This year is turning out to be a tipping point for African animation with the winners from the 2015 Triggerfish Story Lab producing content distributed across Netflix, Disney Junior, Disney Channel and Showmax.
Réney Warrington spoke to Nadia Darries, SAFTA-winning director, animator and co-founder of Goon Valley Animation, and Daniel Clarke, a Cape Town-based director and artist working in animation, film and illustration. They directed an animated short for the second volume of Star Wars: Visions.
I have watched all the Star wars films. (And made my poor wife watch them a few years back. In the sequence they were released, nogal.) Yet, to be completely honest, I had no clue what Star wars: Visions was before getting the press kit. For other people like me living under a rock, what exactly is it?
Nadia: Visions is a series of short films set in the Star wars universe that offers stories outside of the canon. It reveals characters, events and worlds that we don’t get to see in the main films. These short films are written and produced by studios in different countries, giving the films unique qualities that distinguish them from the rest of the Star wars catalogue.
Daniel: Star wars: Visions is an anthology of non-canon, short, animated films exploring different and culturally varied corners of the expansive Star wars universe.
Were you Star wars fans before being involved in this project? If yes, in which order did you watch the films, as they were released or in chronological order? Why?
Nadia: I watched the earlier films on TV when I was younger. I didn’t really relate to the characters. Their behaviour and choices felt foreign; it felt like the films were meant for an audience outside of my demographic. So, I didn’t care much for the stories, but I enjoyed the world, the characters and the soundscapes. My appreciation for Star wars grew when I played the game Star Wars Battlefront. Specifically, it was the soundscape that hooked me in. Of the films, I enjoyed The force awakens and The phantom menace most.
Daniel: I started at the beginning – or the middle, depending on how you’re measuring – with The phantom menace. I was 13 years old and loved it. Much to the confusion of many people, I’m sure it’s still my favourite of the films, with the podracing and the Darth Maul lightsabre duel (and choir music to accompany it). I only got around to watching the originals as an adult and can of course appreciate them, but they don’t have the same feelings of nostalgia attached as they do for the first generation of Star wars fans.
What does adding this fully animated series to the Star wars canon achieve? Can some stories only be told in animation form?
Nadia: The more fantasy, visual effects and large world set-ups in a story, the more it lends itself to animation. Animation makes anything possible.
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The more fantasy, visual effects and large world set-ups in a story, the more it lends itself to animation. Animation makes anything possible.
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Animation has been in every Star wars film since the beginning. Many of the special effects, some of the sets and many of the characters have in fact been achieved through animation. Over the years, there have been fully animated series and numerous animated projects.
Daniel: Animation, like mythology or fables, can offer a nonliteral way of telling stories. Certain stories that might be difficult to express through the more “real” medium of live action can be smuggled in and served to an audience without them realising. Essentially, barring the technical realities, it is a medium of pure imagination, straight from the minds of the creators to the audience.
Why was it important to move away from season one’s purely Japanese-style anime, and involve animation studios from around the world?
Nadia: That’s a question for the Lucasfilm executives! We’re simply lucky to have been on the other side of that decision.
Daniel: I think the ambition of Star wars: Visions is to see what sorts of stories other cultures and peoples might contribute to the world of Star wars, and so I’m sure Lucasfilm was keen to see what “the world” would do in their Star wars sandbox.
You did not know each other before working on this project, right? From what I gather, you come from completely different backgrounds. Did that help or hinder the process of creating together?
Nadia: More than anything, it helped. Even though we came from different cultures, we shared many foundational perspectives that were integral to creating the film. Our differences meant that we could explore those shared perspectives from different angles and end up with a richer engagement with the story we were trying to tell.
Daniel: Like Nadia said, even though we came from different backgrounds, we also shared a lot; we grew up in neighbouring suburbs and in the shadow of the same mountain. The balance of difference and commonality seemed to be exactly right for us to collaborate, draw from our experiences and share a common vision for the film.
In my writing, I sometimes loosely base characters on people in my real life. It sometimes helps to create a persona. But then, as the story grows, I move away from the real person and more towards the created avatar. Was that the case for you? If yes, who were they?
Nadia: For us, Aau was always her own person. She existed somewhere in the cosmos, and she wanted to express herself here among us. We saw her first, and then we used our personal living experiences to capture the story she wanted to reveal. We saw her and her world reflected in us and our world. Creating the film was a process of collaboration, with the shared goal of giving Aau the stage for a global audience.
Daniel: I don’t think I can say it better than Nadia has. Of course, you’re right, and drawing from the people around you and from yourself is a good way to start from a position of “truth”. It allows the person in your story to become something living and real, driving the story forward, sometimes even away from your original intentions. Ha ha!
It took a team of 70 artists to create Aau’s song? Could you elaborate?
Daniel: Animation is a collaborative art form, with many overlapping departments working together to create the final product. The designers paint and draw, the modellers create the assets in 3D, the animators make them move, etc. Overall, it’s an extremely labour-intensive process with a big budget, with feature films often having upwards of 400 people involved from start to finish.
You used handmade felt models as inspiration for the animation. The texture of the felt was carried through. It created an inviting warmth, a familiarity. What was your intent?
Daniel: That was very much the intent, yes. The overall tone and aesthetic we were aiming at was one of nostalgia and warm familiarity. We wanted the audience to be drawn in and reminded of childhood summers playing with toys in the garden, and felt is a very familiar and tactile texture that aided us in that goal.
Why use mostly the human voice to imitate sounds, such as the hum of the ships or the vroom of the bike?
Daniel: There were a few reasons we did this. The film is about a girl using her voice to respond to her world and her calling, so naturally we took any chance we could get to layer the human voice into the film. Similarly, with the visual aims of the film, we wanted to imbue the film with warmth and familiarity, and we can all remember making sound effects with our mouths as we played with our toys or drew pictures and created our own worlds. We also just liked the idea because it was fun.
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The film is about a girl using her voice to respond to her world and her calling, so naturally we took any chance we could get to layer the human voice into the film. Similarly, with the visual aims of the film, we wanted to imbue the film with warmth and familiarity, and we can all remember making sound effects with our mouths as we played with our toys or drew pictures and created our own worlds.
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Daniel, you said that the art of Moebius and John Ford westerns served as inspiration. The landscape – especially the trees, mountains and clouds – is also reminiscent of Pierneef paintings. Were you familiar with his work?
I love Pierneef’s paintings! But to be honest, I wasn’t consciously thinking of him when designing the film. I’m sure his influence seeped in, though, as these things do.
Aau only says two words in the 15-minute short. Those two words are incredibly meaningful. Throughout, she is told to keep quiet; a “scarf” is even placed in front of her mouth. It is incredibly touching. Tell me more about keeping her silent, or rather letting her sing.
Daniel: We wanted the relationship between Aau and her father and their culture to feel real, in that things are often not black and white; sometimes, the wrong thing can be done with good motivation, and vice versa. Aau’s father is a traditional man and simply wants to protect his daughter and have her carry on in their family’s tradition. But she has something different about her, something that is dangerous and powerful. Abat doesn’t understand what it is and tries to hide and suppress it “for her own good”. In a way, he acts reasonably, but he is lacking a full understanding of his daughter, and it is only once he trusts her that he realises that even though his daughter’s abilities are perhaps dangerous, they can also be healing and transformative.
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Nadia: I was an artistic youth, and it was difficult having to contain that creative buzz. This experience was a huge influence on Aau’s silence. Aau’s voice carries a lot of power, but it is outside of her father’s realm of experience, and so he expects her to embrace silence. When she does speak, it carries a lot of weight because she is not accustomed to frivolous chatting; she uses her words simply.
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Nadia: As a little girl growing up in a traditional, patriarchal context, I found that the conditions for praise and respect came with being silent and submissive. I was safest when quiet and restrained, and I was “toying with danger” when I was not. I accepted these conditions as an unfortunate normality, the way of the world, God’s challenge for being born a girl. I was an artistic youth, and it was difficult having to contain that creative buzz. This experience was a huge influence on Aau’s silence. Aau’s voice carries a lot of power, but it is outside of her father’s realm of experience, and so he expects her to embrace silence. When she does speak, it carries a lot of weight because she is not accustomed to frivolous chatting; she uses her words simply. She and her father both grow when she embraces the fullness of her voice.
What is the relevance of the little bug that leads Aau to the cave?
Daniel: The rock lice originally played a larger role, but they help us see how Aau’s instinct is to heal, and that she has a connection to her world and to nature that is special.
Nadia: Humans are incredible creators, transforming earth-stuff into other interesting stuff. It’s impressive. We pride ourselves on it. Ha ha! But then, you also have a whole world of intelligence happening around us, despite us – birds and bugs that read the magnetic field of the earth, sense oncoming storms and earthquakes, etc. The bugs in the film know things about Aau’s world that she and her people are not necessarily aware of. They know things and sense things through their unique intelligence. Aau has a certain innate awareness of that. Her respect and attention towards them are a sign of her wisdom.
Even though I watched Cars 223 times with my godson, I sometimes struggle to get into animation. I find it hard to connect emotionally with the characters. (It was not the case with Aau’s song.) I have had Nimona on my to-watch list for weeks, but choose live action every time. Is it only me, or do people still struggle to view animation as meant for anything but solely for kids?
Daniel: The idea of animation as a genre and not a medium is predominantly an American one. In countries like Japan and France, it is used to tell all kinds of stories, for all ages. Personally, I struggle to connect emotionally with the Pixar/Disney fare that we get from the US, but I know that many people find those films very meaningful, so perhaps it’s simply a taste thing. Animation has enormous potential to tell stories and create worlds that transport us into realms of the imagination that are distinct from what live action can achieve.
Nadia: You are not alone! Even I struggle to get into animated films. Ha ha! It is always the same predictable recipe with a lot of the Western and Western-influenced films. They have set standards that have become the expectation for many studios around the world. I am afraid I’m traumatised by it and often mistrust films before giving them a chance! But Daniel’s explained it well; animation is a medium, not a genre.
What kind of feedback have you received? From Lucasfilm? From fans?
Daniel: So far, it has all been incredibly positive, and we are extremely grateful to be able to have made something that touches people and warms their hearts.
Any interesting projects coming up?
Daniel: We are both working on our own stories, but it’s early days, and one never knows what project or story will gain traction and survive the development process to finally get to the point where someone is willing to fund it!
- All film stills taken are from Aau’s song, directed by Daniel Clarke and Nadia Darries.