Soja is a masters animation student at KASK School of Arts in Gent. Their journey in animation started by watching an animated series called Miraculous Ladybug when they were nine years old. After that, they found interest in anime, and that’s where their interest for animated films and series started. They are studying animation because they want to create films and series that bring people together.
“Animation is often seen as one category, but it’s so wide”, Soja explains. There are many different types of animation. Animation can be digital and on paper. It can be 2D animation, 3D animation, stop motion, but animation can also be mixed. It can also be for children, teens, or adults. Currently, they are focusing on stop motion animation. They like making sets, miniatures, and puppets. Animating puppets, writing, and character design brings them joy. Stop motion animation is everything they want in one thing.
START IN ANIMATION
Soja started learning animation by doing a lot of exercises: “I animated a ball bouncing, the stretch and squash, a walk cycle, lip sync. That’s how I started I, I really thought I would immediately start with making stories, but for some reason, I liked experimenting more at that moment.” They made their first animation when they started studying at KASK. In the second semester of their final bachelor's year, they made a film called ‘Cher Ami', which is the film they are most proud of. It’s about a pigeon facing struggles along the way while trying to deliver a letter. They had the most fun doing it because they were working with people for music and green screening. “It was like a little combination of stop motion and paper animation, and I think it's the most me film I've ever made.”
CREATIVE PROCESS
When it comes to coming up with ideas, they don't have a singular method to find ideas. Sometimes they come to them in a dream, and sometimes they evolve throughout the years. Once they have a topic, they usually write it down before going to sleep. They think about it a lot and try to make certain scenarios in their head and write them down. They also find inspiration by searching for things online and connecting them to their interests. They also want to bring back ‘real’ voice actors, instead of famous actors voicing animated characters.
VIEW ON AI IN ANIMATION
“AI not only steals from actual animators without their permission, it also takes away their jobs. Especially since these big companies can pay real animators to animate for their advertisements.” Soja explains. When most animators graduate, they first go to work in advertising before being able to work on their own projects. “For most animators, it's like the first brick of the house when they graduate. But if you take that first brick, like the whole foundation crumbles and then animators can't go further anymore, they can't find a job.” Soja thinks that advertisements can be very creative and iconic, if done by real animators. They have seen some advertisements done by AI, and think they are not creative, don’t look good, and don’t feel right morally. It’s taking peoples’ jobs away and it’s not good for the planet either. Since they want to go further in stop motion animation, they think their field is safe for now because it is very hard to do that with AI. They are scared for people who want to work in advertisements, and think those people need to fear for their jobs because big corporations don’t want to pay real artists anymore.
“You cannot enjoy AI because it's soulless. It has stolen from so many people, but it hasn't stolen the soul of that art.”
WHAT WOULD SHE CHANGE?
Currently, they are struggling to find an internship in stop motion because there aren’t many opportunities. Stop motion is not a very popular type of animation, and it is an expensive and time-consuming type of animation. That’s why it’s not very popular with bigger companies and studios. They hope for more job offers in the stop motion field. “I do have the feeling we're going in the right direction, because I have seen a lot of stop motion films and series getting announced from bigger corporations and companies. So, I'm looking forward to the change that is hopefully about to happen in the stop motion field.”
CURRENT PROJECT
At the moment, Soja is working on their master’s film. It’s a story about a transgender princess named Althea, and her discovering she is a trans woman. The film is set in the Rocco time period, when being transgender wasn’t considered ‘normal’. “The film is about her. It's not about what other people think. It's. It's what she thinks about herself.” Soja stated. This year they are writing the story, making the puppets and the sets. Next year, they will be animating the whole film. When the film is finished, they will send it to festivals in hopes it gets accepted. Soja hopes this film will become their best film yet.