said Dale Rood, an Oneida who heads the tribe’s four-year-old
multimedia studio. “It’s not until recently, with this type of technology,
that we’ve had a chance to see how we can preserve them.”

The film, the first from the Oneidas’ new animation team, is scheduled for
completion this month. But that is not the sole mission of their budding
media empire. The Oneidas’ company, Four Directions Media Inc., includes a
recording studio, a talent agency, a historical re-enactment group, the
newspaper Indian Country Today, and the multimedia studio that also
produces video and Web projects.

It is the first effort of its kind by an American Indian tribe, said
Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American
Indians. Other tribes have focused on one form of media like a newspaper, a
public radio station or a television program, she said.

“It is a real difficult challenge for us culturally across the country to
be in a place where we can talk about ourselves,” Ms. Johnson said. “But it
is something that we need to do.”

In recent years, the Oneidas have spent more than $1 million to form their
media conglomerate. The goal is to influence perceptions about American
Indians as well as political decisions about tribal issues, said Ray
Halbritter, chief executive and representative of the Oneida Nation.

“The experience of Native American people in this country is one of being
colonized. Now we’re in a position where we have the desire to be
independent, but we’re still at the mercy of the larger society,” he said.
“The perceptions of us are critical.”

The tribe has been looking for ways to improve its relationships with local
landowners since it began filing lawsuits over land rights in federal court
in 1970. Early suits contended that 250,000 acres sold to New York in the
early 19th century was an illegal transaction. Years of court battles
followed, creating longstanding friction.

The tribe has lost several suits but has bought back 17,370 acres from
landowners, including a cornfield in Verona where it built the Turning
Stone Resort and Casino. Today, the tribe reports annual revenue of more
than $400 million, the bulk of which comes from gambling, according to a
report filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Oneidas have applied to place that land into federal trust, which would
make it exempt from state and local laws. Local officials want to collect
more than $350 million in property taxes from the tribe, an amount the
tribe is contesting.

For decades, the Oneidas have poured their profits back into businesses,
including 17 gas stations and a championship golf course, and programs that
assist their members with housing and education. But in recent years, Mr.
Halbritter has also turned the tribe’s attention — and money — toward
multimedia productions.

“We want to create products,” he said. “We want to become more relevant and
human to people, not just stereotypical memories.”

Today, the two-story house in Vernon that is home to Four Directions
Productions has hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment, including
high-definition video cameras.

Mr. Rood, the studio director, is the only Oneida among its 10 employees.

“When I saw the ad for an HD studio in this area, I was floored,” said
Tracy Morse, 49, of Rochester, who is the studio’s director of photography.
“I jumped at the opportunity.”

On a recent Wednesday, Mr. Morse viewed on two large computer screens
unedited scenes from a music video for a remix by Jana, a folk singer who
is a member of the Lumbee and Tuscarora tribes of North Carolina.

“It was originally a ballad, and now they’re going to use this video in
clubs in Las Vegas, New York and L.A.,” Mr. Morse said.

In December, the second album from the tribe’s recording studio, Standing
Stone Records, produced for Jana, received a Grammy nomination for Best
Native American Music Album.

The short animated film the tribe is producing tells of a raccoon who
feigns death along a riverbank in hopes of luring a colony of crayfish
ashore. One crayfish falls for the trick and brags to others that he killed
the raccoon. When the rest of the colony comes ashore to see his “kill,”
the raccoon springs alive and eats all of them.

Ms. Johnson, of the National Congress of American Indians, said the
Oneidas’ work may open doors for tribes across the country.

“We have not been involved in the media in a large extent, so the industry
has been controlling the message,” Ms. Johnson said. “It’s better that a
tribe tells the stories rather than Walt Disney.”