She is a stop motion animator

In a country like Kenya where filmmaking is considered nascent, it is difficult to understand why a young filmmaker would complicate things for herself by choosing an even more complex path – stop-motion animation and political satirical television writing. These are the creative areas that speak to Loi Awat’s (she is 27) innermost sensibilities.

Stop-Motion Animation interests Loi because of the feeling of aliveness that it gives her, while satire writing gets to the depths of her thinking and imaginative faculties.

“I love Stop-motion animation because it makes me feel that I am creating at a very physical level; here, I am dealing with live sets and all my senses are at work,” she explains.

Loi’s most notable work in stop-motion animation, which also happens to be the first African music video that has been done entirely in Stop-motion, is the video for: Rain on My Lips, by Pepe Haze and Steph McKee, which was released online in September 2011.

She is also a television writer with several enviable credits to her name: she is a fulltime script writer of the XYZ Show, which was awarded the Best TV series in 2013’s Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards. She was also one of the initial developers of the TV series, Mama Duka, which in 2014, won the Best Swahili Language programme during the AMVCA. She continues to be a part of Mama Duka’s  writing team.

TEDIOUS PROCESS

Stop-Motion animation is a very rare specialisation, and this is what has drawn our attention to Loi. Why did she go for this complex form of animation when there is the option of the usual animation formats?

“Even in bigger film markets, stop-motion animation is not common because of how tedious the process is,” she points out. Her first short film, done entirely in stop-motion animation,  which is also going to be Kenya’s first stop-motion animation film, is currently in post-production.

“Stop-motion animation in Kenya is sometimes used in advertising (rarely) and once in a while it shows up in student-produced films, but as a medium of creating content, Relief is going to be the first such film in Kenya,” she adds.

Loi explains that stop-motion animation is close to the traditional animation, but rather than drawing the frames, you take a photo of each of the frame.

“It is simpler but very tedious. This is why many people do not want to touch stop-animation. But for me, it helps a great deal and opens doors for those, (such as myself) who would otherwise be locked out of animation because they do not know how to draw,” Loi explains, while emphasising the need for resilience and patience because a lot of stop-motion work is done on miniature scales and so attention to detail is importantBut Loi’s dalliance with filmmaking did not start recently.

When she was 14, a student at Pangani Girls High School, she wrote a film script that impressed her classmates so much, they encouraged her to pursue a career in writing. This affirmation was a seed that has blossomed into the award-winning television writer that she is.

“I joined the XYZ writing team as an intern and was afterwards offered a job at Buni Media – I am a screenwriter and business writer here.”

Loi has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (she majored in electronic media) from Daystar University, a choice she attributes to her understanding the path she wanted her life to take on early enough. She says that chances are, she would have ended up studying something completely different that may not have had any direct link to what she is doing now were it not for the fact that she started to figure out her life very early.

APTITUDE AND IMAGINATION

 “I have very supportive parents, and that propelled me because then, I started following my passions a lot early. I also sought opportunities that enabled me to become a better artist over the years.”

Lack of enough information about the fields that artists want to get into, she says, is what leads to the stagnation of many artists. She is however quick to add that there is no formula to a guaranteed successful start.

On what sets apart the two programmes that she has been part of and which have gone on to win international awards (a rarity in Kenya), Loi explains that this was largely catapulted by the strong and visionary leadership at the helm of these programmes.

“The difference is the process. We are thorough. Mama Duka and XYZ are championed by people who have wide exposure and go for the best. This dictates the culture of the production because we take no shortcuts.”

While she acknowledges that it is important to have gone through school, without aptitude, imagination and ability, going to a film school may not really be what you need to become a good filmmaker.

“I do not have any official training in filmmaking. I get all my skills from online tutorals, workshops on filmmaking, and basically just researching and trying. For anyone who knows how to research, there is a lot of information that is available,” Loi concludes.

She said...

• Stop-motion animation opens doors for people who would otherwise be locked out of animation because they do not know how to draw. 

• Without aptitude, imagination and ability, going to a film school may not really be what you need to become a good filmmaker.

• Mama Duka and XYZ are championed by people who have wide exposure, this is what accounts for their success.