DOT Desk: In the captivating realm of animation, one technique stands out as an enchanting art form that breathes life into inanimate objects: stop-motion animation. With meticulous precision and boundless creativity, this magical process has the potential to take us on extraordinary journeys where imagination knows no bounds, reports TBS.
From charmingly quirky characters to awe-inspiring landscapes, stop motion’s allure lies in its ability to evoke a sense of childlike wonder in audiences of all ages, reminding us that the world of animation truly knows no limits. When it comes to Bangladesh, ‘Ogopogo Studios’ is the pioneer of stop motion animation in the country. Before them, this particular area of handcrafted genius was left unexplored.
Despite being the leading studio of its kind, the beginning of ‘Ogopogo Studios’ was more like a side project. Something that was born out of the personal fondness of the founder Amit Ashraf. “Stop motion is something that I took up as more like a side project, as I was already very much invested in filmmaking and animation. I started stop-motion animation and I found it rather interesting and grew fond of it. So I thought of doing stop motion on a smaller scale. Ogopogo as a studio is basically a result of that fondness,” said Amit. “The only difference is that at the beginning it had about 20% of my attention, as I was already working on various filmmaking projects. Right now both filmmaking and stop motion have an equal effort from me”, added Amit.
The studio opened its doors in 2019. Despite being a fresh face in the industry, it has unlocked a doorway to an unexplored universe. In the more developed Western nations, stick figures and stop-motion animation have already attracted a sizable audience. But the animation in Bangladesh has always leaned more towards digital art forms. Therefore this style of art requires a more human touch and is a bit more complex than just puppeteering. ‘Ogopogo Studios’ themselves undertake projects from clients. They do not make independent stop-motion short films or videos. Being new and unique in the field, this is their stepping stone towards growth. “We take projects from clients and deliver short films or videos. For now, this is how the studio is growing. The resources we have at our disposal are very limited and there are a lot of things stop motion requires, which we cannot avail here in Bangladesh. So keeping the studio as a business afloat needs a steady flow of finance, which we are generating through our clients,” said Ashraf. But the studio does intend to transcend the boundaries they have found themselves in. The founder shared his vision of expanding his stop-motion animation venture into the world of feature films.
Ogopogo has a small yet a very powerful arsenal of stop-motion short films or videos with inspiring messages. The most notable among them are ‘Char Ronger Basha (House of Four Colours)’, ‘Quarks and Socks’ and a very recent ‘All is Full’.