Sinem Sakaoglu: “Bo”
When you’re not a bird, flying isn’t always easy…The care and detail Sinem Sakaoglu put into her film “Bo” made want to learn more about how she came up with the idea, and how it all came together. She was a student at animation-school-hamburg when she made “Bo” as her graduate film.
How did you come up with the idea for “Bo”
I had scribbled some notes and designs of this kinda strangely-wired, kinda charming guy who was obsessed with flying - and the ways in which he would fail to do so…Being originally Turkish, I was heavily influenced by the absurd sense of humor and the wonderful characters of my childhood’s weekly Turkish comic & satire magazines. Bo was born out of a mixture of this influence, that of some of the 40s and 50s American animation (Terrytoons, UPA cartoons, etc) and the fact that at the age of 13, I was still waiting for Peter Pan to come teach me to fly….
What process did you go through to make it?
We had formed our group at animation-school-hamburg to make our grad. film. Lots of arguments (boy, it’s difficult to agree on style with five people in a group), lots of great advice from mentors and teachers (we should have held the credits on much longer :)), lots of changes to the story during storyboarding, lots of sleepless nights…and about nine months after the first scribbles, Bo was presented at the Animation Award Hamburg (November 2005) and won 1st prize among 60 animated student film entries Germany-wide.
How did you animate it?
Technically, every frame of Bo’s animation was hand-drawn (pen/pencil on paper). The backgrounds were also hand-drawn but painted digitally. Compositing was done on Animo.
Last but not least, the rest of the Bo makers are: Wolfram Spaeth (also Bo’s voice), Kathrin Harms, Katja Wesner, Jan-Phillip Dombrowski. Although not a student, but a professional, I think Marco Lanuschny would also count as a huge contributor - just look at (well, listen to) the wonderful sound design he made for “Bo”!”
Thanks for the wonderful film, Sinem.
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On April 21st, 2006 at 12:00 am
This is a fascinating animation; technically and with the humour. Would be even more appealing with some nice and original music. Looking forward to the next one…
On April 24th, 2006 at 12:00 am
This was charming and well done! Five all the way!